“Yes, and I decided she should move on. I delivered her to her brother—and good riddance.”
“I don’t suppose she was very happy about it.”
“She wasn’t, but she’s gone, so you needn’t be concerned about her.”
Her mind raced with a hundred pretty visions. She could picture lazy afternoons and nights of passion where their frolicking never ended. There would be quiet chats and emotional bonding and poignant intimacy that would keep them occupied until . . . when?
She scowled at him. “What would I do there, Charles?”
“I don’t have any answers, but my bedchamber is so bloody empty without you. Won’t you come home?”
It was a dangerous question, and she tamped down the eager response that yearned to burst out.
“I have to ponder your request,” she said, “and I have to discuss it with Libby. If I agreed to tarry for a bit, I’d grow too besotted, and I don’t trust how you’d treat me or where I’d be when you were through with me.”
“What if I was never through with you? What if every minute was grand and you stayed forever?”
“I’m not a green girl, Charles, and you’re not the only aristocrat who ever seduced me. The word forever doesn’t exist for a disparate couple like you and me. Don’t pretend about it.”
He leaned over and kissed her. She hadn’t expected it, so she hadn’t realized she should ward him off. She’d always been an easy target for him, so she kissed him back with much more enthusiasm than she should have displayed.
He drew away, and they both sighed as if she’d consented, but she hadn’t. If she went to Roland, how long might she remain? No doubt, once gossip spread that he was scandalously consorting with a mistress in the manor, he’d kick her out again.
Would the joy of the sojourn cancel out the subsequent despair? She’d never been one to rue and regret. Should she relent? Might it be worth it?
“I can’t decide,” she said. “There are too many ramifications to consider.”
He grinned, wearing her down. “Without Millicent, I’m in desperate need of a female to run my house and serve as my hostess. It could be you.”
“In your dreams maybe.”
“We could lie to the neighbors and insist you’re simply my special friend.”
“Yes, I’m sure they’d believe it was entirely innocent—right up until they tarred and feathered you for being an immoral libertine.”
“I might risk any punishment to have you back.”
“Don’t tell me that,” she said. “If you spew nonsense, I’ll start liking you again.”
“I’ve behaved like a saint for too many years, and it’s probably time for me to behave badly. Say yes. Say you’ll come.”
She gazed at him, studying his handsome face, and the Devil was whispering in her ear.
Why not go to Roland? Why not love him for as long as he’ll allow it?
But he was urging her to walk down a hazardous road, and she had to be careful.
“Let me think about it,” she said. “That’s all I can promise for now.”
“I won’t quit pestering you until you give me the correct answer, so I don’t understand why you don’t put me out of my misery and agree immediately.”
“I’ll think about it,” she repeated more sternly. “And there would have to be some rules in place first.”
“Rules about what?”
“About how we’d end it after you’re weary of me. You’d have to swear you’d never evict me on the spur of the moment merely because you were angry.”
His cheeks flushed. “Gad, I’m such a pompous ass, aren’t I?”
“You definitely can be, but I’m fond of you anyway.”
“I have to try harder to ingratiate myself.”
“I admit you’re not making much progress. How will you rectify the situation?”
She shouldn’t have inquired. Once he’d kissed her, it was all over but the shouting. A hot gleam flooded his eyes, the one that flared when he was contemplating sexual activity.
On observing it, she shook her head in exasperation. “We’re fighting, and I’m still irked by what a callous bastard you can be, but you’re focused on carnal mischief.”
“I’m a man. It’s all we think about. For years, I had stopped thinking about it, but you’ve enticed me, and it would be cruel of you to refuse to keep my flame lit—and you’ve never been cruel.”
“No, just gullible.”
“Is your bedroom upstairs? Let’s sneak up there and roll around like a pair of naughty adolescents.”
“Can you really suppose I’ll fall into your lap simply because you’re begging?”
“Yes, I really suppose that, and I’m not begging. I’m asking. I haven’t had you flat on your back in ages, so I view it as a perfectly valid question.”
She glared at him, then at the foyer where she could see the stairs leading up to her room. “I’ll show you where it is, you irritating roué, and it doesn’t matter what you say. You’re begging, but then, I love it when a man begs. It’s gotten me in all sorts of trouble in my life though.”
She stood, clasped his hand, and dragged him away.
Charles tiptoed into Libby’s foyer, and he was grinning, but preening too. He’d left Fish sleeping in her bed, and he’d crept out, feeling happier than he could ever remember being.
Before he’d arrived, a dalliance had been the last thing on his mind. On learning of Penny’s brash deed, he’d been anxious to talk with someone who would commiserate, and Fish had been the only one who’d seemed appropriate to the task. But after they’d kissed, he’d realized that a torrid romp with her would cure much of what was currently ailing him.
She’d spent a week at Roland, but he’d grown used to having her around. He relished her sassy attitude and pithy conversation, and she’d never been in awe of him. She never gushed or fawned, and she was always just who she appeared to be: a shrewd, practical, and independent female who tantalized him beyond his limit.
He’d pressured her to return to Roland, but he hadn’t yet convinced her. He’d give her a few days to relent, but if she didn’t,
