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“But if you despoil me, then I’ll get to marry you, not Fraser. ”
His jaw dropped—she was too much. She was lovely and artless, and he wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything in his life. Very much. Right now, in fact. “Believe me, as much as I’d enjoy a thorough despoiling, we’ve the not-so-minor matter of Fraser to sort out, remember? I’ll remind you, you’re betrothed to the man. ”
“Not for long,” she announced, striding across the deck in the direction of the companionway steps. Hiking her skirts, she began to descend belowdecks.
“Where are you going?”
“To your cabin, of course. ”
Her words finally hit him. “Wait, Beth. What do you mean ‘not for long’?”
She froze, looking over her shoulder at him. She was halfway down the stairs already, visible only from her chest up. He’d yet to understand how it was that a landloving maiden in full skirts could be so damned fast at moving hither and yon aboard a moving ship.
He caught up to her, looking down from the head of the stairs. “What happened in Fraser’s offices?”
“We talked. ”
He heaved a sigh. “Though I greatly appreciate that there are other pressing goals at the moment”—he shifted the seat of his trews in proof of his point—“I must know, what did you talk about?”
“With Fraser?”
He only narrowed his eyes in answer. She was clearly not going to make this easy.
“Oh, fine. ” She squared her shoulders. “I told him I felt forced. ”
“You told Fraser you felt forced into marrying him?”
“Something like that, yes. ”
“Bloody hell, woman. How do you think someone like Fraser would react to that? Those are fighting words to such a man. ”
“They were neither intended as fighting words, nor do I think they were received thusly. ” She stood below him on the stairs, but even from that vantage point, he noted her chin lift defensively. “I simply explained how the farm has begun to succeed, and so I no longer require a husband. ”
She no longer required a husband. Did that apply to him as well? Brooding, he stared down at her. It appeared his Elspeth had found her voice and her confidence.
He forced it from his mind, focusing instead on the issue at hand. “I don’t see how that offers a way out of the betrothal. ” His words came out harshly, the thought of any man laying claim to Elspeth too infuriating to bear.
“It does, if it means my father no longer needs financial assistance. ” She walked up a step, standing closer on the stairs. “Please, Aidan, can we put this aside for now? Fraser isn’t here. ” She reached one of her delicate hands up, hesitantly touching his leg. “But I am. ”
No words escaped his clenched jaw. Fraser might not be there, but the specter of him was, a barrier between them.
She climbed up another step, stroking him now. The fabric of his trews was thick, but he felt her touch as keenly as if it’d been on his bare skin. “Please just kiss me. Kiss me like you were kissing me up there. ”
“You don’t understand,” he said through gritted teeth. Wealthy men inhabited a far different world from the one she was used to. Wealthy men could simply choose people, and have them. He’d experienced the phenomenon firsthand, for the past thirteen years. He knew if Elspeth was what Fraser wanted, Elspeth was precisely whom he’d have.
“What don’t I understand?” She continued to stroke his leg, stepping even closer. “Show me what you need. ”
She’d misunderstood, and damned if his cock didn’t strain for her. He’d show her what he needed: her and only her. What he needed was to grab her questing hands, haul her over his shoulder, and take her and rob her maidenhead on his damned bunk.
She tilted her head, studying him. Was it lust she saw on his face? Did she see his agony too? His dark despair?
“I’m offering myself to you,” she said with a tender innocence that shattered his blackened heart. “I’ll have you as my husband. And if we consummate our union here, now, nobody can come between us. ”
Her naïveté gutted him. “I know a whole world that could come between us. ”
“Don’t you want to consummate our union?” Her gaze flicked to his breeches. The question in her eyes was so trusting, curse him but he got harder for it. He saw she’d noticed by the rising blush on her cheeks.
“Want to?” Emotion made his voice ragged. Always there’d been something to come between him and his heart’s desire. Never would he get what he wanted, what he needed. Never would he know satisfaction. “Christ, woman, of course I want to. ”
