Page 76 of Counting on a Countess
A distant corner of her mind registered as his hand moved from her breast to her calf. He gathered up the hem of her nightgown, baring her legs, her thighs, and higher. She gulped air as she felt warm air touch her flesh.
When he cupped her mound, she instinctively jumped. He pulled back and gazed at her with concern. “You’re still nervous.”
“A little,” she admitted.
A minute went by, then he stood and held his hand out to her. Slowly, she slid her hand into his and let him help her off the bed.
“You need to see.” He stroked the underside of her chin with his fingertip. “To witness for yourself that sex is natural and pleasurable, not something to be feared. And I know the place where you can learn this.”
She frowned. “A brothel?”
“Brothels are places of commercial exchange,” he answered. “Where I’m thinking of, all participation is voluntary.”
“Places like that aren’t precisely pointed out to virgins.”
He chuckled softly. “You certainly wouldn’t find it in any guidebook. It’s strictly word of mouth. You see,” he continued, “the Orchid Club is a private society. People from all walks of life gather there. They wear masks to keep their identities hidden. Perhaps you can guess why.”
“They have sex there?” she ventured. “With prostitutes?”
“With each other,” he amended. “In public. Sometimes there are dramatizations where performers enact scenes from erotic books.”
She tried to think of a response but none came. What he described sounded shocking—and arousing.
“For a fee,” he went on, “one can indulge every sexual fantasy and desire. No one judges. No one forces anyone to do anything.”
“Have you—” She cleared her suddenly dry throat. “Have you been there?”
“I’m not a stranger to the place,” he said neutrally. He released her and strode to his dressing table, then pulled something from one of the drawers. “Hold out your hand,” he said as he walked back to her.
She did so, and lifted her brows in surprise when he dropped a coin into her palm.
On closer inspection, she saw that it wasn’t an ordinary coin of the realm. One side was stamped with the image of a half mask. The other side readAmici secreta tuentur.
“Friends keep secrets,” she said, remembering her Latin.
“That’s given to people who visit the club more than three times.”
A vast ocean of experience lay between them. He knew so much, had done many things she couldn’t even conjure. It was difficult not to feel naive and green beside Kit—a wild, worldly sensualist. Even with her experience as a smuggler, she didn’t have his sophistication.
She closed her fingers around the coin. “You want to bring me there. For us to have sex in front of other people.”
“No, love. All we are going to do is watch.”
“Just watch?” she pressed. “Not participate?”
“Perhaps in the future,” he allowed. “Your first time shouldn’t have an audience. For now, I think we’ll just observe. You can see how natural and instinctive sex can be.”
Part of her wanted to tell him that going to this Orchid Club wasn’t necessary. But another part of her yearned to see it. It was daring and forbidden and wicked—and she thirsted for it. There were things she knew, and many things she didn’t. In some ways, she was still a sheltered country lass, but she didn’t want to be that girl anymore—she was a grown woman with a husband and a universe to discover.
“We’re in luck,” he said with a half smile. “The Orchid Club is open tonight. Would you like to go?”
His question reverberated in her mind. Of all the things she’d ever imagined, attending a clandestine sex society with her husband had never occurred to her.
I want to do this. For him. But most of all for myself.
She realized that she’d fallen silent.
“I’ll go,” she announced.
