Lover Be Mine A Legendary Lovers Novel - By Nicole Jordan Page 0,60
mission.
Besides, it was much more important to have Sophie accompany him. Even though he despised the necessity of facing his father, and every fiber in his being screamed out against accepting Prince Raoul’s offer of a princedom, he might be willing to endure it as the price of claiming Sophie for his bride. But she was the most crucial part of the decision.
“I told you, there is no point in my going without you,” he reminded her. “You are the sole reason I would even consider becoming his heir.”
Her brow furrowed. “You could still accept the crown without marrying me.”
“Why would I want to?” Jack countered. “I don’t relish living in Europe, away from all I hold dear. I don’t wish to leave my family behind. And I most certainly don’t want to be compelled to live with the bloody coward who sired me.”
Sophie’s frown suggested she was thinking hard about what he’d just admitted, but she didn’t comment as she picked at her plate of stew.
“So you see,” he repeated, “I have no cause to go unless you are with me.”
At his assertion, her gaze abruptly lifted to his. “What would be the point, Jack? I will never marry you, especially now. How could I when we have no love or even the barest measure of trust between us?”
“We have trust.”
“Says the scoundrel who plots against me and kidnaps me and keeps secrets from me.” Her gaze grew penetrating. “Why would I ever marry you after this? A man I can’t trust? A man who doesn’t trust me with even the simplest facts? You never thought to mention your bitter quarrel with your father or even that you stood to inherit a princedom. You’ve never said a word about your mother either, or your brutal captivity when you were a child. You’ve kept hidden all the events that shattered your life.”
The shock of pain that speared through Jack at her inventory caught him by surprise, and he lashed out with unexpected force. “I watched my mother die, Sophie. They had to pry her stiff body from my arms. That isn’t something I can discuss easily.”
She stared at him a long moment before finally shaking her head and lowering her gaze once more to her plate. But at least the heat had gone out of her demeanor.
After that, supper was a silent affair. Sophie ate sparingly but she did eat, perhaps because she feared he would decide to hand-feed her if she refused.
When they finished, Jack pushed back his chair. “It is late, and we have a long drive ahead of us on the morrow. We should get some sleep.”
Her response was not what he expected. For a moment, Sophie closed her eyes and bowed her head, as if fighting back tears of despair. But then she visibly bucked herself up and squared her shoulders.
“If you think we are sharing a bed, your wits have gone begging.”
“If you think I mean to ravish you, you are quite mistaken.”
“I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“If I try, I give you leave to slice me up with my dagger.”
“If I wanted to slice you up, I would not require your permission,” she retorted. “And either way, you will sleep on the floor.”
Sophie tossed a quilt and a pillow at him and waited as he made a bed for himself near the door. Resigned to enduring an uncomfortable night, Jack stirred the hearth fire and put out the lamp, then removed his coat and cravat and boots before stretching out on the hard floor.
As semidarkness enveloped them, he heard Sophie sit on the bed and then pause to pull the pins from her hair. Turning his head, Jack watched her in the glow of the fire’s light as she let the rich, coiling tresses fall down her back. A few moments later, she lay down fully dressed and pulled the covers up to her neck.
The sound of her breathing was uneven and occasionally broken by soft, restless sighs. Apparently Sophie couldn’t sleep, for she rolled over and punched her pillow.
Jack felt like doing the same. Remorse was starting to return rather forcefully, along with a measure of black humor. He was sharing a bedchamber with a warm, vibrant, passionate woman and sleeping alone on the cold wooden floor. What had become of his vaunted seductive skills?
He wanted Sophie more than he’d ever wanted any woman in his life. He wanted to explore that glorious mass of hair with his hands. He wanted to lie