His brows quirked. “Really?” He drew out the word as he rubbed his hands in glee. “Right, then. Shall we find some champagne? Then mayhap a dance?”
She angled her head toward him. “What? I thought—”
“Trust me, please, Althea?” He gestured for a servant with a tray of glasses. “The wine will relax you, and the dance… I hope the dance will heighten the mood, the anticipation.”
“Ah. Then by all means, lead on.” She touched his arm. “But please, is there a back stair? I don’t want to be seen.”
“Just to see others, eh?” He chuckled and covered her hand with his.
Her lips twisted at his perceptive comment, but she couldn’t argue.
They danced closer than during a Ton-approved Season ball but not hip to hip as the dancers at Greenborough Park had.
Every turn teased her with the promise of his thigh sliding between hers. Every pull of his lead offered the chance to lean in and press her breasts to his muscled chest. But his thigh did not slide and she did not arch. Instead, her body heated. Her breasts swelled and became sensitive, as did the private folds between her legs. She panted with arousal, hoping no one would notice or they’d assume it was from dancing.
Afterward, he placed her hand on his arm again, and led her to a hallway and a rear staircase. “Tell me if you desire to return below-stairs at any time or wish to leave altogether.”
She nodded, biting her lip.
’Tis Cheltie. Purveyor of all things sexual. He shan’t judge you.
Her conscience chimed in.But you need him for business. And you’ve already been more intimate with him than you can afford, given that very reputation of his.
’Tis just walking the hall, seeing what there is to be seen. No intimacy.
But you want that intimacy with Evan, don’t you?
She rolled her eyes at herself. If she was going to do this, she needed to stop the internal debate so she could learn whether ’twas something she enjoyed.
On the upper level, an only slightly smaller crowd mingled as though window shopping in Mayfair. Couples strolled arm-in-arm, ladies put their heads together to titter, and men did that thing where they lounged standing upright.
Althea turned her face into Evan’s shoulder.
He patted her hand. “No one is watching us, I promise. The activities behind those doors are far more interesting to most.” He stopped at the first door and peeked through the viewing hole. Shaking his head, he said, “Not the right place to start.”
Curious, she glanced back as he stepped toward the second door, but she deferred to the expert. He viewed that room, shook his head, then proceeded again.
Althea was growing impatient and afraid her nerves would get the better of her. She tugged on his arm to slow him. “What am I missing, Lord Cheltenham?”
“A woman on her knees before a standing man. Have you seen or experienced that act, my dear?”
Althea needed a beat to process. “Uh, no.”
She hadn’t seen the act itself at his London party, only guessed from what Beth had described and from the positions of the man and woman in the room. Her heart pounded once at the thought of seeing exactly what the woman had been doing kneeling in front of that chair. Would Evan teach her that as well? What would his cock look like? She only had the vaguest notion of Thomas’s shape and size. Sex had been in a dark room under the bed covers, and he’d never invited her to explore. She licked her lips.
“As I suspected. I’d rather show you a woman receiving pleasure than one pleasing a man. At least to start.” He winked.
Oh my, that means he might teach me soon.She sighed dramatically. “I suppose I’ll trust your judgment then, my lord.”
His breath gusted out on a quiet laugh before he peered into the third room. “Ah. Here we are.”
Stepping back, he put Althea in front of him with his hands on her upper arms, protecting her from the view of others in the hall. She leaned forward to the peephole.
The woman was on her back at the edge of the bed facing away from the door, hair spread about her on the bed. Her breasts mounded over her rose gown’s décolletage.
As mine were back in the library at Greenborough Park.
Cravat, waistcoat, and jacket still in place, the gentleman stood between her legs. He held her legs in a wide vee, and his member thrust into her through opened trousers. As Althea watched, his hips sped up, driving into her harder as well as faster. The woman raised a hand to play with her breasts as the man trailed one hand to where their bodies met.
