There was a light knock on her door and she rushed to it, almost pulling it from its hinges as she opened it. Merritt was outside, her face lined with concern. “When we arrived back, Turner said you needed me, what—”
Before she could finish the question, Vanessa grasped her hand and tugged her into the room, closing and locking the door behind her.
“Are you well?” Merritt asked, her tone growing sharper and more concerned.
“Yes. More than well. Or...I’m not sure.” Vanessa shook her head. “My mind is spinning and you are the only person I can talk to about it. The only one who could ever understand.”
“Oh, my dear, this is such a difficult time, I know. And of course, I am here for you to vent to or plan with when it comes to your future. We will work it out.” Merritt’s eyes narrowed. “And if I can do anything to destroy Lord Warwick, I will do it.”
Vanessa blinked. “No. Oh, this isn’t about Arthur or any of that. At least, not directly.”
Merritt pointed to the chairs before the fire with one hand and they each took one. “What then?”
Vanessa shifted her weight, worrying her hands in her lap. It was one thing to plan to say this out loud and another to do it, even to a woman who had a sense of erotic freedom that most ladies of her station didn’t admit to. Her cheeks burned as she mustered all her courage.
“Benedict and Darrius…” She shook her head. “Mr. Norfolk and Mr. Warwick…”
Merritt’s eyes went wide. “Yes?”
“They have offered me a…well, a…they’ve suggested that we could…” Merritt leaned forward to the edge of her seat, nodding in encouragement. Vanessa shut her eyes so she wouldn’t have to look at her. “Have an affair. The three of us. Together. Like…like you do with Egerton and Mr. Reid.”
She opened one eye to peek at Merritt. She had leaned back in her chair again with a slightly knowing smile. “You figured that out, did you? At last?”
Vanessa’s cheeks burned hotter. “I-I saw you. Briefly. In the library.”
Merritt burst out a bark of laughter and now her cheeks pinkened. “I told Elliot that he should lock the door. He got carried away and dragged Peter and I right along with him, as he is wont to do.”
“How did it happen?”
“The library or the life?” Merritt asked.
Vanessa smiled. “The life, I think. The arrangement.”
“That is a long and complicated story. One I might tell you someday when it won’t influence your own decision like it might now,” Merritt said. “But what you should know is that we are very happy together. I couldn’t imagine my life without both of them. Nor picture how they would be if they were denied each other. It is not what Society might deem normal, whatever that word means. But it is exactly perfect for us.”
Vanessa nodded and thought again of the charged moments in the parlor earlier that day. That had felt perfect, too. Like the passion was a circle between them, always flowing round and round. Infinitely exciting and arousing…and comforting.
“And they suggested you three could do something similar?” Merritt asked with a shake of her head. “I might have guessed about Norfolk, but Warwick seems so tightly wound.”
“He wasn’t earlier today,” Vanessa murmured.
Merritt’s mouth dropped open. “So you have already agreed and taken part?”
“I did agree, and we did…there was…it was wonderful, Merritt. So passionate and charged and pleasurable. But we didn’t…er…complete the…neither of them fully…”
“Fucked you?” Merritt asked mildly. “Be bold about it, my dear. There is nothing better in the world.”
Vanessa swallowed. She knew the word. It was sometimes used in the naughty books Merritt shared. It conjured heated, sweaty images now of one or both of these men continuing what they’d started that day.
“Yes,” she said. “Other things happened. But not that. They wanted to give me a chance to change my mind now that we…we went so far.”
“I see,” Merritt said. “So they are tending to your needs first.”
Vanessa nodded. “I think so. Though I’ve made such poor choices in the past, perhaps I do not know how to see the warning signs.”
“You’ve had bad choices thrust upon you by selfish parties,” Merritt corrected with a frown. “And beyond an affair, have they spoken at all about your future?”
“Yes. I suppose that is part of their offer. That I might be able to choose between them eventually for a marriage.” When Vanessa said it out loud, her heart stuttered.
