She met his gaze, startled by the glint of amusement in it. “I have no idea.” She worked to loosen the elaborate knot of his cravat. “But when I refused Uncle Armie’s offer, he said if I was worried about bearing . . . a bastard, there were ways to stop that from occurring. He just didn’t bother to tell me what they were.”
His amusement vanished. “God, the man really was an arse.”
“Was it a lie?”
Lifting his eyes heavenward, he muttered, “It’s not that. There are ways, but—”
“You don’t know what they are.” With a sigh, she gripped either end of his cravat. “I assumed you would, given your reputation, but if you don’t, perhaps we could figure it out together. I mean, I’m fairly familiar with how breeding is managed for dogs and horses.”
“Yes, I’m well aware of your extensive knowledge in that area,” he said, looking as if he were choking on the words.
“But the only way I know of to prevent animals from breeding is not to let them mate in the first place.”
“Mate?” he echoed, one eyebrow shooting up. “Is that how you see what we would do together? If we were to do anything?”
“No, of course not. We’d be sharing a bed.”
He shot her a black look. “Sharing a bed,” he repeated.
She felt her cheeks heat. Blast it, she hated her tendency to blush. “Isn’t that what you want?”
“What I want is to make love to you. What I want is to show you what it feels like to need someone so desperately that nothing else makes sense, that the mere thought of seeing that person makes one’s heart race.” He caught her by the waist and pulled her close. “What I want is to banish your uncle’s memory from your thoughts.”
“That’s what I want, too!” she cried, delighted that he spoke of desperation, although she knew it was a mere thing of the moment.
“Except that afterward—”
“I don’t care about afterward. If you do know how to prevent my bearing a child, there’s no problem, right? We can just . . .” She leaned up to brush his lips with hers and whisper, “Be together in my bed.”
He stared at her with eyes like the churning river nearby. “You make it hard to resist you, my dear Beatrice.”
The words were a balm to her wounded vanity. No man had ever called her irresistible before. “Good,” she said, her heart in her throat. “Because you do the same to me.”
This time when he kissed her, he didn’t stop. Still kissing her, he backed her up to the kitchen table, then took her by surprise when he lifted her onto it, his eyes gleaming at her. “I need sustenance, sweetheart.”
“Oh! I forgot about your food—I do hope it’s enough.”
When she tried to scoot out of his arms to get it, he grabbed her back, laughing. “Not that kind of sustenance.” He lifted her nightdress to her knees, then paused. “Are you sure your brother will be gone until morning?”
“Early in the morning, but yes.”
“So we have the entire night together.”
She caught her breath. “If you wish.”
“I wish, I promise you.” The look in his eyes said exactly what sorts of things he promised, and her excitement ramped up just wondering what those might be. He tugged her forward until she was close to the table’s edge. “It will take me all night and more for a proper lovemaking.”
“Well, then,” she said as she set about undoing the buttons of his shirt, “since we don’t have ‘more,’ we’ll have to settle for an improper lovemaking.”
Chuckling, he dropped to his knees. “Well put. Which is my cue for taking my sustenance.” Catching her by surprise, he pushed her legs wide. “I’m going to taste you, all right?”
Ohhh, that’s what he meant by sustenance. And now he was staring right at her privates, heating her blood and rousing her body.
Especially down there.
He glanced up at her. “Do you trust me, sweetheart?”
She certainly trusted him when it came to bedsport, no matter what he claimed about having a pristine reputation. She bobbed her head.
That seemed to be all the answer he needed, for hunger leapt in his face. “Then close your eyes. Just concentrate on how it feels.”
The moment she did so, he began kissing her inner thigh, little nibbling kisses that made her squirm and ache for . . . a release like the one he’d given her in the clearing earlier. The