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Mari smiled at him indulgently. “All right then. Ribs.” She poked him in the ribs. “We all have ribs.”
She wasn’t understanding him. He needed to slow down.
“See here, and here.” Edgar pointed out the ribs that ran up the spherical shell-like lines of longitude. “We just need to add ribbing to the engine boiler to increase its strength. It’s so simple! Why didn’t I think of it before?”
He kissed her on the lips and jumped out of bed. He must return to London while the idea was still fresh in his mind.
“This is what I’ve been searching for. I’ll take the sea urchin to Grafton. We’ll model the boiler on it.” As he spoke he ran around the room, shrugging into his shirt and coat and flinging his cravat over his neck.
“Um... Edgar. Aren’t you forgetting something?” asked Mari.
Edgar looked down at his bare legs.
Mari burst out laughing.
“I think Grafton would prefer it if you wore trousers.” Her gaze flicked across his thighs. A slow grin spread across her face. “Though I wouldn’t mind if you decided to go bare.”
“Oh you like the trouser-less look, do you?” He walked to the bed and knelt down, wrapping his arms around her. “Impudent minx.” He kissed his way from her neck to her lips, reveling in the way she returned his kiss so enthusiastically.
“Mari,” he groaned, stroking his cheek. “I don’t want to leave you.”
Her hair was even more tumbled now, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes bright with desire.
“Go.” She gave his chest a little push. “Go and build your engine. We’ll be home before you know it.”
Home. It was truly a home now with Mari and the children living there. He gave her one last lingering kiss and reluctantly broke away.
First, find his trousers. Second, build his engine. And third... kisses. Definitely more kisses.
This wasn’t quite how Mari had pictured the morning progressing.
Edgar was throwing on his clothing, covering up all those sleek muscles. All she wanted to do was rip his clothes off and tumble him back into bed.
He’d had some sort of engineering breakthrough and she was glad for him. But she’d thought they might share a sleepy morning tumble. And afterward, as they lay satiated, she’d planned to tell him the truth about how she’d come to work in his home.
Now he was dressed and ready to leave, his face all angles and excitement in the new morning light.
He tilted her chin up and kissed her lips. She closed her eyes, remembering what his firm, demanding lips had done to her last night.
“I’m leaving now, Mari. But we definitely need to talk. About last night. About... everything.”
His hand smoothed over her hair. “I want to know absolutely everything about you. I’ll need the name of your uncle, or whomever you were living with in Derbyshire.”
Mari froze. Did that mean what she thought it meant? Was he planning to... propose?
Of coursehe was. He was an honorable man, remember?
Oh God. It was all too complicated now. She’d leapt into the fire so willingly.
“Say something, Mari.”
“Good-bye, Edgar,” she said stiffly. What else could she say? Her mind was reeling.
Reality intruding so quickly, it felt like quicksand sucking her down into a darkness of her own creation.
Duke. Governess. Not even a superior governess.
She’d wanted this pleasure in his arms, but she hadn’t thought it all the way through.
