Read Online Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas - Free Book Online

forced herself to answer. “I awakened one morning with . . . with stains on my nightgown and the sheets. My tummy hurtdreadfully. When I realized the bleeding wasn’t going to stop, I was very frightened. I thought I was going to die. I went to hide in a corner of the reading room. Theo found me. Usually he was away at boarding school, but he had come home on holiday. He asked why I was crying, and I told him.” Helen paused, remembering her late brother with a mixture of fondness and grief. “Most of the time Theo was distant with me. But he was very kind that day. He gave me a folded handkerchief to . . . to put where I needed. He found a lap blanket to wrap around my waist, and helped me back to my room. After that, he sent a housemaid to explain what was happening, and how to use—” She broke off in embarrassment.
    â€œSanitary towels?” he prompted.
    Her humiliated voice was muffled against the shoulder of his waistcoat. “How do you know about those?”
    She felt a smile nudge against her ear. “They’re sold in the store’s apothecary department. What else did the housemaid tell you?”
    Despite her nerves, Helen felt herself relaxing into his embrace. It was impossible not to. He was very large and warm, and there was such a nice smell about him, a mixture of peppermint and shaving soap and a pleasant resinous dryness like freshly cut wood. A thoroughly masculine fragrance that was somehow exciting and comforting at the same time.
    â€œShe said that one day, after I was married and shared a bed with my husband, the bleeding would stop for a time, and a baby would grow.”
    â€œBut she mentioned nothing about how babies are made in the first place?”
    Helen shook her head. “Only that they’re not found underneath a gooseberry bush, as the nanny always said.”
    Rhys looked down at her with a mixture of concern and exasperation. “Are all young women of high rank kept so ignorant about such matters?”
    â€œMost,” she admitted. “It’s for the husband to decide what his bride should know, and instruct her on the wedding night.”
    â€œMy God. I can’t decide which of them to pity more.”
    â€œThe bride,” she said without hesitation.
    For some reason that made him chuckle. Feeling her stiffen, he hugged her more tightly. “No, my treasure, I’m not laughing at you. It’s only that I’ve never explained the sexual act to anyone before . . . and I’m damned if I can think of a way to make it sound appealing.”
    â€œOh dear,” Helen whispered.
    â€œIt won’t be terrible. I promise. You might even like some of it.” He pressed his cheek to the top of her head, and spoke with cajoling softness. “It might be best if I explain as we go along, aye?” He waited patiently until he felt her incremental nod. “Come to bed, then.”
    Willing but reluctant, Helen accompanied him to the bed, discovering that her legs had turned to jelly. She tried to climb beneath the covers quickly.
    â€œWait.” Rhys caught one of her ankles and tugged her back toward him deftly, while he remained standing at the side of the bed.
    Helen turned a fearful shade of red. All that kept her from complete nakedness was a pair of stockings, a cambric chemise, and drawers with an open crotch seam.
    Holding her stocking-clad ankle, Rhys ran one hand slowly over her shin. A frown notched between his brows as he saw that the knit cotton had been darned in several places. “A rough, poor stocking it is,” he murmured, “for such a pretty leg.” His hand traveled up to the garter cinched around her thigh. Since the stockinet bands had lost their elasticity, it was necessary to buckle the garter so tightly around her leg that it usually left a red ridge by the end of the day.
    After unfastening the buckle, Rhys found a ring of chafed skin around her thigh. His frown