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“No. She is old enough to see that her cousins have their father and mother. She knows her mother is dead and she thinks her father hates her and that there is something wrong with her.”

He rubbed a hand over his face. “I do not hate her. I never hated her.”

“What was she to think? The man she should have been able to depend on refuses to even meet her. He avoids his family home simply because she lives there.”

“I knew you would not understand.”

“I’m trying to, Edward. I want to understand for her sake…and yours, because I care for you both.” She placed her palms on the sides of his face. “Because I love you both.”

His eyes closed, but when he opened them, they shimmered with years of guilt and fear. “You love me?”

She sighed. “Is that so hard to believe?”

“I am sure you have noticed I am not the lovable type. Tolerated, but not loved.”

“Oh, I don’t know. You have your moments.” Rose leaned forward and kissed him on the mouth, and he dragged her into his lap, kissing her with an urgency she had not expected. Like he was unleashing all his pent-up emotions into his kiss, and she clung to him, absorbing it all. Over and over their lips meshed, their tongues dueling until they were mindless of their surroundings.

They slipped to the floor in front of the fire, and he lay half on her, and she simply did not care. She wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing him down to her, stopping for a moment to look into each other’s eyes. Then they were kissing again, and his hand was on her breast and her leg was hooked behind his thigh. She wanted him close, closer to feel his weight on her. Then his mouth made a scorching trail down her neck, to the base of her throat and the dip in her shoulder. He continued to lick and kiss the top of her breasts as they heaved against her bodice while her fingers tangled in his hair.

Edward pushed down the sleeve of her dress to expose a breast and took the puckered nipple into his mouth. His other hand found the hem of her gown and slid it up her leg to the top of her thigh, his fingers skimming over the soft skin of her thigh above her garter and to the place he had kissed her before. A single finger separated her curls and slipped inside her.

“Rose,” he said, his voice all agony.

“I want this,” she said. “I want it all. I want you.”

“You must tell me if you want me to stop.”

“I won’t,” she said, pulling his lips down to hers again. She felt his finger flick over the little nub that was so sensitive to his touch, and she arched a little, and he did it again. This time the finger dipped lower and slowly he dipped it inside her. She gasped, but when it did not hurt, she let herself slip into the enchantment of his kisses. Soon she felt herself stretched again as he added another finger, and when he moved them in and out of her, a dull ache there made her raise her hips to push them deeper as if searching for just the right depth.

“You are so ready for me. I want you so much, Rose. I want to make love to you but not here on the floor. Come to my room.”

“But it is broad daylight and the staff…”

“I will clear the way and signal when it is safe.”

He stood then, and she saw the evidence of his arousal straining against his britches. He went to the door and turned. “Look out here…” He indicated the crack in the doorway. “I will wave when it is clear.”

She felt excited and nervous and naughty all at once, but nodded. He left and went down the hall to his room. A moment later she saw Jameson scurry down the hall and down the stairs. Edward appeared in his doorway, and she ran down the hall where he hauled her into his arms and into his room, closing and locking the door behind them. Then he carried her to his huge bed and dropped her in the middle of it, which made her giggle.

She watched as he slid his jacket off his shoulders and shrugged out of it, quickly followed by his cravat and waistcoat. He practically ripped his shirt, pulling it over his head, and kicked off his shoes. She admired the lean, muscular contours of his chest and the way the muscles at his hips dipped into the waist of his pantaloons. When he came to lean on the bed, her hands went instantly to his chest, and they jumped under her touch as they had once before. He closed his eyes as she explored the upper half of him, but when he opened them, she could see desire in their sapphire depths. Desire for her. Oh, how she had come to love this man. Despite everything, her heart had decided, it seemed.

Edward peeled off her stockings with care, though she doubted he minded whether Elsie would go mad if he had ripped one. She tried her best to undo the laces at the back of her dress, but he took over, and soon her gown sagged, and he was able to drag it over her head without too many hairpins falling out. Once just in her chemise and he just in his pants, they came together kneeling in the middle of the Warrington ducal bed, kissing each other with a frenzy she did not know was possible.

When their kisses stopped, they were both panting, and his hands went to the fall of his pants while she pulled her chemise out of the way. Now they were both naked, and they took a moment to soak in the sight of each other.

“My God, Rose. You are so beautiful.”

She opened her arms to him, and he smiled, and he crawled towards her. Once settled between her thighs, he kissed her softly, slowly, and Rose never wanted it to end, but her body was restless now. The ache between her legs needed relief.

“You have made me believe that my heart is not black,” he said.

She cupped his face. “I never thought it was. Now love me.”

He needed no more motivation than that, and she felt him nudging at her entrance. He took it slowly; the effort reflected on his face. Rose closed her eyes as her body adjusted for him, and then he was in, accompanied by a sharp pain, and she hissed through her teeth at the discomfort.

He lifted his head to look at her. “Are you all right?”

“I think so,” she said breathlessly.