“So I’m going to protect myself,” she interrupted. “I think we shouldn’t—”
“Dammit, Rose. I’m not sharing my heart. I’mgivingit to you!”
The words echoed between the buildings, tossed between brick and smoke and stars, and when they returned to Rose’s ears, still confounded her. “I—what?”
“I didn’t want to give any of myself to you. I didn’t think I had any heart left to give. But since the day you arrived, you’ve been stealing pieces away.” Her lips parted, but he pushed on. “You could have taken just one piece, like I’ve given everyone here, but you stole all the pieces. You kept them all and now—” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “Princess. My magpie. I’m lost to you.”
Butterflies—entire flocks of birds—took flight in her stomach and scattered through her fingertips as she threw her arms around his neck, pulled him down and kissed him soundly. “You silly man,” she whispered against his lips. “You say that like it’s a terrible thing.”
“It is.” He stroked his fingertips along her cheek. “You’re leaving. You’re getting married.”
Tell me to stay. Tell me to stay and I will forever. I’ll make this my home, our nest, and we—
“Your life is in England,” he continued. “My life is here. I could never compete with what you have waiting for you.”
The birds stopped mid-flight. He would not ask her to stay. She was a change of pace, a step towards healing, but she had no place here, and he had no desire to make one for her. What a selfish fool she was, thinking he would choose her over Brooklyn Heights, that she would be worthy of a man like Ben. She should cut her losses, push away now and leave for Boston as soon as possible.
But could she live knowing she had given up even a moment of time with Ben?
“This is enough for me,” she said, her voice tremulous as she pushed down the disappointment that threatened to wreck her. “What we have here, tonight.”
“Is that what you want?” His dark eyes probed hers and she wanted to turn away, certain he could see every thought in her mind.
“It is.” She swallowed hard and pressed her lips into a flirtatious smile.Be light, be fun. No one likes the bitter magpie.
Ben kissed her then, slow and sweeping, and something in her chest pulled to him, as though every part of her body belonged to him. When she dragged her lips along his jawline to nip at his earlobe, Ben groaned and cupped her bottom. “You’ve torn down my defenses, Princess.”
She nipped his earlobe again, harder. “Don’t call me that.”
He chuckled and pulled her closer, rocking his arousal against her belly. Need spiked and seeped through her veins until she trembled, ached for him. “What should I call you, then? Rapunzel? Cinderella?”
“All princesses, Ben.”
Ben threw back his head with a laugh, then pressed his forehead to hers. His gaze was hypnotic, blazing with desire. “Then what do you want to be?”
Yours.
She dragged her lower lip between her teeth. “Briar Rose.”
“Still a princess.” He stepped closer, crowding her, overwhelming her senses. His mouth dipped to her neck and pressed scorching kisses to her bare skin.
Her pulse pounded in her throat. “A princess, yes, but prickly. I think I’d like to be pricklier.”I need to protect my heart somehow.
“You are… unexpected, Rose Waverly.”
“As are you, Benjamin Franklin North.”
He leaned back enough to meet her gaze with searching eyes. “Stay with me tonight.”
“Yes, but not yet.” His brows raised, and she pulled in a fortifying breath. “I want you to take me here.”
“Here?”
She nodded and backed up until her back was against the chimney, her lips tilted in a silent dare. “Here.”
Ben held her gaze, and she watched trepidation pass over his features before his lips curled into a wicked smile. “People might hear us.”
She swallowed hard. “They might.”
