Page 64 of The Bastard's Iberian Bride
You shouldn’t be here. She had nothing on but a robe he could rip off her shoulders, and a nightrail he could lift in a wink. And he could be in her in seconds, pounding out this need like the madman he was right now.
He leaned and touched his forehead to hers. “Go back to your room, lass.”
“I, I…” She cleared her throat. “I want…you…”
His pulse raged, his cock throbbed and he couldn’t form words.
She exhaled a hint of a minty tooth powder. “I want you to… to talk to me.” She took a step back but gripped fistfuls of linen. “If you would, please. May I stay with you tonight? It is only a few hours. And we’ll be wed tomorrow.”
He squeezed his eyes shut on the vision of her in his bed, under him, tried to think of something, anything else—horse droppings, foul privies, the stench of a tannery.
When he opened his eyes, she was frowning, and he saw it there—fear. The girl was frightened.
Shame trickled through him. She feared he couldn’t protect her unless she was in his very bedchamber.
Her teeth slipped over her lower lip and began to gnaw, and it hit him—what a fool he was. It wasn’t her physical safety that rattled her.
Not fear for her safety then, but what?
Shame turned to fierce warmth, setting his body afire. Pulse pounding, he slid a finger under her smooth chin and tipped it up. “Why?”
“Will we go to Scotland tomorrow? Will you go through with this wedding?”
“Have I given you reason to doubt me?”
She lifted an eyebrow. “You barely spoke to me all day.”
His chest eased even as his trousers tightened more, all of his thoughts in a jumble. She wanted to be sure of him, she wanted his bed, and not just for money, not for security and safety. This was the price of a warm woman as bedmate—talking, and lots of it.
But as her gaze and those hands slid over his chest, his dick reminded him there was a way to silence her.
No. If they opened this particular tinderbox, the fire would rage until dawn, and she would not be able to sit for a week. They’d never make Gretna the next day.
“I have a plan,” he said.
She lifted that determined chin and his finger followed it up. “So do I.”
He held back a chuckle. “You plan to seduce me tonight. To make sure of me.”
That flustered her and left her gulping for air.
He drew her closer and stroked a length of soft hair. “It is a good plan. One I’d like to partake of, believe me.”
“But?”
“But I’m not sure you’d be able to ride all day in a coach tomorrow after I’ve ridden you all night.”And it would be all night.
Her eyes went wide. “Does it hurt that much?”
Ah, she was definitely a virgin. He felt an odd sense of relief, glad to be her first, and terrified. Like breeding a cart horse on a pony, he didn’t know how he’d not hurt her, but he must find a way.
“I don’t know in fact. But I’ll make sure whatever pain you feel is secondary to the pleasure.”
She sighed and settled against him, and he realized his hand had started to move over her back.
“You will kiss me again?”
The heat of her sigh seared through his shirt, branding his heart.
