Captain Hardy coughed in shock.
“Thebed,” she clarified. “We may have to buy another bed. Not his, ah... or her...”
“No, both of those do last a while, thankfully. But imagine if a man only got a finite number of uses out of uh, his...?” he reflected.
“A bit like the genie who offers you a finite number of wishes?”
“If that was the case, I’d spend all my wishes on you,” Captain Hardy promised.
“Awww. That might be the most romantic thing you’ve ever said.”
He laughed, and then paused. “I’m sorry I’ve needed to be away so often lately. I miss you.”
She touched his cheek. “Please don’t apologize. I know it’s only temporary.”
“But it’s not easy?” It was both a question and a statement, and by way of seeking confirmation that he was missed. He said it almost gruffly. She knew revealing vulnerabilities was his least favorite thing to do.
“It’s not easy,” she confirmed softly. “I miss you. But I’m so proud of you and the Triton Group and all you’re accomplishing.”
“The Brightwalls were apart for five years,” he said shortly.
This was his way of trying to tell her that he’d noticed their distance, too, and it was bothering him. Her heart squeezed.
“I feel for them,” she whispered. “But they’re not like us.”
He nodded, seeming relieved to have it said aloud. “I had a dream last night that an intruder sneaked into The Grand Palace on the Thames and made off with you, but he let you take your favorite hairbrush.”
“Oh, Tristan. Pike is here. And if an intruder should somehow manage to breach our ramparts—and one won’t—I’ll just follow your example, my sweet, dangerous husband, and bang his head on the table and use a cravat as a sort of garrote.”
He laughed. “Good to know I’m setting an example. But back to a burning question. What is Dawsondoingto get his wife to make those sounds?”
She was amused that he sounded so earnest. “Well...” Delilah was definitely feeling a little warm now.
“No, I mean,specifically, not generally. Is it a sequence of events, corresponding with each sound? Have new techniques been invented? Is there a pamphlet I ought to be reading?”
“You’ve given this a lot of thought.”
“Men are base creatures at heart, Delilah,” he said grimly.
“Perhaps it’s the novelty of it all for her. The first time I... and you... well... it was definitely a revelation, I’ll grant you that. Very worth shouting about. Although I didn’t, because I couldn’t, as we were in this very room. But I think mainly it was so incredible because it was you.”
“No doubt,” he said comfortably, which made her smile. He paused. “Would you have made those sounds if we hadn’t been constrained by secrecy? And... ah, discretion?”
“I don’t know,” she said truthfully. “Do you think she even knows she’s doing it?”
He hiked and let drop one shoulder. “Impossible to say.”
Then something alarming occurred to her. “Do you...wantme to? Make those sounds?”
He pondered this. “I don’t know?” He almost whispered it. “On the one hand, I think I would love knowing I had given you so much pleasure that you went right out of your head and started, er, scream-grunting. On the other hand, if you did, I might want to smother you with a pillow.”
She laughed.
Delicately she said, “You do know that I go right out of my head every time?”
His smile was slow, crooked, and very gratified. “Every time?”
“Every. Time. Dear God, it’s so good, Tristan.”