Page 44 of Dick Stone, Regency Stud
“The man of thehour!” shouted Baron Dalpole when the celebrated Dick Stone crossed his threshold some two weeks later.
The summons to the Dalpole residence had arrived before Edward could learn more about the family’s confusing, possibly felonious milking of the upper class for money. In truth, he hadn’t made learning more a priority because aristocrats had blunt to spare, and finding themselves caught in a silly scheme might cause some of them to lose the toploftiness that made society so trying. In the end, they’d be out a negligible amount and left mediumlofty, a fair trade in his increasingly egalitarian mind.
Lord Edward looked up from where he was shaking off his umbrella in shock. Why must a man be so loud, particularly one who had also served in the war?
“We’re pleased you can join us this evening,” said the baron in that same loud voice. Goodness, if anyone in this house had been sleeping, they wouldn’t be abed long!
The man stood by impatiently as the butler took Edward’s overcoat, then escorted him into the drawing room, where they’d both pleasured the lady of the house.
Upon entering, his gaze was arrested by the presence of a cradle.
“Has the child arrived?” he asked with some concern, for it seemed far too early for a successful delivery of the heir.
The baron simply nodded no. His lips curled in a small smile as he regarded it, as if already envisioning the child within.
And that’s when Edward realized they weren’t alone.
Ringing the room were scores of men in evening dress, all watching him intently. They sat on an assemblage of chairs, silent save for the squeaks that happened when a man shifted on his seat.
“What is the meaning of this?” Edward asked Dalpole under his breath.
“I happened to mention your services, and other science-minded men leaped at the chance to observe.”
Edward stared at him.
“The chance to observe the breeding.”
“And who, pray tell, will be bred in this demonstration?” asked Edward, his blood rising. “Your lady wife is advanced in her pregnancy.”
“Charlotte has graciously allowed the men to observe a demonstration of the proceedings.”
Gesù, the Dalpoles and their passion for barnyard antics were about to become the stuff of legends.
“You’d expose your wife to the gaze of all these men?” asked Edward, gesturing to the men lining the drawing room. “While I pretend to breed her?”
Dalpole’s cheeks flushed, and his eyes seemed to fill with light. “It is my great pleasure to show a rational, modern approach to breeding. And Charlotte is of the same mind. No longer do we need to be restricted by biology and outdated mores, oh no. We can create a new world by crossing only the best with the best, just as we do with seeds to make more bounteous crops.”
God in heaven, was this man talking about babies like new wheat varieties? Dick Stone had stuck his cock in some odd situations, but this might be the stickiest of all.
“And what of the money you collected?” asked Edward.
At that, Dalpole’s gaze turned sly. “Do you believe I would expose my wife to society’s scorn without some guarantee that if one of these men spoke, he would be irrevocably ruined?”
Now there was the fine mind who had helped king and country defeat Boney.
“Their money entangled them in something that would cause their downfall?”
“Indubitably.”
“And I suppose I’m party to this?” asked Edward, his temper rising.
“You’re no more exposed here than you are in your other breeding activities,” said Dalpole, waving his concerns away.
Edward looked at the alert roomful of men and raised his brows before turning back to stare down the baron’s one good eye.
“You’ll be well compensated for your trouble,” said the baron, suddenly looking as though he understood the gravity of the situation. “Like a bull brought in to service the heifers.”
It rankled — the baron’s casual dismissal of his life’s work. He wasn’t a bull content to receive extra mash for covering a cow! Not to mention the alignment of the man’s own dear wife with a female cow. Lord Edward felt his cock go entirely soft, as if protesting the characterization of his breeding business.
