Page 77 of The Truth About Lord Stoneville
“I didn’t give a damn, but Gran knew what people might think. After she sent word to the local constable, she had me strip down to nothing and give her my clothes to burn. Then she paid the grooms for their silence, and drummedup the tale of an intruder. I wouldn’t be surprised if she bought off the constable, as well.”
His voice went cold. “It didn’t do much good. The servants kept silent, but we were in the middle of a house party, and our guests couldn’t help noticing the commotion or the fact that I’d been missing. That’s how the rumors started.”
Indignation swelled in her chest. “People can be so cruel.”
“Yes.” He faced her, his eyes red-rimmed from unshed tears. “But now you see why I would never marry for money. And I’m not about to let you do so either. It’s a trap—it will destroy you.”
His mouth covered hers in a long desperate kiss that stole the soul from her. She clutched at his shoulders, the broad shoulders that had borne so much, and held on for dear life as he dragged her against him, flattening her body against his, kissing her into a state of blessed mindlessness where all that mattered was him.
He tore his mouth from hers only to whisper against her ear, “Say you’ll marry me, angel. Youhaveto marry me.”
With his tale of heartbreak in her mind, she feared that he wanted this for all the wrong reasons. “You just want to save me from Nathan.”
“Nothing so unselfish, I assure you.” He trailed his mouth down her throat. “I want you. I need you.God,how I need you.”
He spoke of need, but not of love. Then again, he didn’tbelieve in love. And though that stung, at least he was honest about it. He’d always been perfectly frank about what he wanted.
“You need me in your bed, you mean.”
“Not just there, and you know it.” He drew back, firm resolve sharpening his features. Cupping her head in his large hands, he met her gaze with an intense look. “I’ll prove it. Agree to marry me, and I’ll leave you to sleep alone tonight and every night until we’re joined in matrimony. I’ll behave like a respectable gentleman. And I’ve never done that for anyone.”
Her blood thundered in her ears. She could well believe it. And something beyond desire shone in his face. Or was she just wishing on rainbows?
“I don’t know, Oliver. Until I can find Nathan—”
“Nathan!” A change came over him, dark and tempestuous. “Forget about Nathan. I won’t let him have you.” His eyes smoldered with a passion like the one seething in her own breast. “I won’t.”
He started backing her toward the bed in an unconscious imitation of his blatantly sensual steps in the waltz earlier, and a thrill shot through her. “You said you would leave me to sleep alone.”
“Not so you can think abouthimand what you owehim.I’ll make love to you before I let that happen. Because one way or the other, I mean to have you as my wife.” Raw determination shone in his harsh features. “Even if I have to ruin you to manage it.”
That errant thrill made her shiver again, no matter how she tried to suppress it. “Then you won’t need to marry me. You’ll have everything you desire from me.”
A ragged laugh escaped his lips. “It will take a lifetime to have everything I desire from you.”
His words gave her pause. Perhaps he reallydidneed her. Perhaps he felt something even more.
“Besides,” he said with a wry smile as he shucked his coat, then his waistcoat, “my family will roast my ballocks on a spit if I ruin you without making an honest woman of you.”
“I haven’t agreed to let you ruin me,” she pointed out.
His black eyes glittered in the candlelight. “Ah, but you will.” And with that, he lowered his head to seize her thinly clad breast in his mouth.
Her eyes closed on a sigh. The arrogant devil was so sure of himself—and with good reason. He offered her the headiest of temptations, the sweetest of sins. How was she supposed to resist such a fixed pursuit?
She couldn’t, not when she wanted it so desperately, too.
He scraped her nipple through the fabric, sending her up on her toes to strain closer to his heavenly mouth. Unbuttoning her night rail clear down to her waist, he spread it open to bare her breasts to his eager gaze. Then he dropped to one knee and tongued one nipple erect as he fondled her other breast.
“Ohhhh, Oliver . . .” she breathed.
“I love your breasts,” he murmured, nuzzling the one he’d just been tonguing. “Every time I see you, I want to pop themout of your gown and suck them until you beg for more.”
“That would certainly . . . give the gossips something . . . to talk about,” she choked out.
He lavished the other with bold, endless caresses of his mouth. “I love touching you. I never tire of it.” She moaned low in her throat, and he cast her a carnal smile. “I love the sounds you make, the way you throw yourself into passion without restraint.”
She blushed. “You love seeing me behave as wickedly as you.”
