Robin Schone by Gabriel's Woman (10 ebook reader TXT) 📕

proprietor.

The chandelier at the top of the stairs was electric; thousands of tiny crystals sparkled.

She had thought that the Opera House was the only public building to have electric lighting; she had been

wrong. All of Gabriel’s house was lit by electricity—the chandeliers, the wall sconces—all save for the

candlelit tables in the saloon.

Thick red carpet lined the L-shaped hallway at the top of the steps. At the end of the corridor that

veered to her right, a curved staircase leading upward to the second floor was lit by another chandelier.

The guard threw open the enameled door nearest the top of the saloon stairs: a gilded, ornate seven

numbered it.

The bedchamber had dark green carpeting; the bed was covered with a yellow silk spread. There were

no windows.

It was not intended to be seen from the outside. She had seen the bedchamber through the reflective

mirror the night before.

And there, directly confronting her, was the transparent mirror. It was gilt-framed, elegant as the room

was elegant. Innocuous in appearance as the room was not.

Victoria did not recognize the woman reflected inside the mirror.

The hair on the back of her neck stood on end.

Was someone watching her?. . .

Only two pairs of eyes studied her: one pair belonged to the guard who stood beside her, not behind

half-silvered glass; the other pair of eyes belonged to Victoria herself, looking inside the transparent mirror

instead of through it.

It wasn’t a stranger Victoria looked at; she looked at herself.

The cream-colored lampas underskirt with its green, yellow, and dull red figures added substance to

Victoria’s hips while the short, golden brown corded silk mandarin collar that plunged into a deep, narrow

V subtly emphasized her neck and bosom.

Madame René was a genius.

Acutely aware of the transparent mirror and the watching guard who stood beside her—did Julien know

what lay behind the glass?— Victoria stepped into the bedchamber.

A squat white bottle sat on the nightstand alongside a silver tin of condoms. The lid was stamped with

the words The House of Gabriel, just as the one on the nightstand in Gabriel’s bedchamber.

Julien silently watched Victoria’s every move from the door. Whereas she could see his every move in

the mirror.

Turning her back toward the half-silvered glass, Victoria opened the top drawer. And found the

penis-shaped devices that Gabriel had told her about. Godemichés, he had called them.

They were ... very lifelike.

One was small, one was medium, and one—a giggle bubbled up inside her throat, remembering the

Brothers Grimm fairy tale “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”—was just the right size.

Memory flashed through Victoria’s mind, a picture of her mother holding Daniel on her lap. He had been

four. Eight-year-old Victoria had sat at their feet while her mother had read a fairy tale to them.

She had possessed a musical voice, Victoria suddenly recalled. But Victoria could not remember the

fairy tale her mother had read, only the words, I k now it, said the angel, because. .. I k now my own

flower well.

Had her mother found happiness with another man? Victoria wondered.

Was she alive?

Or had loving a man killed her, too?

Victoria touched a hard leather phallus, recalling the length and the girth of Gabriel.

I am just over nine and one-half inches long.

Her body clenched in remembered pleasure. She quickly drew back her hand.

The auburn-haired guard remained impervious. Clearly he would not be shocked by ... anything at all.

Victoria hurriedly closed the top drawer and opened the second drawer. It contained a variety of silk

scarves.

Victoria had seen firsthand the uses to which those silk scarves could be applied.

She imagined Gabriel securing her hands over her head and tying her feet spread-eagled to the wooden

bedposts at the foot of the bed.

She imagined securing Gabriel.

The woman in the red bedchamber had secured the man she had been with. Straddling his hips, she had

rode him astride like a man riding a horse.

There had been freedom in the woman’s abandon, and a childlike trust in the man’s bondage.

Victoria had known neither freedom nor trust in her life.

Had Gabriel?

He had said there was no sex act he hadn’t performed. Had he ever tied up a woman for her pleasure?

Had he ever allowed himself to be tied up?

Immediately a picture of chains flashed through her mind.

Quietly closing the second drawer, Victoria opened the third and final drawer.

Knotted silk formed a whip. Beside it was a leather quirt.

There were brass hooks on the walls and the ceiling.

Anything.. . everything.

Victoria closed the final drawer.

The auburn-haired guard had been right. There was nothing here to help her please Gabriel.

Straightening, Victoria espied a small tin hidden between the white jar of cream and the silver tin filled

with condoms.

A smile broke over her face. It was a tin of peppermints. Curiously Strong Peppermints was stamped

on the metal, followed by the name ALTOIDS.

Picking up the small rectangular box, Victoria impulsively held it out so the guard could see it. “Someone

forgot their lozenges.”

“No one forgot them.” The guard’s face remained stoic, emerald-green eyes impassive. “They are