“Yes, yes. I know.” She nodded hurriedly, clearly trying to calm herself and struggling. “It is just…” When her breathing threatened to grow erratic again, Seth tried something new, uncertain why he thought it might be a good idea.
He raised her hand and placed her palm flat over his heart. Careful to avoid part of his scorched skin lest he fear her more.
“Feel this instead. The calm beat,” he murmured slowly. He tapped out his own heartbeat on the back of her hand.
Her beautiful blue eyes stared somewhere in the middle of his chest. Slowly, carefully, her fingers matched that rhythm, the touch repeated on his waistcoat.
Seth tried to push away the thrill of having her so close, touching him in such a way.
I am doing this for her. To help calm her. That is all.
Yet he was careful to shift his hips a little back from her. He was alone with Charity, a woman he was quite intoxicated by, as she had her hands on him. He rather feared his length would go hard just at the thought.
“There… is that better?”
A muscle in her cheek still twitched when she heard the next roll of thunder, but she did not recoil so much this time.
“You are safe,” he whispered, his voice deepening.
“You have a tender baritone,” she said suddenly, a small smile gracing her lips.
“I do?” He laughed, shaking his head. “I cannot say I have ever been paid such a unique compliment.”
“It is rather… comforting.”
He continued to tap out his heartbeat, hoping to mask the fact that her words had made it beat a little faster.
“Shall I escort you back to your chamber, my Lady?” He returned to the usage of her formal title, knowing it was only proper.
“I am no good sleeping alone.” The confession came suddenly. She shifted her hand down his chest, as though she was going topull back from him, yet she did not quite release him. The effect was her hand stopping somewhere in the center of his chest, much like it had done earlier that day when she had pulled him onto the bed with her.
Seth held back a growl that threatened to escape his throat. His attraction to her was only growing, the feeling intoxicating, headier than liquor.
“You wish to sleep… beside another?” he asked, struggling to form the words at all.
“It is a fear I developed after losing my sight,” she explained rather matter-of-factly. “What must you think of me, being afraid of storms and sleeping alone.” She lowered her chin and shook her head. “It is just, with not being able to see…” she waved her other hand in the air, “If someone else is there, it assures me I am safe. If no one is there, well, then I...”
“I completely understand,” he finished as she trailed off.
Seth thought of taking her to the servants’ quarters. He could ask one of the maids to come and sleep beside her, but when Charity’s hand shifted on his chest, moving further south still, he found a different suggestion tumbling from his lips.
“If it helps, I can sleep beside you in your chamber—on the floor, of course,” he quickly finished.
“You would do that?” Her pale blue eyes widened.
He would have liked to have suggested sleeping beside her on the bed, but that was a touch too scandalous, even for the night they had just shared. What he had already done bordered on the act of abduction. He could not take advantage of the poor woman by then suggesting she share a bed with him.
“Of course. Come, I shall return you to your chamber forthwith.” He stepped back, shifting her palm from his chest to his hand.
“Return me?” she giggled as they began to move, and the small sound nearly caused his heart to swoon, “I am hardly some valuable artifact, Your Grace.”
“During your stay, you may consider yourself as much,” he grinned boyishly.
Seth guided her through the house, telling her when there were obstacles, though it struck him she held herself with confidence wherever she walked, rather used to mapping out places in her mind. When they reached her chamber, he led her to the bed, and she sat down on the edge. He made to release her, but she caught his hand with both of her own once again.
“I wanted to thank you, Your Grace,” she whispered softly. “For everything you have done for me tonight.” Her smile grew as an adorable crimson blush spread across her cheeks. “By the heavens, I do not know how to thank you properly or to repay you. Or whether I could.”
Seth was quite intoxicated by that smile. He could think ofonething, something that would be a way for them to share in the tenderness of the moment.
