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“I must say, that was most certainly the best thing I’ve seen in a long time,” he said as picked up her nightgown.
Elizabeth flushed, sitting up to snatch the nightgown from his hands. She quickly pulled it over her head and let it settle down around her hips. “You seem to have enjoyed yourself,” she mumbled.
“Not as much as you clearly did,” he teased, watching her.
Her cheeks went red, though she couldn’t understand why. She felt no shame letting William see her like that. If anything, she wanted more, to have every inch of him.
She opened her lips to suggest it and he stopped her with a kiss. “No more,” he told her. “I may not be the best of gentlemen, but I at least wish to preserve your innocence.”
Elizabeth folded her arms. “How oddly considerate of you,” she grumbled.
That made him chuckle. William got into the bed and patted the spot next to him. “Come here.”
Elizabeth tossed her pouting aside and happily curled into his side. William wrapped an arm around her shoulders, letting her tangle her legs with his as they settled under the covers together.
“Will you not get changed?” she asked him, only after she’d rested her head on his chest, listening to his racing heart.
“I should, but I do not wish to let you out of my arms just yet. I suppose I can sleep like this. I will not die.”
Elizabeth slapped him lightly on the chest. “Do not talk about dying,” she chastised. “I still have not recovered from what you did at the tavern tonight.”
“It is I, Beth, who will take a while to recover. You should pity me a little more.”
“I shall only do so when you promise to stop going to that tavern.”
“It’s a promise.”
“Very well.” She slapped him on the chest again, which earned her a surprise laugh from him. “You have my pity.”
“Ah, such a tough woman to please,” William chuckled. Elizabeth smiled at the way her body reverberated from the sound. “It is no wonder you would not leave when I said you should.”
“It is a good thing I did not, since you so clearly wanted me to remain.” Grinning, Elizabeth looked up at him. Even with the bruises on his face, he was still so devastatingly handsome that it made her insides twist. “I seem to recall you saying that you love me.”
“Did I now?”
“I would not imagine such a thing.”
“I would not be so sure about that.”
Her grin transformed into a scowl. “Are you saying that I’m lying?”
A smile flashed across his face before he wrapped his arm around her and rolled her onto her side, facing her away from him. “Sleep, Beth,” he murmured. “So that morning may come where I may tell you how beautiful you are and that I love you all over again.”
Happiness exploded within her at his words. Elizabeth tried to contain it by doing as he said, by closing her eyes and willing herself to sleep. But as his words played over constantly in her head, she could not fall asleep until she heard his gentle breathing playing over her ear.
Chapter 18
The next morning brought a whole new host of pain with it. William’s entire body ached from last night’s altercation but the moment he realized that Elizabeth laid sleeping in his arms, he no longer noticed the pain.
Somehow, she’d managed to roll over so that her body was facing him. Her head was lying on his chest, her hair fanned out around her. The golden halo, coupled with the slackness of her sleeping face and softly fluttering eyelashes, rivaled the gentle snore she let out with each exhale. It brought laughter to his lips, but he stifled it as much as he could, not wanting to wake her.
William tried to shift his body upwards, to get a better look at her beautiful face, but the moment he moved, she did as well. Elizabeth raised a hand to her nose and rubbed lightly, her lips opening and closing a few times as her body slowly pulled out of sleep. Entertained, William waited patiently for her to open her eyes.
When she did, their eyes met. Elizabeth’s brows furrowed for a moment, then she looked up as if to figure out where she was.
“Good morning,” William drawled, watching as realization dawned on her face. “I take it you slept well?”
“I slept here all night?” she gasped, sitting up. Her silvery-blond hair tumbled around her shoulders the moment she did, her brown eyes wide as saucers. “Heavens, what was I thinking?”
“That I am irresistible, and you could not help yourself?” William suggested.
“I must have been out of my mind,” she sighed. “It is already well past dawn. How will I sneak back to my bedchamber without any of the servants being any wiser? Goodness, Minnie is probably wondering where I am right now.”
