Page 6 of Daring the Forbidden Earl
“I’m sorry for that,” Nora said softly. “I’ve heard of a thousand marriages like that, and the husbands are forever seeking excitement in the arms of women they have paid for. Believe me, I know. Instead of nurturing their own gardens, they clamber over the fence and start picking flowers elsewhere.”
Johanna nodded. “I wish things had been different.”
“You’re young still, Johanna. You can have whatever you want if you pursue it, and there are certain freedoms that come with being a widow,” Nora insisted, with a sly wink.
Freedoms… Does she meanthosekinds of freedoms?
Her heart leapt suddenly, as excited nerves shuddered through her long, lithe limbs. How exquisite it would be, to behave as many gentlemen in London behaved and bear no consequences. How exquisite it would be, to behave as Mark behaved.
Johanna turned to her friend with sudden determination. “Do you really think so?”
“I know so,” Nora replied. “You’ve been married. You’ve lost your husband. You’ve got some wealth and property that he left behind. In essence, you might be the most powerful woman in all of London at the moment, at least in terms of sexual freedoms. You want passion? Find it, bring it into your life, and bloody well enjoy it! You have earned that right.”
Johanna squeezed her friend’s hand with refreshed determination. “Do you think you could teach me how? I know nothing about… sexual freedom.” The forbidden word did not roll easily off her tongue. “Will you help me to gain that passionate life that I have been lacking?”
Nora clapped her hands together. “I would be only too happy to guide you in the art of seduction, my dear friend! I might be slightly rusty in my expertise, but I imagine it will come back to me. Once you have the man on the hook, it will be up to you to explore what you desire.” She winked. “Every woman is different, though I can offer guidance in that, too. I have spentmanyhours researching such things with my beloved Liam.”
“Where do we begin?” Johanna asked eagerly, feeling as though an entirely new realm of delights was about to unfurl for her. As long as she had the courage and the fortitude, perhaps shewouldfind that she could have whatever, or whoever, she wanted.
Nora grinned. “First, we start by getting you back in the house. After that… Well, you’ll just have to wait and see what surprises I have in store.”
Chapter Four
Chattering amiably with a fresh group of young ladies, whose names he could not remember, Mark had done his best to forget the unpleasantness with Johanna. And yet, his mind would not abandon the image of her sad eyes and the defiant, upward tilt of her chin as she had walked away.
What is the matter with you? You are surrounded by distractions, so distract yourself!
“You must tell us all about your travels, My Lord,” cooed one of the pretty women. “Do you not find the French to be intolerable? My papa says you cannot trust a Frenchman, under any circumstances. I do hope you were in good company while you were there.”
Mark smiled. “The French find my grasp of their language to be intolerable.”
The quartet of young ladies descended into a fit of giggles, though the sound rang rather hollow in Mark’s ears. Johanna might have spoken to him with contempt, but at least there was nothing but honesty in her words.
“As for the company I kept,” he added. “I do not think it would be polite to discuss that in the presence of such sweet innocence.”
The ladies all but swooned. Usually, that would have thrilled him, and he might have followed up his mischievous remark with a comment about the beauty of the gardens, before inviting one of the ladies to join him in a private wander. Of course, that involved evading chaperones and parents, and perhaps a protective brother, but his heart was not in such endeavors tonight. How could it be, when he was thinking only of one woman?
“We do not mind,” another of the girls purred.
She would have been the easiest choice, for she was evidently bolder than her acquaintances. Mark observed her for a moment. She was statuesque, with a pleasing beauty, a nicely curved figure, and beautiful raven hair, but he could not enjoy her charms. She simply did not stir him as Johanna did.
It is like brandy… If I cannot have the finest in the room, then I do not want a drop.
That was not exactly true, for he was not known for being particular with the liquor that was offered to him. He had once consumed a large quantity of bathtub gin at a public house in Soho that had seared his throat so badly that he had not been able to talk for a week. And that was just one example.
“Was your dear friend, the Earl of Keswick, not married to a Frenchwoman once?” a blonde girl asked. She was fair, too, but her rosy cheeks and plump lips had no effect on him at all. Indeed, he was beginning to fear that he had lost his passion for beautiful women altogether. At least, women who were not Johanna.
Mark’s expression cooled. “We do not speak of that, Miss—I apologize, I have quite forgotten your name.”
The young lady looked wounded. “It is Miss Jessop.”
“Ah, so it is.” He put on a more cheerful mask.
A chestnut-haired vixen gently pulled her blonde friend out of the circle they had formed. “Of course we do not speak of it, My Lord. Why would we, when the Countess is so utterly enchanting? I must have read her memoirs at least twenty times. I simply could not stop.” Her brown eyes smoldered. “Though, I was rather pleased to find that your name was absent.”
“That is because I appreciate ladies,” Mark told them. “I do not delight in violence or harm, but merely the incomparable pleasure of being in a woman’s intimate company.”
The young ladies began to fan themselves frantically. Half of them appeared frightened by his candid confession, while the other half seemed utterly intrigued.
