Free Something Reckless by Jess Michaels Page B

have pieces that I’ve commissioned, as well as works going back thousands of years.”
    Her eyes widened when she looked at him in shocked disbelief. “Thousands?”
    Motioning to a glass case along the back wall, he nodded. “Yes, most of these pieces are quite old.”
    She stepped up to the case like she was approaching a ready executioner, but finally she leaned over the glass and gasped. Most of the ancient items were pieces that would have had a household use. Spoons with naughty images on their handles, a tarnished mirror with mating gods and goddesses on the cracked frame, even a piece of women’s jewelry that featured a decorated gold devil pleasuring a writhing maiden with his tongue.
    “Sensuality, sex, debauchery,” Jeremy said, moving a tiny bit closer to Penelope. “Those things aren’t new. They were even celebrated by some societies.”
    “And how many of those societies ultimately fell?” Penelope continued to stare at the items, her fists clenched along the cool glass top of the case. “These things, these images and the dissipation they represent may not be new, but they were dangerous then. Even as they are dangerous now.”
    “Dangerous?” Jeremy repeated, surprised by her use of the word.
    It could easily seem as though she meant dangerous to Society, dangerous to those who surrendered to their baser drives, but there was something in her tone and a sadness to her expression that made him think her statement was more a personal one than a broad reference.
    He leaned down. “Penelope, what happened to you?”
    Her fingers curled against the glass before she spun around, her face pale. She wouldn’t meet his eyes, but Jeremy saw powerful and dark emotions in the blue depths regardless. There was raw pain reflected there.
    And for the first time, he actually cared about that pain.
    “Someone I cared for—” she gasped out a breath, as if the mere act of speaking the words hurt her, “—was seduced in order to protect me.”
    Jeremy drew back a fraction. That was the one confession he hadn’t expected. Who could she mean?
    He caught his breath. Her sister. Lady Miranda Rothschild had been the subject of many whispers after her now husband, Ethan Hamon, the Earl of Rothschild, threw himself at her feet at a ball…wait, it had been Penelope’s engagement ball, hadn’t he heard that?
    Could Rothschild have seduced Miranda? Jeremy wouldn’t put it past him. The two men had run in similar circles for many years, though Ethan had left all that behind once he married. Many of Jeremy’s friends had said the Earl’s wife had ruined him, though the man seemed happy enough whenever Jeremy saw him.
    He searched Penelope’s face. There was more to her pain than something from her sister’s past. By all accounts, Miranda was now happy, and she certainly wanted for nothing. Rothschild showered her with gifts on a regular basis, to the point that even the women placed wagers on what magnificent bauble the beautiful Lady Rothschild would be given next.
    No, Penelope’s pain went much deeper. It was personal. Caused by something that had no happy ending.
    “But what happened to you ?” Jeremy pressed, his fingers itching to cover her hand. But he wouldn’t allow himself that. He wouldn’t touch her, mostly because he feared once he did, it wouldn’t end with mere comfort.
    And if he gave her more than comfort, it would ruin his plans.
    Penelope finally lifted her gaze to his. Her eyes shone with unshed tears and her bottom lip quivered just slightly.
    “H-he-” she began, then cut herself off.
    She backed away from him three long steps, shaking her head. “No. I never should have said anything. I apologize for my lack of decorum. I want to go home now. I will be attending the Trimble ball tonight, and there is much for me to do.”
    Jeremy could have pursued her, but he stayed put, partly because he felt that pushing her would only hurt his cause. And partly because being so close to her