Chapter Six
The effects ofBessie’s tisane left Adrian feeling as if he had been separated from not only his pain, but the intensity of his earlier sentiments. Ensconced in this bubble, his gaze followed the movement of the widow’s rippling veil like a Mesmer patient might have followed that doctor’s watch.
If Bessie kept speaking long enough, he, too, might end up in a trance.
Or, perhaps, he felt bewildered because he was unaccustomed to subjecting himself to anyone’s demands…one of the many reasons he had not set foot in Almack’s since his return. He didn’t care how exclusive the Patronesses’ list. He saw no reason to wear breeches in town on the sole insistence of a handful of shrews.
And yet here he was, listening to a set of preposterous rules delivered by the proprietress of a gaming hell and laid out by an impertinent seductress without social standing or stature.
Listening, and intending to heed.
Sitting erect and still, but for her gently flowing veil, the widow slowly listed the Blackbird’s requirements—one, that they only agree, at present, to a single meeting, two, that Adrian be blindfolded for the whole of their time together, three, that hetutor her in carnal pursuits, and, four, that he refrain from any activity that could result in the birth of a child.
“What of my demands?” he grumbled.
“I offered to negotiate on your behalf. Those are her terms. Accept them and have your distraction or hold to your usual conditions and spend what is left of the night alone.”
“If the Blackbird doesn’t wish to be properly bedded, why would she agree to meet me again at all?”
Bessie lifted a shoulder in a gallic shrug. “She desires an introduction to the world of physical delight, an education in the ways she might pleasure, and be pleasured. Forgive me for thinking you might be interested.”
He hated having been cornered, but he was interested. Their connection—both physical, and something deeper—was like was like nothing he’d ever experienced before.
Still, after having the Blackbird run out on him, he didn’t trust her change of heart.
“Why?” he asked.
“Her reasons are my concern, not yours.”
“You swear this isn’t a trick?”
Bessie shook her head. “Not a trick.”
“Allother means of exploration are permitted?”
“Any,” Bessie clarified, “the woman permits. Remember, she’s not had a great deal of experience. You must be gentle.”
Adrian snorted. Nothing about their kiss had been gentle. In fact, he’d the distinct feeling she had wanted to devour him. He had a hard time believing she was in any way uninitiated in carnal pursuits.
Whether their meeting had been a mistake or not, she’d grabbed his shirt, igniting a contest of wills. She had been the one who had insisted he don a blindfold. She had been the one to knot her fingers in his hair, to run her nails down his neck.
She was a woman who knew what she wanted and had the fire within to achieve her wishes.
He needed to see her again.
While he waited for Bessie to return, he’d spent time staring into the fire, reliving everything he could remember from the very first glimpse of the Blackbird’s lifted ankle to the way she’d sighed against his lips as she pressed the length of her body into his own.
He’d decided right then to agree to whatever terms she devised…for his own purposes.
Without breaking the rules of the game, he intended to learn everything he could about her. The longer their encounter, the more he’d discover. The more he’d discover, the easier to ascertain her identity later.
Her preposterous conditions only complicated his aim.
“Well?” Bessie prompted.
“You say she will only meet me once?”
“I said this agreement, at present, was for one meeting. She may or may not be interested in extending your arrangement.”
