Page 23 of The Lady’s Sweet Revenge (Safely in Scotland #3)

“W hy do you not try to do that as much as possible?” Harlow asked him when they had caught their breath. Reese chuckled, loving the way her mind worked. And her brazenness to ask any question that popped into her beautiful head.

“In truth, I do try to do it as much as possible, but it is not an easy thing.”

“Why not?”

“Ye remember we talked about the math?”

“Yes. Widows.”

“Correct. But there are not so many widows available for as many men in London.”

“I see.” She couldn’t but he would remedy that. He wanted to share everything with her. It wasn’t right that young women went about ignorant of the world around them. Harlow had wanted to learn and he would be happy to teach her.

“Widows are not the only option.”

“Brothels.”

“Aye, where there is pleasure there is a man is willing to pay for it. But there are risks in such establishments.”

“Risks?”

“Diseases the like you should never need to see. The women, while eager for coin, are not always eager for sport. They pretend and skilled actresses they are not. So it feels… contrived.”

She frowned. “I can’t imagine not wanting to do that. But I guess if I didn’t have a say as to who I was doing it with, it would change my perspective.”

She was a smart lass.

“A man who doesn’t want to share a woman with others can get himself a mistress.”

“I believe James had a mistress last season. I heard David and Luke lecturing him about it. They said she was too expensive.”

“Yes. Mistresses generally insist on having a place of their own and enjoy expensive gifts. They search for protection from a man who can never take them to wife.”

“So they seek rich men, which limits their options.”

“Correct. They are better actresses, but are just a different version of the first.”

“Hmm.”

“Some men will turn to their staff, though I never would. Other men prey on virgins and manage to steal a lady’s virtue without becoming embroiled in scandal.”

Harlow’s eyes went wide and he thought maybe this wasn’t the best conversation to have, but she wanted to know. And he’d give her anything she asked.

“Both of those options are disreputable but not the least honorable.” He’d not speak of it. Especially when it might have been her fate aboard the Zephyr.

“You mean men who simply take what is not freely given.”

“Yes.” He let out a breath and turned the topic to lighter subjects. Her favorite studies as a school girl. Her favorite foods.

“And what of your favorite time of year?” he asked his next question, fascinated to learn everything about her.

“I would say winter.”

“Truly?” Her answers never failed to surprise him.

“Yes. It is the time of year everyone is expected to stay indoors and find their own quiet entertainments. Like reading alone in my room. Plus there is Christmastide, and who doesn’t like receiving sweets?”

“I shall remember that,” he said. “Should I bring you sweets when you return home? I should like to call on ye.”

“I would rather other things than sweets, my lord,” she said with a naughty tilt to her smile. She may not have come to his room knowing how to seduce a man, but she had gained the skill in the time she was in his bed.

She kissed him and as was becoming common, they were instantly swept away.

“Are you sore, lass?” he asked, knowing he might have to wait until she was ready for him again.

She shook her head and tried to pull him over on top of her, but he was ready to show her something else. Instead he rolled to his back and pulled her up to sit on him.

She looked about in confusion and then the slipped his hand between them to settle his cock against her.

“Oh,” she said in some surprise.

“You can determine our pace this time.”

Her green eyes lit up with understanding and she smiled her lioness grin.

Soon enough she was moving much too fast for his self-control. He did his best to warn her and when that didn’t work he simply held on as best he could. When he felt her squeezing him tightly, he gave in with a growl.

She collapsed on top of him, their hearts pounding against each other. When his body slipped from hers, she giggled as if it tickled and he smiled and kissed her hair.

“I must apologize if I fall asleep. It has been a long day and all of our efforts have drained me completely,” he admitted for she was likely to kill him if she attempted to rouse him again.

“I feel the same way, yet I don’t wish this night to end.”

He agreed. He didn’t know what she would have tomorrow or the next. She’d wanted only to know what happened between a man and a woman and now she did. She wanted to live a life that she’d worried she wouldn’t have.

He’d known that same fear once.

That night when he’d been shot. As he’d heard the other agents calling out for help and hustling him off to a surgeon, he’d been in and out of consciousness. And in those areas between, he’d thought strange things. His mind seemed to provide all the things he’d never had the chance to experience.

