Free An Introduction to Pleasure by Jess Michaels Page A

shifted in the water. Could she do such a thing? Be exciting and new to men who had far more power and experience than she did?
    “But all men do not want the same thing, do they?” she asked.
    He arched a brow. “In some ways they do. All men want the sweetness of your body. But in some ways, no. They all have different desires.”
    “Then perhaps I shall end up mistress to a man with a harridan of a lady in his wife.” She shrugged. “Perhaps he would prefer a demure mistress.”
    Andrew stared at her for a long moment and then he began to laugh. It was a pleasant sound, though a bit rough, almost as if he hadn’t used it in a long time.
    “My dear, if you can use that wit with whatever man you end up with, you will find it serves you as well as your body,” he said when he could again speak.
    Lysandra blushed with pleasure. She had not been complimented on her wit since her eighteenth year. Her father had been dead a year then, and she and her mother had clung to the hopes that she would find a proper husband to save them from their mounting troubles. She had briefly made a foray into the middle class Society in London. The gentlemen had all claimed to enjoy her company, but ended up marrying dull girls with large dowries.
    And perhaps that was the point Andrew was trying to make.
    “So you are saying that men are often forced into matches that they would not choose if they didn’t have to breed proper heirs for their titles or fill their coffers with the dowries of their wives. When they seek a mistress, they look for someone quite different from the woman they have at home or the woman they know they must court down the road,” she said with wonder.
    He nodded. “Exactly.”
    “How sad for all of them,” Lysandra said with a shake of her head. “How sad for the men to marry someone they could never love and how sad for the women who cannot ever be good enough to keep the attention of their husbands.”
    Andrew pursed his lips. “It isn’t all so bleak. There are love marriages amongst the ton , as I’m sure there are in the middle class. They are simply rarer.”
    He turned his face away, and Lysandra stared. There had been a brief moment of pain on his face that was unmistakable. She recalled Vivien had said something about his “sad history”, but could it have something to do with a marriage? Dear God, she didn’t even know if he was married. She had assumed not when he took her into his home, but she could be utterly wrong.
    “Do you have a wife?” she blurted out.
    He jerked his gaze to her and held it there a long moment. Then he slowly shook his head. “No. My wife died three years ago.”
    Lysandra swallowed hard. At least she wouldn’t be the “other woman” aiding in the painful deterioration of a marriage, but she could feel no glee about the reason. A death of a spouse, she knew how that had broken her poor mother.
    “I’m sorry,” she said softly.
    He rose to his feet. “This is exactly what I’m speaking of, Lysandra. Your duty is to keep these painful thoughts, these proofs of reality, away from your protector’s mind. Create a world of fantasy and pleasure, nothing more. That is what he will desire.”
    She stared at him. He was angry. Angry with her or angry with himself, she wasn’t certain. But before she could ask him, he spun on her.
    “Stand up,” he ordered.
    She flinched at the rough tone but did as he asked, shoving to her feet from the steaming water. She still felt a desire to cover herself, but it was beginning to fade. Andrew had already seen her in every intimate way, after all.
    “Have you ever touched yourself?” he asked.
    “Touched myself?” she repeated.
    He stared at her. “As I touched you. Touched yourself intimately.”
    She drew a few long breaths before she answered, so he wouldn’t hear the tremble in her voice.
    “No,” she admitted.
    He frowned. “Never? Not even in the dark of your room?”
    She bit her lip. “No.”
    “Hmmm, well