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“Marry me, my Gwynn,” he said, and kissed me before I could answer, his hands stilling on my body. “Say yes.”
He’d leave me teetering there, hoping to sweep me through this one without argument. So I bit him on his full lower lip. “No.”
Narrowing his eyes, he gave me a menacing stare. “No, you won’t say yes, or no, you won’t marry me?”
“Both.” Feeling considerably less dreamy now, I struggled out of his grip and he let me go. To clear my head, I dunked it, shaking my hair out and freeing the last of the suds.
When I surfaced, I kept my head tipped back, so my hair would sleek back out of my face. I didn’t realize Rogue had closed in until he caught me neatly by the waist, his face lined with grim determination.
I sighed. “Did you really think you could seduce me enough that I’d agree to anything in the throes of passion?”
“Hope springs eternal,” he replied in a dry tone. “However, since that method failed, we’ll just have to have it out.”
“You plan to keep me trapped in this bathing chamber until I agree?”
His lips twitched in amusement and he lifted me a little, then let me sink again, clearly watching my breasts bob in the water. “That suggestion has its merits. Come, sit.”
As if I had much choice. His grip on me unrelenting, he urged me over to a sort of carved-in seat invisible in the opaque water. I settled into it, as comfortable as in the classiest hot tub. Beside me, Rogue’s thoughts darkened, as impossible to see through as the pool. Readying himself to battle with me then.
Best time to launch an unexpected offensive.
“I’m told you could have pretty much any female in all of Faerie.” Probably outside it, too, if I was any indicator, and a good portion of the males too.
He paused, indeed taken by surprise. I awarded the first point to me.
“This isn’t a contest,” he said, with more than a little irritation.
Oops. I darkened my thoughts too.
“It doesn’t matter who Icouldhave.” He’d modulated his tone now, smooth and silky. “It’s you I want. I thought I’d made that abundantly clear.”
“But you haven’t made it clear why,” I pointed out. My turn to be relentless. Above, the ceiling of the chamber vanished into shadow, far beyond where the torchlight reached. As if this place sat outside physical limits. Which seemed entirely possible.
“I told you—because you carry my child.”
“Look.” I took a deep breath, annoyed with myself that I felt a little hurt by that.Get a grip, Gwynn. “I know we come from different cultures, but to a woman from mine, that’s just not a compelling reason. It’s almost an insult.”
He fell silent, contemplating that. “Because it implies I value the babe more than I want you.”
“Pretty much, yes.”
“But we already agreed that we love each other.”
The image that came with his words made it seem as if we’d exchanged equivalent gifts. In some ways, I supposed that was accurate, if unromantic. “I can love you—” jeez, I stumbled over the words still, “—without marrying you. I can have this baby without being married to you too.”
“But you don’t understand the ramifications of that.”
“Perhaps you could give me your reasons. Lay your cards on the table.”
“I have neither cards nor a table.”
Funny that one translated literally. “It refers to a human game. People hide the value of the tokens—the cards—from each other, in an attempt to bluff the other person into thinking they have more or less than they do. I’m asking you to show me what you’re holding. What are your reasons for wanting this marriage, without the trickery?”
“I’m not as fond of lists as you are.”
“Pity. I’m exceedingly fond of them. I want one from you. Consider it a courting gift.”
He laughed at that, amused by me despite the frustration rolling off him. “Only you would ask for such a thing as a courting gift.”
