“Marred flesh does not offend the lady?”
“Milton,” she ventured, “may I touch your scars? Do they hurt you still?”
His eyes flew open. “You may not, and they don’t.”
Elizabeth quickly looked away.
“They are not marks I like reminding of.” He turned her chin back to face him. “It is not your touch I fear, but memories better left buried.”
“Then may I hold you instead?” She did not understand this sudden urge she had, when she barely knew, let alone respected, this man. “I wish to…” Yet she couldn’t say ‘comfort,’ for it made her sound as if she thought him weak.
“What do you wish, wife?” His dimples winked at her again.
“I wish to please you.” She surprised herself. “And I don’t know how, when so many others have pleased you so well before.”
He roughly pulled her to him, molding her to his form. “Christ, Lizzie, you please me immensely. Just look how my prick leaps to your touch.”
His manhood did indeed press hard against her belly, though she mumbled into his chest, “That is not what I meant, sir.”
“Then what did you mean, wife?”
“I don’t know!” She pulled from him, but he would not let go.
“Lizzie.” Milton’s voice turned stern. “Do not overthink this, or overthink me. ’Tisn’t wise. You let that head of yours run away from you too often.”
“Milton, I could no more stop thinking than I could stop breathing.”
“Oi. An’ don’t I know it.” His finger traced her nose before he reached for her spectacles on the nightstand, placing these squarely on her face. “But too much thought in a woman’s head only leads a lady astray. I prefer my wife remain?—”
“Ignorant? Passive? Doltish?” Elizabeth’s hackles rose. “Milton, you do not speak so dismissively of Miss Li, who is also a woman—anaccomplishedbusinesswoman, I might add.”
His eyes flashed.
“You’d not dismiss your own mother in such a condescending manner either, and she is an equally accomplished woman of business.”
His dimples vanished.
“I deserve the chance to prove myself of equal worth. A woman as capable as both Li and?—”
“Lizzie,” he uttered sharply, “you are immensely fortunate not to have led the lives my mother and Li were forced to endure before either found success in bloodybusiness.”
“I do not question their pasts,” she defended. “I question your dismissal of my person, your wife, as an equally capable, rational woman—circumstance notwithstanding.”
He removed himself from the bed, allowing her a clear view of his fine backside.
“You are adorable when arguing a point, wife, but I am spent from a night of lovemaking and therefore in need of more sustenance than words. We can continue this discussion later, when I’ve a full belly and you are less hysterical.”
Which was the worst thing he could have said, pummeling her pride only more. Elizabeth leapt out of bed, donned her banyan, and stormed back to her room, determined to spend the rest of the dayawayfrom her belittling toad of a husband.
She didn’t care how well the bastard fucked, or how generous his mood might sometimes be. His comment had stung worse than the spankings he’d given, far worse than she wished to admit.
He’d wounded her intellect.
For the rest of the day, she remained locked in her room, skewering a certain brooding baron with her scraping, racing quill.
ACT II
RECKLESSNESS
