His arms came around her as she collapsed upon him. In the melting afterglow, Arabella lay there bonelessly, still joined to Marcus, her breasts pressed against his sweat-dampened chest, her face nestled in the curve of his throat, their ragged breaths mingling, their frantic heartbeats slowing.
It was a long while before Arabella recovered her senses. Marcus was stroking her hair, a tender gesture that made her sigh.
“I believe you won that round,” he murmured hoarsely.
Not moving, Arabella suddenly swallowed hard. No, she hadn’t won at all. Once again Marcus had shattered all her control.
Yet that wasn’t solely what worried her. It wasn’t even that his vaunted powers of seduction had proved so overwhelming. It was that her resolve to remain emotionally indifferent was slipping away with his every sensual caress.
There was supreme peril in letting herself become too attached to Marcus, a warning voice clamored in her mind. She could hear her sisters’ worried voices questioning whether she was in danger of falling in love with him.
Perhaps she should have listened, Arabella reflected as she pressed a kiss against the warm bare skin of Marcus’s neck. Perhaps she
A helpless laugh whispered from her lips as she caught herself nibbling on his delicious skin. Even a fool could see she wasn’t able to defend herself against him on her own. Not when she was so desperately attracted to his lovemaking.
Just then Marcus shifted beneath her, reminding her that their flesh was still joined in the most intimate way possible. A sweet jolt of fire shivered through Arabella as he captured her face in his hands and brought her mouth to his for another burning kiss.
Most definitely she would be wise to ask her sisters to come home, Arabella decided as she gave herself up to the searing enchantment of his kisses.
Chapter Thirteen
– Arabella to Fanny
When Roslyn and Lily came home the next morning in response to her summons, Arabella was torn between gratitude and regret. Gratitude because she would be far safer with her sisters in the house to bolster her defenses. Regret because she would be spending no more enchanting nights in Marcus’s bed.
She avoided him at breakfast, and from the moment her sisters arrived, she kept herself busy with renovations to the second-floor bedchambers.
To Arabella’s further gratitude, Roslyn and Lily didn’t press her to explain her change of heart. They simply remained close to her all day and refused to leave her alone in Marcus’s company.
She was wise to keep away from him, Arabella tried to convince herself as she and her sisters set out together for afternoon classes at the academy. She didn’t trust herself to be with Marcus and keep her emotions uninvolved. She had even less faith that she could resist her growing desire for him.
Roslyn and Lily would help save her from herself.
It was better this way, Arabella knew, even though she didn’t have to like it.
Marcus admittedly did not like the lack of privacy or having his two youngest wards present to interfere with his courtship of their sister. Nor was he overjoyed when Lilian and Roslyn confronted him in his study shortly after they returned from the academy.
“Arabella has gone upstairs to change for dinner,” Lily said gravely upon entering, “but we wished a word with you, your lordship.”
Following behind her, Roslyn added more politely but just as seriously, “If you could spare a moment of your time, my lord?”
Setting down his quill pen, Marcus rose from behind his desk and offered them seats near the tall windows. “For my lovely wards, I will make the time.”
Though grimacing at his flattery, Lily settled in a wing chair as if forcing herself to behave with proper decorum. Yet she came straight to the point. “We think it best if you stop wooing Arabella, Lord Danvers.”
Marcus leveled a curious gaze at his youngest ward as he sat on the sofa across from her. “I collect you mean to tell me why?”
“Because you are too beguiling. You are likely to make Arabella forsake all her good sense. We don’t want to see her hurt again by a fickle suitor.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I am hardly fickle. I have every intention of marrying your sister.”
“But you would not make her a good husband.”
Willing himself to patience, Marcus leaned back against the sofa. “So you believe you can judge my qualifications as a husband?”
“You don’t love her, my lord.” Lily leaned forward in her chair, her dark eyes bright with the glisten of frustration, her expression intent with worry. “Arabella has always been too tenderhearted. Her last betrothed humiliated her and left her heartbroken, and we won’t let it happen again. She has been hurt enough.”
Lily’s distress was obviously heartfelt, Marcus realized.
Roslyn’s voice held the same troubled note when she chimed in. “It was very hard for Arabella when her betrothed repudiated her, especially after losing both our parents and our home and having to face the public scorn that resulted.”
“From all accounts,” Marcus responded, “her betrothed abandoned her at the first test. I am made of stronger stuff.”
“Do you love her?” Roslyn asked quietly. “If not now, then could you ever come to love her?”
The question took him aback. Roslyn was eyeing him with her perceptive gaze, which made him feel as if she could see deep inside his mind. But he couldn’t reply to her discomfiting question when he himself didn’t know the answer.
He had strong feelings for Arabella, certainly. When she wasn’t with him, he missed her. And at the prospect of seeing her again, his heart began racing with anticipation. She roused a passion in him that he hadn’t felt in years, perhaps never.
But just because he wanted Arabella-and wanted to be with her-didn’t mean he would ever feel the romantic love he presumed Roslyn was speaking of.
“I think,” Marcus finally said, “that my feelings for your sister should remain private between us.”
Roslyn inclined her head in acknowledgment. “Perhaps. But we do not want to see Arabella hurt again.”
“I assure you, the last thing I want to do is hurt her.”
“But you cannot promise that you won’t.”
In all truth, he couldn’t make any such promise, Marcus reflected soberly, but he would try his damnedest. “I can promise you that if I wed your sister, our marriage will be nothing whatsoever like your parents’.”
Evidently Lily wasn’t satisfied. “If you make Arabella fall in love with you, you will break her heart. We won’t let you hurt her the way Viscount Underwood did.”
“There is no chance of that,” he replied with all sincerity.
“How can we be certain?” Lily demanded.
“I regret,” Marcus said, “that I won’t be able to persuade you of my benevolent intentions, but I mean to continue my courtship of your sister.”
When Lily continued to stare back at him in frustration, Marcus finally changed the subject. “Actually, I am glad for a chance to speak to you both in private.” He paused, glancing from one sister to the other. “Pray, tell me about your mother.”
At the mention of their mother, Lily stiffened, while Roslyn looked wary. “What do you want to know?”
