“Walk me to my chamber?” she asked in a breathless whisper.
How could I refuse?
He threaded her hand through his arm and led her up the stairs. They walked in silence for a minute, stealing glances at once another. Marcus’ mind was now full of imaginings, things he shouldn’t be thinking of, but the possibility of him and Callie being alone together in her bedchamber was too much of a temptation not to think about. He was thinking of removing her fine gown, of exploring beneath, of pressing his lips to hers again, hearing that butterfly-like breath as she gasped in his ear.
When they reached her chamber door, they paused, turning to face one another. Neither one of them was in a rush to say goodnight. He glanced at the door, and she giggled lightly.
“Well, I can take a good guess at what you are thinking.” Her teasing words made him chuckle deeply.
“I can wait for a wedding,” he said with a wink. She laughed, though the smile faded fast. She looked nervously down at where her hand was still on his arm. He placed his other hand over hers, entwining their fingers together. “What is it?” he asked. “What is it I do not know that worries you so?”
She looked up, her gaze pinning his at once. For a second, there was something in Callie he had not seen before. A sort of vulnerability in that gaze, perhaps even fear. He held her hand tighter, trying to show through the pressure of his hand alone that she had nothing to fear.
I’m here for you.
“This wedding,” she murmured. “My father …”
“What about him?”
“He … he controls everything,” she said in a sudden rush.
“Ah.” His lips parted in understanding. He had been waiting for this moment, knowing it had to come. Had he been ordered into marriage with someone he had never met at the whim of his father, he would have been irate. Yet Callie didn’t look irate. She looked sad. “He controls you like some marionette,” he whispered.
“Precisely.” She nodded at him eagerly. “Is it wrong to want some freedom? To long for a choice of my own?”
Marcus began to loosen his grasp on her hand.
I am not her choice.
Yet as he loosened his fingers, those thrilling images of what could happen in her bedchamber also loosening from his mind, she suddenly turned her hand over, threading their fingers together completely. With that strong touch, those images were back. He was picturing the two of them on her bed again.
He was above her, between her legs, her skirts bundled around her hips as he entered her. They were holding hands, though those hands were pinned above her head in playful dominance. She was arching her back up towards him, trying to get closer to him.
He blinked, pushing the picture away as he concentrated on the image of how tightly she held onto his hand.
“On this occasion, I think my father has made a very good choice indeed,” she whispered, a small timidity coming into her voice.
“You do?” he asked, unable to keep the hope out of his voice. “Then that kiss in the library. It has not just been playing on my mind alone?”
“Far from it.” She shook her head, her smile growing. He saw, too, that her chest was rising and falling with quick breaths. It drew his gaze down to her cleavage, thinking of the curves of her body. “It has been on my mind constantly.”
“Callie,” he whispered, moving closer towards her. “You make it very difficult to say goodnight when you talk of such things.”
“Then …” She wet her lips, her eyes darting all over his face. Such tension hovered in the air now between them that he could feel his length hardening beneath his trousers, longing for her. “Don’t go,” she pleaded.
He had no intention of going anywhere. He angled his head towards hers, bringing their lips together in a kiss.
Chapter 12
Alaina’s heart soared as Marcus kissed her. It was such an intense kiss, one so full of passion that she ended up backing against the door behind her in a fumble of their hands reaching for one another. She loved the feeling of it, the rush of excitement that came with Marcus being so close, touching her, his hands wandering over every part of her.
When his fingers brushed her hips, she gasped into his mouth, longing for more. One of his hands slid up to the curve of her waist, and she parted her lips, angling her body to his. At once, he claimed her tongue with his own, dominating the kiss. She moaned as the thrill erupted inside her.
She had seen fireworks once. She’d watched them from a carriage as Caroline and her father went to see them at a friend’s house. That same excitement, the same thundering sensation in her chest, was there now as she kissed Marcus, becoming more and more entwined with him against that door.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her level as their hips brushed together. When she unmistakably felt something hard between his legs, she squealed in surprise.
He pulled back a few inches, chuckling as he looked her in the eye. With such little light between them, it was difficult to see all of his expression, but she could make out the mischief there and the excitement.
