After setting his glass aside, he rested an arm along the back of the settee and traced his fingers along her cheek. “I know what it is to lose family... and the miracle of discovering not all family is lost to you. If you want him and his sisters in your life, I suggest you venture into this possible quagmire cautiously. At the ball, if matters don’t go as you’d hoped, you can always leave. I’ll be there to keep a watch over things.” He hadn’t planned to attend, but nothing would keephim away now. He would greet his host with a glare that promised retribution if he created any sort of stir that caused her the least bit of harm or sadness. “Or I could meet with him before the... when is the blasted ball?”
“It’s Tuesday next.”
“I could speak with him, and then provide you with a more knowledgeable opinion.”
“If you wouldn’t mind.”
You’re asking me for something of little consequence and not at all burdensome when I would willingly die for you.But he kept that declaration off his tongue because he suspected she’d prefer he break his vow for her. If she wanted him. Her feelings for him had no doubt changed, and while she’d admitted to understanding why he’d not carried through on his promise to her, it had to hurt that he was holding firm on the vow he’d made to the duke. She’d no doubt be happier with Chidding. They had no past that would ever raise its ugly head to create distrust or misgivings. “I’ll tend to it on the morrow.”
She released a long, slow, deep breath and seemed to melt into relaxation before his eyes. Obviously, it had been weighing on her. Desire for acceptance against fear of public rejection. He resented being part of a society that could make anyone feel small or inconsequential, hated even more anything he might have done that had added to her feelings of lacking in self-worth. “Could be he simply finally came to his senses and realized what a treasure you are.”
She laughed at that, her cheeks turning pink. “I’m rather certain that’sexactlywhat it was.” Her smilediminished slightly. “That he wasn’t involved in my life, that he didn’t visit here, never bothered me—or so I thought. After he left today, I experienced a measure of gratitude that we might establish a rapport and I’d have a stronger, more immediate connection to Father. We could trade memories. My father led a life I knew very little about, so in a way, I never completely comprehended the whole of him. I have one photograph of him and Mother, taken when they enjoyed a trip to the seaside. I imagine his son has a dozen paintings depicting our father throughout various stages of his life. To be honest, I’m a bit terrified of what I might discover in his residence. Yet I refuse to be cowed.”
The bravery of this woman humbled him. From the start she’d done things she’d rather not in an attempt to please her father. Alone, she’d brought a daughter into the world. Now she would marry to ensure that her daughter was never found lacking and would one day marry well. He wondered if a need to continue to please her father might also be driving her toward accepting Bremsford’s invitation.
“It’s your fault, you know,” she said so softly, so wistfully he almost didn’t hear her, but still his entire body tightened to such a degree that he thought if a feather landed on him, he might shatter.
“Oh?” was all he could manage in response, hating the notion of facing his culpability for any of her unhappiness.
“All those years ago, you made me feel accepted. It was a novel sensation. I never take it for granted. If Ican win over my father’s son and his other daughters, I suppose I feel I’d never be found lacking by anyone ever again.”
He shifted until he could take her lovely face between his hands. “You are not lacking in any regard. You don’t require their acceptance or approval to have any worth. You’re more valuable than the whole lot of them because there is no pretense to you. You are good, kind, and generous in all regards. Good Lord, you even forgave me.”When I still can’t forgive myself.
“I don’t know if I’m all that good. I sent you a missive because I knew if I went to your residence, I wouldn’t be able to behave. I thought here, within my dominion, I could resist temptation. I was wrong.”
She was so wrong. And a bit disconcerted by the dawning realization she’d invited him here not truly for his opinion regarding Bremsford’s visit, but because she’d missed him and hadn’t wanted their last parting to be the final one. Because she’d wanted one more memory of him here, within her bed.
She had no resistance to him. As their mouths locked, she was gratified he had none to her. A storm raged within each of them, threatening—no, promising—to carry them out to a sea of pleasure.
He was reaching for her lacings and she for his buttons when sense finally took hold of her again.
“No,” she commanded, staying both their actions. He immediately went still, his breathing already harsh and heavy with the power unleashed. “Not here. My bedchamber.”
“Thank God, I thought you were going to send me on my way.”
She knew her smile reflected wickedness. “Not until I’ve hadmy waywith you.”
Their journey to her bedchamber was not a quick dash, because they continually stopped to ensure the fire didn’t ebb. A short kiss. A long one. Her back pressed against a wall as he devoured her mouth while flattening his body against hers, rubbing the bulge in his trousers against her mound, driving her to madness. Breathing became laborious as sensations flowed through her.
How she wanted him naked.
When they finally made it to her chamber, closing the door in their wake, she was surprised to discover their clothing wasn’t scorched. She felt as though every inch of her was alight.
In a matter of minutes, their attire was cast aside, and they were tumbling onto the bed with a laugh, a murmur, and then a groan as hands and mouths touched where they wanted, intimately. Heated glances, hot tongues, determined fingers.
Like an untamed creature, she writhed beneath him, begging, demanding he fulfill the promise ignited with every stroke, every squeeze, every lick. Oh, the wondrous sensations this man brought to life with his tongue. She was rather certain the things he did were illegal. For surely if Society objected to her book, it had to object to this sort of wanton, all-encompassing gratification.
Then he was driving into her, filling her, and she was digging her fingers into his backside, pushinghim, lifting her hips so he went even deeper. His feral growl reverberated throughout his entire body, was absorbed by hers, heightening her pleasure.
They moved in tandem with a wildness that had them both crying out as they reached the pinnacle of ecstasy, and they returned to reality in a gloriously sated heap.
Something woke him. Had the warm body at his back stirred or had it been the slender thigh nestled between both of his and pressing gently against his bollocks? Maybe it had been a change in the tempo of Regina’s warm breath wafting over his shoulder as she slept.
He’d drifted off holding her, but now she held him. He could hear her breathing, short little pants that didn’t match the slow rhythm of her breath teasing his flesh. Something was amiss.
Opening his eyes, he found himself staring into blue.
“Bloody hell!” He shot up in bed, slammed the back of his skull against the headboard, and struggled to bring the sheet up higher, but it was caught beneath the woman. At least it was pooled at his hips, hiding most of his nakedness. His breaths came in harsh, heaving gasps while Regina roused and looked over his side.
