All About Seduction(104)

Jack snorted.

For a minute Caroline didn’t know what to do with her hands, but holding them clasped in front of her felt ridiculous. She tentatively put one hand on Jack’s shoulder. His skin was warm and seemed charged.

He splayed his hand against her back and shifted his arm under her knees until it rested along her thigh. “Most men prefer a woman to be comfortable if not downright enjoying things.”

Her cheeks heated. She didn’t know the first thing about enjoying. Tolerating, sending her mind away so she could endure, that was what she knew.

“Is Whitton the man from the library?”

Caroline squeezed her eyes shut. “No, I was with Mr. Whitton the night I was drunk.”

“Did he hurt you?” Jack stiffened.

“No.” She grimaced, remembering the cool night and her disgraceful behavior. “I got sick.”

The corner of Jack’s mouth lifted. “The man from the library?”

Caroline lifted a shoulder. Mr. Berkley had been rough and disgusting, but she couldn’t say he’d truly hurt her. “Not really.”

Jack’s hand slid on her leg a little, leaving a wake of tingles. “Any others?”

Lord Tremont had only kissed her, so he didn’t really count. Caroline’s face burned. “Only you.”

“In the library man’s defense, he probably thought you were eager and would tell him if anything bothered you. Not that I am of a mind to defend him, but you should know that all men aren’t beasts.”

Just her husband. “Mr. Broadhurst tried to make me like in-intercourse, but I preferred to get it over with.” His pinching and mauling had only made it worse. She was incapable. Some women were and she must be one of them.

“I’m not him,” said Jack. His thumb moved in a tantalizing circle on her hip.

She felt loose and tense all at the same time. “I know.”

He shifted, repositioning her. Concern about his leg flooded through her. She bit back her worry.

“This sin thing.” Jack sighed. “My sin must be far worse than yours because I have to experience pleasure to give you a child.” He found her free hand and laced their fingers together. He let their joined hands rest against her stomach, which made flutters stir.

“You are not the one who took vows.”

He rubbed his thumb across her wrist. “You were a child.”

Tingles radiated up her arm, connected with the flutters in her stomach and moved lower as a growing force. “I was nearly fifteen, not a child.”

Although, as she said the words, going on fifteen seemed very young, too young to make decisions affecting the rest of her life. The marriage had been whirlwind fast. Mr. Broadhurst wanted children right away.

Jack brought her tighter against his chest and rubbed his hand down her back. Her bones turned soft.

“Caro, the real sin was selling you to that evil old man.”

She tensed thinking of the insult to her father, but she couldn’t work up any real offense. Jack only spoke the truth. She had been bartered, but brides had been bartered since time immemorial. Women of her class had a dynastic duty to uphold. They were brokered for power, for land, and for money. Her upbringing had prepared her for that. Only those with nothing to gain or lose could choose freely. She envied the simplicity of his world, where he could marry for love.

She flattened her palm against Jack’s chest, relishing the feel of his heated skin.

He sighed again. “And don’t you think God would overlook the sin in what we are doing, given that he wanted us to go forth and multiply?”

“I don’t know.” Would God look so favorably on her when she wasn’t thinking of a child? When all she wanted was to be in Jack’s orbit? Of course she still wanted a baby, otherwise why would she be here risking everything?

Jack shifted them again, turning more catty-corner on the chair.

She pushed away from his chest. “I am hurting your leg.”

“No.” He rolled his eyes, but the deep vee between his brows and his squint betrayed him.

She looked down at his leg. His bleeding should be checked to make it sure it wasn’t coming from a rupture to the sutures under his cast. “I have to look at it.”

“Caro, I’m fine.”

He didn’t sound fine. He sounded impatient and angry. He had rather quickly agreed with her assessment of a horrid day. Had something happened when he went to his father’s house? Or had he just been frustrated at his physical shortcomings? Or her crying?