The question seemed to snap Alexander back to himself. He pulled his hand away and rubbed his eyes. “I feel certain you’re trying to kill me,” he groaned.
Harriet crawled out from beneath the covers and sat up on her knees to force him to meet her gaze. The chill of the room was now welcome against her hot skin.
“Will you teach me? If you know—and it seems likely you do—will you teach me?”
“Harriet,” he repeated, although this time it sounded like a warning.
“Yes, my lord?” Harriet replied, feeling suddenly quite mischievous. Alexander let out another deep groan.
Despite his displays of annoyance, she knew he wasn’t like her father; he wouldn’t strike her for being brazen or curious. He wouldn’t hurt her at all. So she pressed.
“It’s only fair, wouldn’t you concede? If you are to have a mistress, who I suspect helps you with those … peaks … that I should get to have them as well?” Alexander’s hands fisted in the sheets, which made Harriet grin. If there was one thing she was good at, it was talking someone into seeing her way of things. And she was getting close. “Come now, you wouldn’t want a wife who had no outlets for such things, would you? Surely that way lies danger? A wife who might go asking someoneelsefor … assistance?”
Alexander’s eyes snapped to hers, flashing with something that made Harriet’s heart skip or race or … do something which hearts weren’t meant to do. Tonight was an education in how little she knew of anatomy.
“Harriet, you’ve survived until now without having this particular experience. I think you should be quite well without it.” When she opened her mouth to argue, Alexander cut her off. “Alternatively, you can ask your sister when we arrive back in London; I’m certain she’s informed on this topic.”
“I couldn’t possibly ask my sister! Firstly, what if she doesn’t … do it? I don’t, after all, so we must assume some women don’t. Secondly, what should she think of my husband, unable to satisfy me? That’s a rumor she’d be only too glad to spread around, I’m sure.” Alexander didn’t look convinced by either of these arguments, and so Harriet played her last card.
“Please? Please teach me to touch myself?” She drew in a breath and looked right into his obsidian eyes. “Please, Alexander?”
He only took a moment before giving her a simple nod. “Lie back,” he instructed. Alexander’s voice was direct and even. He wasn’t being playful or charming. Harriet’s insides thrilled; her entire body was molten. She somehow still managed to do as he bid, sliding back under the covers.
“To begin with, simply touch yourself wherever feels good.”
Harriet frowned. This wasn’t inspired instruction, she felt. Before she could open her mouth to voice said complaint, he cut her off.
“Don’t question me. If you want my help, follow my orders.”
“I didn’t realize they were orders,” she teased, giddy at his commanding tone.
“They are now, you impertinent little chit.” Alexander straightened his posture, seeming to take his role seriously, which made Harriet want to laugh even more. “Touch your arm as I was before,” he instructed. “Easy … lighter. That’s it. All right.”
Harriet swallowed, not wanting to admit she wasn’t feeling much.
“Where did it feel best when I touched you?” Evidently, any ounce of embarrassment he had earlier was gone.
“Ummm …” Harriet trailed her hand up to her collarbone. “Here, I think …” She knew.
“All right. From there you might want to travel lower.”
“Lower?” Harriet still felt confused about this whole process. It was like when Frances attempted to explain the rules of a game to herbut didn’t tell her the aim. She huffed out a breath. “Can you please just tell me what I’m supposed to be doing?”
“I’m trying, aren’t I?”
“Well, I’m not certain I’m going to reach any kind of ‘crisis’ from my collarbone, as nice as this feels.”
Alexander tossed his hands up in frustration. “You’re the most impatient—! Look, you need to touch your quim. That’s where the spot is if you’re a woman. I wasattempting—foolishly, apparently—to get you into the right mindset for what comes next! If you want to start in between your legs, by all means!” He spread his hands wide as if inviting her to dance.
“My quim?”
“Yes.”
“Interesting. I suppose that makes sense, if for men it’s their …”
“Cock?”
Harriet nodded and a rare silence stretched between them. Her hands had stilled on her chest, and she wasn’t certain what she ought to do next. Alexander studied her from his side of the bed; since she’d insisted on this, she felt she must forge on.
