“It won’t budge. Must have been sealed off and they haven’t torn down the staircase. Come on. We’ve got a lot of the castle to search before daybreak,” Dunkeswick said.
“There’s a few choice items I’d like to take a closer look at before we go. The Duke has an eye for things of value.”
He sniggered at his own joke and Nathan snarled, hands clenching into fists. The sound of the brothers faded, then silence fell.
“Is it locked?” Emily asked.
“It is. My father used this room as a…a place to lock things away. It can only be unlocked from the outside.”
“From the outside?” Emily exclaimed.
Nathan sighed and resumed his seat, rubbing his forehead against the fogginess of strong drink.
“I’m afraid we are stuck here until morning. When I am not found in my chambers, Marshall will come here to check. It is often my habit to seek solitude in this room. He has a key.”
“Can’t we shout for help?” Emily demanded.
“The walls are thick. You could open that hatch over there and shout from the rooftop. But then your cousins would hear you.”
Nathan heard her sharp intake of breath. The deduction had come to him quickly following this new and unexpected development. The two men searching for a woman. A woman fleeing them who should not have been awake and should not have had reason to flee them.
“How did you know?” Gemma asked.
Nathan chuckled. “Because I am no fool. I knew you were not Emily Carlisle when you told me that your hair was still dark.”
“Emily’s hair is not dark.”
Nathan shook his head, smiling ruefully. “It is as golden as a field of ripe corn. Why don’t you take a seat before you tire from exhaustion.”
He listened to a chair being moved, and then Gemma’s sigh. The sound of a large bundle softly thumping onto the floor told him she had been preparing to run and presumably taking items of his property with her.
“Where were you intending to go?” he asked.
“York or Leeds,” Gemma replied.
Nathan laughed. “On foot? Carrying a heavy bundle. Your cousins would have overtaken you at daybreak!”
“What else was I to do?” Gemma demanded and Nathan could hear the tears fraying the edges of her voice.
He mollified his tone. “I apologize for making light of your predicament. Do you wish to…”
It was then that he realized that he was naked from the waist up. Mortified, he leaped to his feet. The intense embarrassment combined with the alcohol he had consumed served to dim his faculties at that crucial moment. His head spun and his balance wavered. One foot caught something on the floor that he had not expected. In a heartbeat, his balance was gone and he was falling. Gemma must have seen the looming disaster because he suddenly felt her hands upon him. She must have risen and attempted to catch him. But his body was too heavy, too substantial for a slender young woman to hold. With a startled cry, Gemma was carried backward to land on the stone floor with a thump, Nathan atop her.
As the fall of his body was arrested by Gemma’s, his head dipped and his lips touched her cheek. Before he could raise himself away from her, she turned her head. Her lips brushed against his. For a moment, both froze, lips in tantalizingly brief contact. Her breath was warm against his mouth. The scent of her was maddening. It made him want to put his arms around her and hold her tightly against him. The image flashed through his mind of her naked, pale skin against his own. Hard, scarred muscle pressed to delicate, feminine flesh. Her lips pressed upwards, firming the kiss, and chasing away thought. His hand cupped her head, holding her mouth against his as he returned the kiss. He savored the taste of her, biting her lower lip and touching her tongue with his own.
She moaned against him, wordlessly, and he lowered them both to the floor.
CHAPTERTEN
Gemma was lost to reason, to time and place. She touched the Duke’s face, following the contours and angles that made him seem so harsh. Now, he felt soft and gentle. The power of his body took her breath away, rendering her utterly helpless before his desire. The fact of that desire and the strength that it fueled made her feel weak with pleasure. His kisses were explosions of fire within her that made her feel as though her veins were lit up with flows of molten gold. Every movement of her body brought a movement of his which drove spikes of sensation through her. She wanted to speak his name, to whisper it, savor it on her tongue. But she didn’t know what it was.
“I don’t know your name,” she whispered in between fervent kisses.
The Duke’s lips were exploring her cheek and then finding the lobe of her ear. The words barely left her before she became a squirming, giggling, sighing mess.
“Nathan,” he said breathlessly, lifting his head so that she could see his face.
It was a courtesy, she could see that. It made no difference to him but allowed her to look into his eyes when he spoke to her.
