Page 48 of More or Less a Countess
Then again, she’d come this far. “Have you ever heard of them before?”
He darted a sidelong glance at her, then looked quickly away. “Yes, I’ve heard of them.”
My goodness, was he blushing? “Have you, ah…have you ever seen one?”
He made another choked sound, either a strangled laugh or a grunt of distress. Violet wasn’t sure which.
“Yes, I’ve seen them.”
Well, how fascinating. Lord Dare had heard of the pouches—that is, the barrier devices—and he’d seen them before, too. It stood to reason, then, that he…
Violet’s teeth sank into her bottom lip, but no amount of biting was going to keep the next question from escaping her mouth. “Have you ever used—?”
“For God’s sake, Miss Somerset!” This time there was no mistaking the dull red color flooding his cheeks. “I refuse to answer that.”
That was as good as a yes, because if hehadn’tever used them he would have just said so. But he didn’t seem keen to discuss it, so it would be best if she let the matter drop.
“I only ask, my lord, because, well…the thing is, I don’t quite understand how it works.”
Oh, dear. That wasn’t letting the matter drop, was it?
He gave her an incredulous look. “Well, I certainly hope you don’t thinkI’mgoing to explain it to you. Ask your sister, if you must know the details.”
“My sister? But that doesn’t make any sense. How should she know how they work? The card says ‘worn bymenin the act of coition,’ my lord.” She tapped a finger against the glass. “My sister is a woman. It stands to reason I’d ask a gentleman, doesn’t it?”
Lord Dare ran his hands down his face. “Well, ask your brother-in-law, then.”
Finn?Good Lord, she couldn’t think of anything worse than quizzing Finn about such a thing. “You want me to ask theMarquess of Huntingtonabout English riding coats?”
Lord Dare pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “Bloody hell.”
Another lady might have been shocked at the curse, but Violet found herself stifling a laugh. It was rather amusing, seeing Lord Dare put to the blush and at a loss for words. “It’s not as if you need to explain it in great detail, you know. Just give me a vague idea of it, without going into anything inappropriate.”
He threw his hands up in the air. “It’s all inappropriate!”
“Is it, indeed?” That was even more reason to solve the puzzle, then. Inappropriate things were always much more interesting than appropriate ones, and they tended to be the kinds of things kept secret from proper young ladies.
This was just the sort of information she wanted for her book. She needed more of the sort of content that would be edifying for young ladies who would otherwise be left dangerously ignorant.
She had that chapter on rakes and debauchers, but that sketch she’d done of Lord Dare as The Selfish Rake was meant to be the centerpiece of it, and she would never use it now she realized how horribly unfair it was to him.
But if she could persuade him to tell her a bit more about the mysterious pouches, perhaps she could include a chapter on those instead, and if there was a medical component to the business, so much the better.
“Howinappropriate?” Violet couldn’t quite hide her eagerness.
“You needn’t sound so thrilled about it.”
He scowled at her, but Violet could sense him weakening, and she was quick to press her advantage. “I’m thrilled about any opportunity to gain knowledge. Come now, my lord. My interest is purely scientific.”
Mostly scientific, anyway.
He ran a hand over the back of his neck. “It’s…it goes over the gentleman’s…appendage. You, ah…you understand what I mean by ‘appendage,’ don’t you?”
“I have some idea, yes.” She’d never seen this fabled appendage, that is, not the human version of it, but she’d been raised in Surrey, and there were a great many animals about.
Of course, animals didn’t wear the pouches, hence the gap in her knowledge.
He blew out a relieved breath. “Then you should be able to deduce how it works. The gentleman, he…well, he slides it over his…appendage, before he engages in coitus.”
