When the gynecologist entered a few minutes later, introducing herself as Dr. Sheridan, Elise was glad to see she was fairly young. Maybe she wouldn’t laugh at Elise’s questions or confessions.
“When was your last pap smear?” The doctor asked the inevitable question a few moments later as she did the interview portion of the exam.
“I . . . I’ve never had one before,” Elise said.
Dr. Sheridan masked her surprise well. “Are you sexually active?”
“I’ve never had intercourse with a man. I know you must think it’s odd, since I’m twenty-four.”
“Not at all,” the doctor reassured. “Lots of women are choosing to wait these days.”
“But can you do an exam if I’ve never had intercourse?”
“Certainly. It’s good that you told me, though. I’ll use a smaller speculum. The vaginal muscles will be tight, but the chances of you actually having an intact hymen at age twenty-four are rare. You’re in very good condition. Are you an athlete?”
“I run. I used to ride almost every day, even though I haven’t had access to a mount for a year or so.”
“More than likely, the hymen was ruptured long ago if you’ve ridden that long. We’ll take a look.”
“If the hymen is broken, then the man would never know, would he? That I was a virgin?”
Dr. Sheridan hesitated. “Is that important to you?” she asked quietly.
“Yes.”
“Probably not. Not many men are all that experienced in gauging the subtleties. But I would encourage you to talk to your partner if you do become sexually active. It would be better if he could be as gentle as possible.”
She nodded. Dr. Sheridan must have noticed her anxiety as she flipped back the cover on the tray that held the instruments for the exam. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you everything I’m going to do beforehand.”
The exam was slightly uncomfortable, but nowhere near as bad as she’d worried. According to the doctor, her regular horseback riding or some other activity had indeed long ago ruptured her hymen. Elise was relieved to hear it.
When the doctor had finished and told her to dress, Elise grasped for her courage. Lucien had arranged this appointment and was paying for it, after all.
“What I told you about not being with a man before, that’s . . . that’s confidential, right?”
The physician looked nonplussed. “Absolutely. I’ll supply you with your records, and whom you choose to share them with is your business. But there won’t be anything in the record but pertinent testing data.”
She gave a heartfelt thanks and the doctor left the room.
Elise’d had her share of men and exchanged sexual pleasure with some of them. But she wouldn’t make herself vulnerable. The simple fact was, she was one of the wealthiest women in Europe. Men had tried to ingratiate themselves sexually and emotionally with her since she was fifteen years old. She didn’t trust that there weren’t males out there who would use her body against her. They might strive to impregnate and use a child as an excuse to marry. That had happened to one of her acquaintances, a girl named Lucinda Seacon. After Lucinda had gotten pregnant at seventeen by a worthless combination of skirt chaser and fortune hunter, Elise’s mother had given her a pack of birth-control pills. For once, Elise had followed her mother’s advice and taken them.
Better safe than sorry.
But a man might simply use intimacy to emotionally manipulate and gain the upper hand. In addition to all that, she had the example of her mother when it came to sex—not an example to follow, but an example to guard against. Any handsome man of any age was fair game to Madeline Martin, including many of Elise’s boyfriends. Elise flatly refused to sleep with a man who had shared a bed with her mother. Sometimes that seemed like half the men in Europe. Her mother had even had the nerve to come on to her friend Michael Trent when she’d drug him along for a visit to Cannes, begging him for support during a compulsory weekend spent with the sharks.
It hadn’t even mattered to her mother that Elise had told her Michael was gay, she recalled disgustedly. Her mother thought so much of her beauty and allure, she’d believed she could lure a gay man to heterosexuality. It hadn’t worked in the case of her husband, but that seemed to make Madeline all the more determined to try.
Classic Madeline.
For a variety of reasons, Elise had never felt secure or confident in romantic or sexual relationships. So she had been the one to maintain control. She grew skilled at giving a man what he wanted, of satisfying him sexually, while maintaining a safe distance. She hadn’t planned to still be a virgin at age twenty-four, but she’d never encountered anyone in her adult years with whom she was willing to take the risk.
Until now.
Not only was she majorly in lust with Lucien, but she cared about him. She probably always would, after that summer they’d spent together. She’d believed him when he’d told her in his office that he cared about her as well. Some sort of invisible bond had been forged between them that summer, and it warmed her heart to know he felt that connection, too. She may frustrate him and she may infuriate him, but he cared.
Besides, Lucien had no reason to angle for her money. He had his own, and what’s more, he was supremely aloof when it came to monetary greed.
Wasn’t he?
There was that odd obsession he seemed to have with Ian Noble. But no, she scolded herself irritably, Lucien wouldn’t do anything sleazy for financial gain. How many other people on the planet would abstain from a massive fortune that was their birthright?