The hours between three and five o’clock in the morning could, as Nicholas well knew, strip away all protection from a person’s emotions, leaving them raw and exposed.Leaving thatpersonfeeling raw and exposed.
Except, Julia’s narrowed and searching gaze on his face did not give the impression she was feeling vulnerable.But perhaps she was a little cold, if the slight shiver she gave was an indication.
Nicholas shifted uncomfortably under her probing gaze, feeling, but ignoring, the immediate protest from his bruised and aching body.
Being knocked unconscious and waking to find himself tied up in an almost airless box really had been the worst experience of his life.One that would no doubt haunt his nights for the foreseeable future.
But he had suffered through things almost as traumatic in the past.Had been shot twice and stabbed once, as the scars on his chest, back, and shoulders would testify.Scars that Julia, if she became his wife, would no doubt ask questions about.
Would he answer those questions honestly, or would he lie to protect the bigger cause?
Nicholas had been mulling over that dilemma for some time now.
He might have been able, if one of the less curious and opinionated young ladies in Society had been destined to become his countess—one who cared for nothing but fashion and acquiring a titled gentleman as her husband—to dismiss his scars as being related to accidents that had occurred whilst he was practicing at shooting or fencing.
But Julia was not a woman of that ilk.She was intelligent, outspoken, with an interest and opinion of politics, society, and marriage, along with many other subjects other ladies in Society did not concern themselves with.
Nicholas knew that Julia was a founder member of a group of six young ladies who called themselves the Spinsters Alliance.He also knew that those young ladies had vowed never to marry unless they knew themselves to be truly loved and that they loved the gentleman in return.That she felt these things and had acted upon them spoke highly of her depth of character.
Nicholas doubted Julia even realized how beautiful she looked right now, with her glorious golden hair loose about her shoulders.Or that she was aware the firelight and the single candle lit across the room allowed him to see the outline of the rounded swell of her naked breasts through the thin material of her nightclothes.He could also discern her engorged nipples pressing against the silky material.
Bruised he might be—even his cock!—but Nicholas’s body still roused at the sight of all Julia’s beauty and softness.
He had no doubt that their marriage, if Julia would allow it, could be one of deep desire and passion.The sort of marriage Nicholas had always longed for.In the same way he had ached for Julia to be his wife for so very long.
She was the only woman to ever make him feel this way.The only woman he had ever wanted, or ever considered, taking for his wife.
Nicholas now made a decision in the knowledge that Julia should never be expected to accept anything less than the truth, the whole truth, from him.
He could only hope his decision was the right one.
But as he saw Julia was trying to repress yet another shiver, Nicholas knew there was something of far greater urgency in need of his attention.
CHAPTEREIGHT
“Climb into bed beside me.”
Julia immediately sat straighter in the chair, shocked to her core by the instruction.More so because Nicholas had not even attempted to make it sound like a request.
“Please, do not argue,” he added when she opened her mouth to do exactly that.“You are shivering with cold.”He shifted over in the bed so that he could throw back the covers on the side closest to Julia.“If you want me to answer any of the questions tumbling about inside your head, then you will do as I ask and climb into bed with me.”
You will climb into bed with me.
Nicholas had said it to her twice now, and Julia was convinced she had never heard such an outrageous statement.
One that caused heat to burn low down in her belly before radiating between her thighs and her breasts as they tingled and her nipples hardened.
Even so… “You know it would not be fitting for me to do such a scandalous thing.”
He eyed her patiently.“Julia, we have already established that you have come into my bedchamber in the middle of the night, dressed only in flimsy night attire.I think the word ‘fitting’ to describe this occasion is already made redundant by your previous behavior.”
Julia felt the burn of color in her cheeks.“Maybe so.But asking me to share a bed with you, for whatever reason, would be taking it to a scandalous level.”
Nicholas watched her through narrowed lids.“You will one day share a bed with me every night of your life.”
Julia stiffened.“My grandparents and your father might have arranged it to be so, but I have not formally agreed to a betrothal between us.”
“What of informally?”
