Rose in Bloom (Sex and the Season #2)(32)

“But you’re a lady.”

“A lady who wants to—”

“No, no.” Evan clutched his forehead. “Don’t say it again, Rose. Good God.”

“Evan, surely you know how to—”

“Yes, of course. But not with you. Not until… Just not with you. It isn’t right.”

Rose raised her eyebrows. “But you’ve been with other women?”

“Yes.”

“Then why not with me?”

“You’re…different.”

“How so? I have two eyes, two ears, a mouth.” She smiled and jiggled her breasts just a little. “Two breasts, and this lovely secret place where I get really—”

He quieted her with a kiss. “Rose, you mustn’t talk like that.”

She lowered her hand to the bulge in his trousers. “You want me.”

“My God!” He brushed her hand away. “What in the world?”

She reached forward again, but he stopped her.

“What’s the problem? I’m just like every other woman you’ve been with.”

“No, you’re special.”

How ridiculous. How was she to be sure she could feel magic with him if he wouldn’t allow her to experiment? “How so?”

“You’re a lady of the peerage. I can’t…take advantage of you that way.”

“But you can take advantage of some other woman?” Ire rose within her. First Cameron had been obsessed with her station, and now Evan. “That’s a bit hypocritical, don’t you think?”

“No, there are women, and there are…ladies.”

Rose scoffed. “Nonsense. Women are women, no matter to whom they’re born. None of us had a say in it, you know. I didn’t ask to be born to the Earl and Countess of Ashford. If I had been born a commoner, you would give me what I want, wouldn’t you?”

“Rose…”

She quickly pulled her corset up and turned around. “Do me up, please.”

“I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“If I had been born a commoner—” She stopped. If she had been born a commoner, she would be Cameron’s woman. Cameron’s wife. The wife of the man she loved.

Or maybe not. Cameron had rejected her, after all.

“You weren’t born a commoner, and neither was I.” Evan fastened the last button and turned her to face him. “You’re lovely, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t want you, but it isn’t right for us to do this.”

“Of course it’s not,” she said. “You’ve just made me realize what I’ve known all along. A person can’t change who or what he is. Not for all the gold in the world.” She sighed. “I want to go to bed.”

“You don’t mean you want me to—”

“Heavens, no. I wouldn’t dream of asking you to come to my chamber. Your high morals certainly wouldn’t allow that.” She smoothed her dress. “But tell me, Evan. If I looked the same, had the same mind, the same brain, the same body, but instead of a lady of the peerage I was a servant or a peasant girl, and I wanted you to bed me, would you?”

“Rose, I’m…not going to answer that.”

Rose snorted. “You just did. Good night, Evan.” She turned and walked away from the kennels, back toward the main house.



“Thank you, my lord,” Iris said quietly, her heart raging beneath her breasts.

David laughed softly. “Iris, call me David. Please.”

“That’s hardly proper. We haven’t seen each other in twenty—”

David brushed a stray curl behind her ear.

“—years.”

“I’m sixty years old, Iris, and a widower. I hardly care about the proprieties at this stage in my life.”

“I was truly sorry to hear about the countess,” Iris said. “I know you…cared for her.”

“Yes, I did. Ours was a good marriage. We were content.”

“I know.”

“And you, my Iris?”

My Iris. Her belly fluttered.

“You were never content, were you?”

She looked at the ground. “I’m afraid I wasn’t.”

“You never told me much about Longarry,” David said, touching Iris’s arm lightly. “Only that he wasn’t always kind. But I did some asking around…after. I found out some things that…disturbed me.”

“Rumor and innuendo travel more quickly than the rail, my lord.”

“David. Please.”

She closed her eyes and let out a breath. “David.”

“Why didn’t you tell me he was mistreating you?”

Iris looked at her feet. “What would have been the point?”

“I could have helped you.”

“How? And how did you find anything out? I never told anyone. Not even Flora.”

“Flora had no reason to pry. I did.”

“Whatever reason did you have?”

“I was in love with you, Iris.”

Warmth rose to her cheeks. “Well, even if you were, you weren’t going to leave the countess, and Longarry would have never let me go.”