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“I didn’t see that much,” he replied honestly. “It’s over now, so it is best to try to forget all about it. At some point, the locks on the doors need to be changed.”
“Oh, but we cannot afford that.” Her response was so instinctive that the words were out before she could stop them. She winced while she waited to see what his response would be. It was horrible to have him think she was destitute but, well, she was. There was no other way to put it.
“This is an expense that has to be met, Jess. The house is insecure without proper locks. Don’t put a spare key in the store room now either. Until the money can be found for the new locks, keep the doors locked and use the bolts on all of them. Use one of the side doors to get in and out of the house for now. I will arrange for the lock to be changed if I get the time.”
“How is your search of the guest’s rooms going?” She asked hastily.
She was eager to change the subject. Just thinking about door locks, and people getting into the house while she wasn’t there made her feel horribly vulnerable. Her home didn’t feel all that safe anymore.
Marcus told her what he had Ben and found.
“Can I see them?” she asked. Her face was alive with curiosity.
“Yes, but it will have to be tomorrow. It won’t be long before the lodgers return. I don’t want them to catch us red-handed as it were,” Marcus warned her.
Jess nodded. She was content now that she was back in his arms again, and wished she could stay there and shut the rest of the world out forever. If she didn’t move again for the next several days, she would be a happy person. As it was, she could positively feel Marcus struggling to contain the need to get up and do something.
“Thank you for coming to help me,” she said suddenly. “Oh! The shopping!”
Marcus grinned. “Ben is packing it away for you.”
Jess sat bolt upright in bed. “Ben’s in the house?” she whispered, her eyes wide with horror.
“Yes, but he does know what is going on, Jess. There is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“But – well,” Jess didn’t know what to say to him.
She could hardly remind him that they weren’t married. He could take that as a hint, and that was the last thing she wanted him to think.
“I know a good way of warming you up,” he murmured when he found himself plotting how to spend the next hour with her.
“What are you doing?” she whispered when he began to slide the sheet down.
She tried to grab it when it slid off the tips of her breasts, but he captured her hands and held them above her head.
“Checking to make sure you are warm enough,” Marcus murmured.
Confident that they were going to be left alone, Marcus began to blaze a trail of molten kisses down her slender neck. But he didn’t stop there.
This feeling he had for Jess was something considerably deeper than affection, and far more intense than anything he had ever felt before. It went beyond the raw sensual desire. The desperate need to take, to plunder, to claim, and not allow her to leave until he had taken everything she could offer, and more, was too strong to ignore. Yes, he wanted her – with a desperation that he had yet to vanquish completely. He rather felt that he could spend the rest of his life with her, and it still wouldn’t be enough because this connection he felt toward her encompassed everything. His mind, body, and soul, belonged to her.
Practically all day, every day, she was there in the recesses of his mind. When he was at the lodgings, he was thinking about her, or seeking her out to engage her in conversation. When he was out and about, he often wondered what she was doing and if she was safe. Time dragged until he could see her again.
I love her, he thought.
Before he could consider that more closely, Marcus moaned when Jess scraped her finger nails down his back.
“Jessica,” he growled.
When he looked down, she arched her back, silently pleading for more. Determined to see to her every need, he happily complied.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Jess felt terribly wanton as she rolled over in bed, and stretched languorously. The sheets felt soft against her naked skin and were wonderfully warm. Reaching an arm out, she touched the empty place beside her and frowned.
Earlier, Marcus had revealed a demanding, lustful side of her personality that had heightened the passion to almost desperation. In spite of this rather risqué waywardness, she didn’t regret her wanton demands. Indeed, she revelled in it, and Marcus’ loving reaction to it.
Her body was still thrumming from his sensual demand. It had been intoxicating. Now she felt as though she had a hangover; where everything was cloudy, and it was difficult to think about anything at all. Her mind just wouldn’t function properly, and she suspected it wouldn’t until she knew where he was, and why he had abandoned her.
