He pulled his hands from hers and crossed to the other side of the room where the candlelight did not reach. He stood in the darkness, his pulse pounding in his ears. “She handed me over to you, did she? On a silver platter with her happy blessing?”
Madeline’s voice was quiet. “Yes, but—”
“But what? How can I be sure that if Diana had not met Lord Blackthorne, you would not be packing your bags right now to return with her to Yorkshire? I do not wish to be your second choice, Madeline.”
She took a step toward him. “How can you speak of second choices, when I was not even as good as that when I came here? For weeks I had to live with the heartbreak of discovering that you did not want me, when I wanted you more than anything. I was rejected in the worst way, and now you fault me for being afraid! You broke my heart, Adam. Everyone in my life had broken my heart, and if you could only know how much courage I had to scrape together to come here and talk to you tonight.”
“But you have stumbled backward into the necessity of acting upon your feelings. How can I be sure you even know what you want?”
“Stumbled backward?” She crossed to him and dropped to her knees again, wrapping her arms around him and resting her cheek on his hip. Adam sucked in a breath. She was squeezing him so tightly he doubted he could pry her off if he tried. Then he heard her sob and the sound of it brought his own heart into his throat.
“I am not stumbling backward now. I willnotlet go of you! Not until you believe that I love you, and that I would have thrown Diana out of here myself if she had tried to keep me from you one more day.”
He stood in shocked silence, his hands floating in the air over her head.
“I am on my knees, Adam, weeping for you. I don’t know how else to show you that I do have a heart. You were right about me from the beginning. You kneweverything.You saw inside to the real me, where no one had ever bothered to look before. I don’t care what brought us to this moment—all the mix-ups and the backward stumbling and tripping and falling. All I care about is you, and what I know is true. My heart—my frightened, reluctant heart—beats only for you.”
She gazed up at him, her cheeks stained with tears, her eyes repeating everything she had just said to him. They were pleading with him.
God! She was right! Nothing mattered but this moment of pure openness! Madeline, his beautiful, timid Madeline, was wearing her heart on her sleeve. How could he even think of turning her away?
With aching, jubilant surrender, he dropped to his knees before her and took her delicate face in his big hands, tilted it up toward his. The room was dim, but he could still see the faint luster of her eyes, smell the sweetness of her breath, feel the silky texture of her skin. He needed her, dear God, he needed her. And he would show her just how much.
Gently, cautiously, he lowered his mouth to hers.
She rose to meet his kiss, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him fast against her soft, heaving breasts. She parted her lips for him, and he plunged eagerly into the warmth she offered. He kissed her deeply and passionately, stopping only to say, “I’m so sorry, Madeline.”
She laughed out loud—a happy, joyful release. “Youare sorry? For what? You have done nothing but force me out of myself. You’ve made me feel beautiful.”
He pulled her into him and kissed her again, this time with an abandon that almost knocked him off his knees. For too long he had shouldered what was forbidden, and now it burned in him like red-hot flames licking over his flesh.
A brief second of panic ensued, when he wasn’t sure he could restrain his desire for her and keep from taking her here on the cold, hard floor, but it passed when she gazed lovingly into his eyes and touched his face. He knew he could do anything for her. He had waited this long. He could wait a little longer…..
“Marry me, Madeline.”
She smiled. “Oh Adam, I have dreamed of this moment all my life. That day when I stepped off the boat and you did not want me, I thought I was doomed to live without you forever. And when you still wanted Diana…”
He touched a finger to her lips. “Forget about dreams, Madeline. No more of that. We are real, you and I. No more idealizing. Love me for the man that I am, as I love you for the woman you are. You, my darling, are the one I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
“Oh, Adam.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him deeply. “I’ve waited so long for this. Please don’t send me back to my room to sleep alone tonight. Take me to your bed.”
He gazed into her sweet, dark eyes. “You ask the impossible if you expect me to sleep next to you and not love you as I intend to when I am your husband.”
“I would not ask that of you. I want you, Adam. Tonight. If all had been right with the world, you would have been my husband ages ago. Let us make up for lost time.”
It took no more to convince him. Rising to his feet, he gathered her into his arms and carried her up the stairs as quietly as possible. By the time he reached his bed and laid her down upon the soft covers, his entire being was pulsing with need.
He stood over her, loosening his neckcloth. The moonlight shone in the window, illuminating Madeline’s white nightdress. She looked like a goddess, lying back upon the pillows, waiting for him. Her beauty was breathtaking, her innocence intoxicating. He had not known he could ever love a woman as fiercely as he loved the one before him.
Adam pulled off his shirt and came down gently upon her. His lips found hers in the darkness and he reveled in their delicious flavor. She wrapped her long legs around his hips and he held her tightly in his arms, pressing his body against hers. He wanted all of her. He had waited so long.
He kissed the smooth, warm skin at her neck and unbuttoned her gown, then let his lips trace a path down to her luscious breasts. Gently his hands slid from her hips down to her legs, sliding the gown up and up until he found the warm center of her womanhood where she was delightfully damp with desire.
Feeling the warmth of Adam’s hand caressing her in her most private place, Madeline’s heart quickened with both anticipation and anxiety. She had no experience with any of this. She wanted Adam more than she’d ever wanted anything, but she had no idea what to do.
“You’re shaking, Madeline,” he whispered softly, sounding surprised but charmed as he gazed into her eyes.
“I’m sorry. I want to please you, but this is all so new and I don’t know what to do.”
