“It isn’t necessarily a lie, by his own standards,” Jack said consideringly.“Though I would question his standards.”
She curled her lip.“I have repelled him every way I know how.With gentle civility, citing my care of Lily, by the cold shoulder and blunt words.He doesn’t seem to believe I mean any of it.Such a contemptible little act to make such a fuss over, but I won’t do it, Jack.”
He nodded as though he agreed, and it struck her that he did not quite understand.“I am not an innocent.I just need to choose.I have to be in control.No one willmakeme.Which is why I shall never marry again.”
Even as she said the words, she knew no man could truly understand them.He would never know the horrors of being a wife, of the necessary submission to strength, to custom, to the law.To be fair, few women seemed to understand either.They were either lucky, or they just accepted.
She risked a glance at his face in the moonlight and saw the distinct crease of a frown.
“No true lover would evermakeyou,” he said simply.
She rather thought her jaw was sagging, so she closed it.“Are you as innocent as you seem, my lord duke?”
“I might be naïve in some ways,” he said tranquilly, “but I am not entirely innocent, no.”
“You have been raking a swathe through the countryside since your escape?”
“No.Though there was a rather delightful tavern wench in Lewes.And the girl who looked after my rooms in Oxford.So I am not quite as pure as the driven snow.”
A sudden warmth surged through her.“You are in any way that matters.”
“So are you.”
She peered up at him.“You really mean that.”
“I do.You are simply Tabitha, and I love you.”
He had a way of capturing one’s breath.She could not even think, let alone speak, although emotion, tangled and wild, was flooding her.
He smiled, one of his sweet, apologetic smiles.“Forgive me.Such declarations cannot be what you want to hear right now.I shan’t importune or seduce, but I wanted to be honest.”
She stopped and so did he, turning his head to look down at her.All the muddle of contradictions seemed to resolve and fall away, leaving only an unlikely happiness.
Reaching up, she touched his cheek, felt the roughness of stubble and the smoothness above.“I would be very tempted,” she said hoarsely, “to choose you.”
Something exciting leapt in his eyes.He smiled in the way that dazzled.And she was only human.She stood on tiptoe and brushed his firm lips with hers.He held her gaze but did not move, and she realized he wouldn’t, not because he didn’t want to but because he had promised.
She liked that.She liked it very much.But her heart was beating hard in her breast and shewanted, needed...
“You may kiss me if you like,” she whispered.If you don’t, I’ll die...
Very slowly, he lifted his hand in return and cupped her cheek.He bent his head in such a leisurely fashion that the anticipation made her gasp.He parted his lips, and she touched them with her fingertips, enjoying their texture, their faintest pressure as they moved inexorably nearer to hers, and finally closed on her mouth.
It was sweet.Tender.Did he still expect her to flee?Certainly he gave her several moments to draw back before he moved his lips against hers with infinite gentleness and slow-gathering sensuality.Her eyes closed.He tasted faintly of wine and coffee and Jack.His clean, masculine scent surrounded her, filled her, and his exquisite mouth sank deeper, adoring, pleasuring.
His tongue touched hers and with a sigh, she opened wider to him.Butterflies danced in her diving stomach.She pushed her arm up around his neck, stroking his nape, and his arms came around her, holding her against his slight yet hard body.No one had ever kissed her like this.It was heavenly.
She wished it would go on forever, but it seemed they both needed to breathe.He raised his head, and she opened her eyes.
“My,” she said huskily.“Your tavern wench was a lucky girl.”
He touched his finger to her lips.“Don’t.This isn’t about the past.This is now.”
“I like now,” she whispered.
“Oh, so do I.”He kissed her again and she co-operated so fully, that he was breathing much faster by the time it ended.“I think, perhaps, I should take you back to Lily.”
To her shame, her stepdaughter had fallen so far to the back of her mind that her name was like a jolt.She drew back and his arms fell away.She immediately felt cold, alone, until he drew her hand through his arm, and somehow it was still delightful to walk with him under the moonlight.
