the only man who has ever sparked even an iota of desire in me. Until I met you, I didn’t know what physical desire was—I’d never experienced it. You gave me that—the shivery sensations, the thrills that crimp one’s lungs. As for physical passion, that was even more unknown to me, yet between us”—she waved between them—“this has to be that, this heat and longing. This wanting.”
“It is.” His voice, deep and low, reverberated inside her.
“What I feel for you,” she went on, “the fascination, the curiosity, the irresistible lure—must be akin to what you feel for a fabulous work of art.” She tipped her head. “In some ways, you are that—you inspire so much in me.”
He held her gaze and shook his head. “I might experience those feelings for inanimate works of art, but they are nothing but pale wraiths compared to what I feel for you—the feelings you evoke in me.”
She allowed her lips to lightly curve. “It seems we’re a matched pair. I hoped that was so, and put simply, I couldn’t let tonight slip by. I have to know where desire and passion can lead me—even if for only one night.”
The comment jerked Godfrey back to earth. He stared at her while an immediate rejection of her words rose in a turbulent wave from the deepest part of him. Yes, she’d made her feelings clear, and he appreciated how much courage that must have taken, for a lady of her station to come to his room and so clearly state why. To so unequivocally admit and honor her own feelings, her desires and wants.
He drew her to him again and, bending his head, took the lips she offered in a kiss that, within seconds, transformed into a ravenous melding of their lips, a heated duel of their tongues.
Passion ignited, powerful and pure.
No, he wasn’t going to resist.
With them both clinging to the kiss, he backed her toward the bed, and she readily fell in with his direction.
Yet…she’d given him her truth. Didn’t she deserve his in return?
By the time the backs of her legs met the edge of the mattress, they were both hot and heated, and the passion the kiss had called forth was just this side of searing. He pulled back and raised his head.
He looked into her eyes, large, wide, bright with desire. “Obviously”—his voice was a gravelly growl—“our feelings—our wants and needs—are entirely compatible.” He dragged in a breath and locked his eyes with hers. “But I’ve been down this road before. I know what my feelings usually are.” He shook his head. “What I feel for you, when I’m with you… That—this—is something else. Something extraordinary.”
Holding her gaze, he struggled to find the right words. “You are the only woman I’ve ever imagined a future with—something that lasts for far longer than one night. Even before we’ve enjoyed this night, explored where our mutual passions lead us, I know—to the depths of my soul know—that I will want to remain with you, to stand beside you, not just for tomorrow but for however long I can.”
Suddenly, the words were there, pouring over his tongue. “I want to be by your side to protect you and your family against whatever might come, not just next week but through the coming decades. I want to live with you, to make a life with you.” He paused, then said, “I’ve never wanted that with anyone else.”
Her eyes couldn’t get any wider; he wondered if it was his imagination that stars now shone in their depths.
The sight compelled him to admit, “To me, you are unique. Uniquely wonderful in that you are the key that opens the door to my most-desired future. A future I hadn’t even sighted before I came here and met you.”
“Oh.” A wealth of wonder shivered through that single syllable. Her hand rose to lightly touch his cheek, almost as if to convince herself he was real.
He hauled in a breath and forced himself to go on, to say what he had to say. “So, dearest Ellie, you need to know, to understand, before we take any irrevocable step, that if we do go on, if we take that step, then I will strive to make all those things I want come true.” His voice lowered. “That I will move heaven and earth to seize that future I didn’t know existed before I saw you.”
Ellie blinked and blinked again. Joy of a type she had never felt was geysering through her.