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She smiled. She really liked that idea.
All he could think about was lying with her on the settee and pulling her into his arms, and maybe even falling asleep with her head on his chest. His trousers were growing unbearably tight at the thought of it.
“I could undress you slowly and make love to you.” He choked out the last, nearly overcome by the emotion. Her smile faltered and turned into an expression he’d never seen on her face before. It was unadulterated lust. And she liked the idea, if the flush creeping up her chest and neck was any indication. But that could also be the exertion of the walk.
“I like that idea best,” she said, and she turned around and fell into step beside him. She was quiet as they crossed the hills and dales, and his feet were aching by the time they reached the hunting lodge, but it was worth it.
“You remember this place?” he asked.
“Of course,” she chirped. It had been a long time since they’d been there. Too long.
“I want to talk about the future,” he said as they crossed the threshold, but she held a finger to her lips and didn’t let him utter what he was thinking.
“Not today,” she warned.
“Today, Cece,” he began to argue.
She slammed her hand against the doorjamb hard enough to make him jump. “Not today!” she cried. “Today isn’t for regrets.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Just let me live. For today. Please,” she said.
“All right,” he agreed. And then he reached for her.
Thirteen
Cecelia fell into his arms and let him pull her even closer as soon as the door closed behind her. She needed this. She needed one day, one hour, one minute she could call her own. Her heart didn’t have many desires. Not anymore. But she wanted this. She wanted him. And she would have him this day.
His mouth touched hers, his hands bracketing her face as he licked gently across her lips. She didn’t want gentle. She wanted Marcus. And they’d spent enough time kissing in the past that she knew he was holding back. So she stepped up on her tiptoes, pushed her body closer to his, and slipped her tongue into his mouth.
The velvet rasp of his tongue against hers left her quaking in his arms, but she forced herself to take him farther, to pull him deeper into her. She pulled his tongue between her lips and suckled it gently. He groaned at her need and showed her his own. He put inches between them that she didn’t want, and she protested, moaning low in her throat until she realized that he was unbuttoning his coat and shoving it from his shoulders.
He was still wearing the trappings of the other world, so she began to unfasten his waistcoat and helped him shove it from his shoulders.
When he wore nothing but his shirtsleeves, he put his hands at her waist and kissed her, at once gentle and tender yet raging with the fire of a thousand grates, and she thought she would melt right there in a puddle of lust if he didn’t end the torment soon.
“Marcus,” she protested against his lips.
“Too fast?” he asked, pulling back ever so slightly.
She laughed. It was an uninhibited sound, and she barely recognized it in herself. “Too slow,” she warned instead.
She raised herself on tiptoe, and his hands slid down to cup her bottom. He hoisted her in his firm grip and she threw her legs about his waist. “Let’s move to the bedchamber, shall we?”
“I thought we might just do it on the floor.” She giggled against his neck. He groaned and kissed her again, not even looking where he was going.
She would have been fine with the floor, but she assumed this was supposed to be done in a bed when one did it for the first time, wasn’t it? She laughed at her own silly thoughts.
“I love that sound,” he said, and she could feel his smile against her lips.
“What sound?” she mouthed back at him.
“When you’re happy. It makes me happy.”
“Just today,” she whispered, pulling back and looking into his eyes.
“Just today,” he whispered back, but he smiled at her like he knew a secret she didn’t know.
He lowered her to her feet and stood her beside the bed, and her traitorous legs nearly buckled at the thought of what they were about to do. “Marcus, I’m scared,” she whispered.
But suddenly he was there. He was brushing the hair back from her face and pulling her into him, like they were one person, and the thoughts of moments ago passed. This was Marcus. She had nothing to fear.
