Tall, Dark & Lonely (Pyte/Sentinel 1)

“Yes?” He crawled in beside her, wearing jeans.

“Can you make this feel better?”

She wanted him to make love to her and make it go away. “No, baby, I’m not touching you tonight. I don’t know what damage you just did to yourself. So until we do I’m off limits for you.”

“Damn it.” She sounded so disappointed and cute that he buried his face in her hair and held back any sound while his body shook with silent laughter.

She swatted him on the arm. “I know you’re laughing! You’re so mean! This is the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to me and you’re laughing!”

Chapter 12

“Oh, god this is the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to me,” Madison grumbled behind the curtain of hair that hid her face as she leaned forward.

She hoped to come in and sneak out quickly. She waited two days for this appointment, too embarrassed to go the emergency room. Two days of pain and discomfort. Two days of staying home and lying to everybody about what hurt. Worse, two days of not being allowed to touch Ephraim.

For the past two days he'd been so attentive. He stopped by the house as often as he could to keep her company or bring her something. He was so sweet and kind that it was killing her. To start their relationship like this was killing her. Not being allowed to touch him was torture. True to his word he didn’t try anything. He wanted to, she knew that.

For the past two nights she fell asleep in his arms with the evidence of his arousal pressing into her back or thigh. He never pushed her or offered anything. The only thing he allowed her was heavy make out sessions. Then he would stop abruptly before things got out of hand and head to the bathroom for a cold shower. So now she was sore and frustrated beyond belief, but that still wasn’t the worse part. Not even close. Ephraim’s laughing and joking about it was the worst.

Once he discovered what that nailless finger was and where it came from he couldn’t stop laughing. He wanted to see the box and wouldn’t stop pestering her until she showed him. Then for the next half hour he made her laugh with his jokes and observations. He heard of vibrators and sex toys of course, but never saw them first hand.

Every time someone asked how she hurt herself or when Grandma offered to kiss the booboo better, the booboo being an upset stomach, her cover story, Ephraim would start laughing uncontrollably until she was laughing with him. He felt bad of course, but he found this whole thing funny until she cried that is. Then he became deadly serious and held her or placed her in a hot tub, begging her to let him take her to the emergency room. When she refused he doubled his efforts to make sure she was comfortable.

“So, you’ve actually been in the delivery room?” He held her hand loosely in his while he ran his thumb over her hand, but his attention was clearly elsewhere.

The older man across the room beamed. “The first time she had to have me dragged into the room.” He chuckled. His very pregnant wife gave him a playful slap on the arm. “The last two times they couldn’t keep me out of there. It’s so amazing. You’re going to love it.”

Ephraim seemed relaxed, but his hand told her a different story. It stopped moving. “Are the two of you expecting?” the man’s wife asked.

“No, not yet,” Ephraim said smoothly. She was the only one that heard the longing in his tone. “So, do they really let you cut the umbilical cord?”

“Yes, but you have to ask ahead of time or they’ll do it for you.”

“Not to put you on the spot or anything, but do they let you watch the baby be born or do they use curtains?”

They laughed. “It’s fine. They can do either. It’s up to us to tell them how we want the birth to go.”

“Really?” Ephraim seemed enthralled with the subject.

“Murphy,” the nurse called.

“Oh, that’s us,” the man said, grinning. He helped his wife up and walked her out of the room. He threw a smile at Madison. “Good luck, Detective.”

Madison stopped a groan. The man thought they were trying to make a baby. Well, it was probably better than the truth that she hurt herself with a sex toy.

“Simply fascinating,” Ephraim murmured.

“It’s just childbirth, Ephraim. You can probably watch it online.”

“Really?” he sounded excited.

“You didn’t know that?”

“No, I got bored with the internet when it came out years ago. I just use it now to send in my work. You’ll have to show me later.”

She sighed, “I promise.”

“Excellent,” he said cheerfully.

From beneath her veil of hair she said, “I don’t understand why you’re so excited about it.”

He looked around the room happily. “Marc would have loved this.”

“Your brother?” He never spoke about his family and she didn’t feel comfortable bringing it up, knowing it was probably a painful subject for him.

“Yes, when his wife Hannah was in her first confinement he was really excited. We both were. We thought he could go in during the birth.”

She pushed her hair away from her face to watch him only to find him watching her. He brought her hand to his mouth and kissed it.

“So, what happened?” She didn’t want him to stop talking, granted she didn’t want him to stop kissing her either.

“Well, we made plans. He had his favorite chair brought into the room so he could sit back and watch.” He chuckled. “Hannah found out and made sure that we were both kept out. She hired five footmen to guard the door to keep him out.”

“I bet he didn’t like that.”

He laughed louder. She liked hearing him laugh. It sent pleasant shivers down her spine. “No, he yelled and threw a fit. He reminded them that he was the Duke and he would not be kept out.”

“Did it work?”

Still chuckling. “No, his sister-in-law came out. Bertha, a big woman, threatened to box his ears and told him to sit down or she’d make sure that he’d never get another chance to put a babe in his wife's womb again.”

“What did he do?”

“Oh, he sat down of course. Bertha was a formidable woman” He leaned in closely. “She scared me.” She smiled, forgetting her pain and discomfort for the moment.

“So, he gave up?”

He shook his head. “Oh no, not Marc. He bid his time wisely. For the second and third babe he feigned disinterest in the births. We went to his study to drink and play cards and told the servants not to bother us until the babe was out and ready for holding.”