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“And then you forget about them.”
“The women I choose never want or expect more than a night, or at most a few weeks of diversion. They know I don’t keep mistresses for very long.”
“A revolving door of pleasure. What if they don’t want to leave?”
“I never allow a woman, or her possessions, to linger. No hairbrushes or perfume bottles. This room is strictly masculine. Look around you.”
It was a very male sort of room. One large bed, really.
“My entire household is composed of males only, if you haven’t noticed,” he continued. “We’re a sorry lot of bachelors and misfits, but we have our system. The chaos works for us. Alice,” he said softly, “look at me.”
She lifted her head and then wished she hadn’t. His eyes were so intensely silver.
“I never made any pretense of being anything other than a rake and a bachelor. Confirmed in my hedonistic, reckless ways.”
“Oh, of course,” she said lightly. “Of course I knew your reputation. That’s why I married you. You promised me one month of tutelage and then a lifetime of neglect.”
She’d only been slightly fuzzy on the details. She hadn’t thought it all the way through.
He grinned and lifted a curvaceous green bottle, unpeeled a wax seal, and wrestled with a cork for a moment.
There was a loud popping sound. Bubbles fizzed over the rim of the bottle. He poured the sparkling liquid into two tall, thin glasses.
“Champagne?” He held out a glass.
Alice had never tasted champagne before, but she was wearing a French corset and she was alone in a bedchamber with a notorious rake, so she might as well throw caution to the wind.
He clinked his glass against her glass, holding her gaze as she took a small, exploratory sip. The bubbly stuff tickled down her throat, making her sneeze.
He lifted the lid of a serving dish and uncovered a mound of glistening red strawberries. He dipped one of them into a bowl of whipped cream. “Strawberry?”
The tartness of the strawberry bursting in her mouth and the sugared cream mingled perfectly with the champagne.
She closed her eyes as he prepared another strawberry, placing it against her lips until she opened for him. He fed her another. And another.
She could become accustomed to this manner of dining.
“Now, how does this gown unfasten?” he asked, reaching for her.
She ducked away. She wasn’t ready yet for the bedding portion of the evening.
“So, this is what you do then.” She attempted a tone of careless sophistication. She ran a finger lightly over the silk counterpane. “This is your profession.”
“My profession. My raison d’être. If it’s lessons in love you want, I’m the man you require.”
Pleasure wasn’t his only reason for living. He did care for his father’s happiness and well-being. And he’d rescued Jane from a horrible fate.
He probably told himself that everything he said was true, but Alice could sense deeper waters, something he strove to hide.
“Life’s only an amusement, Alice.” He drained his glass and poured another. “We’ll drink it to the dregs, you and I. We’ll suck the marrow out of our brief amour.”
“I’m not sure I approve of sucking the marrow out of anything,” Alice said primly.
He snorted. “I could make a comment about that, but I won’t.”
To calm her swiftly beating heart, she walked away from him, exploring the rest of the large chamber.
“Feathers?” She brushed her fingers over the black ostrich feathers in the vase on his mantel. “Are you starting a millinery shop, my lord?”
