“If you had not wanted—”

“I rather enjoyed your undressing me, and being like this. I liked feeling you against me. It seemed a bit wicked, and since I am being naughty I thought I might as well get full benefit of it.”

“That was your thinking, was it?”

“When I was thinking at all.” She rose up on one arm so she could see his face. “Of course I am thinking now, quite a bit. Your restraint on my behalf was heroic. I did not even know men could hold back like that. I just assumed their need required quick resolution.”

He did not know what to say to her. Not what his mind cursed out, that was certain. It sounded as if nothing more than quick resolutions occurred in her past. He had suspected as much. Her claims of not being normal when it came to sensuality had made no sense, since the evidence showed she was very normal. She had merely not known pleasure because no man had given her the time or made the effort.

She poked at his side. “The truth now, so you get full credit.”

“If you must know, it was damned heroic.” He smiled when she laughed. “It almost killed me.”

“Thank you.” Such depth in her eyes when she said that. “I will always be grateful that you showed me I might . . . that I was not so different.”

“So you enjoyed it after all?”

“Oh, yes. Couldn’t you tell?” Her brow puckered. “Did you?”

“What a question. Of course. Couldn’t you tell?”

“Well, you seemed to. You were able to finish. I did not ruin it for you.”

Her words stunned him. He flipped her onto her back and looked down at her. “Forgive me, but . . . are you saying your husband could not finish?”

She nodded. “Other than a few times at the beginning of our marriage.”

“He was impotent? And he blamed you?”

She just looked at him.

The scoundrel. Real anger gripped him. This man had made his young wife think his own physical problems were her fault. From the sounds of it, he hardly helped matters with his expectations of a quick resolution. He had probably turned the marriage bed into a place of nightmares.

“Listen to me, Minerva. You had nothing to do with his problem. He knew it, too. It did not start with you, I would wager. His ignorance in how he treated you probably made it worse, but that is not your fault either. It was ignoble of him to blame you in any way. Stupid and unforgiveable. It was not you. It was never you. It was him.”