She roused his caveman instincts and he did not care for it. Not one little bit.

Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips and he felt that small act twisting his gut.

“It is if it goes unquenched. It can be terrible.” Her throat worked as she swallowed. “At least that’s what I was told.”

“By your sister?”

She nodded.

He cleared his thick throat. “So you have no personal experience with lust then?”

Bloody. Hell. The question escaped him before he could stop himself.

He did not flirt. And he most especially did not flirt with young women with whom he was stuck in a comprising position.

The moment the words were out he wished he could snatch them back and stuff the words down his throat.

Her eyes widened, clearly startled.

He did not want to know of her experience or lack thereof. Very well. That was not entirely accurate. Truthfully, either knowledge was exciting. To know that she had experience thrilled him. To know she was an innocent thrilled him, too.

Bloody hell.

She thrilled him. The. End.

“I can only speak of my sister’s experience with the tonic. She’s the only subject to have tested it. I’ve been uneasy subjecting it to anyone else.” She might have attempted it on herself, but she, fortunately, had been in good health with no pains or aches, and, admittedly . . . her sisters had put a bit of fear in her.

What happened if she was afflicted with raging lusts? She had no one to slake her desires upon.

What if she tested it and then assaulted a stranger? Someone she was not even remotely attracted to? It seemed a grave risk.

Ideally, if the tonic were to be tested again one of her sisters should take it for they had husbands only too happy to satisfy any raging desires that should overcome them. But neither one would agree to that even if they were here.

In fact, ever since Nora had dosed Char with the tonic, her sisters had been rather distrustful about taking any of her herbal remedies. It was rather galling. They’d always trusted her before.

“You said the tonic eased your sister’s pain?”

“Yes. Yes, it did,” she confirmed.

Charlotte had not felt the misery of her cramping belly. That much was true. She had felt nothing save the deepest arousal. At least that was what she had claimed. Whether the pain had been truly absent or replaced with arousal, who was to say? And did it matter if the pain was no longer felt?

“Then it seems clear what we must do.”

She blinked and angled her head sharply. “Is it?”

“Indeed. I will take your tonic.”

Chapter 19

Nora stared at him for several moments, her mouth working as her brain searched for the proper reply to his outrageous announcement. “You are mad.”