“You know full well she would not break your trust like that.” She gave a gentle tug on his hair, and he lifted his face. For a moment they stared at one another, and she tried to puzzle out the mysteries of this grief-stricken man. He’d been frantic for her, and the wild panic was still there, shadowing his warm hazel eyes. She brushed her hands through his hair, soothing him as best she could, and oddly it calmed her too.
“You should try to sleep, Red.” She was worried more about him than herself. Weariness lined his eyes and mouth.
He shook his head. “Not until you’re warm and fed.”
Later, Harriet emerged from the hot water of the tub and cocooned herself in a dressing gown. She joined Red, and they ate in silence. His face was dark and unreadable as he drank his wine and she hers.
“I should return to my chambers.” She rose from her chair, but he caught her arm.
“Wait. Stay here… With me. In my bed.” There was no hint of seduction in his eyes. She saw only the raw need to keep her close. She felt the same way.
“Red, I don’t think—”
“Please. I will only worry about you if I don’t have you in my arms.”
Harriet didn’t like the idea that she was being seen as an object of pity, but he did want her in his arms, and she readily admitted that she wanted that as well.
He added more logs to the fireplace while she pulled back the covers of his bed. She climbed in, and he settled beside her. Harriet shivered as she realized she was almost naked. He had but to remove the robe she wore…
Redmond brushed her cheek with the back of his hand and touched her shoulder where the robe slid down a few inches to expose it. His eyes gleamed in the dim light, and Harriet wanted nothing more than a moment to forget her fear, to feel safe in his arms, but she also wanted him.
She reached up to part her robe and rolled onto her back. He gazed down at her, at first confused, then surprised, and then, at last, desire glowed in his face, making him beautiful to her.
She curled her hand around his neck and drew his face down to hers. “Please, Red.” She didn’t need to say anything else. Her mouth met his hungrily. After a moment he moved his mouth down her body, kissing her collarbone, her breasts, his teeth scraping against sensitive skin and nipping until she was hot and flushed. His hands roamed her body, exploring her hips and thighs. She arched and hissed as he slid a finger into her wet folds, but soon she was rocking against his hand.
Harriet clawed at his shirt until he removed it. Redmond moaned as she slid a hand down between their bodies and stroked his erection through his trousers. She tried not to think about how this man seemed to rob her of all good sense, but the need she felt was half physical and half emotional, overpowering everything else.
“Please,” she repeated, and he rolled away from her to remove his trousers.
Then he was on top of her, gently parting her thighs. After settling into the cradle of her body, he kissed her fervently as she melted beneath him. He shifted, and she tensed as he started to enter her. But he kissed her again, and before she was ready to worry about it, he thrust inside her. The pinch she felt made her gasp, and she gripped him tightly by the shoulders. He remained still, and she drew deep breaths as she tried to adjust to feeling so full.
“Better?” he asked against her lips.
“Better,” she agreed and raised her hips in encouragement.
What followed was the most memorable experience of her life. Redmond joined his body with hers, their mouths fused in a seemingly endless kiss as he claimed her. Harriet never wanted this moment to end. She had tasted pleasure before, but now it was so much more. Her breasts rubbed against his chest and the smattering of hair there. She had never seen that before, the remarkable naked chest of a man. She ran her palms over him, adoring the feel of him beneath her hands. He pushed inside her over and over, the sensation stealing her breath and making her mad with desire. They moved without words, with nothing but the candlelight and the sounds of their breath surrounding them.
Passion for him and other deeper emotions pounded through her blood into her heart as she shattered beneath him. The searing need she’d felt moments before softened into the sweetest sense of contentment. Redmond tensed as he growled her name against her neck and then relaxed into her, a soft look of wonder in his eyes that made her eyes burn with tears. It was as though he hadn’t known what they’d shared could be like this. Was what had happened between them so different? Somehow more special than it was with others? Her heart cried out that it was, but she could not speak to it the way he could. Yet she dared not ask him. Instead, she cradled him to her, his head resting against her breasts until he withdrew from her and rolled onto his back.
“Come here,” he urged, and she sidled up against him. He tucked her head beneath his chin and wrapped one arm around her waist.
“I must confess something,” he said. “It’s important that you hear.”
She nodded tentatively, unsure of what he meant to say.
“I loved Millicent,” he said softly. Her contentment and pleasure at being in his arms quickly faded into the shadows. She tried to pull away, but he held her still, not letting her escape.
“Please listen, Harriet. I loved her, but I think now it was more the idea of love that I loved.” He sighed, trying to find the right words. “My brother was the fair one, the one with all the charms. I hoped Millicent would love me, would choose me. But she didn’t. Her father convinced her that I was the better choice for her family. All along she had loved my brother, but I was so ready for love myself, so ready for a family and happiness that I failed to see she didn’t want me. She cared about me, of course, but it wasn’t the same as how she felt about Thomas.”
Harriet hugged him tightly to her as her heart clenched in pain for him.
“What we have shared in the past few days has been infinitely more than I ever felt with Millicent. That’s what I meant to tell you. There’s something about you that soothes me. You don’t need to ruin a pleasant silence with speaking, but when we talk it’s genuine and interesting. You’re pure, and I don’t mean that in a carnal way. I mean…” Again, he struggled for words. “You speak to me not as a woman who is interested in a duke, but as a man. As myself.”
“I understand,” she assured him. For some reason, she had never wanted to think about his title. He was her Red. A man who feared love and yet craved it just as strongly. She understood that all too well.
Redmond played with a lock of her hair and held Harriet close as she relaxed into him. For the first time, she felt she could truly rest in this house. Perhaps the ghosts—for she now couldn’t doubt they existed and that they were speaking to her—had wanted this. She had felt their love for each other, but also their love for Redmond.
“Red, what happened to Thomas? I saw you save him from falling over the cliffs. How did he die? He didn’t show me everything…just what happened on the edge.”
