Page 77 of Let Me Be Your Hero
Her sisters exchanged a knowing look. “Good,” Anne said.
“Your wedding night wasn’t too painful?” Caro asked.
Izzie considered her words carefully. “Archibald is… not lightly made,” she admitted.
Caro made a sympathetic sound. “Poor dear. I should imagine he’s not.”
“But it turned out well in the end,” Izzie hastened to reassure her sisters.
Anne giggled. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh. But give it a week, and I daresay you’ll be glad your husband isnot lightly made.”
Izzie’s shoulders sagged. Shehadgiven it a week; in fact, two weeks had passed since her wedding day. Any remnants of her maidenhead had long since been obliterated. The act wasn’t painful, but nor was it exquisitely pleasurable, as it was supposed to be. Although she very much enjoyed the other acts Archibald performed upon her person, she couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong with her.
“Anne,” Lucy called from across the room, “come and see this!”
Anne patted Izzie’s knee as she rose to her feet. Once she was gone, Caro took her place on the sofa and wrapped an arm around Izzie’s shoulders.
“Lucky Anne,” she mused. “She’s one of those women who finds pleasure in just about anything Michael does to her.”
“One of those…” Izzie dropped her voice to a whisper. “Do you mean to say that you don’t find your pleasure from… you know.”
Caro’s eyes flared with understanding. “Not usually. But there’s a little spot on the outside—”
“I know where it is,” Izzie said quickly. “Archibald showed me.”
“Good! Very good.” Caro studied Izzie’s face. “What, then, is troubling you?”
“It’s just…” Izzie glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “I feel like it’s extra work for him. That I should be able to find enjoyment through the act alone. That there’s something wrong with me,” she added in a small voice.
Caro squeezed her shoulders. “There’s nothing wrong with you, although I can understand why you feel that way. Married women like to jest about men with a large cock, or men with a small cock, but honestly? From what I can tell, there are more women out there like you and me, who don’t much mind one way or the other. Far better to have a husband who takes the time to do the things that will actually please his partner than an indifferent man with a thick cock.”
“I very much have one of those.” Izzie sighed. She was feeling somewhat better after Caro’s reassurance. But still… “I can’t help but wish I were one of those women who found pleasure both ways.”
“La, don’t we all? But you are enjoying your marriage bed, yes?”
“Very much so,” Izzie admitted.
Caro gave her a speaking look. “And you will not convince me that Thorpe is displeased to have you in his bed.”
Izzie had to admit he had never given her cause to believe that, not for a single second. “No, he said that the minutes we spent making love were the best minutes of his day, and he would never object to having a few more of them.”
Her sister smiled brightly. “I knew I liked him.”
Lucy plopped down next to Izzie on the sofa. “May I borrow this?” she asked, holding up the latest novel from Rosalia St. Clair.
“Of course. I finished it yesterday, and it’s excellent. But you must promise to bring it back.”
“Izzie needs all the books she can lay her hands on,” Diana said. “She has floor-to-ceiling bookshelves to fill.”
“Oh!” Anne exclaimed. “I haven’t seen your new library yet. Would you show me?”
“Of course,” Izzie said, rising from the sofa.
“There isn’t all that much to see,” Izzie explained as she led the group up the red-carpeted stairs. “We were feeling confident enough for a moment there that we brought in the architect. But two days later, I was attacked again.”
“Has the work had to stop, then?” Diana asked.
“Mostly,” Izzie said. “We’re being very careful not to let anyone we don’t know in the house. The architect Archibald has worked with before. But we feel less comfortable admitting a dozen strange workmen.”
