A strong arm caught her around her waist and pulled her gently against a hard male body. Her heart beat so fast she thought she’d swoon. She couldn’t move. A frisson of desire started in her back and spread throughout her body.
“Lady Grace.” Worthington’s deep voice caressed her.
She gasped for breath as she leaned back against his firm chest. Sheer longing and desire speared her. Her breasts tingled in anticipation and the place between her legs grew hot and moist with need. His warmth radiated through her. Tears slid down her cheeks, and she nodded. How mortifying to be found out. To have her weakness exposed.
His voice was gentle but stern. “We have some things we need to discuss. Such as the reason you left so early that morning.” He paused. “Will you look at me?”
Unable to put together a coherent answer or even move, Grace closed her eyes.
Worthington bent over her. His lips near her ear. She shivered and shook her head.
His thumb caressed her cheek, and stopped. Concern infused his voice. “Why are you crying?”
She couldn’t answer him. What would she say? That she’d been so horribly wanton, making love with him when she knew she couldn’t wed? That she loved him and couldn’t marry him? That she so desperately needed to feel him inside her, but the obligation to the children took precedence over him? Nothing she did or said would make what she had to do any more palatable. He’d be so angry. What man wouldn’t be?
“Come with me.” Not waiting for an answer, he swept her up into his arms and carried her to the empty parlor through which she’d hoped to escape. Worthington set her back on her feet, locked the door, and closed the curtains.
Grace stared down at her shaking hands. All she could see of him was his evening pumps. Drawing her into his arms, he tilted her head and kissed her.
Fire roiled through her as she clung to him, desperately returning his kisses. The last one, she vowed. When he deepened the kiss and his tongue played with hers, Grace wrapped her arms around him, pressing full length against his muscular body.
Trading breaths with him, she pressed closer. A shuddering sigh escaped her. Oh, how she wanted this. To be in his arms, to let him possess her, to possess him.
Just one once more. Just this, a kiss, no more.
She needed him in the same way she needed to breathe. Her breasts, her nipples hardened and ached. He groaned. His palms moved down her back, then over her breasts, caressing them. Grace pressed against him.
Well, maybe a little more than a kiss.
Her hands moved greedily over his strong back and the ache between her legs intensified. Her dreams and remembrances were nothing compared to being here with him. She pressed her hips into Worthington’s body and moved one hand over his hard buttock bringing him closer. Grace tried to focus on the kiss, frantically caressing his tongue with hers, trying to ignore the memory of his hard shaft inside her.
Maybe just once more.
Then she’d explain.
Chapter Nine
Grace.Her name fitted her. Matt reveled in their kiss. The feel of her soft body in his arms drove him mad with desire. This lady, Grace, his love, was the only woman he’d ever need, ever want. Why she ran from him or cried and refused to speak to him, he didn’t understand. But this need they each had for the other, he did. Since their meeting at the inn, he’d played their lovemaking over and over in his mind. He hadn’t even thought of another woman since. He wanted no one but her, and he had to have her. This time, he’d make sure Grace knew she was his. This time, he wouldn’t let her go.
When her hand reached his throbbing shaft, he backed her to the chaise next to the fireplace and tenderly laid her down. Without breaking the kiss, he raised her skirts, trying not to crush the silk, and unbuttoned his breeches. Grace’s legs parted as he covered her, and she wrapped them around his waist.
Thank God she wanted this as much as he did.
Special license. To-morrow.
He plunged into her wet heat. Silk, that’s what it was like, the softest silk.
Growling with intense possession, he felt like a medieval knight claiming his prize. Pressed against him, she moaned and sighed softly, a symphony to spur him on. Using long, slow strokes to increase her pleasure, he reveled in her frenzied panting and her hands holding him tighter as her sheath convulsed around him, bringing him with her.
Matt pressed soft kisses to her neck, yet Grace was quiet, too quiet. Perhaps they should not have made love here, but she’d seemed to want him as much as he needed her. Rising, he tucked his shirt back in and rebuttoned his fall. He helped Grace to her feet and smoothed her skirts, straightening her bodice. All the while she said nothing. Finally he sat and placed her on his lap. Holding her, he rained soft kisses on her cheeks and lips, and nuzzled her hair, breathing in her scent.
Never, never again would he let her go. “I’ll purchase the license to-morrow. We can be married as soon as you like.”
“I cannot.” Grace sobbed and burst into tears.
That wasn’t the response he’d expected. Matt stroked her back. What did she have against a special license? Perhaps she wanted a large wedding. “Then we’ll have the banns read. As long as we marry, it matters not to me.”
He kissed her tears and pulled out his handkerchief to dry her cheeks. “I’ll call on you in the morning and do this properly. I love you and want to marry you. But right now, you should go home. Is your carriage here?”
