Free The Switch by Lynsay Sands Page A

wardrobe. There were no tables with men seated playing cards, no baccarat tables, nothing in the way of gambling at all.
    The slam of the door behind her drew her head around to see that Radcliffe was no longer with them. She was alone with the old crone who had answered the door.
    "Here we are, luvy. Let's get to it then."
    Charlie's eyes widened and she took an abrupt step backward, quickly catching the other woman's hands as she reached out to undo her cravat.
    "What do you think you are doing?" "Helping ye to undress, son."
    "Why on earth would you think to do a thing like that?" she asked shortly, redoing the difficult tie.
    The woman's lips quirked in amusement. " 'Tis difficult to do with yer clothes on, lad."
    "There is nothing we are like to do that I need remove my clothes for," Charlie assured her, stepping stiffly toward the door. She had barely taken a step when Aggie caught her arm and whirled her back around.
    "Oh, ye like it like that, do ye? Quick and with yer clothes still on," she murmured insinuatingly, reaching down to cup Charlie at
the juncture between her legs.
    Gasping in honor, Charlie jumped back from the touch, but that was as far as she got. The woman was still holding her arm.
    "My, you are a small one, are ye no'. I did not e'en feel ye," she exclaimed,
turning her attention and hands back to removing Charlie's cravat. "Well, 'Tis a handicap that, but not insurmountable.
Ol' Aggie'll show ye how to overcome it."
    "Overcome it?" Scowling, Charlie tried to push her hands away and refasten her tie.
    "Aye. Trust me. The saying is true, 'Tis not the size o' the sail, but the way you handle the jib that decides the ride. Ye feelin' a'right, boy? Yer lookin' peaked all of a sudden."
    "Oh, dear Lord!" Whirling, Charlie ran for the door, but before she could open it, she was caught by the arm and dragged backward toward the bed.
    "Now, now, lad. No need to panic. Aggie'll be gentle."
    "I do not want you to be gentle," she managed, tugging desperately at her arm. Much to her relief, Aggie stopped at that and turned to arch one eyebrow at her.
    "Ye don't?"
    "Nay." She shook her head frantically. "I do not __"
    "Well, why did ye no' say something? Well, that explains everything. I was starting to worry… Ye were actin' so odd." Shaking her head, she moved toward the wardrobe beside the door to riffle through, muttering, "Well, now. Lord Radcliffe,
he said ye were inexperienced, but 'tis obvious yer not and ye know what ye want—All, ha!"
    Charlie was still blinking over the first part of her statement when the woman grunted in
satisfaction, withdrew from the wardrobe, and turned toward her, rope in one hand and a long, evil-looking whip in the other.
    "There. Now that I ken what ye like, we can get down to business." Smiling sweetly, she cracked the whip.
    Charlie bolted for the door. She had barely taken two steps, however, when the snap of the whip preceded something tangling around her feet and
drawing tight. Crying out, she threw her hands out to break her fall as she stumbled forward onto her stomach.
    "Now there's a naughty boy for ye," the hag crooned, catching her by the collar and dragging her back toward the bed. "We'll have to spank that naughtiness out, I think."
    Charlie thought not and began to struggle in earnest as the woman sank onto the side of the bed and tried to draw her over her knee. Breaking loose, she turned away, only to be caught about the waist and thrust onto the bed on her back. Before she could move, the woman had crawled to sit upon her chest.
    Snatching up the rope she had tossed onto the bed earlier, the woman quickly tied Charlie down; each wrist to its own bedpost.
    "There!" The woman gave a sigh of satisfaction, then blew the hair that had come loose on her forehead out of her face. She eyed Charlie with a bit of exasperation. "Yer a lively one, you are. I'm getting too old fer these games. I'd best get a huge tip out of this."
    When Charlie merely stared at her