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“You’re right, of course,” she muttered as she disentangled herself from his arms. She patted her hair with nervous hands. Which was pointless, as it was plastered to her head in a wet mass. “I’ve been distracted by you as well. Which willnot do. Lenora was right; I should have taken care of this days ago.”
Lenora? He frowned. What the devil did the Duchess of Dane have to do with anything?
She blew out a sharp breath, as if building up to something unpleasant. Or terrifying. And then, her features rearranging into a kind of determination, she looked him full in the eye and raised her chin. “There’s only one thing to do, of course. As we cannot avoid it, we must meet it head-on.”
He blinked. “Pardon?”
She cleared her throat, as if to unstick the words there. “I’m a widow,” she explained, her voice warbling slightly. “And there are certain…liberties…a widow may take, as long as she is discreet.”
“Liberties,” he repeated blankly. An idea had begun to form in his mind of what she could be trying to say. But, holy hell, it was so far-fetched as to be laughable, the mere fantasy of his lust-fogged mind.
Her cheeks bloomed with violent color, and she closed her eyes, as if in pain. “Do I truly need to be more explicit than that?”
Oh, God, yes.“Please do.”
She blew out a breath. “Very well,” she muttered, almost to herself. “I may as well make my embarrassment complete.” Squaring her shoulders, she opened her eyes and blurted, “I wish to take you to my bed.”
He gaped at her; though it was as he’d guessed, it was still so utterly unbelievable that he could not make sense of it. “You mean you wish to have an affair? With me?”
“Yes.” Again she cleared her throat. Her gaze wavered but she kept her eyes on him, as if by sheer will. “Mayhap it would be for the best. There seems to be some physical attraction between us, after all. I do think—nay, I’m certain—that if we were to release those…desires…we might be able to put the whole mess behind us and focus on the pertinent goal of finding you a wife.”
Still, he couldn’t seem to react in any way that allowed him to respond. She wanted him? And so much so that she was having trouble concentrating? It seemed impossible.
But he was taking too long to answer. She turned from him, making a hasty exit for the hall door, her nervous laugh trailing behind her like the churning wake after a ship.
“Goodness, please forgive me,” she called over her shoulder. “That was horribly forward. I don’t know what I was thinking. I assure you, I’ve never done anything like this in my life.”
“Wait!” Blessedly she stopped, though she didn’t turn to face him. He didn’t know what the hell he would have done if he’d had to chase her through the damn house.
He hurried to her side as quick as he was able and spun her about to face him, hooking a finger under her chin, dragging her gaze up to his.
“You wish to have an affair with me?”
She tried looking away but he kept his finger in place, holding her gaze to his. She swallowed hard. And then, in a voice barely above a whisper, she said, “Yes.”
One quiet word. Yet it unlocked something in him. He cradled her face, his breath leaving him in a rush. “Oh.” Which was not the most articulate of responses. But as he had never in his life been propositioned before, his brain was quite incapable of forming anything even remotely coherent.
She swallowed hard, her hands balling into fists, where they rested on his waist. “It would be merely physical,” she said, the words coming in a rush. “A one-time thing. A single night with no expectations beside mutual pleasure. And so you’ve no need to worry about my emotions getting involved. I still have no intention of marrying again, of course. It’s just been many, many—goodness, so many—years since I’ve been with someone. And we seem to have an attraction, you and I. Which, unfortunately, seems to be distracting us from the—ahem—matter at hand. Unless, of course, you’ve no wish to—”
His lips cut off the rest of what she had been about to say. She gave a soft little sigh into his mouth, melting against him, her arms coming about his waist. And he thought he might combust from the fire that sparked to life within him.
He lifted his head, but just enough to look down into her eyes. “Yes,” he whispered against her lips.
She blinked. “Truly?”
He smiled. “Yes. When?”
She laughed, a happy sound he felt clear to his toes. That laugh turned into a gasp as he ran his tongue along her full lower lip. She shivered in his arms, her eyes fluttering closed. “T—tonight?” she managed on a breath.
“Yes,” he murmured before finding her lips again.
Chapter 12
What was I thinking?
It was not the first time that question had ricocheted about in Margery’s mind throughout that exceptionally long day. More than once she’d been ready to tell Daniel to forget the whole thing. She did not have the time for this detour. She had a deadline to meet and she could not fail.
But then she would look his way, and see the heat in his eyes, and remember the kiss they’d shared that morning. Which promptly shut that more cautious side of her right up. Her physical reactions to the man were too much of a distraction. She needed to relieve this ache in her body, to get past this so she could forge ahead and finish what needed to be done.
