Page 55 of Temptations of a Wallflower
“It’s not what I want at all,” he gritted. “I can’t be yourfriend,Sarah.”
“Ah.” Disappointment rocked through her, scooping her out and leaving her hollow. The burn of unshed tears ached behind her eyes. The polite thing to do was offer her hand to shake, and then part company with him as civilly as possible. But she didn’t have much in her to be polite. She wanted to run far away to some dark cavern, where she could weep and howl and lick her wounds. Possibly never to emerge.
He took two long steps and stood in front of her, taking her hands in his. A faint tremor shook him, and he was a burning coal beneath her touch. She stared at their joined hands.
“What I want,” he said, his voice deep and low, “is to be your husband.”
Her gaze flew up to meet his. “You . . .” But she couldn’t finish the sentence. Emotion and disbelief clogged her throat.
“Sarah,” he said urgently, the world in his eyes, “if you meant what you said, if you’ll have me . . . I want to marry you. I need you as my wife.”
He continued, “I care for you, Sarah.” He was bright and serious, and impossibly beautiful as he said these words, lit from within. “I hope you’ll come to feel for me even a tenth of what I feel for you.”
“There’s no need to wait for that,” she declared. Emotion overwhelmed her, carrying her off in a tide of sensation. “Because I care for you, too, Jeremy. Very much.”
They met for a kiss.
She clung to him. Her hands gripped his biceps, and her head tipped back to allow him full access to her lips, her mouth, her entire self. He kissed her hotly, hungrily. A claiming. His hands pressed on the low curve of her back, holding her close, as close as possible. She was lost in him. In the need they created together.
She hadn’t known that a second kiss could be better than the first. Yet it was. Because they knew each other now, and heat rose up, instant and assertive, the moment their lips met. That same heat built and built with each stroke of his tongue, each delving and taste.
An insistent need built up within her, centering lowly in her belly and climbing higher, higher. Into her breasts, into her whole body.
She would turn to ashes in an instant, and everything she’d known and felt before this moment had been a pale shadow of experience. But with his hands, his lips, his body, he communicated to her all the need in his heart. All the wicked, wonderful things he wanted to do with her. She had only to say the word, and it would be hers. Everything would be hers.
He broke the kiss with a gasp. “That is a yes.”
“It is a yes,” she agreed. “If we tell my parents before we wed, they’ll try to stop it.”
Jeremy’s lips tightened. “Your father won’t be pleased.”
“No,” she answered candidly. “Is that troubling?”
The look in his eye firmed with resolve. “Not for myself. But I won’t have him hurt you.”
“I can’t be hurt.” She smiled, replete. “I have you.”
“The sentiment is appreciated.” He cupped her facebetween his big, warm hands. “But romanticism has to face certain cold realities.”
“Whatever my father does or says cannot matter,” she answered. “All that counts is what we feel for each other. And that isn’t simply romanticism speaking. It is the unshakable truth.”
Jeremy smiled at her, warmth in his eyes. She hoped her own showed confidence and assurance. Because she truly did not know how her father would respond to his only daughter marrying so far beneath her. Winning his approval would be a challenge. One that she wasn’t certain she could overcome.
She didn’t know, either, if the Lady of Dubious Quality could continue to exist when Sarah became Jeremy’s wife. Sarah needed her. She needed Jeremy, too.
They were going to have to make a leap together, hand in hand. But where they landed . . . no one could know.
Chapter 16
“What of you, my lady heart?” he asked me. “I know so little of you.”
“You know all of me,” I answered.
“That is but one part of who you are,” he pressed. “Give me all your treasures.”
I hesitated. My life was one marked by privilege and luxury rather than the want and rootlessness that were the hallmarks of his own existence. We were creatures from two very different worlds . . .
The Highwayman’s Seduction
