Page 35 of The Tantalizing of a Scandalous Rake

The thought of him leaving scared her more. Could she really admit such a thing and put her heart on the line? Would he stay if she said as much?

“I see your mind working,” he said, a soft smile gracing his lips. “What is it, Rosie?”

“I just…I wanted to thank you for everything you have done. The brewery is a good idea,” she admitted. She winced inwardly at how insipid it sounded.

“I think it shall prove successful and we should see quite the increase in profits.”

“We?”

His smile turned lopsided, almost sheepish. “That is…if you shall have me?”

“Have you?”

Adam cupped her chin and lifted her face. His fingers were warm and slightly rough on her skin—evidence of the hard labor he had partaken in since his arrival here. Hard labor he had done for her, no one else.

“Ah, Rosie, you might be blessed with the sort of beauty that enchants every man from here to Christendom but you were not blessed with the understanding of them.”

“Adam?”

“Do you not see I am trying to prove myself to you, you damned woman?” He shook his head. “Do you not see that I love you?”

“Love me?” she echoed as her heart gave a little bounce in her chest.

“Yes. It is quite a shock to me too.” He shrugged. “Actually, perhaps it is not. I think I knew it the moment you drank that entire ale.”

“You were arrogant, and you needed putting in your place.”

“Damn it, Rosie, you make it hard for a man to confess his love.”

“But what about…” She gestured low. A man like Adam would want a child, a family, surely? “I am not enough for you.”

He inched closer and eased a hand around her waist to draw her close, his palm warm upon her back. He kept her face cupped as he slowly dropped a gentle kiss to her mouth. She felt the love there, the tenderness, then the inevitable flare of desire.

“You cannot know for sure, Rosie.”

“My courses are erratic. They always have been. I have been told that it is likely I cannot conceive.”

“I want you. Regardless.”

She met his gaze, finding nothing but sincerity.

Could it be true? He loved her? He wanted a life with her. But how could they even manage such a thing? He was a member of the nobility for goodness sakes.

When he pressed the kiss deeper, she forgot her protests. Need fluttered low in her belly as he moved into her and drew her as close as humanly possible. His arousal pressed against her and she released a moan. He bundled her tight to him and his tongue swept into her mouth.

She vaguely heard the creak of a door open but could not bring herself to care if Harriet discovered them like this. She needed Adam’s touch, his kiss, needed his love. She’d been alone for so long and relying on him even for the merest moment filled her with such comfort and relief.

How they would move forward, she still could not fathom but nor did she care at present.

He eased her back against the table and she hooked a leg around his hips. A hand to her thigh, he flattened himself against her and moved his lips from her mouth to the curve of her jaw, sending tremors down her spine. She pressed her fingers into his hair and closed her eyes.

“Lord, Rosie, you have no idea what you do to me.”

She had every idea. It was the same as what he did to her—sending her to the edge of madness and beyond. It had to be madness because what sort of a world was it when a lord loved an innkeeper?

Rosie opened her eyes briefly and caught movement behind him. She scarcely had the time to press him back from her before the man lunged and tore Adam from her grasp.

Chapter Thirteen

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