Page 9 of The Secrets He Keeps

But he was no fumbling lad.

“Have you always lived in London?” he asked.

With a knowing smile, she eased back in her chair. “Have we reached the point in our meal where we disclose our heartbreaking backstories?”

“I want nothing you aren’t willing to give.”

She arched a brow at that but didn’t refute him. “My story is no different than many others. Born and raised in the rookery until my morally destitute drunk of a father tried to sell me for a bottle of gin. I preferred to make my own way, instead. As many girls do, I quickly went from the gin shop to the bawdy house. It wasn’t long before I decided how much control I was willing to allow a pimp, which turned out to be not a damn bit.” Erik smiled at that and she smiled back. “I fought hard to get free and claim the right to protect myself and run my business by my own rules.”

“Not an easy feat.”

“Nothing worth keeping comes easily,” she noted coolly.

Though he would have agreed with her, he made no reply.

“And you?” she asked with a tilted smirk. “What is your story?”

Erik leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table. “I was born into an acting troupe that traveled all across Europe and parts of Asia. Such a childhood instilled a wanderlust in my soul that continued throughout my life. I was not very old when I started attracting amorous attention. Once I realized the benefits to be found in certain arrangements with my admirers, I left the troupe and fashioned myself as a bit of a Lothario.”

He looked down at his hands. “Those years of hedonism provided material wealth beyond any I ever had before. It also gave me a range and depth of experience that proved far more valuable.” Lifting his gaze without raising his chin, he met the shielded gaze of the woman across from him as a smile tugged at his mouth. “It turns out that when gentlemen of fine pedigree and sophistication direct their passion and creativity toward their mistresses, it leaves their wives...rather hungry.”

Pendragon’s brows lifted. “I’m sure you were quite happy to satiate those poor ladies.”

“Neglect of a woman’s desires is one of the greatest wastes of human existence. I provided pleasure and an opportunity for these women to release inhibition and explore what satisfied them. It was a worthy practice until I began to notice what was missing in the interactions between myself and my paramours.”

“What was that?” Though the woman was practiced in feigning a subtle disinterest, Erik detected the light of curiosity in her gaze.

“Intimacy,” he replied simple. “True intimacy that can only be developed over time with someone you trust. A partner in life as well as in the bedroom. The kind of intimacy that grows between two people who are committed to each other. In hearing of how unhappy my lovers were in their marriages, I began to understand how the pleasure found in truly passionate, deeply intimate lovemaking is essential to such unions.”

“Such a noble perspective.” Her lovely features tightened with a smile of superiority. “But unrealistic. Men will always seek out new flesh to plunder.”

“Not men who truly love their wives.”

“Love,” she scoffed. “No matter how enamored they might be on their wedding day, men always grow bored with their pious, perfect mates. If they didn’t, I wouldn’t have a business.”

Erik nodded. “It is true. For some. But I am not talking of those men. My focus is on the gentlemen who have a true desire to cultivate such a relationship with the woman they have taken as life mate.”

Giving up her relaxed posture, the madam leaned forward to rest her elbows on the table in a posture that matched his own. Her green eyes flashed. “Tell me, Mr. Maxwell, are you also married?”

He paused, understanding the antagonizing note in her voice. Meeting her green gaze with steady focus, he replied, “No, madam. I am not nor have I ever been.”

“Then what exactly can you offer these men?”

Erik smiled, appreciating her skepticism and her demand for explanation. She was not one to simply accept what anyone told her. She’d need to experience something personally before agreeing it was possible. This was likely the only reason she’d agreed to allow him to demonstrate his practice.

He lowered his voice. “We’ve previously established that far too many men do not know how to properly make love to a woman. I share the knowledge and techniques I developed in my time as lover to many varied women. But more important than that...I assist them in understanding how to cross that important bridge from gentleman husband to thoughtful, passionate life partner. It often requires a complete overhaul of their trained way of thinking and a destruction of the false assumptions that perpetrated about the fair sex. These men come to me because they want to become a lover and partner to their mates. I help them to see their wife as a woman first with all of the needs—base and exalted—a woman possesses. The seduction and pleasuring come rather easily after that.”

Pendragon’s gaze was narrow and assessing as she looked back at him. The tension in her jaw was barely discernable, but he saw it. She almost appeared...angry. Interesting.

“You are obviously very pleased with yourself,” she noted.

“I have witnessed great love stories unfold before my eyes. It is an honor to be a part of it.”

“That is a load of bullshit.”

Erik laughed. Her blunt way of talking caught him off guard on occasion. He enjoyed it. “I can understand why you’d think so. But I assure you, I mean every word.”

The woman eyed him over the rim of her glass as she took a sip before saying with disparagement in her tone, “You are a sentimentalist.”

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