When his gaze finally found her face again, and he wiped tears from her cheeks, she realized she wept. That he had pulled forth such intense emotions. He said nothing but brushed his lips across hers one more time and tucked her by his side.
They never did eat but dozed off before waking and making love several more times that night. He had a way of stirring her awake with passionate caresses and long deep kisses. Affection that inevitably tangled them up in one another’s arms again.
“Do not go, love,” he murmured sleepily when she eventually got up to return to her room. “Stay with me.”
While her servants undoubtedly knew what was happening up here, she would only push impropriety so far. She cared not what they thought of her actions. Her concern lay more with Jacob. As heartbreaking as the thought, he would have to take a wife someday, and she would not have such precise rumors get back to that woman’s ears. Something she made clear when he caught her wrist and pulled her back into his arms.
“You think of someone who will never exist,” he said. “Not unless it is you, Prudence.” He cupped her cheek and grew most serious. “Say you will marry me, my love, so that you need not run off like this.”
He might have alluded to it in the study, but his request was so direct now her heart did a little flip. Yet she forced herself to ignore it. Not just for his sake but for her newly discovered independence.
“I cannot.” She unraveled from his embrace lest she risk surrendering to his will. Because he was a force unto himself when he looked at her like that. When he said words she would gladly have said yes to in her youth. “I will see you when you wake, Your Grace.”
Before he had a chance to capture her again, she made her way into her room and shut the door. Prayed he did not pursue her. Hoped he understood how much she needed to stay strong now more than ever. Needed to stand her ground so she did not cave into his very convincing words. His equally convincing touch.
Fortunately, he did not follow, and she slid beneath her blankets. As expected, she did not sleep but stared at the door. Waited with nary a breath drawn at points, wondering if he would come through it. If she should want him to.
He never did enter, though, and she eventually got out of bed in the morning and made her way down to breakfast after Agnus helped her dress. Her maid said little, but Prudence could tell by the knowing glances she cast her that she was no fool.
“It seems the duke has decided to stay on for a few days until it is safe enough to travel,” Agnus said at one juncture. “In fact, he already awaits you for breakfast.”
“Does he, then?” So he was not fleeing? Rushing home now that he had conquered her flesh, then had his marriage proposal denied? Her heart did that strange little somersault it liked to do when it came to him. “Likely sound thinking to stay on until it is safe.”
“I agree, my lady.” Though faint, she did not miss the amusement in Agnus’ voice. “As it were, the short drive to our local inn might prove dangerous indeed.”
“Indeed.”
She supposed she expected to find him in a mood when she made her way downstairs, yet he seemed in rather pleasant spirits. But then, little did she know he was planning to go to war.
Moreover, that she was his intended prize when he conquered all.
Chapter Sixteen
Jacob had notbeen fibbing when he made it plain he wanted Prudence as his wife. By his side always. Which meant he intended to win her over at every turn. Make her love him so much she simply could not refuse him in the end.
So he spent the days he could spare away from his estate doing just that. Which simply meant doing what came naturally to them. Talking endlessly. Discussing the history of her estate. Playing cards and other entertaining games.
Making love into the wee hours of each morning.
There was nothing he did not adore about her. From their lively discussions to how she made him laugh to the way she felt in his arms. How he felt in hers. As it happened, she was as curious in bed as she was out of it and wanted to try everything. Feel all the sensations they could pull from one another.
Which in their case seemed endless.
He would have never thought it upon meeting her years ago, but Lady Barrington was creative and adventurous once freed of her sensual inhibitions. Better still, she was as interested in bringing him pleasure as he was her.
“Can you not stay one more day?” Prudence murmured sleepily in the early hours of their last morning together. She dusted talented fingers down his stomach toward an arousal that could not get enough of her. “The roads may be clear, but there still might be a spot of ice or two.”
“I would if I could, love.” He kissed her temple. “But alas, my kingdom needs its king.” He bit back a groan when her hand wandered lower. “As does its queen when she finally gives in and lays her claim.”
Prudence said nothing to that, but he knew she would not. She had grown stubbornly committed to the idea there was a mistress better suited to his castle. While it frustrated him, he kept it to himself for no other reason than he would not frighten her off. If that were not trying enough, he also found it impossible to tell her the last secret still lingering between them.
That she had not been the first lass he had helped break free from the trauma of an awful marriage.
He had tried several more times to confess, but again, it never seemed the right moment. Honestly, he wondered how necessary it really was to tell her she wasn’t his first. Prudence was doing well. Flourishing, at that. So what did it matter if he had helped other women heal too? She might even find it admirable. Either way, he never did get around to telling her.
Instead, he well and truly lost himself to her.
So when the time came to say goodbye once again, it felt far more difficult than it had at MacLauchlin Castle. Not only because she refused to marry him but because she had come to an unfortunate conclusion.
