Page 58 of Tempting the Scoundrel
Nick went still at her question, his lips pressed to her pulse. When he breathed, it was soft and ragged. “No. Only with you.”
Alexandra smiled and slid her hands into his hair. “Good. Then it will always be like this between us.” He froze, his entire body stiffening over hers. “Nick?”
Nick lifted his head. In the candlelight, those eyes were deep pools of black, as unfathomable as the space between stars. He was beautiful like this, high cheekbones stark and shadowed, lips swollen from kissing her. But his expression had grown distant again, and Alexandra felt the precipice between them widening and deepening once more.
“Don’t,” she whispered. “Don’t go.”
He frowned. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You are. You’re leaving me for that place in your mind I can’t reach.” Her fingers trailed down the smooth line of his back until they rested on one of his scars. “Is that where you got these?”
Nick’s jaw clenched, and for a moment Alexandra wondered if he would answer at all. Then, very quietly: “Yes.” He opened his mouth to say something, then seemed to think better of it. “I love you,” he told her. “I love you. Remember that when we return to Stratfield Saye.”
And he pulled her close and held her so tightly that she felt his heart beat against hers.
* * *
“Let me speak to your father,”Thorne said as he and Alexandra waited in the foyer at Roseburn. The butler had raised a disapproving eyebrow when they arrived, but nevertheless went to tell the earl his daughter had returned.
“Why not go to your house?” she asked, biting her lip. “We’ll send for my brother James. He’ll be much more understanding, and he’ll make Father see reason.”
Their train had arrived in London that morning. Every hour that passed during their journey made Thorne wish they had more time. More hours. More minutes. More days. He had fucked her again in their private rail cabin, brought her to climax several times. What a bastard he was, that he didn’t stop her when she’d straddled him. When she’d plucked at the buttons of his trousers and palmed his cock and guided him inside her. These were not borrowed moments, but stolen ones.
Because Thorne was not a good man. There was not a thing in his life that he had ever earned honestly—not even her.
And he was so afraid of losing her.
Thorne flattened his lips. No matter. He owed her the confession. If her father gave it first, he’d gloat over her new husband’s deception, use it to cut her down, break her heart. Fuck, her heart was going to be broken either way, but Thorne intended to tell her that his words last night were the truth.
He loved her.
Thorne cupped her cheek and she leaned into his touch. He marveled at how instinctively she did so, and it pained him to realize she would never do this again. Today, he held her trust.
And today, he was going to lose it.
“Your father needs to hear it from me,” Thorne said. “Will you wait here?”
Alexandra hesitated. “You shouldn’t go in alone.”
The butler returned and said the earl was receiving. Thorne dropped his hand from Alexandra’s cheek. “Don’t worry for me, Alex,” he said softly. He couldn’t bear it. “I don’t deserve it.”
Thorne left her and followed the butler down the hall to the Earl of Kent’s study. Kent stood at the window with a glass of brandy in his hand. At Thorne’s arrival, he dismissed the servant.
“Please tell me you wed the little baggage,” Kent said.
Thorne’s hands tightened into fists. So this was what a deal with the devil was like: to get everything you want and still lose everything. “We’re married, yes.”
“Thank Christ.” Kent went over to his desk and set down the snifter. “When you hadn’t bedded her yet, I was beginning to think you weren’t worth my time and investment.” He glanced over at Thorne. “You did bed her, yes? Her brothers won’t care if she’s my wife’s bastard. My heir isn’t without resources for an annulment.”
Thorne was moments away from slamming his fist into the earl’s face, but he restrained himself. The last thing he needed was to be put in the gaol for assaulting a lord. He didn’t have the kind of power yet to avoid prison.
One day he would.
He’d make sure of it.
“We had a deal,” Thorne said flatly. “And I’ve done my duty, as we agreed.”You piece of shite.“Pay up.”
The earl smiled coldly. There was no mistaking his regard: they were both mercenaries. This was a business transaction. And Thorne had come to get what he was owed.
