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“I’m afraid so.”
His expression appeared grave, but there was a twinkle in his eyes and the ghost of a smile at the corner of his mouth. Her heart began to pound.
“You saw me naked?”
“Unintentionally. You walked in just as I’d finished my morning exercises. I didn’t want to alarm you, so I ducked behind a plant. I had no idea you planned to swim. By the time I realized that was your intent, you’d already stripped off.”
Emma was sure her cheeks were crimson, but she forced herself to hold his intense gaze. “And . . . did you like what you saw?”
He nodded. “I did. You’re exquisite, Emma Townsend.”
It was now or never. Time to seize the moment.
“Would you like to see me naked again?”
She held her breath, and time seemed to stop as she waited for his reply.
“I would like that very much.” His voice was hoarse, almost a whisper. “But you’re about to leave on another adventure. You haven’t time for a trip back to Somerset and a dip in my pool.”
Excitement and terror swirled low in her belly. “Perhaps we could . . . try it without a pool?”
With slow deliberation he set down his glass, then took hers and placed it next to his own. Her pulse fluttered as his fingers brushed hers. Kit stepped closer and lifted his hand to cup her cheek. “Are you suggesting we have an affair, Emma?”
“I believe I am.”
He shook his head. “Well, in that case, I’m sorry, but I can’t accept.”
Her spirits plummeted. How could she have misread him so completely? God, she was such a fool! She opened her mouth to try to salvage the situation, but he wrapped his free arm around her waist and drew her forward when she would have pulled away.
“No!” he said gruffly. “Let me finish. Please.”
She stilled.
“I don’t want a brief affair. I want more.”
“But I’m not staying in England,” she said. “I have plans. There’s a whole world out there to discover.”
“I don’t want you to leave.” He frowned and shook his head as if frustrated with his own inarticulacy. “No, that’s not true. Idowant you to leave because that’s what makes you happy, and I’d never stop you doing what you love.”
“But—”
“What I mean is, I don’t want you to leave me behind.” His grey eyes bored into hers as he let out a long, unsteady breath. “I used to like being alone. Preferred it, even. But I’ll be lonely without you. Lonely and thoroughly miserable.”
Emma could hardly believe her ears. Her heart was pounding so fast she was sure he would be able to hear it.
His arm tightened around her waist. “What if I . . . came with you?”
The hesitancy in his voice was as surprising as it was endearing.
She frowned. “You mean as my bodyguard? As a member of my crew?” Elation filled her as the idea took shape. “I don’t see why not. Every expedition needs a good, strong porter to—”
He shook his head. “Not as a porter. At least, not only as that, although I’ll carry your plants whenever you want me to. I was thinking more along the lines of . . . husband.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Husband?”
He smiled at her shock and used his thumb to gently stroke her jaw. “Yes, if you’ll have me. I want to be a part of all your adventures. I want tolive, not merely exist.”
“But . . . the jungles of Brazil are teeming with dangerous creatures and unwelcoming—”
