Page 70

"Well, not in those exact words," I admitted. "But he made it pretty clear that he didn't enjoy it. And after a while, I just stopped asking."

For a moment, Garrik said nothing. But I could see that his expression had changed. His dark eyebrows were drawn together and his jaw had tightened, making him look rather fierce.

"Your husband was a damned fool," he said at last.

I looked up at him in surprise.

"Well, I already knew that," I said, trying to make a joke of it. "I mean, he did leave me for a woman young enough to be his daughter, after all."

"Yes, and that alone proves he had very little sense," Garrik growled. "But now you're telling me he couldn't even be bothered to learn how to please his own wife properly?"

"Well, it's not like he never pleased me at all," I said quickly, feeling a strange need to defend my ex. "I mean, we had a perfectly normal sex life for a long time. It's just that there were certain things he didn't like doing, so eventually I stopped asking for them."

"Did he ever ask what you liked?" Garrik wanted to know.

I thought about that for a moment.

"Not really," I admitted. "I guess after you've been married for a long time, you just kind of fall into a routine. You know what works and what doesn't, and you don't really talk about it anymore."

Garrik shook his head slowly.

"That is a terrible shame," he said. "Marriage ought to be a partnership in every sense of the word, including the marriage bed. A gentleman should take pleasure in pleasing his lady, not merely concern himself with his own satisfaction."

I looked at him, feeling my heart flutter in my chest.

"You really believe that?" I asked softly.

"Of course I do!" he exclaimed. "I've always taken great pleasure in giving a woman pleasure. There is something extraordinarily intimate about being trusted in that way, and I've never considered such attentions a chore. Quite the contrary."

He paused and I saw that his blue eyes had gone half-lidded.

"I should think any gentleman worth his salt would consider it a privilege,” he murmured.

For a moment, I couldn't think of anything to say. My heart was pounding and the way he was looking at me made me feel something I hadn't felt in a very long time…wanted. Not merely tolerated or put up with, but genuinely wanted.

I can’t lie—it was a wonderful feeling.

"Well," I said at last, trying to sound casual. "That's a pretty enlightened attitude for a man who's been trapped in a haunted house for a hundred years."

Garrik gave a low chuckle.

"My dear Celeste, do you imagine that men only recently discovered the pleasures of the female form? I assure you, we were quite familiar with them in my day."

I laughed, feeling some of my embarrassment beginning to fade.

"Okay, fair point," I admitted. "I guess I just never thought about it that way."

"Apparently your former husband didn't either," Garrik remarked sourly. "More fool he."

I smiled, but then another thought occurred to me. And unfortunately, it was the kind of thought that had been bothering me ever since Jason left.

"Well, it's one thing to say you enjoy doing that," I said hesitantly. "But I'm not exactly twenty-five anymore, Garrik."

He frowned.

"What does your age have to do with anything?"

"Well, everything!" I exclaimed. "I'm almost fifty! I've got curves and wrinkles and gray hair and all kinds of things that weren't there when I was younger. And I know I'm not exactly skinny, either."