The Lady's Tutor by Robin Schone Read Free Book Online Page B

wood
and the hiss of flaming gas.
    He had inferred that a man enjoyed the scent of a woman’s body.
    She discreetly sniffed.
    All she could smell was the benzene of her clean wool gown, the
thick aroma of coffee, and the smoke of burning wood.
    “Do you know what a climax is, Mrs. Petre?”
    Her determined scribbling stopped abruptly. Embarrassment turned
to shame, which in turn flared to bright red anger.
    She would not let him humiliate her.
    Elizabeth raised her head.
    The turquoise eyes were waiting for hers.
    “Yes, Lord Safyre, I know what a climax is.”
    Eyes narrowed, he studied her as if she were an animal or an
insect that he had never before encountered. “What is it?”
    What is it?
    She was momentarily speechless with shock.
    Patently, he did not believe she possessed such knowledge.
    That he should ask her to describe such an intensely personal
experience was outrageous, but that he should think her a liar could not be
endured.
    Her lips tightened. “It is a ... a peak of pleasure.”
    “Have you experienced this peak of pleasure?”
    She tilted her chin, and would have answered a resounding, defiant yes but for the sudden blaze of heat in his eyes.
    “I hardly think that is any concern of yours.”
    “You say you wish only to learn how to please your husband, Mrs.
Petre,” he said harshly. “Do you not also want to learn how to enhance your own
pleasure?”
    Elizabeth was suddenly, fiercely glad that she had studied so
diligently. While she could not match his sexual knowledge, she could certainly
hold her own when it came to matching wits.
    A small, triumphant smile stretched her lips. “Surely, Lord
Safyre, you cannot have forgotten the words of the sheikh. The parts of a woman
are not endowed ‘with any pleasurable or satisfactory feeling until the same
has been penetrated by the instrument of the male.’ Therefore by pleasing her
husband a woman must please herself.”
    And Edward, she thought bleakly, was most pleased when she made no
demands on him at all.
    He had not even bothered to crack open her bedroom door to check
on her when he had come home earlier that morning.
    But she did not want to think about her past failure as a woman.
    Satisfaction must exist in the marriage bed. All she had to do was
... learn how to obtain it.
    “Do you become aroused by kisses, Lord Safyre?” she asked
impulsively.
    “Does your husband?”
    A coldness settled inside Elizabeth.
    Edward had never kissed her.
    No, that was not strictly true. After the minister had pronounced
them husband and wife, Edward had briefly pressed his lips against hers.
    Elizabeth glanced down at the little silver watch pinned to the
bodice of her dress. It was ten minutes after five.
    Leaning over, she laid the heavy gold pen onto his desk. “I will
not discuss my husband with you or anyone else, Lord Safyre.” With more haste
than grace, she rolled up the sheath of notes and thrust them into her
reticule. “I believe our lesson is over.”
    And she had survived with her pride if not her modesty intact.
    She should feel relieved. She did not.
    “Very well, Mrs. Petre.” The Bastard Sheikh stood up, eyes once
again mocking. “I will see you at four-thirty tomorrow morning.”
    The breath caught in Elizabeth’s throat.
    Striving to hide the sudden burst of gladness that there would be
another lesson, she slowly rose to her feet. “Four-thirty tomorrow morning.”
    He picked up the small leather book from the desk and offered it
to her. “Chapter Two, Mrs. Petre.”
    Nodding her head, she accepted the book and turned without comment
toward the door.
    “Rule number two. Tomorrow morning and every morning thereafter
you will leave your bonnet at the front door—as you will leave your cloak.”
    Anger rushed up her spine. She had obeyed the men in her life for
thirty-three years—she was not going to obey this stranger.
    “And what if I do not?”
    “Then our agreement is over.”
    Her heart skipped a beat, kicked into