She winced at the last bit, but Archie plowed ahead. “If you remain with this case, you could change the law, make life better for all women.”
“Archie… I can’t handle that responsibility.”
He leaned forward, clasped his trembling hands together, and propped them on his knees. “We don’t get to choose our responsibilities. We can only do our best with what we’ve given.” He nudged her shoulder with his. “And accept help when it’s offered.”
Her silence lingered so long he’d almost given up hope.
But then she spoke. “I want to try. With you.”
His eyes fell closed as the breath rushed from his lungs. “Good. So do I.”
It wasn’t until they were inside, settled in their respective beds, that he heard her words again.
I want to try with you.
Chapter 18
Marigoldrolledoverforwhat must have been the thousandth time, rearranged her pillow, and huffed. She never fell asleep easily, but knowing Archie was on the other side of the wall behind her made sleep impossible.
His mother and sisters had already been abed when they came inside and Archie showed her to where she’d be sleeping. She’d hardly taken notice of anything about the cozy chamber with sloped ceilings except for the door leading to another room just beyond.
Archie’s room.
He’d had the decency to flush when she noticed. “Louise and Polly shared a room until they argued so much my mother wanted to cast them out. I put the wall up, and there’s a lock on the door. You’ll have your privacy.”
She’d only been able to nod. Did she want to keep him out? “I trust you,” she’d said.
But now, as the hour had crept from late at night to early in the morning, she wondered if she could trust herself.
I want to try with you.
She wanted to be a different woman, one who wasn’t cowed into submission by fear of the unknown. Archie was no small part of this newfound confidence, but the desire she held for him—allof him, not just the pleasure he’d give her—was an impossible temptation. As much as he’d built her up, fortified her foundations, an affair with him would destroy her family, threaten everything she needed to survive.
If only no one would ever know.
The sound of a bed creaking and a soft moan reached her ears.Archie. She bit her lower lip, then rolled over until she was kneeling and rapped softly on the wall. “Are you awake?”
The sounds stopped. “Uh, yes. Are you?” She smiled, and his laugh was audible. “Lord, obviously you’re awake. That was a ridiculous question. Did I wake you?”
“No, I couldn’t sleep.” She hesitated, drew from her newly found confidence. “Do you want to open the door and talk?”
A long pause. “That’s not a good idea, Marigold.”
She tried to ignore the sting. “I apologize, I d-didn’t mean to bother you.”
“It’s not you,” he interrupted, his voice strained. “I was… Dammit, I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?”
This pause held weight. “I’m…” He hissed an oath, so low it vibrated through the wall. “I was touching myself, Marigold.”
“Oh,” she breathed as a heat pooled deep in her belly, pressing into her core. She’d pleasured herself to thoughts of her night with Archie on too many occasions to count, and knowing he might do the same…
“Should I leave you alone?” she asked, and he groaned. She heard the bed shifting, the steady footsteps approaching her door, and for a moment she wished he would burst through, crawl over her rapidly heating body and press her into the mattress, take her like she’d been imagining.
“Lock the door, Marigold.” His voice was rougher, lower than she’d ever heard it, and a bolt of worry replaced the lust swirling in her core.
She scrambled to the door, pushed the lock in place. “I locked it.”
