Claiming His Wife (19 page)

Grace was actually
learning quite a bit. 

Especially when Cynthia had told them
about using her mouth on the Earl.

"Your
mouth?
" she said, shocked.  Not
just from the stunning visual, but from the very idea of it.
 

"Yes," Cynthia said, looking at her
curiously.  "You mean, you've never?"

Shaking her head, Grace fought back a
blush as she tried not to contemplate the idea.  When she
glanced at Eleanor in an appeal for help, she was surprised to see
her friend's cheeks turn pink as well.  

"Really?" Irene's
astonishment was just too much for them to handle, as she asked the
question in a kind of superior surprise.  All three of them
turned to look at the redhead, whom they’d all considered a bit of
a prude, shocked at her nonchalance.  She looked back at them,
as primly as she always did.  "What?  Is it an unusual
thing to do?"

"Good grief, what kind of
wedding night talk did you have with
your
 mother?"  Eleanor
asked, sounding absolutely scandalized.  Considering the icy
coldness of the Baroness, Irene's mother, Grace couldn't imagine
the woman sharing that kind of information either.

"She didn't really tell me
much of anything," Irene said, shrugging her shoulders.  "I
just do whatever Hugh wants me to.  He likes it when I use my
mouth.  It's quite a lot of fun, actually."

"Oh no, no," Eleanor said, shaking her
head as she put her hands over her ears.  "I'm not
listening... I think my ears are bleeding!"  All of them fell
over giggling at her antics and the horrified expression on her
face.  Grace pressed her hand to her stomach, trying to
control her mirth as tears sparked in her eyes she was laughing so
hard.  She'd never seen Eleanor so perturbed. 

When they finally regained control
over themselves, she couldn't contain her curiosity.  "But
really... what do you do?"

"Oh no, don't ask them about it,"
Eleanor said, giving Cynthia a stern look.  "I can't tell you
the amount of trouble I got into when I tried it with Edwin.
 He was sure that I had learned it from some other
man."

It was like a thundercloud
suddenly shutting out the sun.  Grace's chest went tight
inside, as if her rib cage had wrapped around her heart and
squeezed.  While Edwin's suspicions of Eleanor were definitely
without merit, if Grace and Alex were to reconcile and she was to
try something so new with him... would he be upset?  The
others were exchanging glances, and Eleanor looked incredibly
regretful of what she'd said. 

"I'm sorry, Grace," she murmured,
reaching out and grabbing Grace's hand, a forlorn expression on her
face.  "I wasn't thinking... I just spoke..."

Giving her friend a wan smile, Grace
patted Eleanor's hand.  "I'm alright.  I know you didn't
mean anything by it, and you're right."  She gave a brittle
little laugh.  "With all my lovers, you'd think I would have
been the one with the most experience!"

That was certainly true.
 Although, she'd never been particularly adventurous in the
bedroom.  Once Alex had left, she'd been careful to keep
things pleasurable, but light.  She knew from her time with
him that it was very possible to get creative, and some of her
lovers had tried, but Grace hadn't encouraged any kind of
experimentation.  That was the quickest way to get kicked out
of her bed, in fact.  Keep things enjoyable and rote, that had
been her motto when it came to her lovers.

"Who was the best lover?"
 Cynthia asked.  The question made Irene shriek with
horror, Eleanor whack the curious brunette with her fan, and Grace
burst into laughter.  Trust the unmanageable hoyden to be the
one to break the tension.  She wished she could keep Cynthia
with her all the time.  Eleanor might be her best friend, but
she didn't have Cynthia's irreverence, which had proven remarkably
effective at jostling Grace out of her misery whenever it came
crashing down.

"You can't ask her that!"
 Irene was so appalled she was actually trembling, her voice a
high-pitched squeak.  It made Grace want to cover her ears,
the way Eleanor had done a few minutes ago.

