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“You would?”
As her chin tipped higher, the look down her nose took longer. “Yes, I would.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why a month?”
Her face abandoned pink for a bright red hue. “My reasons are private.”
“Well,” he drawled, “Seeing as how I’m giving up all those other women, I feel I got a right to know the why of it.”
“It’s only for a month.”
He pretended to consider it. He sighed and looked regretful. He bit back a smile as her hands stopped their desperate clenching. When she spoke, her voice was perfectly precise. “If you must know, I’d like the opportunity to get to know your preferences.”
“I get the feeling you’re not talking about how I take my coffee.”
“No. I’m not.”
He waved her to a chair. “You sure you don’t want to sit down?”
“I’m fine.”
He rose from the chair and came around the side of the desk. He was pretty sure it wasn’t his imagination that she seemed to hold herself so still, it appeared she’d stopped breathing. He hitched his hip on the corner of the desk. “Let me get this straight. As part of our courting, you expect me to come to your bed and educate you in precisely how I like my loving?”
Her nod was stiff. A bare jerk of her chin.
“And I’m to keep my attentions confined to you?”
Another jerk.
“After the month, however, I’m free to sport where I want with no complaints from you?”
This time, she managed a hoarse whisper. “Yes.”
“Well, now, that’s darned generous of you.”
“I’m trying to be reasonable.”
No, Asa thought, she was being clever as a cat and just as practical. She was planning on holding him with sex unless he missed his guess. Failing that, she was planning on relegating him to the role of scoundrel, insuring that he never got a chance to hurt her. Her cleverness made him smile. He wasn’t going along with her plan, but he could work with it. “How often?”
“What?”
“How often am I allowed to come to your bed?”
The total look of dismay on her face clued him to the fact she hadn’t thought of that. She rallied though. “I’d think that would depend on the frequency of your needs.”
Every time she referred to his needs in that prissy tone of voice, he wanted to laugh and kiss her at the same time. “Well now,” he drawled, “needs are funny critters. A man doesn’t rightly know when they might sneak up on him.”
“You don’t know how often…?” She waved her hand between them in a descriptive arc. This time, her dismay showed clearly on her face. He nearly burst a gut holding in his laughter. She was so sweet to tease. As if he was going to let her get away with neatly stashing him into a single corner of her life.
“Nope.”
She sat in the chair. “I hadn’t considered the possibility…” For the first time since entering the room, she looked him squarely in the face. “This is going to be a problem.”
Not for him. “I don’t see where it could be too tough. If we shared a bed at night, you’d be convenient if I got struck with the notion.”
“These needs come upon you mostly at night?”
He could actually see her brain ticking away at the options. He shrugged and admitted, “A fair number of them.”
“We could move your room to the one across the hall.”
He shook his head. “I’m not liking the thought of crossing that cold floor.”
“It’s not that cold yet.”
He shook his head again. “I can see how set you are against the idea. Why don’t we just drop that line? I’ll settle things as best I can.”
He shifted back to his feet. She sprang to hers, placing her hand on his chest to stop him. “No. It’s all right. I was just reluctant to give up my privacy.”
He raised his eyebrow at that blatant lie.
“No,” she hurried on to assure him. “It’ll be fine.” She nodded her head as if he’d done something other than just stand there. “It’s settled. You’ll share my bed and I’ll be convenient for your…well, I’ll be convenient.”
“For the next month.”
She nodded, visibly relaxing. “Yes.”
“And then?”
“We’ll revisit our decision.”
He touched her cheek, thinking how pretty a green her eyes were today. He wondered how long it would take her to realize he had no intention of behaving like she wanted him to. Sure enough, if she wanted to pigeon-hole him, she was going to have to raise her expectations. “Fair enough.”
He slid his hand around the back of her neck. He was dead tired, but he wasn’t so tired that he didn’t want to steal a bit of her nervousness. “Come here.” He pulled her into his arms. As always, she stiffened up first and then relaxed. “You got anymore rules?”
“Yes.” There was a pause. “Is there any reason we have to stand like this?”
