Notorious Rake, Innocent Lady. Bronwyn Scott

      They lay together, their breathing slowing in unison as the initial power of climaxing ebbed. Julia wanted to stay clasped against him, warm and sated in his arms, for ever. Reality intruded. If she moved, breakfast would be over. She would have to go. But she no longer wanted to.

      She wanted to stay. She wanted to feel this pleasure he’d awoken in her again and again. She didn’t imagine such pleasure could be found with Oswalt. She fought a shudder. The horror of doing such intimate things with him escalated against the backdrop of what she’d shared with Paine Ramsden.

      ‘Are you cold?’ Paine reached for a throw to wrap about them, misinterpreting the reason for her shudder.

      Julia searched for a way to prolong the moment, the minutes of their time together. ‘You have not answered my question yet.’

      ‘Mmm.’ Paine breathed into her hair sounding like a well contented man. ‘There are studies, sutras, in India that teach men and women about sexual congress. Each person has a different task, a different function in the act. There are such teachings in China as well. Remember my cabinet with the yin and yang symbol?’ He shifted Julia to the side and wrapped an arm about her, warming to his subject. She waited for him to continue, her curiosity getting the better of her at the idea of such studies.

      ‘In China, the man is the yin and the woman is the yang. It’s the man’s task, through lovemaking, to make the woman give up her essence, her yang, without losing his own yin to attain it. When a woman climaxes, her essence is surrendered.’

      Julia punched him in the shoulder. ‘That sounds completely arrogant and not so enjoyable for the man if he can’t—what did you call it? Climax?’ She tried out the new word.

      ‘That’s the whole point,’ Paine instructed. ‘Attaining a woman’s yang without climaxing yourself makes you strong and it increases your life. It’s the mark of a skilled male to be able to claim such discipline. There’s tales of men being able to have congress with up to fourteen women before releasing their yin.’

      Julia levered up on one arm and searched his face quizzically. ‘Last night, and just now, did you, uh, steal my yang, as it were?’ She’d felt that he’d held back nothing, as had she. It would be a private disappointment to learn she’d been cheated in a fashion.

      Paine smiled. ‘No, my enchantress. I gave up as much as I took.’ Paine folded his arms behind his head.

      ‘So you’ve taken my virginity and I’ve taken your immortality,’ Julia said drily.

      Paine chuckled. ‘I suppose so, but chances are I was mortal already. Those are old teachings. Some say they go back to the third century before Christ. Since then, the Chinese have shifted their focus. They discovered that denying women the yin denied men their heirs. Now, the sexual teachings have been adapted to be more cooperative in their outcome, much more similar to India.’

      ‘Oh, no stealing of essences there, then?’ Julia probed, utterly enthralled by such talk.

      ‘No stealing, only giving. In Hinduism—that’s the primary religion in India—sexual intercourse is seen as a metaphor for a relationship with the gods. Sex is spiritual and sacred.’

      ‘I think I prefer the Indian way.’ The words were out of her mouth before she could rethink the wisdom of them. She regretted it immediately.

      Paine would think she meant something by them, something altogether much more personal than she intended their dealings to be. To cover her silliness, she sat up, letting her hair fall over her shoulders. She made no move to shove it back from her face. Its curtain obscured her face, which was just as well. She had what she came for—she was thoroughly ruined by now and fully instructed in more than she’d bargained for. Such knowledge made it hard to leave, knowing that she’d find no outlet for it in the English world.

      It was past time to go and Paine Ramsden did not strike her as a man who responded well to womanly whines. Even in her naïvety, she knew he would be a hard man to hold. He did nothing for the sake of tradition and protocol. He operated by an entirely different standard of rules. The rumours about him had been right in that respect, although much else she’d heard did not ring true with what she’d experienced. She should put on her dress and be gone with all the dignity she could find.