Page 45 of Marry in Secret
“How many sausages?” she asked, preparing to serve him his breakfast.
“None, nor any bacon. I’ll just have an egg and some toast, thanks.”
She frowned. “Is that all? Cal would eat at least threesausages and some bacon and a couple of eggs. And then toast.”
“It’s all I want.” His stomach couldn’t take rich, fatty food at the moment. It was still getting acclimatized.
“You’re very thin, Thomas. Is something wrong? You’re not ill, are you?”
“No, no, I’m fine.” It was just years of poor food and harsh conditions. Nothing he needed to tell her about.
She was chatty over breakfast, he learned. She talked of her plans for the day, and asked about his. He mentioned Ollie’s determination to get him to order new clothes, nothing else. He wasn’t up to telling her his real purpose. He hoped he wouldn’t have to.
She told him how she rode in the park with her family most mornings, weather permitting. “It’s lovely. You should join us.”
He pushed his plate away and said wearily, “There’s no point, Rose. This”—he gestured between them—“isn’t going to work.”
“To quote Aunt Dottie, ‘piffle!’”
He stood up, shoving his chair back angrily. “Four years ago you married me without a thought for the future, and you ended up in... in limbo. I made you pregnant and left you to cope with the consequences on your own.”
“I managed.”
“Then when I returned, I destroyed the advantageous marriage you’d arranged—”
“To a man I didn’t love.”
“—and left you at the center of a scandal. Now, because I ki—because of what happened just now—”
“You mean when you kissed me, and I kissed you back? When we kissed each other, Thomas, is that what you mean?”
He closed his eyes. “You’re impulsive, reckless. Making a bad decision on the basis of a few moments of... emotion.”
“Pooh! I’m not such a ninny. A few kisses won’t turn my head, even if they are”—her gaze dropped to hismouth—“yours.” Her lips curled into a knowing little smile that caused a ripple of desire to curl right through him. He stamped down on it.
“I know what I want, Thomas. I always have. And I think you want me too, but you’ve got some maggot in your brain telling you it’s wrong. But it’s not. I knew four years ago we were meant to be together, and I feel it just as strongly now. Yes, we’ve both been through some difficult times—and don’t think I haven’t noticed you haven’t told me very much at all about what happened to you, yet, but I can be patient.”
He passed his hands over his eyes. What to do with such a woman?
“You do want me, don’t you, Thomas?” she asked softly. He opened his eyes and she was there in front of him, a breath, a touch away. The unique fragrance of her teased his senses. Before he could react she rose on her tiptoes and brushed her lips lightly over his. “Don’t you, Thomas?” She kissed him again.
He groaned. A man could only stand so much. He hauled her into his arms and kissed her again. Just once. A last desperate kiss. A kiss to last a lifetime.
He released her and stepped back, breathing heavily, putting what he hoped was a safe distance between them.
She smiled confidently up at him. “That’s better. So, it’s all settled, then.”
“No. This changes nothing.”
She laughed. “Thomas, you can’t kiss me like that and then try to convince me you don’t want—”
“That was a good-bye kiss. I mean it, Rose,” he said firmly. “You can’t base your life on, on a whim, a couple of kisses. I won’t let you.”
“No, Thomas.” Her voice was demure, but there was nothing demure about her expression.
“At the very least, you need a period of sober reflection.”
“Yes, Thomas.” Her eyes danced, anything but sober. She was every inch the bewitching minx he’d fallen in love with.
