Page 7 of The Risk of Rogues
And the taste of her... How could he have forgotten it? She still used cinnamon sticks to sweeten her breath, still smelled like honey water, still made him want to have her for breakfast.
The years melted into nothing as he memorized the shape of her, the sound of her eager breaths, the feel of her softness yielding in his arms. It might be his last chance to hold her like this...
No, he wouldn’t let it be. This time he would hold on to her somehow.
Their kisses grew hotter, more reckless, until he couldn’t prevent his hands from roaming up and down her ribs and waist and hips in ever longer sweeps before he settled his palms beneath the swell of her breasts.
She froze, and for half a moment, he thought she might let him touch her the way he ached to. Then she shoved him away.
“No, no, no...” she muttered, as if talking to herself. “No, we are not doing this. No!”
“Why not?” he asked hoarsely. “You’re of age. I’m well beyond age. There’s nothing to prevent us from marrying now if we wish.”
“Marrying!” she cried. “Are you mad? I hardly know you anymore. I certainly don’t trust you. For all I know, you lied about the note and the letters and your... your precious plans for the future that you will only hint at.”
“I can’t say more yet.”
Because in truth, she was right. Except for the passion that sizzled just below the surface, everythingwasdifferent. Their aims. Their lives. Even their families. He had to be sure he could trust her with his secrets about what he really did for Fulkham and what he hoped to achieve. Andshehad to be sure he would make her a good husband.
But the matter wasn’t hopeless, and he refused to let it go. Not until he knew for certain that they’d changed so irrevocably that their love couldn’t be revived.
“Meeting with you in private was a mistake,” she murmured. “It won’t happen again.”
She turned to walk away, throwing him into a panic. “Forget marriage,” he called out after her. When that halted her, he breathed easier. “You’re right. We don’t know or trust each other nearly well enough anymore.”
Folding her arms about her waist, she faced him. “That’s what I’ve been saying.”
“Yes.” He chose his words carefully. “But we’re here for a week, so we’ll be spending hours together. Why not use the time to get to know each other again? See how it goes?”
She cocked her head. “What exactly are you proposing?”
“A courtship. Where I prove to you that I’m not the wastrel and fortune hunter your father clearly spent years painting me out to be... or the devil-may-care rakehell that my reputation has made me out to be. A reputation, by the way, that has been vastly exaggerated.”
She raised an eyebrow. “And what am I supposed to be proving toyou?”
“That you’re still the Anne I fell in love with, and not some earl’s daughter for whom my rank as a marquess’s son matters more than my worth as a man.”
A sharp, pained breath escaped her. “Is that how you see me?”
“As you said: ‘I don’t know what to think of you these days... I hardly know you anymore.’ But we could change that. Reintroduce ourselves to each other. Call it a ‘re-courtship,’ if there is such a thing. To prove that we’re still well suited.”
The idea seemed to intrigue her, for one corner of her mouth lifted ever so slightly. “And how do you intend for us to prove that in a week?”
“I have no idea,” he said truthfully. “But I mean to give the matter a great deal of thought before I see you in the morning.”
Her gaze narrowed on him. “Your plan had better not be centered around kissing me senseless. Because I’m wise to that trick. It will not work.”
He seriously doubted that. But he also knew that kissing her senseless wouldn’t tellhimmuch except that he wanted her in his bed, which he already knew. What he needed to know was whether he wanted her in his life. For good.
“No kissing,” he said. “Got it.”
She frowned. “You didn’t have to agree so readily.”
“Lots of kissing,” he said with a grin. “Got it.”
“Hart—” she began in a chiding tone.
“Let’s not plan it out, shall we? Let’s see how things progress over the next week, and if we’re not content we’ve had enough time by the end of the week, we can continue the re-courtship in London.”
