She felt his tongue lightly pressing against her lips, but she kept her mouth shut. Meggie blinked up at him. His eyes weren’t closed. When he saw the shock in her eyes, he drew back.
She didn’t jump back or slap him. She simply stood there, looking thoughtful, staring up at him. Finally she said, “That was very strange. Since you have lived outside England for a very long time, perhaps you have forgotten English customs, my lord. That, I am quite certain, cannot be one of them. You opened your mouth, you touched your tongue to my lower lip, my upper lip as well, and you sort of licked me. Surely that isn’t done here in England, only in some foreign country where there is permission to explore shameless sorts of things.”
He had to smile. “Actually, Meggie, I swear to you it is the done thing.”
He saw that she wasn’t quite ready to accept that. She said, “So it is the done thing where you have lived all these years? Did someone instruct you to do this where you were brought up? Where you grew into manhood?”
“Oh yes, but instruction really isn’t necessary. Well, perhaps some instruction would be helpful to some young men. What is necessary is practice, a great deal of it, although by its very nature, there is a lot of built-in practice involved in the process.”
“What process?”
“The lovemaking process. Kissing simply sets the whole business off.”
“Oh.”
“Yes, it is done all the time. It is even done in China.” He was lightly stroking his hands up and down her arms. The velvet riding habit was still a bit damp. “Actually, Meggie, there is something that you need to know since you are now a woman.”
“What is that?”
“It is even done here in England.”
“You are certain about this? This tongue business?”
“Oh yes.”
“Really in China as well as in England?”
“Oh yes.”
And she realized: Then Jeremy must do this to Charlotte. He opens his mouth when he kisses her. Does she open her mouth as well? No, no, don’t think about that.
“Did you find it distasteful?”
Meggie thought about that a moment, considered it. Her forehead was furrowed, and she chewed on her bottom lip. He wanted to touch his fingertip to her bottom Up, perhaps stroke her bottom lip with his tongue.
“No, it wasn’t distasteful, just very curious. Goodness, I wonder if my father and Mary Rose do that.”
She looked utterly appalled as she said the words, looked as though she’d give anything to take the words back, to take back the fact that she’d even thought of it. Again, he held back a laugh, and said, “I am not so deranged to comment on the marital habits of a vicar and his wife.”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t either.” Meggie sighed. “Is that a sliver of weak sun?”
“It is. And look, it is no longer raining.”
She didn’t know whether to be pleased or disappointed. This had been a very strange morning.
“I wonder,” she said, “if Max and Leo would judge you to be the kissing winner now.”
“Yes,” he said, “they most certainly would.”
She laughed, but it wasn’t full and delighted, it was reedy and wary because she was thinking about his mouth against hers, about feeling him against her as well, his big hands stroking her, and it was as frightening as it was fascinating.
He looked at her upturned face and thought, Well, I’ve taught you something and it both worries and interests you. It’s a good start.
He said easily, “You see, to ensure that they would select me the winner, I would tell them an excellent story about scaly fire-breathing dragons and the witless knights who had nothing better to do than track them to their caves.”
“I fear Max and Leo are no longer bribed with good stories. Actually, I’m not sure what would sway them now. They are young men and I simply no longer know. The problem is the male brain—it is wholly mysterious and unpredictable. It’s rather like a mass of confusion in your head.” She sighed then. “I really did my best raising them. Max is going to be a vicar, like Papa, so he can’t be too wicked, can he?”