Everything Forbidden by Jess Michaels

left for her. It was open to the spot where she’d been reading before she fell asleep. A part in the story where a man was taking his willing partner right out in the open, daring to be caught, exposed.
    He shook his head. That was one of his favorite fantasies. One he had acted out more than once in various public areas on this very estate. Perhaps he would do the same with Miranda. Later.
    Hesitantly, Ethan reached for her. With the back of his hand, he brushed a lock of blonde hair away from her face. She smiled in her sleep at the touch.
    So damned innocent. So sweet. Those things had never appealed to him, yet he was moved by them now. An ache started deep down inside of him, one he hadn’t felt since he was a boy, watching his mother sob into a bottle of wine. He had wanted to help her then and he couldn’t.
    He wanted to hold Miranda now and he shouldn’t.
    Instead, he backed away. And left her to her sleep and whatever dreams she was having.

Seven
    “Miranda, what in heaven’s name is wrong with you?”
    Miranda jumped at her mother’s sharp question. Shaking off her musings, she looked across the breakfast table with something she hoped resembled a smile.
    “I’m sorry, Mama. Just woolgathering.”
    “You have been doing that very thing for three days,” Dorthea grumbled as she slathered butter across her toast.
    Miranda shrugged halfheartedly and that seemed to appease her mother, as she turned her attention to Beatrice and Winifred, who were sitting on the opposite side of her. Miranda sighed.
    Yes, she had been doing “that very thing” for three days. Since her first full day at Ethan’s home.
    She shivered slightly at the thought. How could she have fallen asleep in that den of sensuality he had created? Yes, she had been exhausted since her father died and she had taken up thetask of juggling her family’s troubles. And that bed had been so luxurious and comfortable. Lounging about in the middle of the day, indulging in decadent food and wicked reading…it had made her forget her troubles. Allowed her to relax.
    But what a ninny Ethan must think she was. That had to be why he hadn’t come back and claimed her.
    Oh, he had been kind enough the next morning. He’d kissed her cheek before she left and whispered that eroticism was often also about waiting and wanting.
    Well, she’d been waiting and wanting ever since! And wondering if Ethan was even interested in her any longer. Had he already bored of her?
    Why wouldn’t he? She certainly wasn’t sophisticated like his former lovers had been. She might have seen some of the wicked things he liked, but she had no skill at them. Perhaps he hadn’t been as aroused by her little show of undressing as she thought. Or he already regretted the bargain they made after she failed his expectations so completely.
    As their mother chattered in the background, Penelope reached over to place a hand on Miranda’s knee beneath the table. She jumped at the touch and her sister’s eyes widened at the way her body jolted.
    “Dearest, you do seem very distant since you returned from Lady Ingleworth’s,” her sister whispered, casting a quick glance at their mother to make sure she wasn’t eavesdropping. “Did the old dragon give you trouble?”
    Miranda flinched. Lying to her mother was difficult enough, but doing so to Penelope was torture. Being only two years apart and having a similar disposition, they were friends as much assisters. And now Miranda was keeping so many secrets from Penelope that she could scarce keep them all straight in her mind.
    “No, I apologize if I’ve been distant.” She squeezed her sister’s fingers for reassurance. “My visit was…educational, if nothing else.”
    “Educational?” Penelope repeated, wrinkling her brow. “Whatever do you mean?”
    Before Miranda had to explain herself, their butler entered the morning room. He stopped in the doorway with a small bow and announced, “A letter for Mrs. Albright, from