A Momentary Marriage(80)

Had she raided his mother’s closet? Or had she actually ordered dresses from London as he had urged her to? It looked like the sort of dress Graeme’s wife might wear: rich, fashionable, and a little bold, but it seemed unlikely that Laura and Abby would be girlishly sharing clothes.

The cameo on a simple black ribbon around Laura’s neck was hers. She had worn it before, and he’d always admired it on her. However inexpensive and ordinary it might be, there was something about the black velvet against the creamy skin of her throat that did peculiar things to his insides. But tonight, with that dress, it was enough to turn a man into a gibbering idiot.

It was no wonder that his carefully worded apology flew right out of his head. “I . . . um, Laura . . .”

“Yes?” She waited, calm and unconcerned.

“I apologize for my behavior this afternoon,” he said stiffly. “I assure you it will not happen again.”

“Oh, James . . .” Laura sighed.

Clearly he’d bungled it. The speech he had labored over earlier had sounded far better, but he could hardly go back and start over. He half turned away and crossed his arms, aware of her eyes on him. Finally he said, “Well, say something, will you?”

“What do you want, James?”

He scowled at her. “I want things to be the same. I want you to stay.”

“Stay!”

“Bloody hell, Laura, you know what I want.”

To his surprise, a smile curved her lips. She stepped forward, tucking her hand in his arm and starting for the door. “Yes, I rather think I do.”



Laura stayed, certainly enough, but things were not the same. She had apparently acquired a whole new wardrobe of alluring dresses, and she favored softer, fuller hairstyles that looked as if they might tumble down at a touch. And he wanted very much to touch them.

But it was more than lower necklines and beckoning curls. It was the way she would lean forward over the table, giving him a clear view down the front of her dress, or climb the ladder to search for a book on a high shelf when he was in the library, or stand close to him as she talked, looking up into his eyes.

Her goal, he decided, was to break him. She was testing his control, punishing him for breaking his promise. It surprised him that Laura was capable of this cruelty. Perversely, the fact that she did it to tease and torment him only made him want her more. Equally twisted, he chose to endure it. Foul as his temper was, he did not remove himself from her presence. Indeed, he sought her out. It was worse not to see her.

Every night he waged an internal battle, pacing around his room, and thinking of going to her door and . . . what? Seduce her? Grab her and kiss her, as he had before? Prove once more that his lust for her was greater than his honor?

He was beginning to think his mother was as wrong about this as she usually was about money. Laura seemed entirely unaffected by his display of patience and control. And, really, Laura had never shown the slightest inclination to be intimidated by him. Why would she suddenly have become shy and wary? But if Tessa was wrong, if this didn’t work, then it meant that Laura was simply uninterested. And what was he to do then?

Finally, after a torturous week of her campaign, James walked into his room to find Laura sitting in the chair by the window, waiting for him. She was wearing a blue dressing gown, the ruffled neckline of a white cotton gown peeping between the open V at the top. Her hair hung in a long, thick braid that he ached to wrap around his arm.

Lust surged in him. His tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth. Finally he managed to get out a strangled, “Laura.”

“James.” She stood, her face pale but set. He was suddenly afraid again that she was leaving him, and he felt even more certain of it when she went on, “I want to talk to you.”

“Very well.” He was a trifle amazed that his voice came out as steady as it did.

“When you proposed our . . . arrangement, you compared it to a business agreement, a contract of sorts.”

James stuck his hands into his pockets so she wouldn’t see them clench. “What is it you want?”

“I want to amend our contract.” She lifted her chin, looking almost defiantly into his eyes. “I want a complete marriage.”





chapter 30


“I beg your pardon?” His voice came out a croak. Laura could not mean what James thought she did.

She made a little moue of exasperation. “You heard me. Please, if you have any gratitude, any friendship, do not make this more difficult for me.”

“I have no desire to upset you, I assure you.” He held himself rigidly, stifling his willful, idiotic hope. “Just say it, Laura, and be done with it.”