The Rules of Gentility by Mullany Janet

Author:Mullany, Janet [Mullany, Janet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-10-12T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Miss Philomena Wellesley-Clegg

I cannot believe how brazen I have become.

I had wondered about kissing, how you got your faces in the right place and do not merely bump noses. Inigo seems quite good at it, but I believe he has had some practice.

So I put my lips against his, my head tilted a little to one side—I have put some thought into this. I have put a lot of thought into it, I am afraid to say. I have told myself I should learn to kiss a man in case my future husband requires it of me, but the sad fact is that I want to kiss Inigo, not some faceless stranger.

He tenses for just a moment and makes no move to draw closer to me—I am not pressed lewdly against him although I think I should like to be. So only our mouths touch, and my hands rest on his shoulder. It is quite friendly and gentle, as our lips move, slowly nibbling and pressing.

His hands move to cup my face, and now I am pressed against him, and it is wicked. I might as well be unclothed.

So I am a wanton. I slide my tongue against his lips and he hesitates and parts his lips. I am kissing him, there is no doubt about it, I lead and he follows.

“I think we’d best stop this,” he says and lets me go.

He walks away from me and stares out of the window, his back to me, and I can see something is wrong.

Oh, I am such a fool.

“It’s not your fault,” he says, as though he knows how confused and embarrassed I now am.

I wrap myself in the shawl and sit on the edge of the bed. “I’m sorry.”

“Philomena, it’s…” He’s talking with his back to me, which is rather rude, and his voice is tight. “You don’t know very much about men.”

“Of course I don’t! I was rather hoping you might teach me.”

“Nothing would give me greater pleasure, but you know I can’t. Your husband will expect you to learn from him. I’m only human, my love. I’m alone in a bedchamber with you, you’re barely clothed, and…Well, you remember how it was when Blaze took it into his mind to gallop?”

“Oh, indeed yes.”

“It’s like that for a man, Philomena.”

“Is this something to do with Needs?”

“Well, yes. If I were a horse at this moment I would want to gallop off and fling myself over hedges, until…Good God, Philomena, surely you see what I mean.”

“I think so.” I feel that way a little myself. “Blaze reminded me of you. He was so very muscular and unpredictable.”

“I really don’t think we should be alone together.” His head is bowed. He picks at a flake of loose paint on the windowsill with his thumbnail.

“You’re probably right.”

“My love, the offer stands to end this farce. Anytime you wish.”

He has called me his love, and I know it is from kindness, and because he does care for me in his way. I saw that when he thought I was dead, both times.

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