Bronwyn Scott's Sexy Regency Bundle (137 page)

Julia batted at his hand. 'Stop it. You're getting off track again. So you went to India and became a shipper?'

'Hmm.' He was losing interest in the story. Julia's body was far more entertaining. He could not recall the last time he was so captivated. 'In short, I ran an export business for ten years. I travelled the breadth and depths of India in search of rarities. I even went to China once.

I would have gone to Burma if the war in 1824 hadn't closed down the borders. I sold the business, though, when I came back, and banked the profit.'

'What made you decide to come back?'

'I don't know. It just seemed like it was time. I realised that if I could build a business and thrive on my own, I could certainly handle any repercussions, if any, from the duel with Oswalt. Usually, the police are too busy with real crimes to worry about cases of the Quality fussing over honour.'

Julia opened her mouth to ask another question, but Paine silenced her with a finger to her lips. 'That's enough questions about me, my sweet. The less you know about me, the better.' At some point, part of him feared Julia would realise the kind of life he'd have led to acquire the knowledge he had and then she'd be completely appalled by the man she'd associated with.

'I have a better idea. We can play forfeits. We can each

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Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady

ask a question and the other can decide if they wish to answer the question or pay a forfeit to forgo the question,' Paine suggested.

go first since you've

have your questions already. How did you come to live with your aunt and uncle?' It was admittedly a highly personal question, but Paine found he wanted to know everything about her and not because he was risking so much for someone he knew so little about.

He wanted to know everything about the delectable Julia Prentiss.

'That's an easy question, so

answer it,' Julia said,

rolling on to her back. 'My parents were when I

was small in a freak boating accident. I've been with my father's family since I was five.' She looked over at him, her gaze intense and demanding of his attention. 'You don't know them. They're very good, very simple people.

Whatever they've done, or whatever comes out of this mess with

I want you to know that. What my

uncle is attempting to do with Oswalt is appalling, but he's not a practical man. The world does not always deal fairly with philosophical men

him who love their

theories and ideologies more than the realities of the day.'

'You don't have to defend them, Julia. They've certainly not defended you,' Paine shot back, unnerved that, even at this late date, Julia's goodness would try to countenance such inexplicable behaviour.

'Now it's my turn,' Julia said, setting aside the brewing quarrel regarding the culpability of her uncle.

'How many women have you been with?'

Paine groaned. 'What

of question is that?'

Scott

Julia gave an insouciant shrug. 'My question. Are you refusing to answer?'

'Absolutely-a gentleman never brags of his conquests.' Paine put on a great show of gentlemanly affront.

Julia scooted towards him, a hand caressing his chest.

'You will pay the forfeit? Anything at all that I want?'

'That was the rule,'

drawled, his curiosity piqued

at wondering what the inquisitive Julia would demand.

'Very well.' She put on a show of thinking, then said at last, 'Teach me the sutras.'

The request stunned him. 'Why ever would you want to learn that?'

'Why should you be the only one who knows the secrets of pleasure?' Julia challenged, smiling.

The minx thought she'd got the better of him and maybe she had, but not in the way she most likely thought. He guessed she'd meant to shock him. But the shock was the idea of Julia using such techniques with another man besides him at some point in a far-off future. 'These are intimate

Julia,' Paine warned.

'The sutras are about more than studies of sexual congress. They're about managing marriage and love quarrels as much as they are about the physicality of lovemaking.'

Even as he recited the admonitions his own teachers had given him, he knew Julia would heed them as much, or as little, as he had. In the beginning of his education, he'd seen them only from the English perspective of positions and sexual prowess.

It had been much later before he'd begun to see them

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Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady

in the Hindu way, in the sacred way of being an exalted religious expression of oneness-the whole point of life.

'You agreed to a forfeit. Are you reneging?' Julia pressed.

'All right, I'll tell you about Kama.' Paine relented.

Kama could be used by anyone for establishing peace of mind, it needn't be only sexual in orientation, although it was hard to remember that with Julia snuggling against him in expectation.

'Kama is the experience of enjoyment through util-ising all five of the senses,' Paine said in a low voice.

'Ah, like the oranges this morning,' Julia said.

Paine chuckled softly, pulling her closer to him. 'Yes.

Intercourse should be an experience of sights, sounds, scents and touches. good lover sets the scene, from his own grooming to the place where he intends to be with his partner. good lover is concerned about trust on all levels. Without trust, sex cannot attain its sacred plain.'

'Your sheaths,' Julia put in quietly, lying content in his arms, happy to listen to him

out his forfeit.

'They're about trust.'

'It is a lover's duty to ensure a fulfilling sexual experience. If either partner is worried about the after-effects of their liaison, then the experience is minimised,' Paine said simply. These lessons had become so ingrained in him that he couldn't remember thinking otherwise. But hearing himself speak these lessons out loud reminded him how foreign these practices might be to someone else and a thought

to him.