Page 73 of Foolish Bride
“Should I not have told you, Dory?”
Dory blinked several times and shook her head. “Of course you should. It’s about time someone did. All this speculation cannot be good. I am happy to hear it is pleasant, but astonished that what you have described could be.”
“I think lovemaking is something better experienced than described. I do not know how to explain it, but I promise it was extremely rewarding and much more intimate than I’d expected.”
With a long sigh, Dory stood. “I suppose I shall have to wait for my own husband to fully understand, but I appreciate your sharing your experience. I must say, it puts my mind at ease. I know you would never lie to me, and perhaps my mother’s experiences are colored by her distaste for my father.”
“I imagine so.” Elinor took Dory’s arm, and they walked the garden path back to the house.
* * * *
Elinor jumped at the opportunity to go down to the river and fish with Michael’s brothers rather than play lawn games.
The three of them trooped down to the river and cast their lines.
Shelton caught a small trout within a few minutes, but after that it was slow going.
Finally, there was a tug on her pole. She shouted out her excitement.
Sheldon and Everett came running, both of them laughing.
“Pull it in, Lady Elinor,” Everett said.
“Give me the pole. I’ll get it.” Sheldon reached for her pole.
“Don’t you dare touch my fishing pole, Shel. I can do this myself.”
Her arms strained against the fighting trout. She pulled the determined fish ashore.
Sheldon leapt on the slippery, flapping creature.
Exhausted from the fight, Elinor collapsed on the grass.
Sheldon managed to wrangle the fish and held it up for viewing. “Are you going to marry my brother?”
“Sheldon,” Everett scolded. “That is none of your business.”
Sheldon attached Elinor’s fish to the stringer. He wiped his hands on the grass before turning toward his brother. “Don’t you want to know?”
“Yes. But it’s not appropriate to ask questions that are not your business.”
“Michael is our business.”
Before the argument got too out of hand, Elinor broke in. “It’s all right. Yes. I am going to marry your brother. But this information is only for the four of us. We must keep a secret until Michael has an opportunity to speak with my mother. You do understand that, don’t you, Sheldon?”
The boy’s grin was contagious. Covered in water, mud, and fish scales, he was a sight. “I can keep a confidence, Lady Elinor. You need not worry about that.”
He looked just like Michael, dark hair and blue eyes sparkling. Did Michael smile that brightly before he went into the army? Had Michael ever been so carefree? She didn’t think so. He was serious and haunted, the price of being his father’s eldest. He always had a lot to overcome.
The bushes behind them shook and something crashed through.
Certain they were about to be attacked by a wild boar, Elinor screamed.
Everett shielded Elinor and Sheldon.
Three men with guns burst through the row of overgrowth.
“That is very touching, Lady Elinor,” a short, round man said. His skin was freckled, and what was left of his red hair stood straight up on top of his bulbous head. Blue eyes bugged out from above his fleshy cheeks. If it hadn’t been for the two enormous men with guns flanking him, he might have been a circus entertainer.
