Page 37 of A Sight to Behold
“What?” Bea and Pippa asked in unison.
“Well, I’ll tell you.” Violet straightened in the settee and leaned forward as if she would give a juicy account of a scandalous seduction at Almack’s. “We hadn’t yet… you know…” She drew circles in the air. “And then he was scheduled for the surgery and needed to recover at home. I met the doctor when he came the next day, and Henry needed to have chamomile compresses and lavender ointment. You know, for the inflammation and to soothe the—”
“Inflammation?” Bea asked in disgust.
“Nothing major, I assure you.” Violet waved it off as if it had been nothing. “It was gone the next day, but he was so grateful to me for applying the compresses and ointment. And it’s been four days since…”
“Since what?”
“Since I’ve come out of his bedchamber,” Violet said with a grin, as if she’d swallowed a whole vanilla birthday cake.
Pippa and Bea remained silent, taking in what Violet said. Bea seemed to hear her words but did not comprehend them. But Pippa had a good idea of what Violet had done for four days.
“I mustn’t say anymore. If I tell you what Henry did…and does.” Violet blushed again and put both hands on her mouth.
“Do tell,” Pippa urged her, ignoring her shell-shocked cousin clutching the empty cup of tea as if it were her last stronghold. “I thought he was a little…how can I put it… Experienced? When I saw him at your wedding, he looked like he was at least a decade your senior.” She was certain that some of the old Violet muststill have been in there and could be cracked with a provocative remark.
“He’s not old, Pippa. Please! He’s two and thirty.”
“That’s twelve years older than you, Violet,” Bea said.
“All right, I will admit it. He’s a bit more mature than I. But I am learning and catching up now.” Violet spoke like a patroness of Almack’s and folded her hands primly in her lap.
“Catching up on…?” Pippa nudged her further.
“Experience,” Violet said, reddening so much that it looked like her dark hair grew out of a cherry rather than her usually pale head.
“Tell me everything.” Pippa leaned in.
“I mustn’t say what he’s done to me, Pippa. Not to you.” Violet shook her head. “It’s not appropriate.”
“Oh please, Violet. You’ve never been proper. Don’t be now. Do tell!” Pippa begged.
“Tell me then,” Bea joined in, slightly flushed herself.
Violet looked over her shoulder and then got up to shut the door. She stood then, with one hand crossed behind her back and the other still on one of the door handles. And then she began to whisper, excitement in her tone, of provocative and incredible things. Acts she and her husband and done.
Pippa’s insides warmed as she imagined what Violet told her. Like three schoolgirls all those years ago, they huddled together, the two of them hanging on every word Violet whispered. “…and when he kisses me, not on my mouth, you see… he kisses me and uses his hands somehow to make me scream with pleasure.” Violet combed her fingers through her hair as if to hold on to her wits. The rest of her coiffe spilled from its pins, falling over her shoulders like a cape. “He’s so big and strong.”
“But I’ve heard the rumors of the bad habits. His physique…” Bea’s question hung in the air.
Violet shook her head. “I know. I think it’s all true. But he’s of good health now, well and strong and big especially…well, let me tell you about it.” Minutes passed. Perhaps hours, for it had grown dark outside by the time Violet began to run out of things to share. They had eventually moved away from the doors to sit down once more, finishing the tea and hurriedly sending the maid away when she came to ask if they wanted more.
Finally, Violet flopped back against the settee and smiled up at the ceiling. “In short, my husband makes me feel what I’ve never known my body could…especially when he puts his face down there, and when he touches my breasts and—”
“Stop!” Bea waved her hands in the air. “I can’t hear anymore! It’s too scandalous!”
“Listen to me,” Violet said as she sat up to grab Bea’s hands. “It’s not what they taught us at school. Nobody ever told me that I was capable of this, Bea. Or of what he could do. But especially, they never told us—it’s not bad at all. It’s wonderful!” She clasped her hands together and appeared, somehow, to glow.
Pippa had an inkling of how she felt because she was fairly sure she’d glowed after Nick’s kiss. But would she glow after…if…? “Is that why you came in such a state when we arrived?” she asked.
“Oh that… I was dressed already…ahem…well,dressingwhen he found me at my vanity table.”
“And?”
“And he put me on it to kiss me again.”
“On the table? Why?” Bea’s voice rose.
