“Yes.” A flush rose in Minette’s cheeks. “And I know you know him. Please, I’m not angry. Well, I’m rather sad, and I want to cry and tear out my hair when I think of him in your arms, but that isn’t your fault, so let there be no tension between us. I’m entirely aware that...gentlemen will... Well... To return to the topic... Oh, this is a wretched thing to admit, but Lord Augustine finds me wholly unappealing. In fact, I would go beyond that, and confess that I repel him.”
Esme’s brows drew together in a dark line. “I’m sure that’s not true. He married you, didn’t he?”
“There’s an entire story behind that, and I haven’t time to tell it. Just believe me when I say he doesn’t feel attracted to me in the least. We grew up in a very close way, like brother and sister. Now that I’m his wife, he feels...incestuous about the whole thing.”
“Oh. That’s unfortunate.” Esme’s sharp eyes studied her. What did she see? The blonde curls, the blue eyes, the pretty, ladylike features? What Minette would have given to possess Esme’s bold coloring and sensual bearing, if it would make August feel passionately toward her.
“What am I to do?” Minette cried. “I love him to madness. I adore him, I always have. I want us to have a true marriage, with closeness and romance and babies, and passion and affection. I want him to kiss me because he can’t bear not to, and give me those smoldering looks that gentlemen give the ladies they love. I want him to be content and happy in our marriage. You see, I’ve cared for him forever, for years and years. And so I thought, perhaps, if you would not consider it too much a betrayal of his confidence, that you might tell me the things you do with him that make him want to be with you. Because then, perhaps, I can try to do them and capture his attention in the area of...bedroom matters.”
Somewhere over the course of this outpouring, Esme had propped her chin on her hand. “Bedroom matters. Hmm. Are you a virgin then?”
“No. He...we...” Minette could never explain how she’d lost her virginity without sounding daft. “We coupled together once, but he thought I was someone else. It was dark and he was a little drunk.”
“I see.”
“This necessitated our marriage.”
“I had already worked that out. So, you need some advice on how to entice your husband?”
“Yes. Perhaps if you have any pamphlets on the matter, it would be less awkward all around.” Minette’s cheeks were so hot she thought she must resemble a beet.
“I’m afraid I don’t have any pamphlets, excepting some on the prevention of venereal disease.” At Minette’s blank look, Esme chuckled. “I don’t suppose you know what those are. Good for you. But my dear, there must be a little awkwardness, or I should say, vulnerability if you are to get anywhere in ‘bedroom matters.’”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
Esme thought a moment, and took a sip of tea. “I suppose what I mean to say is that desire is not a nice, neat thing, like a pamphlet. It’s something that must be poked and fed and tended to, like a fire.”
Minette could not hold her gaze. She was so much wiser, this woman. She knew everything about desire, while Minette knew almost nothing, except that she desired August above all things. “And how do you...poke that kind of...fire?” asked Minette.
“You wish me to tell you, ‘caress him here,’ or ‘kiss him there’ or ‘whisper this in his ear,’ but I can’t say what will melt the ice between you and your husband. You must come to know him yourself. You must observe and experiment until you discover what he likes.”
“But you already know,” said Minette in despair. “He’s been coming to you for years. How can I ever catch up?” Tears rose in her eyes, and she dabbed them away as furtively as she could.
“Don’t get upset,” Esme said, refilling her tea. “Yes, I know what Lord August likes from me. That doesn’t mean he won’t want very different things from you. If you behave just as I do, and mimic the tricks I do with him, then Lord August will feel as if he’s lying down with Dirty Esmeralda rather than Lady Augustine.”
“You do tricks?” Minette threw up her hands. “It’s hopeless. I can’t do any tricks at all. I suppose he’ll continue coming to you since I can’t ever hope to attain your level of expertise.” She got to her feet, and set her tea cup on the tray. Tears spilled onto her cheeks. “Oh, this is terrible. I shouldn’t have come. I feel even more discouraged than I felt before. No, I’m not angry at you,” she said, as Esme rose and came to her. “You’re so much nicer than I expected you to be. I don’t blame you for refusing to help me. It’s only that I love him so much, and I want him to want me. What on earth is to be done?”
Through all this blathering and crying, Esme set Minette back down, and sat next to her, and took her hand.
“I’m not refusing to help,” she said when Minette had calmed a little. “I suppose it wouldn’t be amiss to teach you a few erotic tricks. What do you know of the more adventurous side of lovemaking? Do you read the right sort of books?”
Minette blinked at her. “I read romantic novels.”
“Romantic novels won’t teach you what men really need. I have a better sort of book which I can loan you, about the sublime art of pleasuring men. And finding pleasure yourself, which is also important. Do you ever stroke yourself, Minette? Stroke your kitty?”
Minette thought a moment. “I stroked your kitty. That lovely white one.”
“My dear, that is not the kitty I mean. I’m speaking of the pussy between your legs. Do you play with it and make it purr now and again?”
Minette flushed as she remembered her night with Lord August, the way he’d stroked and kissed her there, and made it feel so hot and tingly. “I... Well...”
“There’s nothing wrong with admitting you do. At least to me.”
My goodness, this conversation had rather taken a turn. “I suppose I have become a bit more aware lately of...that kitty.”
“When you are near Lord August? When he glances at you, or smiles at you?” Esme looked pleased. “That’s an excellent harbinger.”
/>
“A harbinger of what?”
“Marital bliss, my dear. If he makes you feel excited, that’s half the battle. The other half is making him feel excited.”
“Yes, that’s the reason I’m here, even though August would kill me if he knew. You won’t tell him, will you?” she asked in an aside. “He can be awfully unreasonable when it comes to my behavior.”
“He spanks you, doesn’t he?”
Minette felt embarrassed to confirm such a fact, but Esme obviously knew. “Yes, and I don’t like it very much.”
“He probably likes it more than you do,” she muttered under her breath. “But let’s stay on topic, shall we?”
“Yes, please. There must be a way to seem less sisterly to him.”
“Oh, there are many ways. Let’s start with your face.”
“My face?” Minette had never thought of one’s face as a very erotic thing, but perhaps that was the problem. Esme’s face did communicate a certain lavish sensuality.
“When you speak to your husband, particularly just before bed,” she said, “you should meet his gaze very directly, and make your eyes soft. Tilt your chin a little, so you seem a bit more saucy.” Esme watched as Minette attempted this. “No, don’t clamp your lips together. Leave them soft, like your eyes. Leave your mouth partly open.”
Minette attempted this too. Esme shook her head and laughed.
“Not wide open. That will suggest something else altogether. No, just slightly open. Tempt and tease. This must be your new motto, Minette. Slightly-open lips might tempt your husband into a kiss. Tease him with a sigh and a shiver, and he won’t be able to resist. No, not quite so dramatic a sigh, and you have lost the softness about your mouth. You must make your lips loose and kissable.”
Minette tried to follow her instructions, but she felt rather ridiculous.
“It takes practice,” said Esme. “You must work on it in your looking glass. Once you have the expression right, then you can move on to sending the correct signals with your posture and positioning. You know how you have always been taught to sit up straight, and keep your knees together, and preserve a proper distance between you and a gentleman?”