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It had become their habit to stop in the dining room and have a drink before he departed for the night for his own home.
“Are you happy here, Amelia?” Driscoll asked as he placed a glass of sherry in front of her. He took the seat across from her and sipped his brandy.
“Yes.” She frowned. “Why do you ask?”
“Just ensuring all is well. You are a new employee, and we like to make sure none of the staff members have issues that we can help solve.”
An alarm went off in her head. Was he thinking of firing her? Was he not happy with her?
“Is something wrong?” Her voice came out barely a whisper.
“Not at all,” he responded. A bit too fast for her liking.
Perhaps it was time to address the one thing that did trouble her. “I still believe I should move my belongings downstairs with the other employees. I’m afraid talk will begin, if it hasn’t already, about me living up here.”
Anger flashed in his eyes. Unusual for Driscoll, always the calm and placid one compared to his edgy brother. “What sort of talk? By whom?”
She took a sip of the sweet sherry, avoiding a direct answer. “I don’t want people to think that we are. . .”
His countenance softened and he leaned forward to run his finger down her soft cheek. “That we are what?”
“Um, you know.” She could feel the heat rise in her face.
He stood and moved around the table, taking the seat next to her. He pulled her
to him, wrapping his arms around her middle, then tickling the tender skin under her ear. “No. I don’t know. Tell me.”
His breath was brandy-scented and warm, moist. She shivered and he placed soft kisses where his lips were. “That we are lovers?”
Amelia sucked in a breath. “Yes.” Good lord, the way he said it had her wanting to drag him to her bedroom, remove all their clothes and find out just what happens when her body feels this sense of desperate need.
His teeth nipped at her earlobe. “Do you want to be?”
There went her idea that he was too much of a gentleman to ask such a thing.
He leaned back and regarded her. “Before you answer, please know that I have no intention of having an affair with you.”
Her spirits dropped. Apparently, any attraction between the two of them was only in her imagination.
She stood. “Well, I am glad to hear that.” Driscoll tugged at her hand as she began to walk away. “Wait.”
She shook him off and made it as far as the threshold when he caught up to her. He linked their fingers together and stayed with her until she reached her bedroom door. “Good night, Mr. Rose.”
The cad actually laughed. “Mr. Rose?” His long, slim fingers tangled in her hair, crushing the curls in his hand. “If we get that far, Miss Pence, far enough that we are sharing a bed, it would be with a permanent arrangement.”
Before she could make sense out of what he said, he pulled her in for a kiss that had her knees buckling. He wrapped his arm around her waist and dragged her against his hard body. She gripped his shoulders as he swept into her mouth, tasting, nibbling, teasing.
Pulling back, he rested his forehead against hers, the air between them heavy with panting. “No privacy here.” He reached for the latch and opened the door, drawing her inside.
He spun her around. She landed in his arms and he took possession of her mouth, her body—her very soul. Slowly his hand worked its way up between them to cover her breast. He rubbed his thumb over the nipple, bringing a low, soft moan from deep inside her.
“I want to pleasure you.” He kissed her cheeks, eyelids, chin. “To hear you moan my name as you break apart in my arms.” He scooped her up and carried her to her bed, laying her down, then after toeing off his boots, climbed in to stretch out alongside her. He cupped her chin, stroking her cheek with his warm fingers. “I promise I will not take your virginity. Not yet. But I want to give you a taste of what we can share together.”
Still reeling from what had happened so far, she merely nodded, the blood pounding in her head.
Once again, he plundered her mouth as his hand worked its way under her skirts, up her leg, past her calf, above the ribbons holding up her stockings. She inhaled deeply when his fingers reached the soft curls at the juncture of her thighs. His thumb circled a part of her there that came alive.
She gasped. “Oh, my. That feels so good.”
