The gesture shook her. She wanted to tug her hand away, and yet she found herself oddly reluctant to do so, to sever the contact.
Lottie bit her lip, summoning her reserve. “You won’t change my mind.”
He brought her hand to his lips for a fervent kiss. “I have better means of persuasion than words.”
She knew. Oh, how she knew. Had he not just demonstrated them, after all? And still, her body stirred at the sensual intent in his green eyes. But Lottie also was cognizant of the fact that she needed to remain stalwart. To not allow the protective walls she’d rebuilt around herself to crumble.
Suddenly, it occurred to her that perhaps he thought he could wield pleasure against her as a means of persuasion. Heavens, he likely thought her little better than Cat being swayed by a lump of warm cheese.
She tugged her hand away. “You can’t bed me into marrying you, Brandon.”
He shrugged. “Perhaps not. Or perhaps I can.”
Her eyes narrowed. “There is noperhaps, you rogue. Nothing you can do shall alter my opinion on the matter.”
He tossed the bedclothes away. “Don’t marry me, then. I’ll marry Lady Lavinia and breed her until she gives me an heir and a spare.”
His words were cold. Cutting. But it wasn’t just that. They burrowed beneath her skin. Found a tender, raw place inside Lottie she’d no longer believed was vulnerable. For a moment, it felt as if her very breath were frozen in her lungs.
Oh dear God.
When had she come to care for him so deeply? When had she so thoroughly devastated her own rule that she must never develop feelings for a lover?
She tried not to look at Brandon, but it was impossible. He was so virile, so potent, so beautifully formed, all lean muscle and masculine strength.
“Youshouldmarry her,” she forced herself to say, injecting a contrived lack of concern into her voice. “Lady Lavinia would make a perfect duchess, and I’m certain she would bear you all the children you require.”
All the sweet languor from their earlier lovemaking had fled, chased by the grim reality that their continued association was not just unwise, but impossible. She was losing the jagged shards of her heart to Brandon, and she could not bear to suffer beneath the agony of a one-sided marriage again. He’d not spoken a word of tender sentiment.Marry me, he said, as if it were as simple as blinking her eyes.
No, she couldn’t do that. And she couldn’t remain here either. The sun drew higher in the sky by the moment. She threw down the bedclothes and slipped from the bed, cool morning air drifting around her as she hastily retrieved her flung garments from the night before.
“I don’t want to marry Lady Lavinia,” he said quietly from the bed.
A part of her rejoiced, but she tamped it ruthlessly down.
“She is young and beautiful,” she said, priding herself for the coolness in her voice as she discovered her drawers hanging from the edge of a table. “She is everything you would want or need in a bride. All your problems will be solved.”
Lottie snatched up the drawers and stuffed her right leg inside.
“What are you doing?” he wanted to know, his voice a low, dark growl as the bedclothes rustled, indicating he was getting up.
Don’t look at him, she told herself.Do not look.
“Dressing so that I can leave. What does it look like?”
She kept her back to him as she muttered the question, slipping her left leg into the other half of the garment and hastily gliding it up over her knees, thighs, and hips.
“It looks like I’ve angered you with my own stupidity.”
His voice was low. And close.
Tooclose.
But Lottie wasn’t quick enough. Long arms banded around her waist and hauled her into a hard chest. His bare skin against hers was all she required for that infernal yearning to start building deep within her once more.
“Brandon, let me go,” she gritted, her hands falling on his arms in an attempt to extricate herself.
But the action was futile. He was too strong. And besides, when her hands had been placed over the inviting warmth of his forearms, her ability to resist him eroded precipitously. His chest was a brand at her back, and his lips, when they grazed over her ear in a tender kiss, sent a frisson down her spine.
