He stared at his folded hands in front of him. “If I tell you my secret, do you promise not to be critical.”
Rachel sensed the great magnitude he wanted to share. What could have affected him so? Why would he fear her criticism? Had he committed a crime? She smoothed his queue behind his collar. “Never would I condemn you.”
He tugged at his cuff.
What kernel of his life dragged him down? Her throat ached for the gifted man whose pride bound him with chains of suffocation.
“I have never been with a womancompletely.”
That was all. She smiled inwardly, happy he wasn’t an ax murderer. Of course, she understood his humiliation. “But you were married.”
“Celeste was young, panicky, so I gave her time. When I did try to make advances she laughed at me, called me a bumbling fool. I didn’t know what I was doing wrong.”
Her heart skidded. Anthony existed in a prison of his own self-doubt fueled by a heartless woman. How she would like to slap Celeste.
“I was on the cusp of discovery, spending night and day in my laboratory, and then I identified my notes had been stolen.”
Rachel nodded, conceding to the logic.
“Needless to say, I can’t get you out of my mind and it is driving me mad. More than anything I want to be with you, like an equationtwo attracted individuals proportional to the product of their affections and inversely proportional to the square of the separation between the two.”
Rachel let out a breath as the spell he wove around her heightened.
“In other words, I want your body pressed against my heart, and your hands spreading my thoughts, enduring the curves of my passions and harnessing my hopes.”
He wanted her.
“Oh, Anthony, the way you made me feel in the tub…”
Anthony placed a gentle finger beneath her chin and she vibrated with the nervous energy of a doe ready to leap through the forest thicket. “So we both start on even ground. Can you imagine what there is to discover?”
“Yes,” she agreed, enjoying the familiarity of his touch. She trusted Anthony.
“You understand that everything I do is designed to eliminate randomness and eradicate chance. To deduce every possibility, predict every response, and mold experimentation toward a desired outcome.”
The intensity of his regard pinned her to the sofa, and then the tension in his coiled muscles, the pulse throbbing at a vein in his strong neck.
“I understand your fears, Rachel.”
She dragged her palms across her skirts. He referred to her near defilement.
“There is a bottom of society that has evil intent…that wants power over another human being. That is not the relationship between a man and a woman. The person who attacked you should be hanged. I would kill anyone who tried to harm you. I treasure you, Rachel, honor and adore you. At any time, you want me to stop, I will. If you want to cry, we can hold hands.”
Tears gathered in her eyes, grateful for his patience and compassion. Sunshine and hope, rising out of the world of shadows and pain. His large hand took her face and held it gently, his thumb brushing the wetness away, his touch almost unbearable in its tenderness. His hands slipped into her hair and brought her closer.
There was nothing more that Anthony desired to do but kiss her. He waited for her to bolt, would understand immediately—he intuitively knew her thoughts.
The candle sputtered then breathed its last, leaving them in a swath of blazing moonlight. He felt her yielding and then restrained himself, for he needed to keep his head. Yet images of her in the bathing chamber and her reaction that afternoon exploded, the discovery of what she was reading, and now, the transparent silk of her gown and what lay beneath wreaked havoc with his senses. She was his, always would be, and he liked that fact. His body heated like electrical fire as her soft curves melted into him. He pushed back her robe, and hungrily his mouth covered hers, his tongue tracing the contours.
“You’ve defined the question, Anthony. Shouldn’t we begin to test hypothetical explanations through observation and measurement of the subject?”
She wanted him.
Her hands slid up his arms and linked about his neck, her fingers winding in the tendrils of his hair in the back of his neck. Aroused now, his one hand lowered to the small of her back while his lips moved down her throat, following the elegant curve to the collarbone, right where the edge of her gown met skin. He nudged it down, tasting one new inch of her, exploring the soft, salty sweetness, and shuddering with pleasure when he cupped the rounded swell of her breast with his hand, feeling her nipple firm under his touch.
“I do not want to frighten you.” He kissed her, reached down and brought up the silk of her gown, feeling the long satiny smoothness of her knee and thigh. The minute she moaned, his tongue plunged into her mouth and the kiss exploded. His hand cupped the soft flesh of her bottom and pulling her against him, making her aware of his aroused body. She stiffened at the forced intimacy, and then pressed her soft body into him.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” he rasped.
