Free Bound by Bliss by Lavinia Kent Page A

his demons under control, before he’d been prepared to be the man she needed.
    “When do we go in? I didn’t ask you to bring me just so that I could stand across the street in the shadows.” Bliss sounded petulant.
    He was acting against his better judgment and she whined?
    Patience. From the day they’d met she’d required patience, but she had always been worth it, would always be worth it. All it took was one of her sweet smiles and…and he ended up with her at a brothel pretending she looked like a boy.

    “Can’t we go now?”
    Of course, when she wasn’t smiling, sometimes he had to wonder. He ached to take her over his knee and teach her exactly how she should act toward him. He had to stop thinking that way. Yes, she had displayed a certain curiosity, it was why they were here, but that was a very long way from thinking that she’d enjoy his type of play. If only those breeches weren’t quite so tight.
    The thought brought a smile to his mouth, and not just for the usual reasons. Bliss would never act as she was supposed to. He might long to discipline her, to teach her that she didn’t have to fight the world to get what she wanted, but he knew it was a losing proposition. Bliss would always be Bliss. It was what drew him to her, made him want to protect her from the world—and from himself. It was why he’d ignored her for years, while keeping all the other young fools who paid too much attention to her away. Johnston, Temple, Blankmore, Wilson—he’d made sure none of them had a chance with Bliss. She was his.
    “If you aren’t willing to take me, I will go myself. You should have told me earlier if you didn’t want to go in. I can go by myself. Nobody will know I am not a boy. I’ll just pretend that I am there for the first time. That will explain both my youth and why nobody has ever seen me before.”
    Could she really believe she looked like a boy? Or any type of male? It was laughable and he kept waiting for the smile that would let him know it was all a joke—the smile that didn’t seem to be coming. “It is not your being seen that I am worried about. I don’t know if you’ve noticed who is walking through that red door, but I’d wager that three of the most recent patrons to enter have danced with you in the last year. Do you really think that they won’t recognize you because they can see your legs?” Well, perhaps they would be too busy looking at her legs to notice her face.

    “I bound my breasts as well. Most of the men I dance with spend their time gazing at my bosom. If there aren’t breasts to look at and I am dressed as lad, why would they even think to look at me? Why would any man look twice at a boy?”
    Now that was a question he was not ready to answer. Given her confusion when he mentioned kissing boys he doubted she had any idea of the things two men could do together. Things that definitely happened at Madame Rouge’s.
    “Bliss, you will have to trust me,” he said.
    “Why? Isn’t what this whole thing is about, my not trusting you?”
    The woman always had a why. “If you are not going to even try to trust me then you clearly did not need me to come at all. Perhaps I should leave. As you are such a convincing young gentleman, I am sure you will have no problem on your own.” There was not a chance he would leave her, but she might not realize that.
    Indecision swept across her face. He’d always thought she saw the world clearly, but for whatever reason that was not the case now. “It is best that you stay,” she said after a moment. “I do not know how to go about this, and from the whispers I’ve heard most boys have a brother or father show them the way the first time. Lady Ormande was willing to take me, but she had been there many times. She thought every woman should visit a time or two to learn about life. She said she was looking forward to introducing me to everything the club had to offer.”

    Duldon was not even going to think about