“Hm,” Nicholas acknowledged ruefully as he looked down at the voluminous garment.“It is the least attractive piece of clothing I have ever seen or worn.”
“What do you usually wear to sleep in?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh.”
He chuckled.“Your father and uncle thought the nightshirt more proper in front of the servants.”
Julia eyed him quizzically, appreciating this talkative Nicholas, at the same time as she knew there were still questions between them that needed to be answered.“Is it because you were, and still are, a member of the Prince Regent’s personal secret army that you did not join any of Wellington’s regiments fighting Napoleon?”
The humor immediately faded from Nicholas’s eyes.“I was of more use to the Crown by remaining in London Society.”
She winced.“Was your family aware of what you were doing?”
His jaw tightened.“A secret must be kept exactly that if it is to remain a secret.”
“You did not tell them,” she realized heavily.
“No.”
“But if Freddie had known, perhaps he would not have behaved so recklessly and joined a regiment himself!”she accused.
A nerve pulsed in Nicholas’s jaw.“Perhaps.”
“Why have you told me not just your own secret, but also that of four other gentlemen, two of them my father and uncle?”
His smile was mocking.“Because now that I have done so, my only choices are to kill you or insist you marry me.”
“Nicholas!”she admonished.
“At last…” He stared at her with warm chocolate-colored eyes.“It is the name you always call me during my sexual fantasies.”
Julia gasped, her cheeks burning.“You have had sexual fantasies about me…?”
“Constantly,” he confirmed.“I have done so for some time,” he admitted softly.
She gazed at him with wide eyes.“How long?”
He shrugged.“Since it was legal for me to do so.”
“I do not know what to say…”
“Perhaps we have said enough words for now?”
Had they?Julia certainly felt as if they had shared enough for one night.Too much so, perhaps, now that she had all that secret knowledge rushing around inside her head.
“I should very much like to kiss you,” Nicholas admitted huskily.
Julia would like that too.“As I would like to kiss you.But I should also very much like to see the scars upon your chest and back.”
Nicholas’s heart soared at the thought of what Julia’s request might mean for their future.It was not exactly an acceptance of their betrothal, but nor was it any longer a complete rejection of it either.
“I am going to remove this never-ending nightshirt now,” he said dryly.“Will you remove your own nightgown for me?”he requested softly as he sat up to pull up the nightshirt and tug it over his head before discarding it onto the floor.
* * *
Julia was mesmerized as she stared at the naked width of Nicholas’s chest.A light dusting of hair surrounded the dusky nipples before veeing down his abdomen and then lower still.She could see two scars on the front of his body, the long, thin one obviously made by a knife, and the puckered one where a bullet had struck him.
