Page 112 of Every Rake Has A Silver Lining

“I bathed. Just for you.” When he grinned, she no longer found it ridiculous.

However, his comment reminded her of his reason for coming to her room. She toyed with the lapel of his banyan, keeping her gaze focused on his bare chest beneath. “Simon. About tonight.”

“Charlotte, I won’t hold you to that.”

She licked her lips, and his gaze followed the movement. “I want you to. Will you kiss me?”

CHAPTER 30

War raged inside Simon. Every part of him wanted Charlotte, even—he reluctantly admitted—his heart. But the trauma she’d confessed, the terror she’d experienced, cautioned him.

He didn’t want their first time to be associated with something she dreaded.

“Charlotte,” he said, stroking her face. “Perhaps now is not the best time.”

She pulled away from him, the warmth in her eyes vanishing. “Because of what I told you?” The harsh, defensive edge to her voice delivered a warning.

Rather than rushing in headfirst to defend or explain himself, he paused and considered how she might have interpreted his suggestion.

“Well?” Her eyes snapped with fire.

Oh, he had definitely offended her. What had she worried about before she recounted her tale? Oh, yes. That he would think her ridiculous and laugh.

“I’m trying to say this and not muck it up further than I have.”

Her whole body stiffened before him. “How hard is it to say you don’t want me? Or is it that you don’t wish to be with a coward?”

“A coward?! The same woman who faced a drunken Albie to defend a child? Who resisted the pressure from an uncaring brother to marry a man who would abuse her, risking her reputation? Who has delivered setdown after setdown to me?” He shook his head. “Coward is the last word I would use to describe you, Lady Charlotte Beckham.”

He took her hands in his. “Perhaps I’m the coward, because I can’t bear the idea of having you think of frightening storms each time I touch you.”

She blinked rapidly. “What?”

“I want you to associate our coupling with happy thoughts. And, to be clear, I’ve never wanted a woman more than I want you at this moment.” The truth of that statement spread through his veins like warm honey—comforting and sweet. Even the desire he had for Joy, both of them in the blush of youth, paled in comparison to what he felt for Charlotte. However, the partial truth was all he was willing to share. He withheld his admission of love. She would no doubt accuse him of being insincere and manipulative.

“Nothing would make me happier than for this infernal storm to be over,” she said, her head tilted, as if listening.

He held his breath and waited.

No flashes of lightning or crashes of thunder broke the connection between them.

She gifted him with a broad smile, displaying her dimple. “Which I believe it is.” Giving his banyan a little tug, she said, “And I’m still waiting for that kiss.”

His lips tingled just anticipating it, and he licked them as she had done earlier. “Never let it be said I kept a lady waiting.”

A gentle brush at first, the kiss consumed him. He nipped at her mouth, his teeth grazing her full bottom lip.Sweet. Better than trifle. Better than anything.

When she ran her fingers through his hair, the spark of desire she ignited set him ablaze. Encouraged, he traced the seam of her lips with his tongue, more than pleased when she opened to him.

Tentatively at first, he darted his tongue inside, then grew bolder when she met him stroke for stroke. He groaned and broke the kiss.Slower. He played with a lock of her hair. “You kept it down.”

She smiled, reminding him to give attention to her dimple. “I remembered you said you liked it down.”

“I do, as well as this.” He kissed her cheek that held her dimple, then nuzzled her neck. “You smell so good. Citrusy, like Drake’s orangery.” He breathed deeper. “Lemon and something else. Vanilla?”

“Yes.” The richness of her alto, even more throaty and seductive than usual, rasped against his skin. Eyes glazed with desire studied him, the pupils so large as to make her already dark eyes appear black.

He cupped her cheek, cradling it in his hand like priceless crystal, then kissed her lips again, more insistently. With his other arm snaked around her waist, he pulled her closer.

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