How he’d never taken a sea voyage. Not that it was something he wished to do now as he lost his stomach when aboard a boat for any length of time.

He also thought of more personal matters. He’d never felt the joy of holding his child in his arms. Something he hoped to avoid for some time. He remembered thinking how he’d never loved a woman.

He thought maybe he was beginning to know what that felt like.

*

“I understand,” Reese said into the quiet that surrounded them.

Harlow had begun to doze off while thinking all sorts of random things, but now she worried he’d been speaking and she’d only heard that one thing.

When he continued, she realized he’d been lying there allowing his mind to wander as she had.

“That is, before when you said you felt different after getting off the ship as if you wished to live and didn’t want to miss out on things. I understand.”

“You were also taken hostage on a ship full of men who wished to do you harm and chose to plummet into the ocean rather than face living at their hands?”

She’d meant it to be a jest, but he turned to look at her with a frown.

“I don’t know if I told you how brave that was.”

“It wasn’t foolish?”

“Perhaps a little, but let’s go with brave for now.” He brushed a finger through her hair and the slightest touch seemed to wake her desire yet again. She hadn’t realized once it was released it would never be put back in its cage.

“What I meant was that I understand that feeling. Like you may not live long enough to do the things you wished to do.”

It was her turn to frown.

“What happened?”

He simply shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter now. I lived through it.

But instead of doing those things I thought I would miss out on had I died, I’ve fallen back into the same old life I had before.

Even knowing it could all be over in the blink of an eye, hasn’t forced me to experience all of those things I would miss.

I don’t know if I could be any more ungrateful. ”

She placed her palm against his cheek.

“That’s the thing with living, isn’t it? That you have time to try things again and again.”

“I imagine so. Mayhap with you here, I’ll be more inclined to live.”

“Well, I have enjoyed living in your bed, but I grow tired and I’m afraid to fall asleep here for we could be found out.”

“Would that be so bad?” he asked quietly.

She turned to look at him but he only looked away. For a man who had barely escaped the Season without being shackled to a wife, this surprised her.

“Neither of us should be forced into a marriage simply because we chose to live.”

He nodded. “You’re right,” he said, though he didn’t look as if he actually agreed. Before she could question him further, he smiled. “Very well. I will see you to your room.”

She tied the sash at her waist and shook her head.

“It’s clear I know the way. I managed to find your room on my own, I’ll find my way back easy enough.”

“It’s the polite thing to do. Just because I’m a Scot doesn’t mean I’m a barbarian. Despite what you young ladies are taught.” He winked and moved for the door.

“Perhaps, but if we’re found wandering the halls at this late hour together there would be questions. If I’m found alone, I can easily say I had trouble sleeping and went to the library for a book to read.” Was this the first time he’d ever had to sneak around in the middle of the night?

She and her brothers had done it far too often as they played pranks on one another. It was not uncommon to have slipped into one of her brother’s rooms only to find it empty because they were out doing the same thing to her or a different brother.

God bless her parents. Whyever had they had so many children?

“I believe I should only like one child, so I might keep track of them easier,” she blurted without thinking.

His eyes went wide and he shook his head. “I took precautions so there will be no children.”

“I don’t mean with you. I meant when I marry, next Season.

” The Season would be over by the time her family arrived and her uncle paid for what he’d done.

She would need to wait until next year for the chance to find a suitable man to wed.

But at least she would now know what awaited her in her marriage bed. Thanks to this man.

She stood on tiptoe to place a kiss on the edge of his mouth.

“Thank you,” she said.

“I believe I should be thanking you. It was an extravagant gift you bestowed upon me this evening. I hope you don’t come to regret the loss.”

“I don’t feel as if I’ve lost anything. In fact, I feel I have gained so much in the last hours. I’m grateful, Reese. And no matter who I marry next year, I will always think back on this night with you with great fondness.”

With that she kissed him once more and hurried down the hall to her room.

As she crawled into her bed, she felt pleasantly sore in the majority of her body. She was ready to drift away and dream of the husband she would have one day.

But like before, she couldn’t quite fall asleep. For all of her thoughts of a husband were filled with visions of Reese. She imagined it was because she’d just been with him and she didn’t have another face to put in his place at the moment.

But as she considered, she found envisioning Reese as her husband was not so bad at all. In fact, it was rather perfect.