His Desirable Debutante Read Online Free Page B

insides to jelly from lust, he kept her on edge with his outrageous comments and wit.
    Her husband sat up with a jolt and turned to grasp her hands in his. “You can trust me, Helene. There is little in this world I haven’t heard of or tried myself. I doubt your supposed transgression will even register on my list of horrors.”
    She watched him closely, searching for any signs of humor, but she only saw his honesty and his desire to know. Another thought took her mind to five minutes ago when Pierce arose from his bath, hands wrapped around his member. Perhaps he could be trusted.
    With closed eyes, she took a deep breath. “A few years ago, I was the most sought-after debutante. Proposals flew at me, but I didn’t take any of them seriously. I thought to wait for love or…something. All my suitors lacked something, but I didn’t understand what. Now I do.”
    “Passion,” Pierce said.
    She opened one eye. “Correct. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I accepted an invitation to a house party knowing that certain gentlemen would be in attendance.”
    “Ah. Those of my ilk who rarely attend balls where ambitious mamas will be seeking them out.”
    “Exactly.”
    “So, what happened? Were you caught entering or exiting the wrong bedroom one midnight’s eve.”
    “Hardly,” she snorted then took a deep breath. She’d arrived at the shameful part. “I was caught at something, but a gentleman wasn’t involved.”
    “A woman then. Another debutante?” Pierce said. “I hadn’t taken you for a Sapphist.”
    She wasn’t sure what a Saphist was, but she had to clarify. “There was no woman. I was…alone.”
    “Ah.” Pierce nodded. “I see. Shall I assume you were caught giving yourself pleasure?”
    Her cheeks felt as if flames licked them, and she nodded. “Yes,” she whispered. “Another girl who debuted alongside me entered my room to see me in my bath and I was…well…” She let her voice trail off, too ashamed to continue.
    “And the hateful cow spread the news that you were a dirty little girl, rather than keeping the news to herself.” Pierce said. “As if she’d never explored the delights of self-pleasure.”
    His derision for the sneak bolstered Helene’s confidence and all the anger she’d suppressed three years ago resurfaced. “I thought she was my friend. I should have seen she was jealous of my success and would take the first opportunity to throw me to the wolves.”
    “Bitch,” he said, and for the first time since the afternoon of the fateful bath, she laughed, a full genuine laugh.
    “Yes, it was a terrible thing to do,” she said, “But she got what she deserved.”
    “How so?” Pierce asked.
    “Her father married her off to a decrepit old goat, who, according to rumors, is intent on gaining an heir and visits her bedroom nightly.” It felt good to share that without keeping the spite out of her voice.
    Pierce laughed. “And does that sound terrible to you, having your husband visit your bed nightly?” His fingers trailed a flaming path up and down her forearm.
    She shivered in delight. At last she’d found that missing ingredient from all the previous men who’d offered her marriage and more recently offers that were not as honorable. “I guess it depends on the husband,” she said, inwardly bemoaning the fact that of all the men of her acquaintance, Pierce was the one who made her tingle with delight. She’d risk opening her heart and desires to a man who might leave to explore a whore’s bedroom.
    “Well, what about your husband?” he asked, a sly smile curving his lips.
    “What about him? According to all gossip, he’s an old letch and a rake. He doesn’t have any interest in fidelity or respectability,” she said, testing the waters.
    “And what if he did?”
    Helene weighed the idea in her mind; Pierce as a true gentleman, faithful to her. But he interrupted her thoughts, shattering her vision with his next words.
    “I’m willing