When she first heard the offer, Esme almost accepted it out of hand. Her family had suffered several setbacks that had ruined their finances, and she risked becoming homeless if something didn't change. Marrying Zechariah Shaffer wasn't the first option she would take, and she knew he only wanted her for her name, but he wouldn't be expecting her to lie with him either, and that pleased her.

There was a caveat to the marriage, however. He couldn't bed her, but he would have someone else do so, and she had to lie with them.

It rankled at her, she couldn't deny, but being poor seemed like a worse prospect, and though she couldn't understand why he wished for her to sleep with someone else, she supposed it wouldn't be too different from having sex with him if he physically could.

She just hadn't expected the one that she would have to share her bed with to be a woman. And not a normal woman either…