Read Online Lessons of Desire by Madeline Hunter - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Madeline Hunter
Ads: Link
glad for the shade"
She popped open the parasol and poised it over her head. "You know the country well. Have you been here before?"
"Twice. First on my grand tour, and again several years ago" He pointed to the coast. "That is Herculaneum there. The same eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii in ashes buried Herculaneum in lava."
She squinted at the rocky site dotted with the colors of visitors' dresses and coats. "I had intended to visit Herculaneum too, but Signore Sansoni—I will miss much on this visit now."
"Why not dally and see it after we return from this little journey?"
"I cannot afford the time. I need to return home. I have a publishing house to run."
And a special book to print. If he did not receive satisfaction when he finally spoke to Merriweather, Miss Blair would not be sailing home for a good while.
"I also do not think I will enjoy spending time in Naples when we have completed this little journey," she said. "No doubt you will think that your word to Sansoni still stands then, and I will be stuck with you underfoot."
He admired the impressive view of Vesuvius's high cone while they passed close enough to Herculaneum to see some workers at the dig. Copper hair fluttered near his arm. "Miss Blair. I wonder if it is not so much having me underfoot that you dislike, but not having me under your foot."
Her deep sigh spoke her thoughts. Heaven give me patience with this unenlightened, predictable man.
"I suspect it is hopeless to explain this, but I will try in the interests of peace. I do not think either partner in a friendship, a marriage, or a love affair should be tinder the other's foot. My view is only extraordinary because the foot in question so often wears a boot, and everyone assumes it is natural for it to be planted on a feminine back. I believe that men and women can stand side by side, neither owning the other. My mother's life proved this is possible, and my own thus far proves it as well. Nor did we invent this belief. It is well known and has been espoused by people who are greatly admired."
"I know all about your belief, Miss Blair. I am not ignorant of the philosophy It even sounds right and rational. The only problem is that it neglects to account for several things."
"Indeed? What things?"
"Human nature. Human history. The tendency of the bad to make victims of the weak, and the need of the weak for protection. Venture alone into the hill towns of the Campania or the back streets of Marseilles or Istanbul, walk into London's rookeries, and see what happens to a woman alone and unprotected."
"The lords of old gave their serfs protection. That does not mean it was right to demand their bondage in return"
He laughed. "Lords. Serfs. What a black view you have of women's lives. It need not be that way."
"But it can be," she said. ''You know it can. The law makes it so."
Her emphasis on you was so subtle that he wondered if he imagined it. She poked al an old sore very gently but he felt the pain anyway. A dark anger coiled in him.
She kept her attention on the coast. Her slight flush indicated that she knew she had crossed a line. He controlled his reaction, but predatory speculations slid into his head. He judged what it would take to be lord of this woman, to make her kneel.
"My apologies. Lord Elliot. I should not-—"
"You compound your impertinence, Miss Blair. Better to have let your insinuation float away on the breeze." Only she hadn't, and he wondered about the secure way she had said it. "You were referring to the rumors about my mother, weren't you?"
She debated her response while she glanced at him carefully several times. "I will admit that her retreat to the country her last years has been interpreted as your father's doing."
He knew the lurid story whispered in drawing rooms high and low. That his mother had taken a lover and his father had punished her by sending the man to die in a distant colony, and then imprisoning her at their country estate.
Was
She popped open the parasol and poised it over her head. "You know the country well. Have you been here before?"
"Twice. First on my grand tour, and again several years ago" He pointed to the coast. "That is Herculaneum there. The same eruption of Vesuvius that buried Pompeii in ashes buried Herculaneum in lava."
She squinted at the rocky site dotted with the colors of visitors' dresses and coats. "I had intended to visit Herculaneum too, but Signore Sansoni—I will miss much on this visit now."
"Why not dally and see it after we return from this little journey?"
"I cannot afford the time. I need to return home. I have a publishing house to run."
And a special book to print. If he did not receive satisfaction when he finally spoke to Merriweather, Miss Blair would not be sailing home for a good while.
"I also do not think I will enjoy spending time in Naples when we have completed this little journey," she said. "No doubt you will think that your word to Sansoni still stands then, and I will be stuck with you underfoot."
He admired the impressive view of Vesuvius's high cone while they passed close enough to Herculaneum to see some workers at the dig. Copper hair fluttered near his arm. "Miss Blair. I wonder if it is not so much having me underfoot that you dislike, but not having me under your foot."
Her deep sigh spoke her thoughts. Heaven give me patience with this unenlightened, predictable man.
"I suspect it is hopeless to explain this, but I will try in the interests of peace. I do not think either partner in a friendship, a marriage, or a love affair should be tinder the other's foot. My view is only extraordinary because the foot in question so often wears a boot, and everyone assumes it is natural for it to be planted on a feminine back. I believe that men and women can stand side by side, neither owning the other. My mother's life proved this is possible, and my own thus far proves it as well. Nor did we invent this belief. It is well known and has been espoused by people who are greatly admired."
"I know all about your belief, Miss Blair. I am not ignorant of the philosophy It even sounds right and rational. The only problem is that it neglects to account for several things."
"Indeed? What things?"
"Human nature. Human history. The tendency of the bad to make victims of the weak, and the need of the weak for protection. Venture alone into the hill towns of the Campania or the back streets of Marseilles or Istanbul, walk into London's rookeries, and see what happens to a woman alone and unprotected."
"The lords of old gave their serfs protection. That does not mean it was right to demand their bondage in return"
He laughed. "Lords. Serfs. What a black view you have of women's lives. It need not be that way."
"But it can be," she said. ''You know it can. The law makes it so."
Her emphasis on you was so subtle that he wondered if he imagined it. She poked al an old sore very gently but he felt the pain anyway. A dark anger coiled in him.
She kept her attention on the coast. Her slight flush indicated that she knew she had crossed a line. He controlled his reaction, but predatory speculations slid into his head. He judged what it would take to be lord of this woman, to make her kneel.
"My apologies. Lord Elliot. I should not-—"
"You compound your impertinence, Miss Blair. Better to have let your insinuation float away on the breeze." Only she hadn't, and he wondered about the secure way she had said it. "You were referring to the rumors about my mother, weren't you?"
She debated her response while she glanced at him carefully several times. "I will admit that her retreat to the country her last years has been interpreted as your father's doing."
He knew the lurid story whispered in drawing rooms high and low. That his mother had taken a lover and his father had punished her by sending the man to die in a distant colony, and then imprisoning her at their country estate.
Was
Similar Books
