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He painted, the sounds in the room hushed, a sense of waiting settling over the air, something unknown yet potent and irresistible and seductive.
“How long?”
Nicholas’s fingers paused on the upward stroke of the brush. “How long what?”
“When you kissed me in the gardens,” she said raggedly. “You said, you had been wanting to do that for the longest time. How long?”
Nicholas stared at her, keenly aware of the thumping of his heart. He really did not like how dispossessed he felt around this lady. A quick glance at the clock on the mantel revealed he had been painting for almost two hours. Nicholas lowered the paintbrush and rubbed a knot in his shoulder, easing the ache. “Is the answer to that question important?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I have thought about you wanting to kiss me long before we spoke…every minute of the day for the last four days.”
CHAPTER8
Good heavens, I’ve said it.
Cressida waited for Nicholas’s reaction, her heart shivering inside her chest. She sat up, tugging a blanket from beside the chaise, and wrapped it about her body, covering her nudity. Those beautiful blue eyes flickered over her in a thorough appraisal. Today he wore no coat or cravat, just a white linen shirt and dark trousers that stretched over his thigh muscles. His hair needed trimming, and a dark stubble covered his jaw. Nicholas Fairbanks wore a rakish air about him, and Cressida should be vexed that she was so attracted to him. It felt disastrous, yet she could not help wanting to know more about this gentleman.
Her question lingered in the air between them, and she dared him to answer with her eyes.How long have you been thinking about kissing me?
His mouth quirked. “I have thought about you every day since as well, Cressida.”
“Is that usual for you?”
Warmth gleamed in his gaze. “No. Very unusual, I admit. Perhaps even a bit bewildering and I am not a man easily bewildered.”
She liked the sound of that.
“I wondered what it would be like to kiss you the first time I saw you laugh. You were riding in Hyde Park, and a sharp gust of wind tugged a pretty, green bonnet from your head. You raced after it as it danced in the wind, your laugh trailing behind you. I followed at a discreet distance, thinking I had never heard a more delightful sound.” He cleared his throat. “You caught it, and I had the thought right at that moment that I would give anything to kiss you.”
Her heart ached, and it physically hurt with the control it took to not dash herself into his arms and kiss him. Cressida stood, holding the blanket tightly around her, a sudden sense of disbelief enveloping her. She had sat before this man, completely naked for the past two hours. And they were not married. Something wild and free bubbled inside her belly and erupted as laughter.
“Ah, the lady is just realizing she had been naked before me.”
She held a hand over her mouth to stem the mirth. “Are my thoughts so obvious?”
“Your eyes are very expressive.”
“And what are they telling you now?” she asked pertly.
Nicholas drifted closer, taking with him a most rousing, masculine scent. “That you would not mind if I claimed my reward.”
Cressida managed not to step back, but it took tremendous effort. She was so aware of him, so very tempted to lean into his strength and yield to the temptation in his gaze. “You wish to kiss me,” she whispered, an answering ache rising inside her.
A small smile hitched at the corner of his mouth. “Yes.”
“We did agree I would reward your efforts with kisses.”
He arched a brow. “Is that the only reason you would kiss me, hmm?”
“No,” she said with honesty. “I am drawn to you; I admit it.”
He lifted a hand and cupped her cheek, his thumb feathering over her lips. That whisper of a caress sent her belly into a hot swirl.
“I am glad that you do,” he said a bit unevenly. “Because I have never wanted to kiss a woman as much as I do you.”
