Page 23 of A Kiss Gone Wylde
“And you don’t believe that?” Benny glanced down at the book once more, her face flushed and her hands trembling.
“I think that if men took as much time and effort to ensure their wives’ pleasure as they did trying to ensure their wives’ fidelity, then fidelity would not be an issue.”
“I am not certain I understand.”
“Women do not stray because they are eager to seek pleasure elsewhere. Women stray, and I daresay men, as well, because there is something missing in the marriage bed. Be it pleasure or intimacy—and I do not want that for us. I want us to have every chance of happiness and what happens in the confines of our bedchamber can predict our happiness or unhappiness. I think we are off to a good start. Don’t you?”
“I’m hardly an expert to judge, but I think if what we shared earlier is an indicator of our overall compatibility, I think we have little to be worried about.”
He frowned then, his brows drawing together and a serious expression replacing the smile he typically wore. “It occurs to me that there are many things about marriage that we have not discussed.”
“Such as?”
“Fidelity for a start. I mean to keep my vows, Benny. The standard of the day may be for men to keep mistresses, but that isn’t what I want. It is never what I wanted. So long as we are together, I will not take a mistress… And, no, I am not assuming that you would wish to take a lover. Things are different for men… there is an expectation there that I would be unable to be satisfied with you alone. But nothing could be further from the truth.”
Benny just blinked. She hadn’t expected it, she realized. The assumption, as he said, was simply there. Men took mistresses. That was what they did. As uncomfortable as it was to admit, she knew that her father kept one. She and Cordelia, accompanied by their mother, had bumped into the woman in a dressmaker’s shop. The awkwardness of that exchange would stay with her forever.
“I don’t want that. I don’t want to walk down the street and wonder if every woman I pass is one that you are…involved with. It would be miserable.”
“Then let’s go back upstairs… we’ll take your book and see what strikes your fancy,” he urged.
Benny laughed. “I thought we were going to get food?”
“When the servants are abed, we can sneak down to the kitchen and raid the larder,” he promised. “Right now, I have more pressing needs than simply my growling belly.”
It was the way his gaze roamed over her. The hunger for her was so evident in his eyes that she had no hope of resisting. And, in truth, if he could make her feel even an inkling of what he had made her feel earlier, it would be well worth delaying the fulfillment of one need in favor of another.
“I like order,” she said. Tapping the tip of her finger on the first page and that wicked, scandalous illustration, she continued, “We should simply start at page one and work our way to the end. Don’t you think?”
He took the book from her and tucked it under his arm, then grasped her hand, pulling her to her feet. “How remarkably efficient you are, Lady Davenport. We’ll explore that further when I have you back in my bed.”
“Our bed,” she corrected.
He grinned. “It most certainly is.”
13
Three blissful days. Three heavenly nights. And then the world intruded. Her parents had arrived in London.
Benny sighed as she read the missive once more. It wasn’t simply informative. It was a summons. She glanced up to see Payne’s mother watching her surreptitiously as she perused the morning’s scandal sheets. Payne had gone out for a ride, saying he’d been neglecting his horse in favor of her. Of course, that had led to a mock argument about who was more entitled to his devotion—the wife in his bed or the mounts in his stables. Then he’d demonstrated, quite enthusiastically and quite effectively, that he had more than enough energy and stamina to show appropriate devotion to both. She blushed thinking about it.
Across the room, her mother-in-law made a sound of disgust, once more drawing Benny’s attention. She was no longer looking at the scandal sheets but had her gaze trained directly on Benny herself. “Is there a problem, my lady?”
The dowager placed the scandal sheet on the table beside her. “Your behavior with my son is… unseemly. Although, I should have expected no less. Your aunt was always a bit wild, as well. Fast, the lot of you. It must be a family trait… like hair or eye color.”
Benny simply blinked slowly at her. She was becoming quite used to the woman’s barbs. They were only ever slung at her when Payne was not present. His mother might have been a petulant child in behavior, but she was far from foolish. She understood that Payne’s threats of sending her off to a dower house were very real, and curbed herantics(which amused no one)accordingly. “Then perhaps you should address our unseemly behavior with your son. I am very curious as to what his response would be.”
The older woman pursed her lips—almost as if she’d bitten into a particularly tart lemon. “I find I am quite tired. Company of any sort is too taxing for me in my delicate state. I shall retire to my chambers and leave the house to you… that is what you want, after all. To have this house entirely to yourself?”
“As a matter of fact, I do not.” Benny wondered how Payne tolerated the woman. She was positively exhausting. “This is a large house. Certainly it is large enough for you to remain here, as well. When it comes to the running of this household, you are not actively involved in the process. My presence here takes nothing from you in that regard. The staff is incredibly well trained and do their work without constant instruction or supervision.”
Her mother-in-law smiled coolly. Her tone was mocking when she spoke. “I suppose you would not know how to run a household such as this. Wealth and privilege bring their own burdens, as you will soon discover. It is a pity Payne could not have married someone more suited to our station… Someone like poor, dear Anne.”
She didn’t want to ask the question. In fact, she clamped her lips together to keep the words in. And, yet, they burst forth anyway. “Who is Anne?”
“She was Payne’s first love. He adored her—everything about her. He still keeps the miniature he had commissioned of her in his desk. I’ve caught him looking at it many times.”
It was perfectly fine and even expected that he should be sentimental about a first love. And it wasn’t as if she were jealous, Benny reasoned. She most certainly was not. They did not love one another. They liked one another well enough, of course. And clearly there was some degree of attraction between them.
