“I think too much ignorance is a bad idea. Be honest with me, Brant. Were you disappointed that I was not a virgin?”
“As good as,” he murmured and thought about it for a moment. “No. I was not. Bedding a virgin, something I have never done but have heard a lot of talk about, does not sound like it is so very enjoyable. I even had one friend whose wife swooned at the sight of him naked on their wedding night. Turns out she thought he had some strange mutation.” He grinned when she started giggling. “Yes, we all laughed, too, but thinking on it, it isn’t all that funny when you are the man standing there with your new bride, a woman he loved dearly, so he said, in a limp pile at your feet. So perhaps some knowledge would be good but I suspect few will ever get it. It would worry parents that their virginal little darling might attempt to find out for herself if all they told her was true.”
“Foolish.” She trailed her fingers up and down his belly. “So kissing one anywhere is acceptable? Like riding you is acceptable?”
“Yes. If both enjoy it, it is acceptable.”
He gasped when she suddenly dove beneath the coverlet. Brant then tensed when he felt the warmth of her lips and tongue on his stomach. Although he was hoping she intended to do what he hoped she would do, he promised himself he would not press her to do so. Then she ran her tongue up the length of his already hard shaft and he closed his eyes, losing himself in the pleasure of it.
“Olympia!”
She swatted at the hand shaking her shoulder. “G’way.”
“Wake up. Something has happened at Myrtledowns.”
Olympia woke up and sat up. She was groggy but growing less so by the moment as fear pushed aside her sleepiness and invaded her heart. Quickly rubbing the sleep from her eyes she looked up at a half-dressed Brant standing by the bed.
“What do you mean something has happened at Myrtledowns?”
“Someone tried to take your son,” he answered and quickly grabbed her by the arm when she went pale as he was certain she was about to swoon.
“Who brought the message?”
“One of your stable hands. Hugh Pugh, I believe he said.”
She leapt out of bed and began to dress. “That is his name. I need to speak with him and then pack and get down to Myrtledowns.”
“I will take you. I can have the carriage here in a very short time.”
Olympia watched him throw on his shirt and hurry out the door. So much for their love affair being a secret, she thought, and then shrugged. Trouble from her family over her taking a man to her bed was the least of her worries.
She yanked on her slippers and hurried out the door. Hugh stood at the base of the stairs looking tired and sweat-soaked. Olympia nearly leapt down the rest of the stairs and grabbed him by the arm.
“Ilar?”
“He is just fine, m’lady. Just fine. Magistrate has one of the men who tried to take the boy locked up. May be something he can tell you.”
“How did they get to him?”
“Came in as men delivering the coal. Old Moll was not paying attention for she was making the bread for the parish poor—her turn you know and all—and so they slipped right inside the house. Knocked out poor Moll and then went through the house. The boy was napping in the library. Said the book he was trying to read had put him right to sleep.” Hugh briefly grinned. “Then he woke up to find two men trying to hogtie him. He managed to get loose and then the fun began.”
“Oh, dear, he used his gift,” she muttered and ran a hand over her hair. “That news could spread fast.”
“Who will be believing a couple of fools who could not even kidnap a skinny lad, eh? Folk will just think the men are trying to hide the fact that they are such poor fighters they could not even hold fast to a child.”
“I have the carriage, Olympia,” Brant said as he reached her side and held up a small bag. “Also packed a few things.”
“Of course. I must do the same.”
She raced back to her bedchamber, looked at the remains of Brant’s lovely dinner for two, and sighed. It was nearly dawn and she had looked forward to waking up in his arms for one more bout of lovemaking before he had to slip back to his house. Then again, now that everyone undoubtedly knew he had been in her bed, that slipping away before everyone woke up could stop, she decided as she began to throw some clothes into a bag.
Once she brought the bag downstairs, she looked at Hugh, Pawl standing beside him. “You rest, Hugh. Come back to Myrtledowns after you have had a rest and a good meal. Brant and I will be fine.”