Page 33 of Lady Fiona's Tall, Dark Folly
No.
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He caught her hand."Yes, my darling. Stop."
Disappointment flashed across her brow.
"Oh, my sweet." He chucked her under the chin and wished he might discard his ethics and indulge his body as it screamed to do. "Don't look at me like that. You are so tempting."
She circled both legs around his to bring him closer.
He closed his eyes to gain some strength to resist her. "But we will not do this." He took her lips in a swift hot brand. "I want you. Make no mistake. But there is much to do for us."
"I don't follow."
He traced the outline of her sensuous mouth. "I will have you and soon. But as my own to claim."
Shock had her open-mouthed.
"You thought I'd kiss you in your bed and take you without benefit of any clergy?"
"I wasn't thinking."
He put a fingertip to her lips. "A good thing. To a point."
He seized her lips in a ravenous kiss. Her mouth was every lovely promise of sexual delight he'd ever hoped for. She was willing, eager, a sinuous grace in his embrace. He had to stop this and pushed to one side, his arms still full of her.
He kissed the tip of her pretty nose. "I'm very surprised by this myself, my darling. But I have learned the value of patience and prudence. I want you with speed. And it will be so. A special license could take me a few days to obtain and then there is the matter of telling my mother and my sister."
She still looked dazed. "Of course."
With her cheeks rosy from his kisses and her mahogany hair wild upon the golden counterpane, she was a bewitching beauty. To watch her pant, her full breasts rise and strain against the fabric in want of him, was to curse his decision to be true to his morals. "I think I must not only leave you to your bed alone, my girl, but write to my mother and sister to tell them of my decision."
He rose from the bed, tugged his frock coat and waistcoat into place and smiled at her.
She stared at him, wide-eyed.
"I am surprised too, my darling." He leaned over her and kissed her deeply, swiftly on her luscious lips. He ran his fingers through her hair. "But you are shocked, too. You want me, don't you?"
"Oh, yes." She sounded fierce, her nails digging into his frock coat.
He kissed her, their tongues playing again, his strength dying in her embrace. "Are you sure you don't wish to go to the village for the dance around the May Pole?"
"I must meet my cousin Esme." She pushed up. "Do go and enjoy the frolic."
"Very well, I'll see you later."
"The ball."
"I will come to carry you down. Ah, ah. No arguments." He smiled, well pleased with himself this morning. Then he strode away.
"Rory!" She called to him from the door.
His mind full of words to write to his mother, he whirled to face his intended bride. "Yes, my darling, what?"
She looked mystified, wary. "Did your father love your mother?"
Her question struck him as endearing, but her appearance struck him as...odd. He told her the truth. "Cherished is the word I would apply."
