“He doesn’t. And he is very generous,” Sophie assured her. More so than anyone will ever know, she thought.
“Good.” Leila linked arms with her new sister as they strolled through the street.
***
That evening, Sophie and Sebastian enjoyed a pleasant evening alone by the fire. She was reading and he was playing a game of solitaire.
“Sebastian?” Sophie asked quietly.
“Hmm?” he responded as he set a card down.
“I spent the day with Leila. She asked me about last night.”
“Yes?” he said, half listening.
“She asked if you had been demanding at night. What does that mean?”
“What?” He turned to stare at his wife, who looked especially lovely in the firelight.
“Demanding at night?”
Sebastian cursed. Since when had his baby sister become so worldly?
“She’s talking about men’s appetite. In the bedroom.” He placed another card down and wondered since when marriage had become so difficult. Since the groom was unable to touch the bride, he answered to himself.
“I see.”
“I’ll try not to be too demanding at first. Shall I show you?” Sebastian teased, his dark eyes meeting hers.
Sophie smiled. “No. That’s all right.” She returned to her book.
But suddenly Sebastian realized he wasn’t teasing. He wanted to show her everything there was between a man and a woman. He wanted to take her right there in the salon and then take her upstairs in every bedroom.
Damn. He would have to visit Juliette sooner than he had anticipated.
***
He didn’t have to invent a reason to leave the house the next evening. Sophie was dining with her father and grandmother, so he took the night to visit Juliette.
It had been some time since he had last seen her and she welcomed him. He wasn’t interested in foreplay or conversation at first. He pressed her up against the wall and she was wet already. He pressed her back into the wall, and as he filled her with his thick shaft, she moaned in his ear. Later, on the bed, she straddled his waist and moved up and down on his shaft as he filled his hands with her breasts.
Afterwards as they lay together in the darkness, he made his confession.
“I’m married.”
She was startled but remained quiet.
“It’s a marriage of convenience.”
Still she said nothing.
“I married her to keep her safe. It was at her request,” he explained.
“She’s in danger?” Juliette was intrigued.
“Yes. We’ll annul the marriage when the danger has passed,” he said softly.
“But you want her,” she guessed.
“Yes.”
“And what does she want?”
“There’s a chemistry between us. But I think more than anything she wants her independence.”
“Very novel in a woman,” Juliette said, though she was just such a woman.
“It must be this way. The man after her is dangerous.”
Again Juliette remained silent. Then she said, “It’s admirable. To help her and seek nothing in return.”
Sebastian thought on the words. Was he admirable? Had he married her expecting nothing in return? Certainly her safety was the most important thing. But he knew the more time he spent with her, the more he was in danger of losing himself.
***
Eugenie and Sophie sat beside the fire enjoying each other’s company as they had always done when she had lived there. Eugenie had watched her granddaughter throughout dinner and when Jean Pierre excused himself to attend to work-related matters, she took the moment to speak to Sophie about married life.
“How was last evening?” Eugenie asked matter-of-factly.
“Fine,” Sophie said.
“I meant the evening,” Eugenie said carefully. “With Sebastian.”
“Fine,” Sophie repeated.
“He was not rough?” Eugenie wanted to make certain Sophie was being treated correctly.
Sophie frowned. “No.”
“He didn’t hurt you?”
“Why would he?” Sophie asked.
“Some men can be very amorous in their attentions. Some even enjoy roughness,” Eugenie explained to her, though the conversation involved some delicacy.
Sophie realized she was referring to what Leila had been asking about. Since when did the sexual act become a rough and demanding act? It sounded most unpleasant. She must speak to Sebastian. She must be able to answer these questions correctly.
“No, Grand-mère. He was a gentleman.” She remembered the passion that she had always felt with Sebastian and she blushed lightly.
Eugenie scoffed at that. “A gentleman? Perhaps at the theater, but a woman wants a little bit of a scoundrel in the bedroom.”