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sp; “I am not going to hurt you,” Marcus assured her. “I just see things a bit more than other people do, that’s all.”
“Like what?”
“Like the brace of pheasants hanging in the scullery, that Lloyd is accusing Ben of stealing. Then there is the side of beef on the hearth that you cannot afford to buy.”
Marcus watched her as he spoke and knew she was aware that they were stolen. He was a little annoyed for getting so ensnared by her beauty that he didn’t believe she would be amenable to crime. But the truth was there, on her face. In the lingering guilt that flickered in the shadows of her evasive gaze.
“I have told him to stop several times,” Jess admitted.
She could see no reason to lie to him. Not after he had just protected her. The least she could do was be honest with him.
“I don’t know where he has had the beef from. He won’t tell me and, to be honest, I don’t want to know. I have told him to stop bringing that here too, but he just won’t listen to me. He thinks he is helping.”
“It will be alright,” Marcus whispered. “I could have a word with him, but I am a stranger. He will undoubtedly just tell me that I am poking my nose in.”
Thankfully, she had stopped crying. Marcus tipped her chin up until she looked at him.
“Which is why you must tell your brother about what Lloyd has done to you. He needs to understand the severity of what you are likely to be faced with if Lloyd catches him.”
“It is horrible,” Jessica whispered.
She shuddered to think what they would do with her when they realised the engagement was fake, and quickly closed the fear out.
Marcus had very little experience of comforting distressed women and was at a loss to know what to say or do now. Without telling her who he truly was, and who his connections in the War Office were, there was not much he could say to reassure her.
“Well, as far as everybody is concerned now, I am your fiancé. That should hopefully be enough to keep Lloyd away. We can work on Ben. Assuming he doesn’t get caught, and indeed stops his thieving, there is no reason for Lloyd to come anywhere near here.”
He kissed the back of her hand but didn’t release it.
“Why are you doing this?” Jessica asked. “Thank you, by the way, but why are you helping me like this?”
“I am susceptible to a damsel in distress,” he teased.
Jessica smiled up at him but seeing his eyes so full of shadows made her worry. She suspected there was an entirely unseen side to Marcus she had yet to learn about and an ulterior motive behind his willingness to help that had nothing to do with any attraction to her.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“You are welcome,” he murmured.
Slowly, so he didn’t worry her, he lowered his head. This time, when his lips settled over hers, they didn’t immediately leave again. Instead, they settled as though they were meant to be there. His mouth captured her soft sigh of surrender. His kiss increased in pressure and demanded her total compliance in the nicest of ways.
She clung to him and copied his movements. It was raw, it was honest, it made her senses swim. She couldn’t stop it. The more he kissed her, the more she wanted. She just couldn’t deny herself this one moment in time where she felt special. It was wonderful. Far more than she had ever expected to experience, especially when he moaned low in his throat and tugged her closer. She went willingly and stood so close to him that her breasts pressed wantonly against the solid muscles of his chest.
Marcus moaned again when the needs of his flesh became unbearable. He knew he should stop, especially when he began to judge the distance to the chaise. She was untried; vulnerable, and needed protection. Instead, he was positively marauding her senses. Tearing his lips away from hers, he slid random nipping kisses down the long column of her throat. In spite of his best intentions, he couldn’t stop his hands from searching out every dip and hollow of her feminine curves.
“Jess,” he murmured. “We need to stop.”
Jess gasped. A shiver swept through her when his palm slid down her side and came to rest on her hip. When it slid back up again and cupped the delicate curve of her breast, she wantonly cupped the back of his head and drew him back to her.
Marcus couldn’t deny either of them. He wanted her. He had from the first moment he saw her. Now, after just a few short days, the need had become irresistible. He had work to do, letters to write, people to follow, a colleague to meet. He shouldn’t be taking time out like this to indulge in needs of the flesh.
But he was because he couldn’t tear himself away from her.
“God help me,” he whispered when he eventually found the strength to lift his head.
He took one look at the raw need on her face and knew he was lost. Sweeping her high into his arms, he lay her down on the chaise in the sitting room and followed her down.
