“No.” She took a bite of bread.
Like everything else she had consumed during her stay at Haines Court, it was delicious. Soft and rich and still warm, having been freshly baked. If she did not take care, her lady’s maid was going to have to take out the seams of her dresses before she left here.
“You are frowning again.” Her gaze lifted to his, the brilliant blue as striking as ever. “I have made it my mission to chase all those frowns and replace with them smiles and laughter.”
Why did he have to be so observant? So tender? So caring? So diabolically handsome?
So impossible to resist?
“I did not realize I was frowning,” she said, thinking how inane her conversation had become. How stilted in her efforts to keep from speaking of anything intimate.
More wine. Izzy simply needed more wine. She finished her second glass, a gentle glow settling over her. Zachary tipped the bottle, refilling it for her.
“Am I making you nervous,cariad?”
His low query forced her gaze to meet his again. “Why should you think so?”
“Because you keep looking at the bed over my shoulder, frowning, nibbling on your lip, and tossing back your wine.” He raised his knee, draping his arm over it in a careless pose. “You need not fear I will ravish you. I planned a picnic, not a seduction.”
“I would not mind if you had planned one,” she blurted, and then could have kicked herself, but it was too late now.
The words had been spoken. And they hung in the air between them now.
His expression shifted, becoming more alert. Intense. “You are saying you would have preferred a seduction to a picnic?”
“I…” She shook her head, feeling foolish and overwhelmed and ridiculously needy. “I should not have spoken.”
“Yes, you should have.” He rose to his feet in one swift, graceful motion, offering her his hand. “Yes, you bloody well should have.”
She stared for a moment, unblinking, knowing that everything would change if she accepted it, because this was not merely a raw physical joining as their lovemaking in the carriage had been, a surrendering to the passion flaring between them. This time would be different. But her body seemed to have a mind of its own. Suddenly, her hand was in his, and he was pulling her to her feet.
He led her away from the blanket, where she narrowly avoided stepping on a plate of fowl and a jar of jam. To the center of the room, where he stopped them both.
“I have been doing my damnedest to take it slowly with you.” His fingers tightened on hers. “To grant you the time you need to learn to trust me again. But if you don’t tell me to stop, I’m going to get you out of that gown and into that bed, and I’m going to make love to you until the damned sun comes up tomorrow morning.”
She ought to do as he said. Deny him. Deny them both.
She should continue guarding her heart and keeping him at a distance. It was safer that way. He could never hurt her again.
If only the desire pulsing within her could be tamed. If only it could be controlled, banished, never to return. But she was aching for him, the flesh between her thighs wet and needy, and she wanted him inside her again. Filling her. Fucking her. Wicked words, sinful thoughts. They rained through her like a waterfall, uncontrollable.
Tell him to stop. Say the words, you ninny.
“Kiss me,” she said instead. “I want you, Zachary.”
* * *
They fellinto the bed without bothering to draw back the counterpane, a tangle of naked limbs and yearning bodies. Their clothing and undergarments had been shed in haste and were strewn over the chamber in a haphazard sprawl. Their luncheon picnic remained spread on the floor, barely touched. Outside, rain battered the windows and within, the fire crackled in the grate and would soon need more wood.
But he did not give a damn.
Not about anything other than the woman in his arms and the need to be inside her.
She hadn’t told him to stop, thank Christ. Instead, she had told him to kiss her. Had told him she wanted him. The polite distance between them had disappeared the moment his mouth had found hers.
He kissed her now, deeply, voraciously, showing her his desperate need. How much he wanted her, too. How much helovedher. Her tongue moved against his, and she tasted sweet as ever. Decadent. Mysterious.
Delicious.
