“You have only frowned when you have looked at me unclothed. I would like to know why.”
There was a very good reason, but should she ask? “It is not that I find anything wrong,” she explained. “It is a curiosity.”
Leopold gave a slow nod, as if he understood, yet he did not.
“Why does it look different?” she blurted out.
“What looks different?” he asked slowly.
She may regret this question tomorrow, and it was likely she would not be able to look Leopold in the eye for some time, but she needed the answer.
“I have viewed statues and paintings and two of the times your appearance was almost similar to those.”
He nodded for her to go on.
“But when I unwrapped you, it wasn’t.”
“It?”
“The, um...” what was it called? There was a name but she could not think of it, probably because she’d been told never to think on it or discuss it.
“My manhood?”
“Yes!”
The corner of his mouth began to quirk, or at least she thought so, but he took a drink so maybe she was mistaken.
“How was it different?”
“It seemed bigger and not as soft. Was I mistaken? I have no experience in these matters, and I am very curious.”
“You were not mistaken, Bethany.”
“Then after you kissed me, it seemed larger than before, yet when I came back from downstairs, it had shrunk again.”
There was humor in his eyes as if he were trying not to laugh at her. But who else was she going to ask? Such a question could see her ruined.
“There is the normal state, and the other...” He stared into her eyes, his getting darker. “Desire.”
Bethany frowned. “Desire? You were barely conscious when I unwrapped you from the blanket. Do gentlemen suffer from desire in such instances?”
This time one corner of his mouth quirked before he fully smiled. “I was very conscious and had a most tantalizing view down your bodice while you worked at the knots in the rope, first about my ankles and then around my chest.”
Her face heated and Bethany looked down, then put a hand over the gape in her dress.
“I was desiring you, Bethany.”
“And after you kissed me?”
“Yes, very much so, as you noticed.”
She seemed to think on his words and recalled conversations she had overheard… “Oh!” At least she thought she understood. Often the conversations or comments she’d heard made little sense. Her eyes widened as she put it all together. So much was clearer now. “Oh!”
“Yes, Bethany.” He chuckled. “Oh!”
Chapter Twelve
It was delightful how much whiskey and ale could loosen a tongue and Leopold wondered if she would have ever broached the subject of her curiosity when sober.
