Married By Midnight(28)

“I didn’t expect to be a duchess,” she assured him. “That is not why I accepted this proposal...but you already knew that.” She had been very forthcoming about her motivations to engage in this ruse.

He nodded.

“I suppose,” she continued, “you could call me a fortune hunter, in a sense, but not a social climber, at least.”

Anne continued to gaze at him in the dim firelight, while her body hummed with physical awareness. “Do you know who your real father is?” she asked.

“No.”

“Are you curious about it?”

He breathed deeply. “Sometimes.”

All of a sudden, Garrett sat up and leaned on one arm to face her. Instinctively, she lay back on the pillows.

“What you said to me last night,” he whispered, changing the subject entirely, “about being an easy conquest... I never presumed that about you and I certainly didn’t intend to treat you that way.”

“I’m surprised to hear that,” she replied, feeling defensive, “because that’s what everyone else presumed when I was surrounded by scandal. People sent me cruel letters. Some were anonymous, other were signed. My father disowned me and called me a whore. But that is not what I am, Garrett, and I will not be defined by my past, nor will I harbor bitterness toward those who wronged me. Instead I will pity them, for they do not know compassion or forgiveness.”

He gently stroked her cheek with the pad of his finger. “I am sorry that happened to you.”

A brief shiver rippled through her.

“If I was disrespectful last night, I apologize,” he added, stroking her hair away from her face.

Anne’s breath came short at the pleasure of his touch and his soft breath fanning her face.

But still, she fought to quell her desires, for she did not wish to be a wanton woman that men leered at.

“Yet here you are,” she said, “slipping into my bed during the first week of our acquaintance.”

His head drew back. “You can trust me. I won’t try to make love to you. Not unless you invite me to.”

“I am not...” She hesitated. “I am not inviting you.”

For a long moment he gazed into her eyes. Then he nodded. “I understand.”

But he didn’t roll away, get out of the bed, make for the door. He continued to lean over her, stroking her cheek, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

Pleasantly surprised by this unexpected tenderness, which was more seductive than the most blatant flirtation, she asked, “Why aren’t you leaving?”

“Do you want me to?”

“No.”

“Then I will stay if you have no objections. We can just talk, or lie here together and not say a word.”

She paused, certain it was some kind of trick, because a fiery passion was sizzling between them. She could feel it everywhere—in her heart, her mind, her body.

“Why?”

He shrugged casually, but there was something melancholy in his voice when he spoke. “I don’t sleep well. I have unpleasant dreams.”

She reached out to lay a hand on his cheek. “Do you dream about the accident?”

He nodded.

The firelight flickered in the room while she ran her fingers through his thick, wavy hair. “Then stay...for a while,” she said. “I am inviting you to do that, at least.”

He gazed down at her for long time. “May I kiss you?” he asked. “Just one kiss.”

She should say no. She should not let it go any further, but she wanted to know him more deeply. Just having his body next to hers, quickened her blood. The thought of kissing him was too tempting to resist. No amount of self-restraint was powerful enough to stop her.

“Yes, I’d like that.”

She wanted his mouth on hers now, this instant, to feel the intimacy of another soul-reaching kiss. Shamelessly, she reached out to take his face in her hands and pull him closer.

In response, he slid a hand down the side of her body as their lips met and their tongues mingled hotly in the quiet wintry night.

Again, smoldering sensation overwhelmed better judgement. Anne wanted Garrett desperately. She wanted this blissful passion from him.

He devoured her mouth. Her body ached for more, yet her emotions were in tumult. After everything she just said to him about how she would not be defined by her reputation, she was falling under a handsome man’s spell yet again, like some light-skirted strumpet.

Then, just when she felt certain she would lose the fight and surrender completely and shamelessly to the storm of passion that was pulsing through her body, Garrett brought the kiss to a smooth, enchanting finish. The kiss continued to linger upon her lips even as he drew away to look down at her.