Here was the crux of her quarrel with him, she reminded herself. He wanted to marry her. Likely to get his hands on her share of the Winter fortune. She did not want to marry anyone. Most especially not a disarming rake.
“If I do not get these sodden breeches off and get beneath that fur with you, I will be fighting off a lung infection of my own,” he countered, reaching the last button on his falls. “Unless you want to be responsible for my demise, sweet, I suggest you forget your notion of propriety.”
She bit her lip and averted her gaze at the last possible second, just before he began tugging the breeches down his hips. Everything was even hotter, just knowing he was disrobing. The sound of the fabric sliding down his legs alone was enough to have her squirming uncomfortably beneath the heavy warmth of the fur.
“I do not want to be responsible for your demise, my lord,” she told him, at last finding her voice. “I am sure there is an endless list of ladies who would mourn you.”
She had not meant the last to emerge with bitterness, but somehow, it did.
“There is only one lady I would wish to mourn me,” he said, and then he was sliding beneath the fur alongside her, his large body crowding her in a way she liked too much. “You.”
His words shocked her almost as much as his presence did.
She turned to him, startled at the proximity of his face to hers. They were touching, hip to hip. And his mouth was far too close a temptation. She tried to regain herself, to be stern. Had she not told herself, at the onset of this madness, that she could control her mind even if she could not control her reaction to him?
When had her mind become as unruly as the rest of her?
The answer came to her swiftly as she fell headlong into his startlingly clear blue gaze. She took note, once more, of the rich hues buried within the depths of his eyes: gray, green, and violet circling the obsidian discs of his pupils. The blue was truly a blend of at least a dozen other colors. At once so simple and yet deeply complicated.
Much like the way she felt for him.
“Have I shocked you?” he asked, his voice, like his expression, almost tender.
“You are charming me again,” she said.
He studied her intently. “Have Ievercharmed you, Pru Winter?”
Only every second she spent in and out of his presence.
“You have certainly tried, I believe,” she said instead of admitting the troubling truth.
He leaned toward her, so near his nose nearly brushed hers and their foreheads almost touched. His breath fell hot upon her lips, an almost-kiss. “Now for the true question, the only one which matters. Have I succeeded?”
Of course he had. He was now, drat him. She had just done her best to escape him and his maddening presence and the confusion he had created inside her. But he had dragged her back into his web of silken seduction.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked, searching his gaze for the answer she sought.
A slight smile curved his lips. “Why am I doing what, sweet?”
Her heart gave a pang at his endearment. She firmly banished it, summoning up her resolve. “Any of this. It all began with you following me. Why?”
“I told you the truth that day, Pru,” he told her solemnly, before a shudder went through him. “My brother wanted to make you his duchess, but he is dreadful at talking to the fairer sex. I thought to ease the waters. We had a wager, you see, that I could help him secure the bride of his choosing.”
“You were following me because of a wager,” she repeated.
He had the grace to look shamefaced. “Yes. But, it did not take me long to realize there was no chance of me allowing you to wed my brother, regardless of how much I love him.”
“How noble,” she commented acidly. “You truly expect me to believe this, my lord?”
He shrugged, shivering once more. “It is the truth, Pru.”
He was cold. Because he had chased after her. And he had tended to her first.
She sighed, knowing what she was about to do went against her better judgment. “You may scoot nearer to me if you wish. I am significantly warmer than you are, I would wager.”
“That would not be proper,” he pointed out instead of instantly sidling nearer as she had supposed he would.
But then his teeth gave a little chatter.
