Sarah's Duke: and Ellie's Gentleman (The heir and the spare, book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

‘Oliver’ is? Are you sure he can be trusted not to talk about what happened tonight?”
    Her mother was wringing her hands as she often did when she was nervous. Sarah sighed, knowing her mother could fret until she had a headache, but what was done was done now.
    “I don’t know who he was, Mamma, but he seemed to be a gentleman. I don’t think he would tell anyone about something that wasn’t really my fault. He was the brother to a Duke, I think.” She wasn’t totally sure on all the details. Everything around the time of Oliver’s kiss seemed to be a little fuzzy.
    “You think?” Her mother all but screeched.
    Sarah grimaced. Whether her rescuer was a brother to a Duke was hardly a detail that one should forget.
    “Mamma, I’m sorry, I’m still a little shaken up.”
    Her mother jumped up and reached out to her, concern written in her sad blue eyes.
    “Don’t be sorry, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted like that, but you know if someone finds out... You know you’ll never make the match we were hoping for you.”
    Her mother accompanied her words with a reluctant shrug.
    “You say he was trying to... ahh... undo his breeches?” Her mother turned beet red in embarrassment.
    “Yes Mamma. That is how I managed to get away from him, because he had to let go of me for a minute.” Sarah told her mother this in a matter of fact tone, trying not to be overly emotional about it. She was still in shock and could not believe that a man had really tried to force her to couple with him.
    “And... ah... you know what he was trying to do?” Her mother looked down at the carpet on the floor. Was her mother really wanting to talk about this now?
    “Yes Mamma.” She had a few married friends in her town and she had coaxed the bare facts from them. She knew he had wanted to put that male part of himself in her female parts. It sounded horrible, in truth.
    Her mother’s head shot up, a mixture of alarm and surprise showing on her once beautiful face.
    “How?”
    Sarah shrugged, washing her breasts for the hundredth time that night. They still felt unclean.
    “I asked Mary for some of the details.”  Mary was one of her married friends and quite a gossip. “And Mamma, I have to say, it sounds horrible. Do I really have to do that when I marry?”
    Her mother blushed so red that Sarah was afraid she had finally done what she always thought was going to be her greatest achievement, rendering her mother mute.
    “Time for our tete e tete, then.” Her mother sat down on the bed again and Sarah sunk lower into the warm water, giving her mother her full attention.
    “It does sound horrible when described, I suppose, but it is how God designed us to make children. Therefore, it should be a natural thing between a husband and his wife.”
    Really? She didn’t think so.
    “But doesn’t it hurt?”
    Sarah thought back to her conversation with her friend Mary. She didn’t say it had hurt, but the look on Mary’s face had not inspired confidence.
    Lady Collins blushed again and Sarah smiled up at her. Goodness, her mother was almost forty. Sarah would have thought that she had outgrown blushes by now.
    “It does to start with because your body will not be used to it, but if your husband is careful with you, and loves you, it can be quite... ahh... enjoyable after a while.” At this last revelation her mother dropped her eyes to her hands.
    Sarah’s head swung around to her mother’s face, she almost sputtered. “Enjoyable?” Then reminded herself that her mother had more knowledge on the subject than she had.
    Sarah digested this new information carefully. Thinking of her future spouse, she could only picture one man. If Oliver was her husband, he would be careful, she knew. And if her mother was correct, then the experience’s pleasure largely depended on the man.
    “Then we’ll have to choose well, Mamma,” Sarah told her mother, with a smile, finishing the embarrassing conversation, more for her