Page 37 of 10 Things I Hate About the Earl

“Well, perhaps a tour of the ground floor rooms would not send you beyond the pale as far as the ton is concerned.” He motioned her toward the central corridor. “This way, Miss Locke.”

“We are alone, Marcus.”

“I’m all too aware of that, my dear.”

The words sent a thrill through Kate.

“The first room on the right is the library.” He opened the door to a masculine room, furnished with comfortable leather chairs and shelves upon shelves of thick volumes. “As I said earlier, you will find little in here to interest you.”

“Such a pity.” She shook her head. “You must furnish it with books you and your sisters can enjoy.”

“More instruction, I see.” Marcus closed that door and stepped across the corridor to open the one opposite. “I begin to understand the ulterior motive for your tour.”

“I assure you, that was a suggestion only.” Grinning, Kate followed him into the next room.

“This is the dining room.” His lips puckered. “Will you also give me instruction about my dinner menus?”

Kate laughed and stepped back into the corridor. “Only if my assistance is requested.”

They continued down the corridor, Marcus making droll comments about each room and her possible directions on how to change them. At last, they reached the end of the corridor and the final room, his study. Kate had been wanting to see this room most of all, hoping it would give her additional insight into Marcus’s character. She believed she knew him rather well by now, but rooms where one spent a great deal of time tended to reveal things about that person.

On the surface, the study was the typical masculine retreat—Nathan had one very similar both in The Manse and at home in Somerset. The dark paneled walls gave the chamber an aura of privacy, though they’d likely not been Marcus’s choice. Nor the heavy mahogany desk or overstuffed leather chairs in front of the fireplace. The objects that did seem to be of Marcus’s choosing were the whimsical pendant lamp suspended over the desk, designed to resemble the Earth, and the brilliant red and blue Turkish carpet that looked sorely out of place among the rest of the drab furnishings.

“Have you seen enough now, my dear?” His brow furrowed, and he glanced at the longcase clock in the corner. “We truly should be going. Believe it or not, people might have noted your coming into the house.”

“That would only matter if they were also the people who’d seen Lady Letitia and Lady George leaving earlier.” She smiled, studying the truly remarkable globe. Perhaps he’d brought it back from his travels on his Grand Tour. “Are your neighbors always so observant?”

“If I didn’t know you better, Kate, I’d suspect you wished to compromise me.” Suddenly, he stood behind her, his looming presence at once menacing and thrilling.

She turned to face him, a surety in her spirit she’d rarely felt before. “Do you really know me that well, Marcus?”

The look of longing in his eyes gave her the courage to grasp his neck and pull him down for another kiss. A moment of resistance from him—but only a moment—then she was in his arms, his lips pressed to hers as though he’d been in a desert and she was the blessed water of life. He tilted his head until their mouths melded perfectly, sending flames of desire licking through her veins. If she hadn’t been sure of it before, she was certain now that more than anything in the world she wanted to be with this man, together like this, forever.

But too soon, he broke the kiss, leaving her aching, wanting so much more.

He sighed and pressed his forehead to hers. “I think we must leave now, Kate. Else I may not continue to behave like a gentleman.”

“You could never be anything but a gentleman, Marcus.” Kate rested against him, not wanting to be parted from him. “But I want you to show me one more room.”

He straightened, a suspicious look coming over his face. “Which one?”

“Your bedroom.”

Chapter 17

Stunned into silence, Marcus stared at Kate, not believing what she’d just asked him. “If that was a jest, Kate, it was in very poor taste.”

And yet the words brought immediately to mind images he’d envisioned over the past weeks—Kate standing in his bed chamber, naked save for her flame-colored hair cascading over her shoulders, covering her breasts except where her pert nipples peeked through the long tresses. Both of them naked, tangled in the sheets of the great bed, making passionate love, him bringing her to the ultimate pleasure time and again. And her doing the same for him.

Marcus bit his lip, trying to remove that image before he tented his breeches. This was no way to behave when he was about to ask the woman to marry him.

“Does that mean you wouldn’t like to take me to your room?” The siren stared at him then licked her lips, worse than any wanton.

“That is not the question, Kate. There is a time and place for everything, and this is not the time for that.” He had to find a way to get her out of the townhouse before either someone discovered her here or he lost control and did as she asked. At the moment, it was touch and go whether there was enough control in the world for him to succeed.

“The kiss we just shared said this is the perfect time and place.” She moved toward him, and he backed until he hit the door.

He grasped the handle and opened it. “The time would be after we are married, not before I have even proposed.”