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“You enjoyed your bath, Cass?”
She smiled at the painful calm in his voice. To his discomfiture, his body leaped in response.
“The water is still warm, Edward. Would you like me to scrub your back?”
“Cassie, for God’s sake.”
Under his horrified gaze, she lowered her face and began to sob into her hands.
His stocking feet made no sound on the oak floor. He gently pulled her against him, though her hands still covered her face. “Please don’t cry, my love.” He nuzzled his cheek against her silky hair, savoring its sw
eet sandalwood scent. He felt her stiff and unyielding against him and set about to soothe her, and himself, with low, soft words of reassurance.
“No one will ever hurt you again, Cass. I swear it to you. You are safe now, and this time I shall protect you.”
Cassie lowered her hands and mutely raised her face. There was no one to protect her from now. You cannot protect me from myself, Edward.
“You even cry beautifully,” he said as he touched a fingertip to her cheek and gently brushed away her tears.
“I am sorry, Edward. It is not my habit to be a weeping woman.” Her hands stole up his arms and her fingers locked about his neck. “Please stay with me tonight.”
He looked down into her clear blue eyes and knew himself to be lost. “If you are certain it is what you want, Cassie.”
It must be what I want.
“Yes.”
“Then we shall be ahead of the parson by a few days.” He scooped her up into his arms and laid her gently in the center of his bed. Cassie sank deep down into the trough she created in the soft featherdown mattress.
She laughed. “Oh dear, I fear that we shall be sleeping like two cards in a deck.”
Edward gave her only a slight answering grin. He was pulling off his clothes with a speed that would have surprised his batman, Grumman.
Cassie watched him. He was of slighter build than the earl, his body wiry and taut from his years of campaigning. She turned her eyes away from his erect organ. Instead of desire, she felt a surge of panic. For an instant, he was a stranger to her, frightening and unknown. She drew a deep steadying breath. Don’t be a fool, Cassie. Your life is as it was supposed to have been. You are with Edward. It is he who will be your husband. She fastened her eyes upon his face and held out her arms to him.
“Let me help you off with that wrapper, Cass.”
She closed her eyes tightly for a moment, and jerked open the sash. She felt Edward’s hands pulling the soft material from her body. She heard his sharp intake of breath.
“God, you are so beautiful.”
“You have already seen me unclothed. Do you not remember, Edward?”
“Yes,” he said slowly, easing himself down beside her. “But I tried to forget, Cass.” Had he continued to think of her as he had those long months ago, he thought, he would have gone mad. He looked at her breasts and swallowed convulsively. Just the thought of the Earl of Clare touching her, forcing her, made his belly cramp.
He looked down at her, his eyes wintry. He felt her fingers tentatively touch his shoulders, and slowly, he lowered his mouth to hers.
Although she was not a virgin, he knew he should treat her as gently as he had that long ago afternoon in the cave. He pressed his mouth softly against hers, until he felt her part her lips to him. As his hands stroked over her, he thought of the man who had taken her innocence, the man who had caressed her body as he was now doing. Although he did not wish it, he thought again of the months of pain, the nights of empty bitterness, at the cruelty of fate. He felt consumed again by the wrenching loneliness. She had left him, had made life itself seem meaningless to him. He thrust his tongue into her mouth, and rolled on top of her, feeling the soft giving of her beneath him.
Cassie froze, numbed with confusion. Whenever she had thought of this moment with Edward, she had remembered only his tenderness, his gentleness. She felt her body tense in protest. You love me, she wanted to tell him. Why are you doing this to me? He released her mouth and his lips closed over her breast. She heard his breathing, ragged and deep, and knew that he wanted her, wanted her so badly that what she felt no longer mattered to him. She prayed silently to feel something, but an instant of desire. She tangled her fingers in his curling chestnut hair, and forced her hands to stroke down his back.
“Oh God, Cass.” He reared over her and pushed her thighs apart. She felt herself stiffen as his member touched her. But I am not ready for you, she wanted to yell at him. She swallowed a cry in her throat as he thrust into her unwilling flesh.
Cassie moaned softly, for his every movement hurt her. But her muted cry broke Edward’s control. He drove into her wildly until his body tensed uncontrollably above her. He felt as if he were breaking apart, each convulsive spasm pulling him farther out of himself, away from all reason. Jagged groans tore from his mouth. Suddenly there was a great easing within him and he fell forward, resting his cheek next to her face on the pillow.
His release erased the violent emotion that had consumed him. He felt Cassie lying motionless beneath him.
“I am sorry, Edward.”
