Page 42 of The Earl's Secret
And if she was truly repulsed by him… nor would he speak to Gideon about courting her. It was actually a most certain way to test whether or not she had any affectionate thought or feeling toward him, a test that made his heart hammer as he considered this could be the last time he would come this close to her. “I would then also provide you with the apology that you would deserve. However, if youdorespond…”
Oh, what he could do if she responded in kind.
“Then what?” she asked, her eyes bright and glistening.
“Then we will have to come to an arrangement of sorts.”
“An arrangement?” she echoed him, question in her eyes, but he didn’t want to explain at the moment, had no wish to scare her away. “I’m not sure—”
“May I kiss you?” He interjected, not wanting to speak any further of his thoughts before he ascertained the truth of her affections.
“You may kiss me if—”
He took that as a yes, wrapping one arm around her waist and the blanket cocooning her, pulling her in as his lips crashed against hers, his tongue already stroking the seam of her mouth as he found himself intoxicated by just this first taste of her.
He waited for her to recoil, to push him away, to slap him, but she did none of that. Instead, she opened her lips to him, moaning as she wrapped her hands around his neck. He felt the blanket drop to the floor at their feet, but he didn’t care, didn’t open his eyes as he was too intent on delving his tongue into her mouth, tasting her, owning her, remembering all that she had been to him before and all that he hoped she would be again.
Her soft, pillowy breasts rested against his bare chest, his breeches the solitary piece of fabric that remained between his cock and her center. He shouldn’t do this, he knew that, yet he also couldn’t seem to bring himself to stop the kiss and release her. For if he let her go now, would she ever return to him again?
She was the one, whoever, who deepened the kiss, who began stroking her tongue against his. Her hands ran up and down the skin of his chest, hot and fiery, until they continued lower and grabbed him through his breeches.
He had told himself he was going to wait before approaching her again. He was going to speak to Gideon, to ask to court her, to do all that was proper and right, in the order that he was supposed to follow.
But when she touched him, he recognized what had been missing from his life, what he needed nearly as much as he needed to breathe.
He was an earl. One who had a great deal of responsibility, who had people who depended on him, who needed him to ensure that all was in order for their very living.
But none of that was about him. Any man within his lineage, including his very competent brother, could take his place and all could continue along as it had been.
Cassandra, however, could not be replaced. Cassandra was his, the one thing that made him different, who fit with him more than any other woman ever could. He could not imagine his life without her, didn’t know what he would do if she ever turned him down or if Gideon told him that he wasn’t fit to court her.
She didn’t want him because he was an earl, or because he would be an advantageous match for her. In fact, she had done all in her power to avoid being alone with him. But here, now, she was with him because she wantedhim, and no one else, which she had proven time and again when the opportunity had presented itself to her.
If only he had persisted years ago, had realized how important she was to him and how much he needed her in his life.
So much angst could have been avoided.
Instead, his inaction had served to create her hatred toward him, hatred that he now understood he deserved.
Sometimes, however, love and hatred were not so far apart.
As was evidenced by the fact that she was here, kissing him as though she was part of his soul, that despite the fact they shouldn’t be doing this, not here, not now, they couldn’t keep away from one another, their attraction as volatile as the gun outside.
Devon suddenly felt his lack of “experience” as Cassandra had continued to describe it, was catching up with him. He had no finesse, his charm seemingly vanished as he ran his hands up her body, cupping the underside of her breasts.
“You are irresistible,” he murmured against her lips. “I do not know why or how you do this to me, but—”
He cut short his sentence as he was too focused on the strokes of her fingers over his chest, the flush of her neck and cheeks, the rapidness of her breathing, the size and darkness of her pupils as she leaned back and stared up at him.
“Does that kiss show you how very—” she took a deep breath, “—unaffected I am?”
He saw the smile tease her lips, knew that she was enjoying toying with him. “I would argue that you most certainly responded.”
“Did I now?”
He growled low in his throat, leaning down and wrapping an arm beneath her knees. She let out a squeal as he lifted her in his arms and carried her over to the small bed that was now covered with just a thin blanket. He set her gently down upon it before leaning over her, holding himself up on his fists.
“You are unaffected, are you?” he asked, his nose just inches from hers, her lips reaching up toward him again. He could feel her breath on his cheek as her scent of fresh air and sunshine washed over him. Her lashes lowered, and he couldn’t help but reach one hand up to cup her breast. His thumb teased her nipple which was already straining up toward him, and she gasped as she arched her chest into his touch.
