Lucinda's third suitor was Lord Benjamin Bertram of Bancroft Hall, near Oxford. This gentleman was outrageously wealthy and had been the target of ambitious mamas for the past five seasons. He was a very tall and thin man whose hair and eyes both were a nondescript brown. His face was lean, almost severe. Lucinda Harrington was the first woman he had considered worthy to bear his name, and his heir, for he could trace his antecedents back to the long-ago time of Alfred the Great.

George Frederick Worth was delighted by all three suitors for his sister's hand. Whoever she chose, it would be a triumph, and add sheen to his family's escutcheon. Heeding his wife's advice, he did not champion any of the trio as a favorite.

If the truth had been known, he didn't care which one Lucinda picked, for all three were eminently suitable.

The season was drawing to a close. They would soon be returning to the manse. The bishop was growing more nervous by the day. "Has she said nothing to you, Caroline?" he finally asked his wife. Often women talked to other women before speaking to the men in their family.

Caroline Worth looked uncomfortable. She attempted to avoid her husband's gaze. At last she said, "Lucinda says she has found the perfect house for herself on Traleigh Square, near the park."

"What?" The bishop struggled not to shout, but his temples were beginning to throb. He swallowed hard, and drew in several deep breaths to calm himself. Then he demanded of his wife, "Has not one of them declared? God only knows they have monopolized her time enough."

"She has refused all three," Caroline murmured in a tiny voice. "She will have her own home again, George. I do not believe she will remarry until she gets her way. Unless you want her living with us forever, I beg you to give in to her in this matter." Then Caroline Worth burst into tears. "I want my home back, George! I am to have another baby, and I want my home back again! The manse is not that big. Clarissa is too old to be in the nursery any longer, and I need the bedroom your sister inhabits for her."

"She has refused all three?" The bishop's face was purple with his outrage. "And you did not tell me?"

"It only happened in the last week." His wife wept nervously. "You cannot make her marry if she doesn't want to, George. This is not the middle ages."

"She must be made to reconsider," the bishop said firmly.

"She has publicly insulted them," Caroline told him. "It is quite the giggle of the Ton, George. I am surprised you have not heard the gossip. I doubt they will reconsider asking her again after what she has said about them."

"What has she said?" the bishop demanded of his spouse.

"She said the duke has a face like one of his own horses and not one of particularly good blood lines. And Hargrave reminds her of the elephant at the tower zoo; and Lord Bertram is a stork in too colorful feathers."

George Frederick Worth was almost apoplectic in his outrage. "Damn her for a high-flying filly!" he swore. "By God, she needs a good lesson in manners. It's obvious Robert Harrington had no idea what he was doing when he left her his fortune. Or he spoiled her rotten. Either way I have the problem to contend with, and I must solve it."

"Let her have the house," his wife pleaded tearfully.

"No, damnit, Caroline! I will bring my sister to heel if it's the last thing on this earth that I ever do. She will remarry, and she will remarry well. She will not bring shame upon this family, or her sisters' families, by her outrageous and willful behavior," the bishop declared angrily. Then seeing his wife's stricken face, he put his arms about her. "Another baby, eh? That will be nice, m'dear." He gave her a small hug, then released her. "I am going to the club now, Caroline, to see if I can repair the damage Lucinda has caused. It is not necessary to hold dinner for me, or to wait up for me. I will probably be some time. You must take care of yourself now, my darling. And in a few weeks' time we shall return to the manse. When is the baby due, Caroline?"

"October," she told him. "Oh, I hope it is a little boy. We already have one for the army and one for the church. We need but an admiral now." She gave him a small smile.

"I should not mind another girl," the bishop declared.

"But what if she's like Lucinda?" his wife asked.

"No daughter of ours will ever be like Lucinda," George Worth said firmly. "We will not permit it, m'dear." Then he gave his wife a loving kiss and departed for his club.

At White's he quickly spotted his sister's three suitors huddled together conversing. He hurried over to greet them. "I must apologize for Lucinda," he began. "Caroline was so shocked by my sister's behavior she has only just confided in me. We're expecting another child, y'know, and it doesn't do for her to be upset."

Then to the bishop's surprise, the Duke of Rexford said admiringly, "I have never met such an arrogant wench as Lucinda. By God, she has spirit! Just the kind of woman one wants to sire heirs upon."

