“We would be honored,” Trem said, bowing his head.
Minutes later, they departed the farmhouse, having made promises and plans to return later. And Henrietta could not believe that her life could change—once again—so swiftly.
Chapter Twenty-Six
In the week that followed their first meeting with Mary Forster, Trem marveled many times at his own happiness. With Henrietta, he felt that he had walked through a door to a new life—a life that, for his entire adolescence and adulthood, he had thought he wanted to avoid but now found beyond anything he had ever experienced. That life itself, of course, was the unfettered intimacy he now could enjoy with Henrietta, when they had nothing to interrupt their time together except their excursions to Mary Forster’s home.
While he was still unable to lift his shoulder or move his arm much and he had to use the sling, the worst of the pain had passed. He was grateful for this relief because it meant he could focus on the moment in front of him.
After they had returned from their first visit with Mary Forster, Trem could tell that Henrietta was overwhelmed and in need of distraction. She had thanked him profusely for his quick thinking in regard to their reason for calling on her mother—and even he had to commend himself for spinning an impulse of Henrietta’s into a dignified plan. But when he had asked her how it had felt to truly spend time with her mother, she had been relatively subdued. He sensed that she wasn’t quite sure what to think about the woman.
Therefore, seeing it as his solemn duty as her fiancé, he decided to give her the gift that he had intended to present her with the night she disappeared.
They were sitting on the bed when he pulled out the leather box. At the sight of it, her expression changed—she seemed to transform back into her usual self.
“Have we reached the point in our affair where you give me jewelry? Or need I worry that this bauble will be a parting gift? I know when men tire of their mistresses it is customary to dismiss them with a present.”
“Decidedly not,” Trem said, a smile pulling at his lips almost painfully, such was his amusement at what she would soon find in her hands. “This is not the type of jewelry that you give a woman you do not want to bed again.”
“Oh, la!” She laughed. “It must be quite the gem indeed.”
“Open it.”
She followed his instruction. To his delight, a crinkle of confusion appeared above her brow.
“Oh—thank you,” she said, her voice uncertain. “They’re beautiful.”
“You don’t seem pleased.”
“I am!” she said, turning the pearls so that he could see them. While the pearls were larger than average, the piece was otherwise indistinguishable from those that adorned the necks of every woman of the ton. “I already have a strand—but they’ll pair beautifully.”
He smiled at her attempt to not appear underwhelmed.
“These pearls are special, however,” he replied. “There is more than one way to wear them.”
The crinkle between her brows returned again. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you can wear them like normal pearls—around your neck, on the outside. And they are, genuinely, pearls. Not paste. But you can also wear them on the inside.”
“The inside?” she said, a smile returning to her face…and the beginnings of a blush.
“You see, I did not simply pop into Rundell and Bridge and buy these pearls. I had to go somewhere much more specialized.”
Her cheeks shone a very becoming crimson. “I have heard ladies whisper about such places. Where certain specialty items built for pleasure can be bought. How do you use them?”
“Well.” Trem could feel his own pulse rising. He touched her waist, lowering his mouth to her ear. “First, I need to get you very, very wet.”
Even though he had bedded her last night, he needed her again. But he would have to wait until after dinner. His little experiment needed time.
With his shoulder, he was still limited in his full repertoire of movements, but he was much more dexterous now than he had been even a few days ago. He swept her under him, kissing her lips and neck and breasts until she was panting. He pushed up her skirts and was delighted to find that she wasn’t wearing drawers.
Breaking away from her, he took the special pearls in his hand.
“What are you going to do?” The look of trepidation on her face, mixed with arousal, drove him wild.
“You’ll see.”
He spread her legs and looked at her gorgeous core. The pink, glistening flesh called out to him. Nevertheless he would have to resist for the moment.
