Read One Naughty Night2 for Free Online Page B

Devil’s Fancy club, turning in a slow circle as she studied every detail. Soon, very soon, the doors would open, and their new venture would be open for business.
    Everything had to be perfect.
    She twitched the heavy draperies into place so they hung exactly straight and nudged a yellow-and-white-striped satin settee against the wall. The card tables were set up, lined with gilded French chairs also upholstered in yellow and white, and new paintings of cavorting cupids and pretty, plump-breasted goddesses hung on the silk-papered walls. Large arrangements of fresh flowers stood on marble stands, perfuming the air, and the soft amber glow of gaslight fell over everything. It all looked elegant, expensive, inviting.
    Now all it needed was a crowd of guests, all happy and merrymaking, in the mood to cheerfully lose all their money.
    Lily peeked into the dining room, where a lush buffet was laid out in all its tempting array and champagne fountains bubbled. In the ballroom, the orchestra tuned up in their alcove while the gleaming dance floor waited to be filled. Footmen were stationed at the doors, and the pretty girls who were to play banker stood at their faro tables. They all wore gleaming pink satin, soft, fluffy, and eye-catching.
    Lily smoothed her full skirts. Unlike the girls, she wore a quiet, lavender-blue silk gown trimmed with white lace on the small, off-the-shoulder sleeves, simple and respectable. She knew her job, which was to fade into the shadows and let the club shine as she kept an eye on everything. Dominic would charm everyone and make sure they all had fun. It was what he did best.
    She turned to watch Dominic and Brendan as they came into the room. Of course, everyone would be charmed by them—how could they not? Dominic so golden and laughing in his flamboyant, blue evening coat and striped cravat, Brendan dark and brooding in plain, stark black and white, the left side of his face crisscrossed with pale scars. Like her, Brendan took in every detail of the room, calculated every flaw, while Dominic clapped his hands. Her brothers were like the bright sun and the mysterious moon.
    “Lily!” Dominic called, and hurried across the room to kiss her cheek. “Everything looks beautiful. You have worked wonders, as usual. But why the frown?”
    Lily laughed and pulled away from him to smooth hergown one more time before he could crumple it. “I’m only afraid no one will appear and our venture will fail before it begins. We’ve already spent our initial investment fund and then some….”
    Dominic shook his head and took her hands again to waltz her in wild circles around the salon, spinning her around and around until she couldn’t quit laughing. Even solemn Brendan chuckled at the sight of their dance.
    “Ridiculous!” Dominic shouted. “Everyone will be here. Haven’t we been making the rounds of London for weeks, advertising our wares?”
    “Ah, yes,” Lily said breathlessly. She held tight to Dominic’s shoulders as he spun her around. “Tearooms, assemblies, bookshops…”
    “Coffeehouses, gentlemen’s clubs, expensive brothels,” Brendan added. He caught her out of Dominic’s arms and swept her off her feet, swinging her in a circle.
    “The talk among the
ton
is of nothing else but the Devil’s Fancy now,” Dominic said. “Everyone is dying for a glimpse of this place!”
    “But after they have had that glimpse, will they come back?” Lily gasped. “Oh, do put me down, Brendan! You will ruin my hair, and Issy will kill you.”
    No sooner had Brendan set her back on her feet and she smoothed her hair than a carriage pulled up at their front steps, a fine equipage with a coronet emblazoned on its glossy black door. And Lily found it was silly to worry at all.
    The elegant rooms were quickly filled to the walls with noisy merrymakers, their laughter and bright chatter tangling and flowing above the rattle of the roulette wheel and the clink of coins, the sound of dance music.