"But I want to know!"  Cynthia
protested.  "She's the only one who can tell me if I'm going
to get bored with one man or not, isn't she?"

"Well I can tell you I'm not bored,"
Irene snapped.

"You don't have a point of
comparison."

"I don't need one!"

"Children, children, calm down," Grace
interjected, since Eleanor was laughing too hard to.  She gave
them both a slightly strained smile.  Although Cynthia's
question had made her laugh and loosened the tension in the room,
answering it kept her spirits dampened.  "Alex was always the
best."

Silence descended and she avidly
wished that her life wasn't so complicated.  Just like her to
bring down the happiness of everyone else right before a
wedding. 

"Why?"

Irene groaned.  Eleanor laughed.
 Cynthia looked at both of them in exasperation.  "What?
 What did I do now?  The why is important, don't you
think?"

"It's the most important
thing," Grace said.  Perhaps her own relationship with Alex
had fallen apart, but since they were all handing out marriage
advice to Cynthia, she was going to give the young woman the best
words of wisdom she had.  Maybe Cynthia would be able to make
a better go of it.  Certainly, Wesley was head over heels in
love with the young chit, and she was fairly certain that Cynthia
loved him back.  It wouldn't do for her to accidentally ruin
their relationship because of her natural curiosity, and Grace
hoped her words would help Cynthia to realize that.  "It was
always the best with Alex because, for me, it wasn't just about the
physical.  I loved him and it made everything we did together
transcend regular pleasure.  With my lovers.... it was
enjoyable.  I found my pleasure.  But it wasn't the same.
 There's nothing more incredible than making love with someone
you love."

This time the silence in the room was
different.  Reverent.  Irene and Eleanor were glowing,
but also looking at her with a kind of sympathetic sadness.
 She refused to think of it as pity.  Cynthia looked
thoughtful.

"So, why are you fighting becoming
reconciled with him?"

Maybe it was Cynthia's guilelessness.
 Maybe it was the sherry.  Maybe it was because she was
finally starting to seriously consider that Alex might be genuine
in his desire to reconcile.  

The whole story came
spilling from her lips.  They all listened, Eleanor with the
sympathy of a friend who had already heard everything, holding
Grace's hand and giving it the occasional supportive squeeze.
 Across from them, Irene listened with pursed lips, as though
she was keeping in some of her thoughts, allowing Grace to fully
have her say.  Which made Grace wonder what insights Irene
might have into Alex's behavior.  It still hurt her, a bit,
how close Alex and Irene had been, how much more Irene had known
him, but it was a distant kind of hurt.  Irene no longer
flaunted their relationship the way she had back then, and she'd
apologized for her previous actions.

Cynthia was listening very
carefully, chewing on her lower lip.  She brightened when
Grace got to the part about wanting to search through Alex's
papers, to see if she could find a hint or even some evidence about
any business transactions that might be spurring his decision.
 Of course, Eleanor groaned in disgust at Grace’s plan, since
she hadn't heard it before.  

"That's a terrible idea," Eleanor
said, shaking her head.  "What if nothing's there?  Then
will you believe him?"

"It would help," Grace argued.
 "I know it's not definitive, but if there's nothing
condemning there, then at least I know."

"I think it's
brilliant
," Cynthia
gushed, leaning forward in her seat, her hazel eyes sparkling with
mischief.  "In fact, I think we should do it
tonight."

"We?"

"Tonight?"

Irene's squeak came right on top of
Grace's question.  The prim and proper redhead looked
horrified at the idea that she was about to become a part of this.
 

"Of course!"  Cynthia
said enthusiastically.  She pointed at Irene and Eleanor.
 "You told us that your husbands decided to spend the evening
together, yes?  Do you really think Alex isn't there?
 They'll probably be up all night drinking, thinking us safely
tucked away
here.
  Besides, she certainly won't get a chance tomorrow.
 And don't you want to know what his correspondence
says?"

