“No, I don’t. I think you have already proven that.”
Something in his face shuttered, hurt hardening into anger. “I think you have it backwards. Maybe it’s you who don’t love me enough to put me first. To embrace this new life.”
Her heart lurched. “It’s not that,” she said quickly. “I love you too much to let our love die a slow, quiet death at your country estate.”
He turned away, raked a hand through his hair. “And what of children, Alice? What then? Will we raise them apart—me at Greystone, you here in London? Do you evenwantchildren?” His voice cracked, and he spun back to her. “In the past we avoided it, yes—but since we’ve been back together, we haven’t taken precautions. Even now, you could be carrying my child.”
Her lips parted, but she had to take a breath before answering. Her arms came instinctively to embrace her middle. “If I am…” Her voice trembled. “If I am, then of course I would return to you. To raise the child properly. To see him or her acknowledged as your heir.”
His eyes cooled, like shutters slamming down. “So you will come back if there’s a child. But not forme?”
She flinched. “Nate, it’s not like that—”
“Isn’t it?”
Her throat closed. What had she meant? What did she want? She wanted Nathaniel. But she didn’t want the title. And unfortunately, now Nathanielwasthe title. She couldn’t find the words to untangle the knot of love and fear twisting inside her.
“We can talk about it…at a later time,” she said at last, desperate to escape the intensity of his gaze. “Right now, we have an appointment with Dalton. We’re close to finding this mysterious Lord A. If we give him our description, it will narrow the suspects. We should keep our energy on the mission. After it’s done, we can talk. And by then…” She trailed off, and her hand inevitably went to her stomach. “We might know if there’s reason for concern.”
His breath came hard and uneven. For a long moment, he said nothing, as though he would refuse. Then his features smoothed out, hiding his feelings behind an impassive mask.
“Very well.” His voice was smooth. Measured. Where had all the emotion from just a moment ago gone? “It will be as you wish.”
She blinked. What did he mean by that? Had he just agreed to let her go? He wouldn’t even fight for her? She had not expected his sudden acquiescence. And wasn’t sure she liked it.
He walked a few steps and bent to retrieve his trousers from where he had tossed them on the floor in the heat of passion. Her gaze immediately snapped to his sculpted arse. Were those the imprints of her nails on his flesh? Heat crept up her face as she realized that yes, the five crescent marks in the shape of a semicircle on the curve of each of his buttocks could be nothing else. The memory of her hands digging into the muscles of his backside as they made love a second time, him pumping into her slower deeper, brought a fresh wave of heat that expanded from the roots of her hair all the way to her core, causing it to clench on emptiness, suddenly aching for him again. God, but she was insatiable in her want for this man.
“Are you admiring my arse?” he asked sardonically, looking over his shoulder as he pulled on his trousers. She watched regretfully as his perfectly formed posterior was covered.
“N-no. I mean. Yes, but…” What, Alice? He caught you staring. Practically salivating over him. How are you going to pretend disinterest? “I noticed I may have scratched you. I’m sorry.”
His twisted smile was pure deviltry. Temptation and sin rolled into one. “Oh, you definitely scored my arse. I can feel it. You should see how yours looks. All pink and sore from my spanking. But you have nothing to be sorry about, love. Every time we move, the burn will remind us of how good it felt when I sank into your hot, wet cunny. How crazed you were, screaming my name. How much you enjoyed having my cock in you that it made you claw my flesh in a frenzy, desperate to hold me against you.”
“Nathaniel! You shouldn’t say such things. I thought we had agreed…”
“We agreed to have a relationship based solely on sex and pleasure, didn’t we? Isn’t that what you offered yesterday?
“I…no. I didn’t mean it like that.” And he didn’t have to take to the idea with such alacrity.
“Oh, but you did. You want me. And I want you, so I’m agreeable. If you don’t want to be my wife, I’ll treat you like my mistress, and I’m going to fuck you so often, and so thoroughly, that my back and arse are going to be scored raw…almost as raw as your pussy when I’m done with you.”
“Nathaniel!”
Good God, what had come over him? This went beyond his usual wicked tongue. His words were raw, shocking, arousing and…alarming. What was he up to? She knew him enough to distrust his sudden change in mood. She studied him, searching for signs of deceit.
Something hit her in the chest, and she instinctively caught it. Her chemise. Nathaniel had thrown it at her.
“Go on. Get dressed now. As you said, we need to go see Dalton. I’m eager to finish this mission. There are many more pleasurable ways to pass our time.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. He was up to something. And he must know that she wouldn’t be fooled. Which meant he didn’t care whether she knew or not. He was toying with her, and whatever Nathaniel was planning, he was sure of his victory. Yes, she could tell he wasn’t being entirely sincere. It didn’t mean she knew what game he was playing. Or how to beat him.
CHAPTER 28
Mistress,hisarse—hiswell-scoredarse that she had clawed in the frenzy of passion. There was no fucking way he was going to let her go. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she loved him as much as he loved her. She was afraid, was all.
Now that he knew she hadn’t been unfaithful, it was as if his mind had cleared. Everything made sense, the discordant pieces falling into place. The conflict before, he realized, had not been caused by his belief that she had been unfaithful, but rather by his brain refusing to fully believe the information his eyes had provided.
He had been torn, because the evidence had been damning, but everything he knew about Alice, about their relationship, just didn’t support it. Now more than ever, he wanted to be done with this investigation. He needed to get back to the more important business of getting his wife back. His wife. Not a mistress. Not a lover.
