Hope sparked in her heart. The contact was so familiar. It couldn’t be from the milksop earl. Her thoughts jumbled and tears welled behind her eyelids. Somehow, Max had removed the earl from the room. It must have been those two thumps she’d heard.
She should push him away. Stay true to her resolve that their separation now would be for the best. But she couldn’t. Not when he touched her.
She trailed her hand up his neck, eager to cup his cheek and bring him in for a kiss. And froze. She rubbed her thumb back and forth over his jaw.
His smooth, clean-shaven jaw.
She kicked her legs, hitting something solid, and leapt across the bed to escape Halliwell’s touch. Dragging off the blindfold, she blinked at the brightness. “I’m sorry, but I can’t—”
“Can’t what?” The man standing next to the bed was shockingly new. A face she’d never seen before, had only imagined. “Tell me, you little fool, what is it exactly that you can’t do?”
Chapter Twelve
Colleen could only gape. It was most definitely her baron glaring down at her. He was without a coat or cravat, his white shirt draping loosely around his frame. His broad shoulders heaved with pent-up emotion. His pine-green eyes glittered with anger. But his face …
“What happened to your beard?”
He rubbed a palm across his bare jaw. “I shaved. Didn’t want to look like a goat.” A muscle twitched in his cheek. “But I guess I needn’t have bothered. Not if you’re going to spread your legs for any man that strikes your fancy.”
Her relief was short-lived. Colleen sucked in a breath. “You told me to look for other men!”
“I didn’t think you were stupid enough to actually do it!” He shook his head. “Halliwell? Truly? I must say that disappointed me.”
“Lord Halliwell at least is a kind man.” She climbed onto the bed on her knees and shuffled forwards, jabbing at the air with her index finger. “Not like that shrew, Molly, that you tupped. You don’t get to judge me.”
He crawled onto the bed and prowled towards her on his hands and knees, as sinuous as a leopard. “I’ve never bedded, or played, with that woman.”
“Oh.” That brought Colleen up short. That shrewhadlied.
Quick as a snake, he grabbed her behind her knees and flipped her to her back. His body covered hers, pinning her down. “Can I judge you now?”
The front of her robe gaped open, and the starch of his linen shirt tickled her skin. Unbidden, she arched into him, her body demanding the contact even as her head yelled at her to stick to her resolve. She’d had good reasons for ending their relationship. Reasons that protected both Max and—
He took her mouth, stealing her will. All her arguments scattered before his onslaught. Max was kissing her. She knew it was wrong, that it would be better if she moved on from him, but couldn’t find it within herself to care.
Wrapping her arms around his back, she returned his kiss. Opening her mouth, she tangled her tongue with his. Each slide sent a delicious chill rippling down her back. He nipped at the tip of her tongue, then suckled, and she melted into the mattress. Max lay heavy on her, his weight comforting, delicious. She needed to feel more of him and she slapped at his shoulder until he gave her the space to pull an arm free from her robe. He tore the garment from her bodythen pressed her back into the bed. Grabbing her wrists, he locked them into the coverlet by her head. He took hold of her bottom lip between his teeth and pulled his head back, abrading the swollen flesh, until her lip released with a pop.
“You’re a fool.” Max pinned her with a glare.
“Yes.” She was a fool. She was willing to ignore the knowledge that their future could only end in heartbreak in order to stay in his arms in the present.
“I don’t own your body.” He nipped at her collarbone. “I can’t forbid you from offering yourself to other men.” His clenched jaw showed just how unhappy he was by that fact. “But I’m damn sure going to make it so you’ll never want to again.”
“I didn’t want to then,” she admitted. Burying her nose in the hollow where his neck met his shoulder, she breathed Max in. “I’d changed my mind and decided not to go through with it. I was only going to boss him around a bit and then leave.” She cupped his cheek and stared into his eyes. “I couldn’t let him touch me. I only want you.”
His eyes glittered and his body went still. Only his chest heaved. “Truly?”
“Truly,” she whispered.
Dropping his head, he pressed his lips to her collarbone and breathed out a shuddering breath. Then his lips spread in a wide smile against her skin.
He raised up, bracketing her hips with his knees. “Now that we’ve got that sorted”—he gazed hotly down her body—“whatever shall we do?”
Her nipples puckered under his examination, and she restlessly rubbed her thighs together. “Well, for what I have in mind, you are wearing altogether too many clothes.”
“That is something I can remedy.” He brushed his mouth against hers before rolling off the bed. He shucked his shirt, the light from the gas lamps flickering off the bronze skin of his back. His boots and pants quickly followed.
Colleen bit her bottom lip. The man was perfection. Every inch of him hard and chiseled. Shadow and light played along the planes of his corded thighs, the rise of his tight behind. She reached out a hand, needing to feel him, but he stepped away, leaving her hand outstretched and empty.
