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“Then what?”
He wasn’t going to give in and leave her be. And Isabel didn’t have anywhere to escape to. She was just going to have to confess.
Which would just make more of a mess. She couldn’t.
I have to. I can’t hide it forever.
“I’m engaged to a duke, and with that comes money, which means I will be able to look after my mother and not have to worry about anything regarding finances anymore. That was our goal if I was successful in getting a betrothal.” Isabel tried not to shiver at Richard’s touch and fought the urge to lean back into him. “It was what we needed, so we didn’t end up destitute or reliant on the current viscount. But I can’t bring myself to think about him. I care about him, yes, but it feels more like a brotherly affection, which doesn’t feel right.”
Richard was silent for a moment. When he did speak, his voice was guarded.
“You don’t have to love your husband, you know. Marriages that are advantageous to both don’t necessarily have to have love involved.”
“But I feel dishonest if I don’t. And I …” Isabel closed her eyes. “I feel dishonest when I think about someone else.”
That was as close as she could get to admitting it. She felt Richard stiffen behind her.
“What do you mean by that?”
Go on. Tell him. You have to tell him the truth.
Isabel looked at her hands. She wanted to turn around, but she didn’t feel brave enough to do that.
“Each time something happens, instead of wondering what Galliston would think if he was there with me, I think about you. I wonder what you would be thinking at that moment. You’re the first person who comes to mind if I need to know something, and that shouldn’t be happening. I shouldn’t be thinking about you like ... like that.”
“Like what?”
Isabel squeezed her eyes shut even tighter.
“Please, Richard, don’t make me say it. I can’t.”
“Then how about you let me do it?”
Richard turned her around and cupped her jaw. Isabel opened her eyes to see him looking at her, his thumb rubbing across the smudge of mud on her cheek.
“I didn’t give it too much of a thought when I returned because I thought it was just a reaction to seeing you again after so long, but when I saw you for the first time on my return, I felt something I had kept hidden come back again. You were the Isabel I remembered, but you were grown up. Mature. The girl I left behind and forgot to write to. And I regret that. I missed you, and I should have made things clearer before.”
“Made what clearer before?”
Richard gave her a small smile. His other hand ran through her hair, tugging at the pins that were somehow still in place. She gasped as she felt some of the pins fall.
“Richard, my hair!”
“I think I prefer you with your hair down. You look prettier.”
He started running his fingers through her hair, the tips of his fingers massaging her scalp. Isabel fought the urge to moan and lean into him. That felt really good. She wanted him to keep doing it. But she forced herself to keep her eyes open.
“Don’t distract me, Richard. Tell me what you should have made clearer before?”
“In a moment.” Richard drew her closer. “Just give me a moment.”
“Richard …”
Then Richard kissed her, and Isabel forgot what she had been trying to get him to say. This kiss didn’t feel like the others, not as sweet. It felt more intense, more passionate. Fierce, like a rolling tide washing over her. Isabel gripped onto the lapels of his jacket as Richard devoured her lips, sucking her tongue before exploring every part of her mouth. He was so thorough that Isabel felt her head spinning.
She should be pushing him away. And even as she thought that she pulled him closer for more. Richard could make her forget with just one simple kiss.
This kiss is far from simple.
