Page 18 of Seducing the Marquess (Lords and Ladies in Love 1)

Eugenia let out a breath, then turned to Lady Lane to pull out the blanket she’d brought with her. Still attempting to quell her rapid heartbeat, she moved closer to the pond and spread the blanket out.

There had been definite heavy-lidded passion in Devon’s eyes when he’d regarded her just now. Why wouldn’t he act on his desire? She needed to redouble her efforts. It would be foolish to arouse her husband so and then have him seek out a new mistress to do the “slaking” her mother was so sure Eugenia would find distasteful.

Not so, Mother.

“Something smells wonderful. I’m very hungry.” Devon placed the basket on the blanket and opened the top. He pulled out bread, cheese, grapes, and a bottle of wine. Digging farther, he laid cold chicken and apple tarts on a plate. “A feast!”

Eugenia reached for a grape and sucked it into her mouth, making a plopping sound. Devon’s eyes grew wide as he stared at her. She smiled and picked up another grape, licking the outside slowly and deliberately, wrapping her tongue around and around before she placed it between her teeth and bit down, the juice running over her chin. She stared at him. “Um, so sweet.”

A piece of chicken dangled from Devon’s fingers as he watched her, a slight flush on his cheeks. His breathing increased, and Eugenia was concerned for a minute that he would suffer apoplexy. “Are you all right, my lord?”

He blinked a few times. “Yes,” he rasped. He bit into the chicken and made a poor attempt at smiling.

“Will you open the wine?” Eugenia pulled out two wine glasses and held them toward him.

“Certainly.” With fumbling fingers, he inserted the corkscrew and pulled the cork out with a pop. His face was still flushed as he poured the liquid into the two glasses. After Devon tasted the wine and deemed it acceptable, Eugenia picked hers up and took a sip. She closed her eyes and bent her head back, humming as the liquid slid down her throat.

Her eyes snapped open at the choking sound coming from her husband. “Are you sure you are all right, my lord?”

“What are you doing, Eugenia?” He barely got the words out.

“Drinking wine?”

He had definitely been affected by the performance she’d just put on. She had the urge to squeal with happiness, but even her new self would not allow such improper behavior. Instead, she smiled inwardly and continued, “You are not eating.”

Devon ripped off a piece of chicken with his teeth, bringing to mind a dog that had torn into a chunk of meat he’d stolen from Cook before her broom hit him on the head. She continued to relish every bite of food, making appropriate humming sounds, running her tongue over her lips and generally creating such a disturbance for her oh-so-proper husband that he nearly choked on a piece of cheese.

“Tell me about your childhood.” Eugenia wiped her mouth with a napkin and placed it alongside her.

Devon frowned. “My childhood?”

“Yes. You’ve never spoken of it, and I often wondered if there was a particular reason. Was it a happy one?”

Taking a sip of wine, he swallowed and said, “To the extent any child of the beau monde is happy. With only two sisters to play with, I’m afraid I spent more time alone than in company. Mother made sure the girls were kept indoors doing whatever it is little girls do to train to be superior wives and mothers.”

Eugenia wrinkled her nose. “Although my childhood was similar to your sisters, I have only recently come to realize how little freedom and variety little girls have in their lives.”

“What do you mean?” He eased back against the trunk of the tree they sat under, his long legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed, his hands casually resting right where she didn’t want to look. Well, actually, yes, she did want to look. In five months of marriage she had never seen her husband’s man parts but, after spending so much time with her book, she’d certainly seen plenty of other men.

Was his member thick, or long? She’d felt it plunge into her body, quite painfully the first time, but had never seen it, or touched it with her hand. The next time he came to her, she would have to rectify that. Wouldn’t that shock her husband?

Pulling her thoughts away from the dangerous place they were headed, she answered, “I mean, you ran around outdoors, probably climbing trees, wading into ponds, and discovering all manner of things, much like my brother, Nash, while your sisters were forced to sit still.”

“That’s what little girls want to do.” He seemed genuinely perplexed by her remarks. “I mean, they are not physically made to do the things that little boys do.”

Why she was arguing this point confounded her. She’d never questioned her upbringing before now. It seemed the book had changed her in other ways. “I do not agree, my lord. My legs are able to climb and run, my arms are able to swim, my eyes are able to explore new things they’ve never seen before.”

Devon shook his head. “We all have our place in life, Eugenia. Women are made a certain way and therefore are limited in what they can do. A lady’s place is to run a household, bear children, and raise them to be proper adults.”

Eugenia placed her wine glass on the blanket, then shifted to her knees, leaning forward. No doubt the look on her face was somewhat disagreeable, because Devon leaned back.

“Suppose a woman wanted to not do all those things? Suppose she wanted to sit in Parliament? Or visit Tattersall’s on a Tuesday for the auctions, or visit White’s, or a gaming hell?” Her voice rose as all the things she had been denied, that she never knew she cared about, bubbled to the surface.

Devon opened and closed his mouth several times before he spoke. “You want to go to a gaming hell?”

All the air left Eugenia’s lungs, and she felt deflated, like a balloon that had a pin stuck in it. Of course she didn’t want to go to a gaming hell. What she wanted was to have her husband make love to her like he had his mistress.

There. She’d said those words, although just to herself. She was a deviant, and probably headed to hell upon her death. “No. I do not want to go to a gaming hell. That was only an example.”