been told that long-ago night.
“Nicholas?” Her voice broke, and he shook away the thoughts and focused on her. Those brown eyes shimmered with tears and her fingers trembled against his jaw. “What do you want?”
She repeated the question and his gut clenched because the answer was so perfectly clear. Just as it always had been. The question and the answer always the same.
And yet he didn’t fully trust that answer with her. Not yet. So he met her gaze. “What do you want, Aurora?”
She lifted up on her knees and leaned in, then her mouth found his. “This,” she whispered as he sprawled back on the bed and she moved across him, her soft body molding to his and bringing him back to attention with just the slightest of touch. “For as long as we can.”
He slid his fingers into her hair and held her closer as he kissed her. Deeper. Deeper, until she moaned and wiggled against him. When at last they broke apart, her breath was short as she added, “Is that unfair?”
He nodded. “But it’s unfair that it’s what I want too. For as long as we can.”
He pulled her back to him and kissed her again as she straddled his lap and aligned their bodies. And as she took him deep inside once more, starting over the dance from earlier in the night, he pushed away all his questions and worries and uncertainties. There would be plenty of time for those later.
Chapter 12
Nicholas stood on the terrace, Fortescue at his side. He let a rare bright and sunny morning warm his face. Perhaps he would have also stood outside if it were rainy and cold in the hopes the shock would wake him. After all, he’d spent a long and very passionate night in Aurora’s arms. She’d only slipped away just before dawn. Her whispered promises that this wasn’t over still rang in his ears.
He opened his eyes and looked down over the garden with a sigh. He sipped his tea and drew in a long breath. As he let it out, he recognized that for the first time in a very long time he felt…lighter. Freer.
“Boy,” he said, glancing down at the bullmastiff, who thumped his thick tail against the stone. “I think we’re in trouble.”
The dog huffed out a sigh, though Nicholas wasn’t certain if it was a sound of agreement or derision.
“There is my handsome brother.”
He looked over his shoulder to find Selina slipping from the house. She had a bright smile on her face, but in her eyes he saw concern, and shook his head. Selina was a bulldog and it was obvious she had something to say.
“Good morning,” he replied, and his smile was genuine as she bussed his cheek and moved to the small table where the pot of tea and a few scones had been placed by the staff.
“This is a cozy little breakfast,” she said as she popped a corner from one of his scones and ate it. “May I join you?”
He laughed at her cheek and motioned to the table. “It looks as though you already have. Please sit with me.”
She did and poured herself tea. They shared the plate of scones, and for a little while it was very comfortable. They spoke of her husband, since he had always been a good friend to Nicholas. Both smiled as they noted how besotted their brother Morgan was with his bride, Lizzie. And she baby-talked Fortescue and gave him treats she’d hidden somewhere in the folds of her fine gown.
But all the while he saw Selina calculating. Trying to decide when to strike. Old habits, perhaps. She had, after all, been a thief until just a few months before. It was her nature to watch and ready herself.
Eventually she dabbed her mouth with the corner of her napkin and said, “Although I don’t normally enjoy such things, last night’s ball was quite nice, I must admit.”
“Yes,” Nicholas agreed. “Very nice. It was kind of Katherine to put on such a show for my benefit.”
“Mmmm,” Selina murmured noncommittally. “And yet you didn’t stay to enjoy it. You slipped out to follow Lady Lovell, after all.”
“And there it is.” Nicholas grunted as he pushed to his feet and grabbed for the cane he’d leaned against the table edge. He moved back to the terrace wall and leaned there.
“There what is?” Selina asked, all innocence as she stared up at him from the table.
“Don’t look at me like a little wounded