As he ate a light supper alone and waited for traffic to slow on the streets to venture back for his assignation, Evan pondered their relationship. Having toyed with the idea of marriage, he could not set it aside. Despite their argument, he’d missed her for the month they’d been apart, missed more than her body.
But even if he overcame his fears and asked for her hand, she did not want more than a secret affair.
****
A week later, Althea was more tired than ever. Before their reconciliation, she had slept poorly without Evan’s late-night visits. Once those resumed, she had hoped their renewed routine would resolve her insomnia. However, Evan seemed to be following a script. He’d arrive, ask perfunctory questions about her day and her business, then seduce her.
The sex was amazing, as always. She was still learning new things, techniques, positions, pacing just when she thought he had run out of new approaches. They’d discovered she liked the flogger more than spanking but only occasionally, he liked being in control, and that orgasms were more intense when she was on her hands and knees with him behind her, but they both preferred face to face. Neither admitted it, but she thought it was more intimate.
However, Evan’s attitude now lacked the easy affection they’d had. He was playing a part, and she was frustrated. She wanted the warm, supportive, caring Evan back, not only the expert lover.
How does one complain that a partner’s expertise, as profound as it might be, is not enough?
Beth was struggling as well. It seemed that Ford found her background intimidating, to say nothing of her current network. He’d been quick to accept her assistance in finding another blacksmith but rejected her suggestions on how to sell his pieces.
Althea understood his concerns. Like her, he did not want to be the center of gossip, albeit for different reasons. When she’d attempted to explain that to Beth, her cousin had insisted she could be discreet, and Althea did not have the heart to point out her history that said otherwise.
Gaining the front hall after another grueling day on her feet at the store, Althea handed off her cloak to the butler. She noted the pile of correspondence in the salver on the front hall table and sifted through the combination of posted missives and hand-delivered invitations. Among the correspondence, she found a fancy invitation. “Here, Beth, ’tis to both of us. Open it. I want to see what my solicitor sent.”
A moment later, Beth bounded into the library behind her, not letting her get to her desk. “’Tis perfect. Please, Althea? We must go! ’Tis the best way to get over that man.”
Dread stole over Althea. What could possibly have taken her cousin from the doldrums to bouncing except something naughty? Bracing herself, she reached for the invitation.
Beth held it tight. “Please say yes, Althea. We’ve already been to the one during the Season. And then Cheltie’s house party and the off-season fête here. This will be much tamer than that, and you enjoyed Greenborough Park. Please?”
Ah. We’ve been invited to a demi-monde party again. Beth and her connections. Althea’s blood ran cold when she realized her name was on it as well. Concerned anew about her reputation, she held her hand out. “Allow me to see the invitation, please.”
Scanning it, she found the hostesses names scrolled at the bottom. Sarah Potter’s name she knew from the ball during the Season. “Who is Mrs. Lockhart?”
“Do you remember Penelope attended the school with me,” Beth answered, “and participated in the virgin auction at the theatre?”
“Yes.”
“Both ladies were involved with the auction. They have school connections, and Prudence Lockhart manages the theatre. They are very careful, and invitees are thoroughly vetted.”
“I see. Will Evan or Ford be there?”
Beth shrugged, then admitted, “I think the upstairs is for demonstrations of his wares.”
“Is this something you really want to do? And what if they’re not there?” Personally, she thought it would be torture to know the heights of pleasure she could achieve with the right person and be surrounded by others interested in that same pleasure, but not have the person she wanted available. She supposed she could broach the subject with Evan later that evening if he was willing to talk for more than a minute. And her body still hummed when she remembered the last two balls like this and the scenes she’d watched.
“I darned well do. I am tired of pining for him, and self-pleasure is not at all the same.”
Althea blushed at her cousin’s bold words, even though she could commiserate. “Right, then. If you are certain of these ladies’ discretion, I am willing.”
“Oh, thank you, cuz, thank you!” Beth bounded out of the room.
****
Evan was exhausted. He still had not decided what he wanted from Althea. He only knew he was not happy about her request for continued secrecy, despite his claim that he’d accept her terms.
Where will all this lead? How do I decide that without daylight hours with Althea to the extent her work allows. Damn me, I’ll take a supper, a breakfast, anything that allows us to further our relationship beyond the bedroom.
He snorted. His silly girlish side was dramatizing again. A few months ago, he would have been more than happy not to have to speak to a sexual partner at all, with no thought to the future. There were a hundred men and women behind Althea who would leap into his bed given the chance, with no questions asked. Why worry about the future?
Because I care.He’d snapped at her when she thought he would fund her business because he was hurt that she was yet another person after his money. She wasn’t, but she didn’t want all of him, either. She had the power to hurt him, because he cared for her more than he ever had for a bed partner.
He sighed. Something had to change. He could not keep playing this clandestine role.