Reckless Eleanor looked like she
wanted to say yes, but Irene was already shaking her head.
 "What if we're caught?  How are we going to avoid being
seen by the servants?  Don't you think Manfred will notice if
we all go missing from this room?  Besides, I can tell you
right now that I'm fairly certain Alex loves you," she said,
looking beseechingly at Grace.  Her words made Grace's heart
jump in her chest, even though she couldn't quite bring herself to
believe them.  "When you were married, he was the happiest
I've ever seen him... and after you left, it was like all his
emotions just closed up and went away."

"That could have been because I
humiliated him by leaving him," Grace countered, keeping her heart
cold against the hope that was always trying to batter its way in.
 "My father is completely closed against me as
well."

"Alex isn't like that..." Irene said,
but then she shook her head, a rueful expression crossing her face.
 "But then, sometimes I wonder if I know Alex as well as I
think.  I would have never expected him to spank his wife, and
I certainly wouldn't have thought that he'd ever say that one woman
is as good as another for his wife.  I know he would do
anything for his business, he loves his work, but..."  Irene
sighed.  "I'm not helping am I?"

"Nope," Cynthia said, turning her
attention back to Grace.  "Which is why we should absolutely
search his study tonight."

Even though part of her was clamoring
to say yes, Grace hesitated.  "But... Irene made some good
points.  What about Manfred?"

The Countess' butler checked in on
them every so often, ostensibly to see if they needed anything, but
probably also to reassure himself that Cynthia wasn't running amok
without the Countess to watch over her.  Grace was under the
impression that he didn't trust the other women to be able to
control her.  He probably didn't realize how true that was.
 

"What if I stay here?" Irene said,
rather eagerly.  She glanced at the clock on the mantle.
 "Manfred hasn't checked on us in a while, he'll probably be
by soon.  If you leave after he checks on us, there should be
plenty of time for you to return, and if you aren't back before he
comes again, I can say you've gone to the retiring
room."

All of them looked at Irene with
varying degrees of admiration.  Despite the fact that she
obviously didn't want to be party to the search of Alex's study,
her deviousness and willingness to contribute in a very key way was
impressive.  Grace would probably have given up, rather than
come up with something so sneaky.

Eleanor sighed, pulling
her hand away from Grace and laying both of her palms over the very
slight swell of her stomach.  It was only visible because she
was sitting down and she wasn't wearing a gown that required a
corset.  "I should probably stay here as well," she said,
regretfully, her hand briefly caressing her stomach.  "It
would still look suspicious if Irene was just sitting here alone.
 Besides, someone should keep her company."  The two
women smiled at each other, Irene looking rather relieved that she
wouldn't completely be on her own. 

"Well I'm going with Grace," Cynthia
announced, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.  Even in the
face of her enthusiasm, Grace could still feel herself hesitating.
 There would still be the other servants to contend with.
 And what if Alex came home early?  But Cynthia was also
right about this being a golden opportunity.  "Please," the
younger woman begged.  "It sounds like so much fun - think of
it as a wedding present to me!"

The happy eagerness with
which she made her suggestion had Grace laughing again.
 Truly, she had laughed more in the company of her friends
here in Bath than she had in years, and mostly due to Cynthia.
 The young woman was, quite simply, outrageous.  When
Wesley did take her to London, she would either be a hit or even
more of a scandal than Grace had been. Although, since he was
already considered a bit of an eccentric, due to his flaunting of
fashion and his bronzed skin, as well as his outspoken interest in
trade, Cynthia would probably be dubbed an Original, rather than a
scandal.  

"Very well," said Grace, her heart
beginning to hammer inside of her chest.  "We'll do
it."

******

Comfortably ensconced in a plush
chair, Hugh swirled his brandy and raised his glass.
 

"To Wesley and his bride - may she
ever keep him on his toes!"

"Which will keep her bottom very red,"
Wesley parried, raising his own glass amid the laughter.  Hugh
could only shake his head.