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Asquith let out a strangled sound. “Would you like to explain what you are doing?”
“I should think that would be obvious.” She half-expected him to react with laughter or a groan, but his expression was serious. Serious and stunned. “I’m undressing you, of course.”
“Of course,” he repeated. “But we... we can’t.”
“We can,” she countered. “You made me a promise.”
“If I promised to ravish you, I believe I would remember.”
She glanced heavenward. “Your promise was not explicit. But what do you think would happen when you spoke of taking off my shift? You intentionally provoked my curiosity. That constitutes an implicit promise.”
“Lenora—”
He was back to groaning her name, was he? “You asked me to marry you. Now I’m demanding you ravish me.”
His throat moved beneath her fingers. “Is a yes to my proposal implicit in your demand?”
“Obviously.”
He lowered his head. “If we advance further,” he cautioned, “there will be no return.”
“I don’t want to go back.” Nor did she want to think too deeply about what they were doing.
If she did, she might get scared again. She might retreat.
Finally, the knot released. She tugged the fabric away from his neck. “Huzzah!”
“The deuce.” His eyes moved, scanning the shadowed corners of the room. “I am not sure I am capable of ravishing you in my stables.”
“Nonsense.” She cast aside his cravat. “But the stables are the perfect place. You love—” She froze. The air charged. “You love your stables,” she finished softly.
Would that he loved her, too.
His proposal of marriage lacked any mention of love. Reliable, wonderful, decent, protective, and even occasionally exasperating—Asquith was all these things. The question lingered: was he capable of loving her as profoundly as she loved him? She searched his unreadable gaze.
One day, perhaps.
She rested her hands against his chest. His muscles tightened and then relaxed as he breathed. She matched her breath to his deep, steady inhalations. She couldn’t imagine being anywhere else or with anyone else.
Love would come.
Love must come... in time.
She’d be safe. He’d be happy.
His hands enveloped hers, holding them in place. He drew out his sigh, a sound of frustration that wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
“As much as I want you, we have the whole of our lives.”
The whole of their lives. The simple sentence filled her with awe.
“I am not going to dishonor—”
She placed her hand against his lips. “No, you aren’t going to dishonor me. You would never dishonor me.” She grasped his lapels. “Besides,” she smiled, “you don’t have to do anything at all. Just let me do the seducing.”
“Oh, no.” He stopped her attempt to remove his coat. “You’ve already used that trick.”
“And I intend to use that trick again, and again, and ag—”