"Aye," the Marquess of Hargrave agreed with his best friend. "No namby-pamby virgin for me either. It's your sister, or I shall remain a bachelor."

"She needs, however, to be taught a lesson in the proper deportment of a lady toward a gentleman," Lord Bertram said quietly. He looked meaningfully at the bishop. "She is very beautiful, and her bloodlines are excellent; but she is far too independent. She must be instructed in how to be subservient to her husband. Does not St. Paul mention such conduct in a woman as proper and Christian, my lord bishop?"

"Yes," George Worth said slowly, wondering if Lord Bertram was hinting at what he suspected he was.

"Lady Lucinda needs to be mastered," Lord Bertram said softly.

"My God, Bertie, you aren't suggesting…" the duke began.

"I am," Lord Bertram responded. "Never knew a girl more in need of such correction than Lady Lucinda."

"But we ain't never had a lady up before our court," the marquess interjected. "Just serving girls, merchants, and farmers' lasses. An occasional shop girl, or saucy governess. We've never mastered a real lady."

"Which is not to say we can't," the duke said. "Lucinda has insulted us all when all we did was offer her marriage. Did you not tell me, George, that she offended half the country gentlemen round and about the manse? Isn't that why you brought her to London for the season? So she might have a bigger field in which to husband hunt? Well, the wench has had three most suitable and magnanimous offers which she has publicly scorned. That was bad enough, but she has made all three of us a laughingstock. I cannot go anywhere our friends do not neigh, George. Poor Hammie and Bertie have suffered from her mocking tongue as well. I should like that tongue to be taught more pleasant diversions such as licking my cock. Would you gentlemen not agree?"

"Only if it is my cock she licks," the marquess said with a wink.

"Then, my lords, I suggest we bring Lady Lucinda before the court of the Devil's Disciples for judgment as soon as possible," Lord Bertram responded.

"It would be quite unseemly for me to attend that particular session," George Worth said. "Neither my wife, nor Lucinda, could possibly imagine such a secret society as ours, gentlemen. If my sister is to be given over to The Master for correction, I should not be there."

"Certainly not!" the trio agreed with one voice.

"However, George, you must help us make the plan by which we will trap the lady, putting her in our tender charge," Lord Bertram told the bishop.

"And after she is mastered, she will be forced by the very nature of her situation to choose a husband from among the three of us," the marquess concluded gleefully.

"How much time will you need?" the bishop asked his companions.

"I think at least a month," the duke considered, and looked at his coconspirators, who nodded in agreement.

The bishop thought for several long minutes, and then he said, "Only Caroline would be concerned as to where Lucinda has gone. Two of my other sisters are in Scotland, another in Wales, and Julia lives in Ireland. There will be no one to ask embarrassing questions, gentlemen. I believe the solution is to tell Caroline that Lucinda has gone to Ireland to visit Julia."

"Lucinda must appear to be planning such a trip," Lord Bertram said, "else your wife grow suspicious."

"I know just how to get Lucinda to agree to such a visit,"

George Worth said with a grin. "For two years she and I have argued over her desire to purchase her own home in London. She has found a house she likes on Traleigh Square. I shall allow her to buy it and make all her plans for decoration. Then I shall suggest she visit Julia, while it is being done, and be back in London by the autumn. That gives us the summer months should my sister prove more recalcitrant with The Master than we anticipate and he need more time with her. The house, of course, can be quickly resold once she has married again. It will be well worth the cost of the decor to allow us this time. Besides, Lucinda can afford it. She will still come to a new marriage a wealthy woman. Is this plan suitable to you, gentlemen?" the bishop asked them.

"What about her maid?" the duke said. "No lady would travel without her maid, George."

"Polly? A most naughty piece of fluff, my lords. She will certainly go with my dear sister. And when the time comes for Lucinda to make her choice, Polly will, I promise you, offer you all a most charming entertainment along with her mistress. She's a juicy fuck if there ever was one. I shall miss her, but whichever of you gentlemen wins Lucinda will have Polly in your household, too. I envy you. I have had a most enjoyable two years with Polly, and her sister, Molly, who is Caroline's maid. They are wickedly lewd lasses."