Cordelia tapped her chin. “Well, for us, there was an element of danger involved. They were saving us. Mary doesn’t have the threat of real violence hanging over her head but…”
Grace spread her hands in front of her. “What if we fabricated it?”
“What?” Mary asked, her stomach twisting. She didn’t like where this was going. “I don’t think…”
“She could fall into the Thames,” Grace raised a finger. “Or be in danger of a runaway carriage.”
Diana gasped and Mary was certain her cousin would put a stop to this madness. “Or we could have one of our husbands attempt to kidnap her so Sin would have to save her.”
“You’ve lost your senses,” she said. “We’re not tricking him in any way. It’s a terrible idea. After what he’s been through—”
“I think it has merit,” Diana sniffed, her dark hair glinting in the sun.
“That’s enough,” Minnie said from just behind Mary. “We’ll trust Mary to find her own way.” She leaned down and kissed Mary’s cheek. “But ask us for help, would you? You’ve done so much for us, don’t be afraid to ask us to return the favor.”
Mary nibbled her lip. In this, there wasn’t much they could do to help. Mary had gone and fallen in love with a man who didn’t love her back. Was there anything she could do for herself?
Sin sat at his desk watching the sun sink below the buildings in the distance. He’d spent the afternoon mired in reports from his land and the business, which had been a welcome distraction from his thoughts of the blonde-haired beauty flitting about his home.
He’d caught scraps of sound from Anne and Mary as they moved about the house. A laugh here, a crash there. Each one pulled at his legs, making his feet itch to find the two most important women in his life. He loved Anne with all his heart but he was beginning to think that Mary might claim it as well.
Which stole his breath. He pushed back from the desk, banging the chair into the wall behind. What was happening to him?
“Sin?” a feminine voice called from the other side of the door.
Mary. He skirted around the desk, crossing the room in a couple large strides. He yanked open the door to find her standing on the other side with her fist raised to knock.
He reached for her hand and pulled her into the room, closing the door behind her. After the path his thoughts had travelled, somehow holding her in his arms seemed the perfect solution to his fear over his feelings. “Don’t call me that.” And then he gathered her into his arms crushing her against his chest.
“What should I call you then?” She placed her hands on his shoulders.
He raised a brow as her body fit against his. He drew in a deep breath, breathing in her scent. She smelled of vanilla and wildflowers. Without thinking, he dropped his nose into her neck, surrounding himself with her. “Call me Cole,” he said. “It seems far more fitting for my wife than Sin.”
Her lips grazed his shoulder, soft and tender. “Cole,” she repeated. Then again. “Cole.” The second one came out as almost a sigh.
He loved the sound more than he could express with words. It shivered down his spine, settling in his groin and tightening both his chest and his cock. “The way you say my name. It makes me want you so much. I—”
Her lips travelled to his neck. “Cole,” she murmured against his skin, so the vibration of her voice echoed down into his soul.
Pulling back, he turned his head to capture those lips with his own. It was a simple kiss, the joining of two pairs of lips, but somehow, it was so much more. The touch spoke of feelings no words could. His passion for her, his growing conviction that he loved her, but also, under that, his fear. What if something happened to her? “Mary. We’re not married yet. I…” He didn’t know how to say that since Clara’s death, he hadn’t been with another woman. The intimacy had been more than he could bear.
She skimmed her hands across his shoulders in a light touch. “I’ve never been with a man.” She kissed him then. “We don’t have to do any of that today.”
He straightened, looking down into the exquisite palette of her face, the ache inside him intensifying. Inwardly, however, he berated himself. She’d loved and lost too, and she needed something from him now. The way she touched him, the way she’d sighed out his name. This wasn’t just about him. “What is it you would like to do?”
Her lip trembled as it parted. “I just came to check on you. I know my family can be rough. And then…” She drew in a breath searching his eyes.
“Then?” he asked.
She gripped his shoulders tighter. “I’ve never experienced any passion at all really. I just…”
Sin understood. And he knew just what to do.
Chapter Eleven
Mary thought she might be going to hell for her wanton behavior. Never mind her thoughts. Those were naughty.
But Cole had tucked her against him, the hard feel of his body making her insides turn to jelly. Even more exciting was the stiff man parts pressing into her much softer belly. She ached with desire to know more, to experience the passion he effortlessly brought out in her.
He brushed his thumb across her lips and then he dropped his mouth to hers again. This kiss ignited the fire inside her as he slanted her lips open and brushed his tongue against hers. She held tight to his shoulders, her knees threatening to buckle.
But, apparently, he wasn’t done with her. A thick carpet lay under their feet. With his hands tight about her waist, he guided her back until they were both on the floor, her on the carpet and him perched above her, his mouth still
