She cared for him. He had, deep down, known she cared for him. But hearing her say the words made him want to grab her and never let her go.
He finally dared to touch her. He put his hand on her face, stroked her cheek, tucked her hair behind an ear. “You were showing that.”
He wouldn’t say more when she had more to say.
“I didn’t think about you caring for me,” she said. “I wasn’t ready for that.”
What had they been speaking of when her face went dead?
“No one has ever cared for you,” he said.
She stiffened. “That’s not true. Hodge and Dando and?—”
“I mean a man who’s not your brother. I was speaking of a man who wants you and wants your satisfaction.”
She bit her lip. “No, you’re right.”
“I want both things.”
Her legs moved against the mattress. She wouldn’t look at him.
“Who told you that not spending during coitus was not natural? Who made you think it was disappointing?” He could hear how cold he sounded. He wasn’t cold, at all. He was on fire with anger.
If Susannah sensed his anger, she didn’t show it.
“My sweetheart. Well, I called him my sweetheart. Ned Greenway.”
That name. “The owner of The Swan?”
She nodded.
“Mr. Greenway is mistaken. I don’t want you to think my experience is so extensive that I profess myself expert in this, but my mother’s brother’s wife . . . well, my aunt was and still is a woman who cares nothing for propriety, and, when I was sixteen, she took me aside and gave me a lecture about women. It was very embarrassing for me even though she was blunt and plain-spoken and spent more time on my responsibilities to my bed partners than anything else.”
Susannah had gotten up on her elbow, was leaning towards him. She was totally absorbed in what he was saying, and Henry silently offered up thanks to the marchioness for that long-ago lesson.
“She explained to me that many women, indeed, she thought most women, required more stimulation than simple coitus.”
“How did she know this?”
“She claims she knows everything. I have only recently begun to doubt that, but I believe she does know the truth of this matter.”
“And she said many are like me?”
“Most.”
“And you believe her? Your not-extensive experience has shown you . . . ?”
“Yes.”
“But you would want to . . . do that?”
Explore her sweet body, learn the sounds of her gratification, taste her?Oh, Susannah.
“I did say I wanted to do anything that gave you pleasure.”
She smiled ruefully. “I thought that was something men said and didn’t do.”
Damn Ned Greenway and his ilk. Henry strained upwards from the pillow and kissed her lips.
