Heiress in Red Silk (Duke's Heiress #2) - Madeline Hunter Page 0,68
long. She rose and donned an undressing gown. She unlatched the door to her chambers, slipped out, and knocked on another one nearby.
* * *
No more crying or moaning came through the walls, so Kevin decided to get some sleep. He would have a conversation with Rosamund about Forestier in the morning. Matters could not be delayed any longer.
He had spent hours today thinking about the critical stage of the enterprise. Little else had entered his awareness, other than Rosamund’s long absence. Until he heard the glass breaking. Now, free to again mull over the problem, he found he had little interest in it.
His ears strained to hear what was happening in her suite. He hoped he had not left too soon. She seemed more herself, and after that kiss—He really did have to leave then, before he behaved like the worst scoundrel.
He was down to his shirt and trousers when he heard a light knock on his door. The man servant assigned to him had probably noticed the light in this chamber. He strode over to remind the fellow that he had said he would not need anything until morning.
No man stood there. It was Rosamund. She had changed into an undressing gown. Her hair tumbled around her head and shoulders, its long, loose curls hanging low over the frills cascading below her neck. His mouth dried at the sight of her in dishabille like this.
“You said you would open your door if I came to it,” she said.
He stood aside so she could enter. She floated past him, and the light from his lamp made her hair glisten with gold.
She strolled aimlessly around the chamber, her long, slender fingers glossing over the furnishings. He could have watched her for hours, if this was what she wanted to do. Eventually he acknowledged that it probably wasn’t.
“Are you too sad to sleep? Do you need some distraction?” He stayed by the door, leaning against it because he did not trust himself to get too close.
She shook her head. “I suppose I will be a little sad for a long time, but mostly now I am angry.”
“That is a much better reaction. I trust you are angry with him and not yourself.”
She stopped her movement near the terrace windows. “I think I am. Yes, def initely.” She turned and faced him. “Even that, however—I don’t plan to indulge in it. I have already wasted too much time on that childish dream.”
The air grew thick with things unspoken, and with the tightening tethers of excitement that desire created. They just looked at each other. He dared not be the one to give voice to it. He could be very wrong.
She smiled tentatively. “I was wondering if perhaps we could kiss again.”
That was all he needed to hear. He strode over to her, took her in his arms, and kissed her again. Both triumph and relief burst in him when their lips met.
He prolonged that kiss while his hands noted her body under his hold, and how she trembled with excitement and fear. His conscience waged a little battle and chose an easy truce.
He stopped kissing her. “I left after that kiss in your chambers so I would not take advantage of you. I cannot be that good if you stay here.”
“I do not want you to be good.”
He lifted her chin and studied her face in the dim moonlight filtering through the window. He wanted her so much he could devour her right now.
“Are you going to pretend I am your old lover?”
“I’m here because on the bridge I didn’t think about him at all. Not once. Do you think you can do that again?”
“If you are sure that you want me to, I know that I can. Pleasure is one thing I know about.”
She stretched up and kissed him. “I thought it might be. You are not given to half measures when a topic interests you.”
He found the little buttons on her undressing gown and released one. “There will be no half measures tonight, just so you know.”
When she did not object, he continued with the buttons.
* * *
She discovered that pleasure could obscure everything. Time and place. Fear and sorrow. Bit by bit, as his fingers released those buttons, one part of the world disappeared while excitement took its place.
When the undressing gown fell and she found herself in his embrace, warmth and care defeated the worst of the day’s emotions. After that, she responded to his kisses as she