Page 71 of A Remarkable Rogue

“Because you wore it to seduce me two nights in a row.”

“I didn’t seduce you.Youseduced m—”

Realizing what she was about to say, she clamped her mouth shut. Her lips pressed together with an irritatedhmphat the flash of self-pleased triumph on his face.

She tied off the fresh bandage. “Are you always so arrogant after bedding a woman?”

He rakishly grinned and eased back against the headboard. “Let’s do it again and find out.”

She smacked him with a pillow.

She moved to slide off the bed, but he grabbed her, flipped her onto her back, and pinned her beneath his large body. Before she could protest, he touched his lips to hers in a kiss so gentle that it made her eyes sting.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, his hazel eyes flickering gold in the dying firelight.

Her throat tightened at the tender compliment. With all her irritation at him seeping away, she reached up to caress his cheek and felt the rough stubble of midnight beard beneath her fingertips. He simply took her breath away.

He stroked his hands leisurely down her body, taking the time to explore her the way he hadn’t done before in their earlier rush to possess each other. Her flesh prickled with heat everywhere he touched, and a sweet ache for him blossomed anew between her thighs.

As if knowing exactly how her body was responding, he caressed between her legs and smiled when she whimpered.

“You like being touched here.” It was not a question.

“Oh yes.” With a sigh, she relaxed beneath his hand.

“Good,” he murmured, then brushed his lips so lightly over hers that it was barely a kiss at all. “Because I like touching you.”

Closing her eyes, she surrendered to the delicious slide of his hand between her thighs. All her senses focused right there at his fingertips and at the heat radiating out from them as they gently delved into her soft folds, making her tingle and throb in anticipation with each deepening stroke. Oh, his touch was simply heavenly!

Except…little ridges snagged against her fingertips as she ran her hands over his bare back. She’d not noticed them before, having been too distracted by what else he’d been doing to her each time they were naked together. Now that they had time to explore each other, though, her curiosity got the better of her.

“Nate?”

“Hmm?”

“How did you get these scars?” She trailed her hand over his shoulder blade. When she sewed up his arm, he said he’d experienced worse… “Were you hurt in battle?”

His fingers stilled against her. Slowly, he pulled away and leaned up over her on his good forearm to stare down at her.

“I told you,” he reminded her quietly. The length of his body still pressed against hers, but suddenly, he felt miles away. “The baby came early.”

“What does that have to do with your back?”

His expression remained stony blank, and the hazel depths of his eyes turned distant. “I was on the Peninsula when I received word that Sarah was having problems. I didn’t have leave to return to England, but I went anyway.”

Her brow furrowed. “I don’t understand.”

“I deserted.”

Icy realization sank through her. If he deserted, then… No, that couldn’t be—

“You were flogged?” she whispered, horrified. The words barely formed a sound on her stunned lips.

His face remained inscrutable. “Yes. When I returned to the regiment.”

She blinked hard, barely able to breathe beneath the fresh grief that gripped her, yet his handsome face still blurred as tears welled in her eyes. She choked out, “How could they…”

“I deserved it.” His own voice was emotionless. “I deserted my position and left my men. I should have gone in front of a firing squad. The flogging was lenient.”