“Engaged?To whom?”
“To Fred Larkin.A man with a very nice smallholding in our parish.A very nice young man, too.And now she is kissing Charles!”
“A very nice young man, as well, I’d add.”
She tutted.“You do not seem terribly concerned.I am worried for the hearts of both men—and hers, as well.”
“All parties involved are very young,” he said.“If they do not come to an understanding between them, they will have time to heal.”
“Oh, will they?”she said, finished with her ablutions and coming over to the bed.“And have you recovered from every wound you received at their age?”
“No,” he said, with a smile.“But I have a sensitive nature.”
“I do not even knowwhatwounds you received at eighteen.I am not sure you have ever cared for a woman before me.”
The words came out of her mouth before she could think better of them.Once they had, she felt herself blush.It felt wrong to reference his feelings for her so casually when she had not returned his sentiments.But if he minded, his countenance did not show it.
“I dare say you are correct.But a man can be wounded without being in love.”
She turned to look at him.His brown eyes glowed as they often did in low light.
“Do tell me what you mean.”
She reached out and put her hands on his chest through the lawn of the nightshirt.Somehow, this incident with Sally made her feel closer to him.
“It is embarrassing.Like everything I relayed to you about my past.”
“My past is little better,” she reminded him.“Or have you forgotten the Lord Gilchrist episode?”
“No, I haven’t,” he said.“Although that seemed more sad than embarrassing to me.”
“Perhaps,” she said.“But tell me of your youthful folly.”
“Well, it was my second time with a woman.At a brothel.A very elite establishment.”
She rolled her eyes and laughed.“Of course.”
His dark hair and eyes shone against the white of the bedclothes.He had seldom looked more, she thought, like that prince from the storybook.That one illustrated at the end of her childhood books who, once, Beatrice had thought might be for her.
“And she reached down and touched my cock and she said, as lightly as you please,Oh, a small one.’”
“Were you terribly affronted?”
“I sincerely wished to sink through the floor and die.”
“Perhaps she was delighted with her discovery.”
“Perhaps,” he said, seeming to consider it for a while.“Though I wasn’t.”
“Is that what led you to be so circumspect in your dealing with women?”
He shrugged.“It certainly did not help.After that, I never slept with a woman who wasn’t my mistress.I wanted more control.And far less honesty.”
“I like that you are being honest with me now.”She kissed him.“And so I can be honest with you.I can, in fact, tell you a secret.Your cock is perfect.”
These words, she had no problem saying to him.
He gave a low hum of approval.
