Lessons of Desire by Madeline Hunter

Author:Madeline Hunter
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780553904161
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2007-09-24T16:00:00+00:00

She grew more lovely as the sun set. Dusk’s light gave her dramatic coloring a cool cast, softening her. Elliot permitted himself some poetic sentimentality while they finished their meal. The flowers in the garden formed a deep circle of blended jewels around the terrace where they sat.

They had spent the long supper talking about their visit to the temples of Paestum the next day. Now Phaedra grew quiet as night closed in. He sensed that she contemplated the following hours and those chambers upstairs. Her eyes reflected her awareness of the anticipation tightening between them. She tried to hide it for the first time, but she was not well practiced in that.

One by one the other guests left the terrace. The innkeeper brought out coffee, served it with elaborate deference, then retreated into the house.

“The sun is gone, Phaedra. The others have left. You can remove the hat now.” He did not know if the hat had been a symbol of compromise or merely a precaution against a recurrence of sun sickness. Now its brim cast a deep shadow, obscuring her bold eyes. He wanted nothing hiding her desire from him.

“You sound as if you are giving me permission, Elliot. Or making a demand.” All the same she unpinned the hat and set it on a nearby table. “Whatever you think about our situation, you must not treat me like a wife. I will not like that.”

How would she know? She had never been one. She had not even grown up in a household with one.

He trusted his vague smile would be read as agreement so he could return to enjoying her company in the waning light. She gazed at him expectantly, waiting for a more official affirmation. She appeared determined to settle this now. He guessed they would not be leaving this terrace until she did.

“How should I treat you instead, Phaedra? Like a mistress? Like a brief flirtation?”

“Like a friend.”

“We were friends last night. I look forward to treating you like that as often as you will allow it.”

He was sure he saw a blush, despite the dimming light. “Not exactly like last night. That is part of my concern.”

“You did not seem concerned at the time. However, I am willing to change. Tell me, how do your friends treat you?”

“With less…It need not, as you spoke of it last night, be a surrender or a victory for either one of us. It need not be a matter of submission and possession. And a man need not—one need not intrude on the other’s spirit so much.” She seemed oblivious to the implications of her last words.

He instinctively reacted to these references to her past lovers. Badly, despite her admission that there had been no spiritual intrusion with them.

Jealousy cracked through him. It was not an emotion that had claimed him much in the past. Both awed and repulsed by its dangerous power, he tried to push it back into the dungeon of his soul. No doubt among all the need nots that Phaedra had decided men had no right to feel about her, this topped the list.

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