Lord of Pleasure by Delilah Marvelle Page B

“Exactly how many women were involved during that particular engagement?” she asked evenly.
    “Uh…four.” He frowned, trying hard to remember if that blonde had been involved. She had to have been. She was the one who kept swearing at everyone out of pleasure. “No.” He rubbed his fingers along the edge of his shaven jaw. “Actually, I believe it was five.”
    There was an arrested expression of disbelief on Lady Charlotte’s face. One he had never received from a woman before. In or out of bed.
    And for some reason, for the first time in his life, Alexander, a born Hawksford, actually felt self-conscious. As if he needed to explain his former expeditions. “It was only once, really. And by no means did I go about initiating it. I went to this champagne party, you see. Although no one really followed any of the rules. It was brutally hot, I was stumbling about with my blindfold on, foxed out of my wits, and the next thing I knew, I was being rushed aside by a group of women. It wasn’t long before I ended up with no clothing and no blindfold whatsoever. But I learned from the experience. Learned that champagne parties are not only extremely dangerous, but that I prefer devoting myself to one woman at a time. For a man can only please so many women at once with true dedication.”
    Which was the God-given truth.
    Lady Charlotte lowered her eyes, wrote the number five just beneath his name, and circled it. Twice. “Do you sheath yourself during your escapades, My Lord? Or is there a chance you could be unclean?”
    Alexander genuinely laughed in response. “A man of my experience would never engage in any escapade without sheathing himself. I always come prepared. Rest assured, love, I am clean. Very clean.”
    He stood and gestured toward the buttons on his trousers, trying to remain serious, though he felt anything but. “Does the school require proof?”
    Her eyes coolly trailed from the trousers he continued to point to up at his face. “Should you be accepted into the school, Harold will indeed ensure that you are clean. Complete physicals, after all, are required.”
    Alexander slowly sat, feeling his bollocks rapidly traveling north. Harold wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind. “Harold?” he couldn’t help but echo.
    “Yes. Harold.” She dipped her quill into the glass inkwell, a small smile playing on her lips. “Next question. Have you ever engaged in sexual activities with a man?”
    “What?” Alexander’s brows popped up in response, his mind still not having quite gotten over the whole Harold bit. “No. Of course not.”
    She nodded and placed another x beside his name. “Have you ever considered or desired to engage in sexual activities with a man?”
    “Hell, I think Caldwell may have.” He laughed and then squinted at all the x ’s she had placed beside his name. It was a downright curious way to go about documenting their conversation.
    She lifted her gaze from her paper. Pinning him with a firm stare, she replied in a manner which he himself often used when speaking to his youngest sister. “I assure you your answers will not leave this paper or this room. All I ask is that you answer the question. Have you ever thought about engaging in sexual activities with a man?”
    “I’m not all that worried about my answers leaving the room. Believe me, I’ve seen and done everything.” He paused. “Well…except that .”
    “No is sufficient, My Lord.” She placed another x beside his name. “There is no need to insult other people’s sexual preferences. The idea behind the school is to broaden your tolerance toward all forms of sexuality. That way, there is no limit to your imagination or your form of pleasure.”
    Alexander stared at her. So she took buggery in stride, did she? He’d certainly always thought to each his own, but by the calm, refined look on her face, he sensed that her nonchalant approach to sexuality was in fact genuine. Which in truth astounded him.