Joy V. Sheridan writes

Charity Amour

CHAPTER SEVEN part 1

"Prepare the Rose Room.” The maidservant curtseyed low and bowed her head, the striped blue and white linen cap bobbing up and down as she did so. “Yes, Your Lordship.” 

She all but slithered from his presence. Lord Seyton Clover had decided that the young woman whom he had rescued, and to be quite frank, had injured also, could not - if an attempt was to be made with regard to proprieties - stay abed in his mother's chamber. She must therefore be moved to another room. Who knew mayhap his mother was even then en route for one of her rare, and Lord Seyton Clover considered, unbidden visits to the metropolis and her only child. 

Charity, suitably removed, wrapped in a blanket, was soon propped up against the snowy whiteness of lace-trimmed pillowcases her flaxen hair spun out in shining strands behind her on the pillow; only this spider's web was manufactured in purest liquid gold. She was still very pale and fragile looking, and the surgeon who had been engaged to treat (...urrhuum, urrha) Lord Seyton Clover’s second cousin once removed had discovered a severe amount of bruising not only on her injured thigh and hip but also in her buttock area. He had, out of curiosity, examined the girl elsewhere and had bitten his lip at the of her breasts, topped with their rosebud red nipples, considering, as he later informed His Lordship, that she appeared to be too thin and needed nourishing. 

Because of the bruising, he had suggested that perhaps a soft feather bolster be placed under that part of her anatomy and had helped to place it precisely, himself - feeling, as he did so, the smoothness of her thighs. Charity had stifled a giggle as the doctor had made this suggestion to the nobleman and she had withdrawn her face from view so that her smiles were curtained by the muslin drapes surrounding the bed - though she admitted, that she was, by a nag’s tooth, decidedly raw in that portion. How her luck seemed to be turning again! Now here was to come another lesson and the new tutor to coach her for the betterment? 

This last thought she sincerely hoped to be true, but time and other things would tell: Life was comprised of so many unexpected twists and turns. The nobleman, unlike so many others of his standing, was a gentleman in every respect, making sure that his unexpected and unanticipated (though not unthought of) guest was tended, fed, washed and dressed in the manner befitting a Lord’s house guest. 

He did not visit her very frequently, perhaps once a day, and she had been in the house now for several days. He never looked particularly relaxed when he sat with her, however; more as though there was an unspeakable burden he had to bear and the weight of whatever it was which assailed him made him appear sombre and unapproachable. Had Charity only been able to see more clearly into his heart, she would have realised that he had fallen hopelessly in love with her but considered himself only half a man on account of impotence, which had overtaken his natural desires during the course of the last few months. 

Why, yes, he could pleasure himself in the privacy of his own rooms; merely thinking upon the girl’s extraordinary attributes made his most private person throb with expectant delight, but on account of previous disasters in love-making, he had kept his pleasuring a purely singular activity. At length, when Charity was once again mobile and able to move around tolerably well, he arranged - with great civility, - that they engage in a much-needed discussion.