Reckless (The House of Rohan 2) - Page 40

Of course he was entirely immune. He'd enjoyed her while he had her, but now he could forget about her.

Couldn't he?

13

It turned out to be surprisingly easy for Lina to avoid Simon Pagett. If he walked into Monty's bedroom while she was reading him salacious novels, she would simply rise, whisk herself away with a light sally, and there was nothing the good vicar could do short of making a scene. Which such a conventional creature would, of course, never do.

It wasn't that she was such a fragile soul Lina reminded herself. So the man had called her a whore-most vicars would do the same. There was no reason that it should bother her. She had set out to prove something to herself, and she'd never given a tinker's damn for anyone's opinion. The people who mattered loved her—Monty and Charlotte, and if that number was about to be cut in half she'd survive. She'd survived worse.

To her relief Pagett decided he needed to visit the vicarage where he'd be living for the next few years.

At least, Lina assumed he would be. She had no idea who Monty's heir was, but whoever came into the title would doubtless consider the position of local vicar to be the least of his worries. And for a few hours she didn't have to worry about running into the man in the long, empty corridors of Hensley Court.

"So what do you think of the good vicar, eh?" Monty was sitting up for dinner, his color improved even if his strength hadn't seemed to appreciate much.

Lina poured herself another glass of claret, admiring the blood-red color in an attempt to give herself time to come up with a polite answer. Then again, Monty had never been insistent on good manners.

"He's a dog. "

Monty laughed. "No, darling, tell me what you really feel about him. "

"'You weren't thinking of matchmaking, were you, Monty? Because if you were, then I think your illness has reached your brain and there's no hope for you. "

"I do adore you, Lina, but even I know that you're hardly the kind of woman who'd make a decent parson's wife. Besides, I'm very fond of Simon— I wouldn't think of saddling him with a shrew like you. Why do you ask?"

She decided to ignore her own suspicions. "The vicar thought you might be. "

“Really? Wishful thinking on his part. I expect. "

He took a sip of his own watered-down wine. 'Faugh, this tastes like piss. Give me a full glass, there's a dear. "

"'And how often have you tasted piss?" "You don't really want the answer to that, do you?"

"'You're revolting, do you know that?" "I do. I'm certain that when Simon decides to marry he'll find someone plain and virtuous, whose knees are so tightly clamped together he'll need a bar to pull them apart. For now I believe he's reveling in the world's longest stretch of celibacy, and the only reason i can

think of him breaking it would be if I insisted that the vicar should have a wife. Otherwise he'll continue to mortify his flesh and suffer for his sins. ”

"Mortify his flesh?" Lina said, startled. "He flagellates?"

'That sounds so deliciously sinful when you say it, darling," Monty said wickedly. He drained his glass of wine, accepting the fact that Lina wasn't about to pour him an undiluted glass. "No whips or hair shirts, just sexual abstinence. He's simply atoning for his sins, darling. He loves them and his guilt far more than he could ever love a woman. "

"May they live happily ever after," she said firmly.

"What did you two fight about?" Monty asked with a hint of childish curiosity in his voice.

"Your treatment, my morals, the color of the sky. . . . You name it, we fought over it. How long has he been celibate?" The last came out almost as an afterthought—she had no idea what made her think of it.

“Why do you ask?"

"You said it was the world's longest stretch of celibacy, and I find that difficult to believe," she said airily.

"I am prone to exaggeration, I do confess it. However, I do believe that poor Simon, former scourge of the bawdy houses of London, whoremaster, libertine, rake extraordinaire, hasn't dipped his wick in close to a dozen years. I expect if he ever marries he'd insist on an unconsummated one. Such a waste, if you ask me. While he never shared my proclivities, it seems a shame that no one gets to enjoy his years of experience. Not to mention the fact that he's a fine-looking man, if a little weather-beaten. "

"Then we'll have to hope his plain, virtuous wife with the locked knees will manage to overcome his scruples. "

"What scruples?"

She'd been too involved in her conversation with Monty to realize her nemesis had returned, and she shot to her feet, catching the racy French novel before it tumbled to the floor. She plastered a bright, vivid smile on her deliberately painted lips. "You're back,"

Tags: Anne Stuart The House of Rohan Erotic
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