Page 12 of Gentlemen Prefer Heiresses
He was tempted to do the same, to press his lips to the nape of her neck but if he did, he’d be lost. So he tormented himself by merely inhaling her fragrance, allowing the scent of violets to inhabit his nostrils and lungs, intoxicating him in ways he’d never before experienced.
“Do you look like that?” she asked.
“Like what precisely?”
“Do you have that belly?”
“I’ll have to take a peek.”
She moved only her head aside. He peered through the hole. The room was shadowy but the low flame in the lamp cast a golden glow over the couple. The gent was an older man, not someone he knew. He carried something of a paunch about with him. He backed away, allowing her access to the viewing room, returning his lips to the vicinity of her ear. “No.” He drew the word out, long and low.
“His... member.”
“Surely Venus taught you a better word than that for it,” he teased.
“I can’t quite bring myself to say it. Are they all like that?”
He almost insisted she repeat what she’d been taught, but he didn’t want to force anything on her. He wanted her to say it of her own accord. It would be so much sexier then—although the last thing he needed was her sexier. In the darkness with her scent, her warmth, her raspy voice, he was struggling to rein in his desires. “Some are longer, thicker.”
“Do you speak from experience?”
“Perhaps. What is she doing now?”
“Going down to her knees.” She spun around, her chin slamming against his nose.Christ, that hurt.“I don’t think I want to see the actual act.”
“Why ever not?”
“It’s such a private thing. It’s seems wrong to watch, even if it’s what they want. I’ll trust my husband to show me how to do it properly.”
“There is no properly. It’s like porridge. As I was recently reminded, it can be served in many different ways.”
“Are you a connoisseur, then?”
“I know a few things.” If she were the sort with whom he could use actions rather than words, he might have shared his knowledge. Instead he decided it was time to put an end to this adventure before he succumbed to the temptation of her and did something that would irrevocably change the course of their lives. “It’s late. I should return you to the residence.”
As the carriage traveled through London, Gina stared out the window into the darkness. She should be tired. Instead she was more invigorated. Unable to stop thinking about the woman going to her knees, she wondered what she might have been planning to do from that position. Perhaps she should have watched. She was rather disappointed in herself for not being as daring as she’d always believed herself to be. “Do you think me a coward?”
“Why would I think that?” He sat across from her, his legs stretched out, his booted feet resting on either side of hers.
“Because you presented me with an opportunity to learn something I stated I wanted to learn, and then when confronted with it, I wavered... and retreated.”
“I think it took more courage to turn away knowing I was likely never to let you forget you had.”
“You do realize it took a measure of trust in you for me to stay. I hope I don’t come to discover it was misplaced.”
“It wasn’t. It’ll always be our secret.” They weren’t traveling with a lantern burning so it was difficult to see him but she could make out his silhouette as he leaned forward, and she imagined his elbows pressing into his thighs. “Gina, you should never worry about being perceived as a coward if you’re not comfortable with something, especially when it comes to intimate moments with a man. Whether it is a gent who is courting you or one who has wed you—if he is asking or demanding something of you that you’d rather not do, tell him in no uncertain terms to bugger off.”
His phrasing made her smile, his advice warmed her. “Women are expected to obey their husbands.”
“Ah, but you have an advantage. You have the ability to shoot him, in a spot where he’d rather not be shot.”
Laughing at the absurd notion she truly would threaten her husband with a pistol, she thought things would be so much simpler if she didn’t like him so much. “Was that house of ill repute really your original destination when we crossed paths in the library? Or did you alter your plans in an attempt to shock me?”
He leaned back, taking his bergamot and lemony fragrance with him. “I kept to my plans... thinking they would shock you. As things turned out, I was the one surprised.”
She’d surprised herself. “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to speak with a woman of experience about what transpires between a man and woman. Tillie and I have never spoken of the details. Like you, I don’t want to make a fool of myself the first time.”
“You could have asked me.”
