Page 36 of A Baron's Scandalous Quill
“Will, would it not…you know…” She seemed to struggle for words as she stopped on the other side of his desk.
“What?” he asked curiously. “Becca, I have never known you yet to be afraid of saying anything. Surely, after all we have shared, you should not be afraid of saying anything, too?”
She blushed red, smiling at his words. They both glanced at the door that was open behind them, but neither of them made further reference to the way he had explored her the day before.
“Do you have the money to pay all these people back? It’s no small amount!”
“Indeed, it is no small amount, but yes, I do have the money,” he assured her.
“Heavens.” She stepped back, her lips falling open.
He hesitated, realizing what he had done. Their situation in life was so different, but he liked to talk to her without thinking of the money difference between them. It didn’t matter to him, for when he looked at Becca, he sawher.He didn’t see the fact hewas a baron with a title and lands, as if it hung in the air between them.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to upset—”
“Believe me, you didn’t upset me.” She dropped into the nearest chair but was still looking at him in amazement.
“I didn’t mean to boast either—”
“I also didn’t see that as boasting,” she said quickly in assurance. “It’s the generosity of it.”
“Generosity? I’m doing what’s right, Becca. It has nothing to do with being generous.”
“It has everything to do with it!” She stood a second later, apparently unable to sit still. She rounded the desk and moved toward him. He sat straight in his seat at her approach, adjusting his trousers once again.
“Do you not see that? So many men would be happy to keep the fruits of their father’s misdeeds. They’d say it is a crime not of their doing but another’s, and they would keep the money for themselves. Yet you, you are so good of heart that you wish to right the wrongs that occurred decades ago. Do you not see the kindness in that?” she asked with passion.
“I rather like the version of me that you paint,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s much more noble than the idea I have of myself.”
“It is exactly what I see.” Her words captivated him, and he halted, staring at her in wonder. She breathed deeply, her chest flushing red over the neckline of her gown. Were the door closed, he would have taken hold of her then and drawn her down toward him to kiss her and show her what those words meant to him.
There was something there, was there not? It wasn’t just attraction or heat, but something more. A warmth…
“You are too kind, Becca,” he whispered softly. Feeling emboldened, he took her hand, glancing toward the door to make sure they weren’t going to be disturbed, before lifting her hand to his lips and kissing it. Far from kissing the back in any formal way, he turned her hand over and placed a soft kiss on the inside of her wrist. It was an intimate touch, a soft one, that made her breathing intake sharply.
“Becca…” he knew the risk. He couldn’t kiss her now. What if Henry walked down the corridor? What if one of the maids came to attend to the fire?
“Will?” Yet the way she said his name made him throw caution to the wind.
He tugged at her hand, and she fell into his lap. She didn’t seem to mind but giggled as he kissed her. His hand went to the back of her neck, urging her to angle her head and give him access, to deepen the kiss. The passion that overtook them was overwhelming. As her hips moved against his own, her knee ended up beside his hip, and he was certain she must have been able to feel his hardened length through his trousers.
“We should be working,” she said in between their kisses.
“I know. We are making progress.”
Still, he couldn’t stop kissing her. He explored her neck, listening to the mewling sounds she made before returning his lips to hers.
That morning, she had shown him a sample of her writing to check it was in the style he wanted, and he had been quite entranced by her skill. After all the darkness of his father they had discovered, all the deceptions in this paperwork, he was more than happy to take a break for a few minutes in order to explore this excitement between them.
“Oh, I wish you didn’t have to stop,” she whispered as he kissed down her neck and toward the top of her gown.
“Hmm?” he murmured.
“Will!”
He now understood what she was saying. There were footsteps in the corridor.
He released her, and she leaped up, rearranging the neckline of her gown as he set himself straight in the chair and adjusted his trousers. Becca ran around the desk, gathering papers in her hand and trying to breathe easily, just as a tap came on the open door, and Henry appeared.
