“You do realize,” he pointed out, “that it is four o’clock in the afternoon.”
She nodded. “Father and his friends are attending this evening’s play in the amphitheatre. No one will look for me until breakfast.”
Eli blinked. “This is an all-night seduction? What about your maid?”
“We have house maids, but I’ve no lady’s maid. Not that it matters. Our servants don’t carry tales, and even if they did...” She shrugged. “Half the village has already seen me in breeches. I lost any hope of being ‘reputable’ long beforeyoupaid a visit.”
He locked the door just to be safe.
“Can you be more specific on what exactly you’re proposing?” he enquired politely. “Just so I’m clear on the parameters.”
“More specific...” She tapped the side of her chin. “Unlimited kisses in unlimited places, accompanied by unlimited lovemaking...”
He choked. “Unlimited lovemaking?”
“Within the constraints of our ten-day agreement, of course.” She motioned to the clock on the mantel. “Unlimited lovemaking is for the next forty-eight hours. Well, the next forty, most likely. I imagine you’ll want to be on your way back to London with as much daylight as possible.”
“On my way,” he repeated. “To London.”
“I’m not proposing marriage,” she reminded him. “I’m proposing a tryst. Temporary lovers. No ties to one another, and no contact once you leave.”
This was... not the arrangement Eli wanted.
It was also the best arrangement he was likely to get.
He had proposed twice. Once, under duress, and not very elegantly. A “Here I am on your doorstep, and what’s this? A marriage license in my pocket!” sort of gambit.
His proposal at the pavilion had been in earnest, not that it mattered. She had turned him down then, and was preemptively curtailing any future thoughts of marriage now. Her only expectation was that he would leave when their time ran out.
The terms were clear.
It was up to Eli to decide which was better: a memory of having it all or not knowing what he was missing.
“Well, botanist?” She gave him an arch look. “Keen for a little deflowering?”
“There’ll be nothing ‘little’ about it,” he growled, and covered her mouth with a kiss.
She was right to keep the clock ticking. Perhaps the best thing for both of them was not to marry. If Eli defied his father, he’d suffer untold revenge, but would eventually inherit his father’s fortune.
Olive would keep her farm and own it outright without any potential ugliness.
Meanwhile, Eli’s medical funding… would not happen. All the people he could have helped would go unsaved. But at least Eli would be in London surrounded by the best apothecaries and physic gardens. He wouldn’t have a cure, but he could do something good.
He could not hurt Olive at any cost.
“Remember,” she murmured as they bumped against the bed. “This means nothing.”
It meant nothing to her.
For Eli, ten days wasn’t nearly long enough. But it was all they had.
If she could manage, so could he.
“This means nothing,” he echoed. “Don’t worry. I’m definitely not emotionally entangled.”
A blatant falsehood, but it seemed the one she wanted to hear.
Eli would lock away the part of him that had pined for her for years. The part of him that had fallen even harder once he came to know her, and discovered the real woman was far better than any boyhood fantasy. It was just his heart. Not required of him at all.
