“Nor I you,” he said, his hands smoothing against her back. “In the beginning, I used to drive my phaeton past your estate near St. James Park and just…hope to catch a glimpse of you.”
She wrinkled her brow as she continued to stare up at him. “And did you?”
“Sometimes,” he said. “But it always made it hurt more. So I stopped after a while.”
“Well, you had much to keep you busy,” she said, pushing aside the sad emotions this conversation stirred in her. The ones that felt like a betrayal of her husband. “After all, you have become very successful.”
“Thanks in part to the marquess, of course,” Peter said.
“Yes, I suppose so. We three have been inextricably bound for longer than I ever knew. And now Elliot has brought you to me.” She shivered. “I hardly know what to feel.”
“It seems you have had a happy life with him, though,” Peter said. “Your physical compatibility is evident even when you touch each other in a glancing way.”
She nodded. Under any other circumstances, it would feel…wrongto talk about her private, physical relationship with her husband. Especially to another man. But since they were all sharing in such sinful activities together, she didn’t hold back.
“You and I had only ever kissed, so I was such an innocent when we married,” she said with a faint smile. She would hardly recognize that nervous girl now. “And Elliot was patient but determined to learn every facet of my pleasure. And help me learn them too. Passion has never been our problem. In fact, it has often solved a great many others.”
“Such as?”
She worried her lip as she thought of those early days after the marriage when she’d felt so lost. “When I realized I could so entirely trust that man with my body, that he would never do anything to hurt me, that he would always seek my enthusiastic consent and shattering pleasure…I was able to trust him in other ways. In every way.”
Peter nodded slowly. “Good. I admit that when I found out your father was marrying you off to a title, I feared that your happiness would be threatened. So the fact that you have been happy with the marquess is a relief.”
“And what about you? What about yourhappiness?” She gave him a teasing wink. “I’ve heard that you find a great deal of it all over London and as your success grows are a sought-after companion in the receiving roomandthe bedroom.”
“Ah, so you are researching my romantic life, are you?” he asked with a laugh. “Were you scandalized?”
“First off, you are not particularly discreet, so there is little research involved,” Merritt said, and felt no jealousy now. Had there been before she’d been allowed to experience the pleasures of his flesh? Perhaps. But now? No. “And I was…titillated. You seem to have a vast appetite for sin.”
He shrugged. “I think I always did, though I did my best to wedge that desire into what I was told was a palatable direction. Eventually, though, my mindset changed. After all, I had done everything I was supposed to do and yet was denied. Once your father pushed me out into the world, I stopped giving a damn so much what others thought of me. And yes, I experimented over the years, followed my desire to whatever woman…or man…it took me to. Is that what you mean by a vast appetite?”
She sat up and looked at him. “Yes, I suppose it is.”
“And that shocked you?” he asked softly.
She shook her head. “No. Elliot and I have a lifetime membership to the Donville Masquerade and we explore erotic texts together. We’ve seen what a wide variety of pleasures there can be, even if we haven’t involved ourselves in all of them. I know that men can desire men. They can desire men and women individually and together, and express those desires in a variety of ways. As can women. I’ve only ever found such expressions to be arousing, not shocking.”
There was relief that flooded Peter’s face and she realized he’d believed she might judge him for his desires. But she didn’t. She only felt curiosity about them…probably because they made her take a fuller accounting of her husband.
Elliot had watched Peter with as much interest as she had during this powerful day together. When Peter had touched him as they all came together just moments before, she’d felt the marquess react with pleasure. She’d wondered before if Elliot shared the same proclivities that Peter had just admitted to.
Now she questioned that fact even more. Found herself titillated by the potential answer. What would it be like to watch her husband, the man of great control, the man who never fully gave over…be taken by Peter? Be pleasured by Peter. And offer his wealth of talents at giving pleasure in return.
Her body twitched with renewed desire.
Peter tugged her back into his arms and sighed. “Rest now, Merry. We’ll have plenty of time to discuss our pasts, but I think your husband has a great deal in store for us in the next few days. You’ll need all your strength for that.”
She nodded and closed her eyes. Exhaustion washed over her with the same overpowering wave as pleasure had shortly before. And she gave in to it, fading into sleep and dreams that were now just an echo of how erotic her reality had become.
CHAPTER6
Peter
Peter stepped outside into the cooler night air and caught his breath. Elliot was coming toward the house, a bucket of water in each hand. He had not put on a shirt, so the flexing muscles of his arms were clearly outlined in the moonlight that fell over him and made him look like a dark fallen angel.
“I thought I told you to take care of her,” Elliot snapped as he reached Peter, forced to raise his voice over the sound of the roaring sea just below them.
Peter didn’t ask for permission, but simply took one of the buckets from the marquess’s hand. “She is asleep,” he explained.
