Page 89 of One Night with an Earl

“Pray, tell me how that is not a good thing?” Oliver asked.

“They can bed a woman and forget her. I am not sure you can. Are you seeing her again?”

“Tonight.”

“So soon?”

Ana already meant much more to him than a simple liaison, but he was not ready to speak of his feelings, even to his friend. Careful to mask his expression from the intuitive duke, Oliver shrugged. “The lady agreed. Who am I to say no?”

…

That night, Oliver held Ana in his arms. “You know much about me, but I know little to nothing about you.”

Ana shifted in his bed to look up at him. “My past is boring. My mother was from the Middle East, and my English father adored her. She died young from illness. My father was truly heartbroken and lost his way after her death. He drank. He gambled. He lost all our money, then he died soon after. I was left with the bills and my younger brother.”

Oliver swept his hand up and down her spine. “I’m sorry for all you have suffered.”

Her thick lashes lowered. “It’s in the past.”

“The past is what makes us who we are. Either we let it destroy us or we grow stronger from it.”

She raised her chin and met his gaze. “You think so?”

“I know you have grown stronger.”

“Thank you. That’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me.” She pressed her lips to his in a sweet kiss that stole his breath. Her lips were soft and seductive and wreaked havoc on his senses. His body grew hot and heavy.

“I know about the evils of gaming,” he said. “My father also loved to wager.”

He caught the flicker in her hazel eyes. Something like her reaction when he’d last mentioned his own family.

“Did his death upset you?” she asked.

“I suppose. He died in a carriage accident. He did not die in the street but was brought home. On his deathbed, I told him I loved him, but he never said the words to me. Silly, but that was more hurtful than his death.”

She stiffened in his arms. “That’s awful. He was wrong. You deserved your father’s love.”

“My grandmother made up for his shortcomings.”

“Is the dowager well?” she asked. “She did not accompany us to the country.”

“Plants and flowers during spring and early summer make her sneeze and cough. She’s aware of Rosedown’s abundance of rosebushes.”

“She would not do well in the conservatory.”

“She might be tempted to have it torn down, but I would never allow it. Other than her aversion to the outdoors during springtime, she is well and claims she is healthy as a horse.”

Ana chuckled and relaxed against him. “A horse, you say?”

“Never tell her I said that.”

“Your secret is safe me with me.”

His fingers trailed a leisurely path down the smooth skin of her arm. “We talked about the past, but what do you want for yourself?”

Her delicate brow flickered. “What do you mean?”

“A future. If you could pick your future, no matter how impossible, what would you pick?”