Broken Dove (Fantasyland #4)(87)

“I’ve changed my mind about preferring you pressed to me, sleeping naked,” he declared, his fingers accentuating his point by gliding over the satin at my ass.

“I have a lot of kickass nightgowns you’ve been missing out on, sweetheart,” I replied.

“Mm,” he murmured, this noise also hitting me in my belly but in a different way.

His eyes dropped to my chest and his hands started sliding up my sides.

I caught them at the wrists and he looked back to me.

“Baby, we’ve gotta talk.”

That was when he did what Apollo always did.

He wrapped his arms around me, pulled me close and gave me what I asked for instantly.

“About what, poppy?”

God, I loved it that he could be this way.

I put my hands to his chest. “About three things. Then we can move on to the good stuff.”

His lips twitched, his arms gave me a squeeze and he said, “Go on.”

“Well,” I started. “It’s come to my attention that your boys are kind of…” I hesitated, “active at the main house and in the village.”

His head cocked slightly to the side. “Active?”

“Very active.”

“They are indeed active, Maddie. Though I’m thinking I don’t understand what you’re truly saying.”

“Hans has slept with Loretta.”

“And?”

“And, Loretta’s my ladies maid.”

“Yes?”

I stared at him, then said, “Well, Hans is one of your men and a friend of mine. And he’s around the house, not often but he’s around.”

“This is true,” he stated, patient but bemused.

Okay, surprisingly it seemed I had to explain this to him.

I moved a bit closer, sliding my hands up his chest to curl my fingers on his shoulders and I shared, “He’s been here twice since Loretta came on board and he hasn’t even looked at her. She’s crushing on him big time—”

“Crushing?” he queried, his brows drawing together.

“She likes him.”

“Ah,” he murmured, his brow clearing.

“It’s awkward,” I told him.

“She shouldn’t have taken him to her bed.”

I blinked.

Then I said, “Actually, I was thinking you might have a word with the boys so they would be more discreet and by that I mean appropriate and by that I mean they might wish to go further afield when they’re selecting their, um…play partners.”

This time, Apollo stared at me.

Then his arms convulsed around me and he burst out laughing.

When he was down to chuckling, his arms came from around me so he could frame my face in his hands. He pulled my mouth down to his and gave me a brief, hard kiss with his still-chuckling lips before he wrapped his arms around me again and stated, “You amuse me, poppy.”

“I was being serious.”

He was still chuckling, but he blinked while doing it. “Pardon?”

“I was being serious,” I repeated. “See, it’s kind of…” I searched for a word and found it. “Uncouth for the hot guys of the manor to go around having their fun, leaving a trail of broken hearts in their wake. There has to be somewhere else they can go to get their…” I struggled again to find the right word. “Fun.”

“And waste time astride a horse when they could be riding something else close to home?” he asked with mild disbelief.

My eyes got big, his lips curved into a smile, and I opened my mouth to speak but he beat me to it.

“This is the way it is here, Maddie.”

“I—”

He put his fingers to my lips and whispered, “Quiet. Please?”

I was quiet but only because he said “please,” I really liked that he said it and I also liked his deep voice wrapping around that word.

He made sure I was quiet, removed his hand so he could wrap his arm around me again and went on.

“The people of this world are very free…” he paused, “sexually. The Vale, there are more strictures than Lunwyn. Fleuridia, less. But here, men and women enjoy each other openly and frequently. If Loretta has feelings for Hans that are not returned, that’s unfortunate. But it happens. Does this not happen in your world?”

Actually, it did.

I bit my lip.

He nodded, correctly reading my non-verbalized answer.

“I’m sorry things are awkward, dove,” he said gently. “But she is not under any misconceptions, I’m certain. She knows the ways of this culture. And it is highly probable she will find someone else to turn her attentions to. But this may happen again until she finds the man who…crushes on her as she does him.”

This was how it happened in my culture too.

Drat.

“Are we done with that topic?” he asked, knowing the answer from reading my face.

I gave him a different one, however. “Kind of.”

“What more is there?” he queried.

I thought about the Fleuridian prostitute and the fact that Apollo was most definitely a man and a man who liked to get him some.

“Have you, um…?” I trailed off.

“Never,” he stated.