It was Ethel Murbutter or whatever her name was. She was dressed in decidedly less clothes than on the street, but all the important parts were well covered. Compared to the women in the kitchen, she was reasonably modest in her attire.
"Honey, if you can't keep a man happy, he's going to look elsewhere," she said, her soft voice grating.
She was baiting me. I was well familiar with the concept, as I'd grown up with two brothers. I would not rise to her words, for I wanted to save all my anger for Wiley. As I spoke, I poked him in the chest.
"Out? This is your idea of out?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from sounding shrill.
He grabbed my hand and pressed it against his chest. His hard, warm chest.
"I told you I had to ask questions about Miss Carter. Miss Murbridge was a contact I knew here in town who traveled in the same circles."
"You mean she's a whore," I countered.
I heard an indelicate sound from behind me. Her feelings were not my concern.
"Yes," Wiley replied evenly.
"Did you find out anything of interest from her other than what her nipples look like?"
Wiley's head tilted back as if I slapped him. "Piper, I haven't—"
"Haven't had the opportunity to get her naked? I know you want to avenge your father's death, but this is not the way. You say you haven't had the chance to glean any information on Miss Carter? Well, I have. We don't need her." I angled my head in Ethel's direction, but didn't break my gaze from Wiley.
"Oh?" he asked. His voice was calm and smooth. Everything about him was that way. Why didn't I get his dander up? Why didn't he argue? "Why don't we need her?"
"Because I have everything you need," I countered.
His dark eyebrow went up. We weren't talking about Miss Carter any longer. "Is that so?"
Perhaps it was the anger that made me bold. Perhaps it was the women downstairs who'd inspired me to ensure Ethel didn't get her little fingers on what was mine. I may not have wanted to marry Wiley, but he was mine. If I had to stake my claim, then I would. I wasn't going to get any other man and if I had my way, he wasn't going to have any other woman.
Thinking of my little lesson, I stepped closer, close enough where I could smell Wiley's clean scent, see the dark whiskers along his jaw, and put my hand directly over the front placket of his pants. I'd felt his hard male member when he'd held me in his lap earlier, but now, beneath my palm, it was so much bigger than I remembered. That was supposed to fit inside of me?
The ladies downstairs had called it a cock and said I should stroke it, so I did.
"Piper," he groaned. Wiley's eyes widened in total surprise, then narrowed. His lips parted and a hiss escaped. Using my other hand, I cupped him from below, in the area I'd been told I'd find his…balls. I wasn't sure what the woman had meant, but they'd said to grope beneath his hard...cock—that's what they'd called it—and I'd find these two soft, firm orbs. With my right hand stroking up and down the length and my left hand beneath, I leaned in and whispered. "Do you find me so lacking you need to seek out a whore?"
I felt the broad head of his cock and stroked it as I was instructed, knowing I was doing it correctly when Wiley's eyes slipped shut. After one none-so-gentle stroke, his eyes opened and he stepped back. Reaching around blindly, he gripped the doorknob and yanked the door open.
"Out," he said. For a brief moment I thought he was speaking to me and I felt devastatingly hurt, but he was looking over my shoulder. "Ethel, I've paid you for an hour so go find something else to do."
I didn't look anywhere but at Wiley, but I heard the woman's dissatisfaction and she all but flounced out of the room. Wiley kicked the door shut behind her. His eyes had that predatory gleam to them and I stepped back. He closed the distance and I stepped back again.
"Wiley, I..."
"You don't think I want you?"
I licked my lips and his eyes dropped to my mouth.
"You...you did leave me standing in our hotel room on our wedding night. You did go to a brothel and seek out a woman you've had...relations with."
"I was working."
"What was I to think? You left me for...for her." I pointed at the closed door. "I mean, there's no comparison."
He slowly shook his head as he took another step closer. "No, there's no comparison."
I hit the bed with the back of my legs and sat down abruptly. All the confidence the ladies downstairs had given me seeped away. I looked down at my hands in my lap and I let my shoulders slump. "Yes, I see. I can't blame you, for you didn't want to marry any more than I. If you're going to seek out other women, then at least don't flaunt it."