Page 80 of Rules for a Wicked Wager

His expression brightened. He drew her hand up to his bruised mouth for a kiss. It was a gallant gesture made all the more tender given his injuries.

“You men are encouraged to think of your own wants from the earliest cradle. What will you do today, Master Ashley? Where do you want to go, Master Pete? We women are told what to do and how to think. We are not asked anything, ever.”

“Should I go down on one knee then?”

“No!” Her horrified exclamation caught the woman’s attention as well. She’d been pulling out salves and bandages, but paused with an interested expression. Mari blocked her out. She needed to express herself honestly, so she forced herself to reveal more than she had ever done before. Even to herself. “You and I are the same, I think. We play a game in Society that Lord Whitly doesn’t even see.”

“That is an asset, I think.”

“Or perhaps we see ourselves as losers and are constantly trying to gain the upper hand. You do not have the money to win at Society.” At least not without her dowry. “I am a Wayward Welsh, and so I am perpetually on the outskirts.”

“That is the way of Society.”

“Is it?” she challenged. “Or is it because we play their game. The one where we always lose. Peter doesn’t even see it, and so he wins.”

Lord Rimbury frowned, a gesture that made him wince. “I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I. Not really. But I think that is something I am learning from him. Were you and I to wed, it would be like adding two losing hands together. We would be miserable our whole lives until we learn what Peter is showing us.”

He was silent a long moment, his gaze becoming increasingly defeated. Finally, he drew himself up to his full height. “You underestimate me, Miss Powel.”

Yes, that was probably true.

“But I can see you are determined. Very well.” He pulled her to the apothecary’s long table. “Madame Ille,” he said, addressing the woman. “She needs to understand everything about preventing a pregnancy.”

Mari gasped, but the man continued.

“Knowledge is power, Miss Powel. If you are determined on this course, you must know what you are about.”

He was right. If she meant to return to Peter tonight, there were things she ought to know first. So she folded her hands before her and prepared to learn. But Ashley wasn’t done.

“One more thing,” he said, as he turned to her. “Virginity is boring.”

She jolted, startled to hear him speak boldly of such things.

“I care not who you have been with,” he said. “So long as two things are true.” He held up his fingers. “First, that you ultimately choose me. I care not if I am your first choice. Only that I am your final one.”

She nodded. She liked this blunt side of him, for all that he made her blush.

“Second,” he continued. “There can be no other child but my own.” To that end, he gestured to an array of things set before her. “Madame Ille, pray begin.”

Madame Ille didn’t waste time. Or words. Indeed, she was very thorough with her description of sexual congress and the ways to prevent conception. She even had diagrams which she used to great effect. Indeed, the sight of an older woman miming a man’s thrusts would haunt her until her dying breath.

Lord Rimbury stood to the side, neither interfering nor commenting. He did, however, use the pot of salve she’d set on the counter. And when the lecture was done, he pocketed the container before dropping a large number of coins down.

“I can pay—” Mari began, but he cut her off.

“Knowledge is power,” he said. Then he flashed her a grin. “And gratitude works in my favor.”

There was nothing to say to that, so she pocketed her own new acquisitions and allowed him to escort her outside. The hackney was still there as well as Peter standing with his arms folded and a dark expression on his face. Even in shadow, she knew he was scanning her, looking for a clue to what had just transpired.

Then Ashley bowed to her. “Don’t forget me,” he said by way of farewell.

“As if I could ever.”

Then he looked at his friend. “You are such an ass,” he said.

“Be careful with the laudanum,” Peter returned.