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aited, terrified of the heat already unfurling in her belly.
“I wasn’t going to come here tonight, but I could not rest after receiving your reply. I think we need to discuss what is between us.”
“There is nothing between us, my lord. A kiss does not constitute an obligation.”
He smiled wryly. “No, it does not. But I won’t deny my desire for you, Sabrina. Why you choose to deny yours for me I cannot understand. It isn’t as if I’ve asked you to have an affaire—I approached you honorably and offered suit. I have not changed my mind.”
“I cannot accept,” she managed.
“Why?”
“Because…” Her parched tongue would not form the words. Every fevered dream she’d had this past week was sitting right here in front of her, living and breathing. In her room. He wore his shirtsleeves with the neck open, and she could see his throat as it worked when he spoke. Her fingers longed to trace the line of it, to feel his voice vibrating beneath them.
Sweet heaven help me…
“Why?” he again demanded. “Why won’t you consider me?”
“Because you’re not the right man!” There, I said it.
One brow rose. “And might I inquire as to whom you think that man might be?”
She answered him with stubborn silence.
“Who, Sabrina?”
“I don’t know—but it isn’t you!” She saw him flinch, and shame gnawed at her. “I’m sorry!” she wailed. “I just…” She took a deep, steadying breath. Perhaps if he knew the truth, he would have mercy and leave her alone. “It was like this between my parents, and my mother was miserable because of it. I cannot endure what she suffered. Please understand.”
“We are not our parents.”
“No, but I’m not so foolish as to think history cannot repeat itself. I want a marriage that does not include this sort of emotional upheaval.”
“I can assure y—”
“No!” she yelped, jumping up to put her chair between them as he rose. “And you swore you wouldn’t touch me and that you’d leave me alone once you said your piece. Well, now you’ve spoken. Please go. Now. Before something terrible happens.”
“And by terrible, I suppose you mean my making love to you?”
Sabrina looked down to where her toes curled into the rug. Heat suffused her at his bold words. Her reactions to him were both humiliating and utterly debilitating. He had to leave. Immediately.
Her head snapped up, alarm filling her as Montgomery slowly advanced toward her. She took a hasty step back.
“I swore not to lay a hand on you, and I shan’t,” he said. “I never break my word, Sabrina.”
Even so, the look in his eyes made her take another step back. Panic fluttered in her stomach as her backside bumped into something behind her. Fumbling behind her, she searched for the edge of the obstacle, not daring to take her eyes off him.
“I promised I’d leave you alone for the remainder of the night when I was done,” he continued.
“Yes, you did—now leave!”
“Ah, but I’m not finished, Sabrina.”
Moving with astonishing swiftness for so large a man, he trapped her in the corner between the wardrobe and the wall, bracing his hands on either side of her, blocking her escape.
She prepared to scream. But instead of kissing her as she’d anticipated, he merely stared down at her. The heat of his nearness twisted her insides. What he was waiting for?
She watched as he slowly clasped his hands behind his back.
The scream died in her throat, lost along with the breath that rushed from her lungs, as he leaned in to trace the delicate line of her jaw with a feather brushing of his lips.
