Georgianna’s heart started to pound, and for a moment her thoughts scattered. Somehow, she had known the earl would come to her tonight. There had been something in his stare earlier at the orchard, and though she had not understood the intent behind his regard, her body had warmed, and how her heart had pounded.
Taking a deep breath, she slowly rose from the bed, almost giggling to realize her knees were knocking.
“I…” The word stuck in her throat.
The bedroom was dimly lit by a small blaze on the hearth, leaving much of the room in shadow, yet his gaze arrowed in on her with arousing precision. The look in his eyes told her exactly why he was there, but surely, she could be mistaken in her naivete. “Why are you here?”
“A husband and wife should sleep in each other’s arms,” he drawled, his fingers deftly unknotting the towel at his waist, allowing the material to fall to the floor.
Her breath hitched and tangled inside her chest. “Daniel!” Greedily, she drank in the strong, powerful lines of his torso, the rigid sculpted muscles, trying to ignore the heat surging through her limbs and the thick stalk jutting so unabashedly at her.
“Ah…you are blushing, wife, how delightfully quaint.”
She backed away from him, watching his gaze flicker, his expression turned almost mocking. Georgianna stiffened her spine.Is this a test because he doubts me?That thought vanished almost instantly at the raw hunger she spied in his gaze.
He all but prowled into the room. He was beautiful in his nakedness, sensual, and so graceful.
“I have a question. Have we never shared a bed, my lady wife?”
“I… Please do recall we are very newly married,” she said shakily, feeling rather foolish, for she had never imagined in her mad ruse thatthiswould be a possibility, even with all their illicit and so very tempting kisses. Georgianna licked her lips that had gone dry; even without his memory, the earl was a randy libertine.
“Newly married, hmm? Is that to say I’ve never had you even with our desperate throes of passion? Not even on our wedding night?”
A wicked dart of heat curled low in her belly. “Yes.”
His eyes gleamed with carnal deviltry. “My memory says otherwise, wife.”
Her entire body went hot, especially the place between her thighs. “We…we did not get to consummate our union.” Oh God, her heart was beating too fast.
“Now, why does that not sound like me? Why did we not consummate? You said we married in a mad dash of burning passion.” His gaze swept over her body, searching and dissecting.
Georgianna lifted her chin, bracing for words of disbelief that she could have roused him in such a primal way.
“I believe you,” he murmured, taking another step closer. “Even standing in this goddamn awful cotton contraption you call a gown, you are an ache in my head and heart, and my mouth is watering for a taste of you, wife.”
Oooohhhhhh!She bit into the soft flesh of her bottom lip, desperate to stop the rush of warmth trickling from her belly down to her thighs. She clenched them tightly as if that would stop the evocative sensation, and his beautiful eyes gleamed with sudden heat and humor.
She stared at him in mute shock, unable to proffer any reply that would make sense to a man of his…experience and worldliness. “I… Our quarrel on the yacht halted your amorous advances.”
His lips quirked. “We have recovered from that quarrel.”
Georgianna cleared her throat. “We have. However, my menses have arrived,” she said in a desperate rush, hating that she had done this.
Another truth hovered on her tongue, pushing her to tell him they were not truly husband and wife. A black fright swept through Georgianna.And should I tell him the truth now…what then?
Her chest lifted on a ragged breath, her heart increasing its speed with every measured step he took closer. Then he was right there, with hardly a scant inch between their bodies, the sensual heat of him wrapping around her like a warm blanket. Daniel lifted his fingers, the backs of them brushing against the mounds that rose above the lowered neckline of her nightgown.
“How bloody pretty,” he breathed.
The wretched libertine!Georgianna’s breathing fractured.Not a libertine…my fake husband. Oh God. What had she gotten herself into?
“You are wounded, sir,” she said huskily.
“Daniel, my sweet…or husband…or dear…or my darling,” he drawled, his eyes darkening. “I think any one of those words I would like to hear from your lips.”
“But Albert…” She cleared her throat of its hoarseness. “Dr. Albert said no strenuous activity. It is not wise in any regard for you to agitate yourself.”
“Agitation?” He laughed, a low sound that warmed Georgianna, resonating deep inside her body. “Ah, my wife, sliding my cock into your pussy will be sweet and damn easy. There will be nothing taxing about it.” He glided a finger to her jawline. “If you are worried…I’ll accept you being on top.”
