Page 16 of Love and Other Disasters

“Yes, without a word,” she said. “I saw him leave, and that was the first I knew that the children’s summer holiday was canceled.”

Jasper folded his arms over his chest. “I suppose you expect me to apologize on his behalf.”

“Don’t bother,” she replied, chin lifting. “The children never knew about the trip. I planned to surprise them the night before with the news. Lord Nash should, however, apologize to his children upon his return for failing to say goodbye.”

Jasper marveled at her optimism, completely misplaced, that Nash had ever apologized to anyone. “My brother never will.”

“Your brother should include his children in his life.” She smiled tightly and then shook her head. “For how long must we keep out of sight of your friends?”

“A week or two.”

She nodded and looked away. “A week or two and then everything can return to normal?”

“Yes.” He glanced down at his hands, discovering to his shock he’d been standing about talking to the governess with dildos in his possession. He tucked them back where they had come from. “I did not know such things were out yet.”

“If you had, I certainly hope you might have warned me instead of beating your chest about keeping to my prison,” she retorted.

“I did not beat my chest,” he hissed. “Ravenswood is not a prison either.”

“I’m sure you did, and it has become so for me and the children,” she countered.

“It is for your own safety, madam. My friends are a little rough around the edges.”

“Well, I suppose I must forgive you then for being so beastly since it was for our protection,” she whispered.

He grabbed her arm. “Now listen here, madam. I’ll not put up with your impertinent tongue the way Nash has done.”

She glanced up at him, her eyes full of anger. “Your brother doesn’t even hear me. But you always do. Why do you care what I say or think about all this, anyway?”

“Madam, the only thing I care about is my own pleasure,” he promised.

“I’m sure your appetite for pleasure is vast,” she murmured, lashes fluttering and a blush forming on her cheeks. From any other woman, he’d imagine her actions were meant to entice him, but this was the governess. A prim and proper woman. A woman he should not be touching.

He released her arm with an oath. “I apologize. About the boys…”

“They are too young to understand the nature of what they were holding, never fear,” she promised, with a shake of her head. “But if they ask, I know what to say.”

“Do you even understand what those things were for?”

“Of course I do. They were instruments of pleasure. I don’t see any devices of flagellation, but I’m sure they’re around somewhere, too.” She glanced up at him and smirked. “Are you shocked I know of such things?”

“Vastly. I expected…”

“Disgust, outrage, or for me to fall into a swoon? Or even shriek, perhaps, like some sheltered and ignorant society miss might?”

Yes, he’d expected…something more along those lines. He drew closer to the governess, looking directly at her face for possibly the first time in their acquaintance.

Sophie Radcliffe was amused with him, when normally all he noticed was the defiance and distrust in her eyes. “You’re not scandalized at all, are you?”

“I should be, shouldn’t I?” she laughed. “And yet, I’m not. A rake like you must always have the many and varied accessories for pleasure at a party such as this is sure to be.”

Jasper was thoroughly confused now. “That was uncalled for.”

“But which statement is incorrect? That you are a rake, or that you and your friends require all the help you can get to satisfy your lovers?”

He blinked. “The latter.”

She moved away, flipping up pillows to uncover one dildo after another. She stopped and looked down the length of the room at all the furniture and scattered pillows. “How lacking your friends must be in imagination to need so many implements strewn about. I assume there will be courtesans?”