Page 39 of The Baron Takes a Bet
He smirked, unable to stop as he moved around the room to turn down the oil lamps. He knew she was nervous, andas difficult as it was going to be sleeping next to her all night without touching her, he didn’t have designs to ruin her.
“You know, there’s no reason to be worried. I’ve no intentions of ravishing you tonight.”
Holly’s fingers curled around the top edge of the sheets and pulled them down an inch.
“You don’t?” she asked, and his brow lifted. “I mean, good.”
“Good,” he answered.
Crossing the room, he lifted the sheets and climbed into bed. Gavin thought the space between them was impressively vast for such a small bed, and he wondered if it might decrease through the night.
Holly made a throaty noise, and he paused.
“Yes?” he asked after a moment.
“It’s just… May I ask why?”
“Why what?”
“Why you don’t have designs on… well, that?”
Gavin was glad it was too dark to see her face because he doubted she would have been able to bring herself to ask him if she could see his eyes. He laid his head back on the pillow, staring into the darkness above him.
“Do you wish me to?”
“N-no!”
Low laughter rumbled in his chest.
“No, I suppose you wouldn’t. Which is precisely the reason I don’t have plans to do so.” After silence, he added, “You didn’t think I would force myself on you. Did you?”
He felt the slight lift of her shoulder against the blanket that covered both of them.
“I wasn’t sure.”
He frowned.
“Because we kissed?”
“Oh no,” she said, sitting up slightly. “Not because of that. I just… I don’t know. I thought that since we’re technically married, you’d want to, well, do that. Regardless of my feelings.”
He turned to face her, the light from the fire illuminating only part of her face.
“Your feelings are at the forefront of my mind, and I hope you are aware that anyone who would disregard them would not be worthy of you.” She was quiet, and so he continued. “The truth is, Holly, I would very much like to take you.” Her sharp intake of breath only emboldened him. “But seeing as we’re seeking an annulment, I’m afraid I have to agree with your previous statement. It isn’t wise to touch one another.”
“Oh,” she whispered softly in the darkness, and Gavin had to bite his bottom lip to ignore the pain in his groin.
“Good night, Holly.”
“Good night,” she said before adding, “Gavin.”
Chapter Nine
The mild scentof grass and rain filled Holly’s senses as she was gently pulled out of the darkness of her sleep. The soft, well-worn sheets of the bed she lay in smelled like the outside, and she curled into a ball, rubbing her cheeks against the fabric as she drifted between reality and her dreams.
She inhaled deeply and noted other scents drifting by as well. Lemon and mint. She hadn’t realized how sweetly those scents mingled, and in an attempt to be immersed in them, she moved closer, breathing deeply as her body met another person’s warm, solid frame. A body.
Aman’sbody.
