“I am simply tired,” she finally answered, which was not a lie.
“I am not at all surprised. You have been incredibly busy with preparing the Simpson sisters to be reintroduced and helping His Grace plan a ball.”
She wasn’t helping His Grace do anything. “I am helping the sisters plan a ball. I am certain that His Grace will simply make an appearance as expected.” She did not dare tell Noah just how much time she spent with Eldridge because he could become overprotective. Those two had a shaky relationship as it was. Some slights from the past, such as when Eldridge’s sister had tried to blackmail Noah, or Rosalind as it were, were never truly forgotten, even if Eldridge had been forgiven of any slight because he had been ignorant of the situation.
Still, that did not mean she wanted Noah to pay a call on Eldridge and make ridiculous demands.
“Are you certain all is well?” Roseland asked. “You are frowning.”
Was she?
“I am tired,” she said again. “I think I will retire.” With those words, Penelope left them before they could ask any further questions and retired to her chamber. She waited patiently as the maid helped her from her gown and into a night rail before Penelope dismissed her. She then sat at the mirror of her dressing table and pulled the pins out of her air, allowing her curls to drop to her shoulders and down her back, all the while wondering if she looked different from the experience with Eldridge.
She did not notice anything on the outside but she was different inside.
Goodness, her body had been transformed by his lips, the caress at her side, where no man had ever touched her before. She had ached, her breasts mostly, and as his hand was just beneath them, she had arched, hoping that he would touch her, but he did not.
Since when did breasts ache and feel as if they were swelling and why would she want him to touch her there?
It was all rather discombobulating.
What would it have been like had he caressed her there?
Penelope brought a hand up and touched herself, felt the weight in her hand and wondered if Eldridge doing so would have brought her pleasure.
“Oh, this is ridiculous,” she uttered aloud as she picked up the brush to run it through her hair.
He was a rake and thus kissed in the manner of a rake, which was certainly not proper! Yet, she had once overheard Rosalind and her friends mention that the most improper things were also the most enjoyable.
Penelope had not given it much thought and assumed that they meant something like drinking brandy or partaking in too many sweets. She now wondered if they were talking of kisses and if so, were there intimacies that were considered improper but pleasurable?
Oh, she understood the mechanics of intimacy and what was required for an heir but gave it little thought as she assumed that she would not wed and thus, such information was not important to her. Except now, with one kiss from a rake, she was quite curious as to what other pleasures she might be missing.
Was there a way to discover those pleasures without being ruined?
If she asked Eldridge, would he show her?
Penelope’s face burned with the very thought.
The kiss in the carriage had been a risk, not that she had instigated it, but to ask to learn more…well, she would likely be ruined beyond repair if anyone learned. Therefore, she would need to push such curiosity from her mind and if possible, forget the kiss.
She rose from the dressing table and padded to her bed and crawled under the covers. After she turned on her side, Penelope bunched the pillow beneath her head.
She was never going to forget that kiss.
Chapter 17
As soon as he returned home, Henry had marched to his library and pulled the books that Bernice should not read, nor any of his cousins, from the top shelf. He then took them to his set of rooms and hid them away. He also had not opened them. He had already ached enough from the kiss in the carriage and Henry knew that if he had viewed such drawings and read the passages, his discomfort would have only increased.
It had been a difficult night. A long one that had him waking several times.
It also led him to be in a rather foul mood the next morning so when he entered the breakfast room to find his cousins cheerfully chatting as Judith and Bernice told them all about Athena’s Salon, he had done nothing more than pour himself a cup of coffee and ask that a plate be prepared and delivered to the library. He intended to remain there, behind closed doors until such time as Penelope was due to call for afternoon tea.
At least, that had been his intention, and he did partake of the coffee and breakfast, but his concentration lacked.
He tried to review the missives from his estate manager, and he did, but set them aside without a response while he promised himself that he would address them later.
He then attempted to review the household accounts and check the calculations, but simply did not care. He had never found an error yet so why should he worry about finding one now?
