“Wolfgang?” She crept nearer, slipping her hand onto his shoulder.
“Don’t touch me, for God’s sake. I’m trying to remember that I was born a gentleman.”
Oh.
Oh!
Charlotte smiled.
“Iwasn’t born a gentleman,” she offered helpfully.
The side of her breast grazed his arm, and it made her feel so shivery that she did it again.
Wolfgang choked out a laugh, which encouraged Charlotte to bend her head to nibble at his collarbone. She wanted to feel it with her lips, and also with her cheek and nose. Her fingertips glowed at the pleasure of skimming over his fascinating ridges and valleys. What would it be like to peel back his robe and nightshirt, so she had all that bare skin to—
He pushed her back hard and she landed with a gasp against the pillows.
“Wolfgang!” she protested, but not for long, because he followed her down, his shoulders filling her view as he loomed up over her, his pelvis pinning her to the bed. Charlotte stared up at him, the mattress at her back and so much Wolfgang on top of her. He filled her vision and her lungs, the scent of him mingling with hers and making her senses swim. Her body churned and ached, but her mind felt blessedly clear for once.
She tilted toward Wolfgang like he was her gravity.
He narrowed his eyes and swooped down until his lips hovered a feather’s width above hers. “You exist to try me, Charlotte.”
Oddly, that made her feel even lighter.
“No, don’tsmileat me,” he growled. “I want you, damn it. I want your smart mouth. I want you flouncing about and scheming, or making me trail after you at balls, or in silk mills, or wherever you care to go. I wantto marry you, though you’ve been harassed enough by suitors and I’m not going to ask you now.”
“What are you saying, Wolfgang?”
His eyes blazed with a light she’d never seen. “I’m saying I love you, damn it.”
The room was quiet and the candle flickered, making it feel as solemn as a church. Certainly, it was time for the honesty of one. Charlotte knew her answer, but she took a breath and looked deep inside.
Yes, of course you love him!cried her instincts, lit up and glittering.
Yes, yes, and get back to the good stuff, said the ache between her thighs.
Oh, all right, called her poor overworked brain, before it collapsed into a heap.
But the most important voice was the last to answer.Tell him. You mustn’t hide any longer, it said from deep inside her chest.
She cupped his cheek and offered her answer plainly, no laughter, no jest, nothing to hide behind. “I’ve loved you for years, Wolfgang.”
His eyes blazed even brighter, and when they kissed, it felt like a promise. She arched her back and helped him part her wrapper to reveal her night rail, and he traced the V at her neck with the thick pad of one finger and stared at the tops of her breasts with helpless fascination.
Oh God.
Charlotte arched higher, pressing her breasts more firmly against his chest, which made Wolfgang growl and her legs feel so restless that she curved one foot around his ankle…
His bare ankle. A bare length of calf.
She wound her arms around his neck and burrowed her fingers into the thicket of his hair, arching her hips as a breathy little sigh escaped her. He worked his way up over the impossibly thin silk of her night rail, his broad palm on her waist, and her rib cage, and the slope beneath her breast, until both her nipples were stiff and aching for the feel of his fingers, or—oh God!—the wet heat of his mouth. Even over the fabric she could feel the roughness of his chin, but it was too much separation, the night rail was such abotheration, and Charlotte wasn’t sure which one of them began to work the row of clever buttons down the front. Only her back was bowing even more, and the lace scraped over her nipples so they were naked to his gaze, and his hands, and his glorious mouth, sucking hard and soft, licking, teasing with nips and bites.
She felt so damned good, and yet impossibly empty.
“Wolfgang!” she cried, and it came out like an order.
“Yes, Charlotte?” He rolled her nipple between his fingers and the way her mouth fell open on a gasp must have pleased him, because his eyes blanked with pleasure and he did it again.
