“I know you wanted the article to be about exposing Devonshire and his cronies. I’m sorry the editor changed the angle. And I know you can’t afford to be involved in a scandal.”
“It’s not just that. Although lord knows it would be a disaster if my family ever found out.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s that I thought I could trust the editor to do as I asked. I thought we were in agreement about our goals.”
“You can never trust a newspaperman.” Cage commented.
“Well, in this case, because the editor is a woman, I thought I could.” Clearly a mistake. Of course, a woman whose paper survives on its gossip column would choose the most sensational bits. Caroline grudgingly admired the editor’s cleverness. She glanced down at the article in her hand. “She does paint a flattering picture of me.Fierce and passionate. I almost wish people knew she was talking about me.” She took another swallow of wine. “I am tired of everyone talking behind my back about being an ice queen. I’m not frigid,” she muttered.
“Who had the gall to say you were frigid?”
Caroline couldn’t believe she had said that out loud. Her cheeks warmed and not because of the wine. He was the one man who made her feel the opposite of frigid. He made her want things that she had given up ever feeling again. She set down her empty wine glass on the windowsill.
Cage took one finger and lifted her chin until her gaze met his. “You are the most passionate woman I have ever known. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a blind fool.” The heat in his eyes almost had her believing his statement. He lowered his mouth to hers, brushing her lips once, twice.
Caroline sighed at the pleasure of his kiss. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against him. Nibbling at her bottom lip, he pulled her under his spell. She parted her lips to welcome his exploration. His tongue swept in to play with hers, slick and hot. She grabbed hold of the lapels of his jacket as the world around them melted away.
“Caroline, your fire consumes me.” He kissed across her cheek and up to her temple. “You haunt my nights. I want to discover every inch of you with my tongue, my lips. I want you to burn me alive.”
His words emboldened her. Caroline slid her hand into his hair and pulled his head back enough for their eyes to meet. “Show me.”
If she hadn't been inches away, she might have missed the slight widening of his eyes. Then his lids fell closed for a moment. She admired his long honey-colored lashes, such a beautiful feature for a man. But in the next moment, his eyes popped open, and his mouth captured hers again. The kiss was not gentle; it consumed her. Her mind went blank except for the heat of his mouth and the strength his strong arms banded around her. She accepted his silent challenge and kissed him back with a fervor she didn’t know she had inside.
She ran her hands through his hair, the strands just as thick and silky as they looked. When she gave a tug, he let out a growl that vibrated in his chest. Their lips fused, he turned them, and pushed her up against the wall between the two windows. The hard planes of Morgan’s body pressed against hers, sending pleasure pooling low in her belly. His hands clutched her hips, roamed up to her waist, and skimmed along the curve of her breasts. He slowly dragged her arms up over her head and pinned her wrists with his large hand.
The flutter of panic began in her chest. She pushed against his hand, but he was much stronger than her. His lips trailed kisses down her throat, but instead of excitement, she felt trapped. The heat of his body so pleasurable moments ago now made beads of sweat pop out on her brow. His other hand cupped one of her breasts, and his thumb rubbed across her nipple. The panic intensified, and she couldn’t hold back a small cry of alarm. She turned her head to the side and bit her lip. It would be over soon.
Morgan pulled back immediately, his hand released her wrist, and she lowered her arms. “What is it? Did I hurt you?” He stepped back, and she could breathe. His look of utter horror righted something inside her. He hadn’t meant to scare her.
Caroline took in a deep breath. Dear Lord, maybe she wasn’t capable of being intimate with someone. He hadn’t doneanything wrong. She’d wanted his kisses. She’d welcomed the rush of passion that infected her blood when he was close. What was wrong with her? Perhaps shewasfrigid. She closed her eyes and fought to control the tears that threatened in behind her eyes.
When she opened them, she focused on Morgan. The concern in his eyes almost broke the dam of tears she held back. “You didn’t hurt me. I promise.”
Morgan stared at her for a long moment as though deciding whether she was being honest. Then he reached out and took hold of one of her hands. Walking backward, he gently tugged her over to the settee. He settled her at one end and sat turned sideways to face her from the other end. She appreciated the few feet of space he left between them.
“Will you tell me what happened? What made you distressed?”
Maybe it was the quiet strength of his voice or the concern in his brown eyes, but she knew that he would listen without censure. For the first time, she wanted to tell someone the worst of it, the part that she hadn’t wanted to expose before.
Chapter 31
“I guess…I didn’t like to be trapped. When you had my arms pinned against the wall, I panicked.”
Jesus, he was a brute. Her cry of alarm had been like a bucket of icy water. When he pulled back and saw the look of quiet resignation on her beautiful face, his heart clenched tight in his chest. “I’m sorry, darling.”
She shook her head. “You couldn’t have known. I didn’t.” Her chest rose and fell as she took in a deep breath. “I told you that when I was seventeen, I was kidnapped. Roger Valentine was a guest of my sister-in-law Lydia, my brother’s first wife. She had invited a few friends to Stoneleigh for the month of August. He paid me lots of special attention, and I was quite smitten. He asked me to go for a ride one day, and once we got about a mile from the house, we came upon a carriage in the road. Well, he and the driver pulled me from my horse and threw me into the carriage.”
Aghast, Cage forced himself not to comment. He could see by her deep intake of breath that there was more to her story.
“When I yelled and struggled, he hit me across the face and gagged me. He planned to make for the Scottish border and marry me over the anvil. My brother had already turned down his offer of marriage because Andrew knew he was an inveterate gambler. He only tolerated the man because Valentine was Lydia’s cousin.”
Unfortunately, the story did not surprise Cage. Caroline would not have been the first daughter of a peer to be kidnapped for ransom or marriage. His temper rose. Some men felt they could just take whatever they wanted.
Caroline paused for a long moment. Her voice was quiet when she continued, “he tied my hands together, all the while talking to me sweetly about what a happy life we would havetogether, how he adored me.” She shuddered and looked up for the first time. The blue irises of her eyes were dark as a twilight sky. She pulled up her knees, and wrapping her arms around them, she rested her chin on the pale peach muslin. “He kissed me, and he opened my bodice. Then he pushed down my chemise…he squeezed my breasts roughly while he pleasured himself. I was tied up, trapped, and he used me badly.”
Cage didn’t know what to say. Pure rage surged from his gut, searing his throat. He would find this man and rip him to shreds. Fat tears rolled down Caroline’s face and returned his focus to the woman in front of him. He took her hand in his and squeezed. Caroline scooted next to him. Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he kissed her hair and held her. “Did he take your virtue?” he asked quietly.
She shook her head; her voice muffled against his chest. “No, he buttoned up his pants and straightened my bodice, then sat back against the opposite seat as though nothing had transpired. He spoke about our future, where we would live, and how he wanted children. It was bizarre and frightening.” She lifted her head.
He let his arm slip from around her so she could shift to face him.
