He came up behind her and put his arms around her.“No, nothing respectable or ever serious.Until you came along, I never thought I would marry.”
She leaned back slightly, enjoying the warmth of his body and the strength of it.“Then you got entangled with me.”
“I did not mind.In that moment when you bounded into my arms while in the Fullerton garden, I knew that I had a choice to make.”
“How were you given the choice?Everything happened so fast.”
“One always has a choice.Had I put my mind to it, I could have figured out a way to get you back into the ballroom with no one the wiser.I could have discredited Caruthers when he angrily claimed you were alone in the garden with him.”
“And saved my reputation?If that is true, then why did you not do it?”
“I wanted more than one night with you,” he said with surprising seriousness.“I realized in that moment that I neededyou.That was my choice.One night with Tulip?Or a lifetime?I went for the lifetime.”
She was rendered speechless by his admission.
Was it true?
Could he possibly want her?
Was there a chance of love between them?
He let out a breath.“You did not entrap me.If anything, I forced this on you.Well, now you know what really happened that night.”
She looked up at him.“Did I not also have a choice?And I do not mean choosing you or Caruthers.I could have chosen neither of you and returned to Somerset.I have many friends there and would not have lacked for suitors.They might not have been dukes, but I never desired to be a duchess.”
“Yet, you agreed to marry me.Why?”
“For the same inexplicable reasons you wanted me, I suppose.I don’t know what drew me to you, but something changed for me in that moment.My instincts took over, perhaps.I had already been feeling badly about tossing you in with all the other Davenport wastrels and going out of my way to avoid you.It was wrong of me.The more I saw of you, the more I realized I had misjudged you.”
“That’s promising,” he murmured.
“When you saved me from Caruthers and did it so valiantly, I knew you were a man to trust.”She cast him an impish grin.“Also, your kiss was very persuasive.”
His entire countenance lightened and he cast her another of his melting smiles.“Speaking of kisses…would you care for more?”
CHAPTER 9
WALKING AROUND FORmost of one’s life expecting the Davenport demons to devour one’s soul was an oppressive weight to carry, Alex knew.He worried about it because this had been his burden from the moment he was old enough to understand about good and evil.
And old enough to know the difference between devils and angels.
Davenports were devils.
Yet, he was standing in his bedchamber fortunate enough to be holding his very own angel in his arms.Tulip even looked the part, clad in white silk and studying him with her big, innocent eyes and breathtaking smile.
He worked to untie the tapes and lacings of her wedding gown, a lovely confection of silk and lace that now slipped off her shoulders and was about to slowly and sensually slide down the length of her body.
The two of them were halfway undressed, and he now purposely put out the candles so that the only illumination filtering into his bedchamber was the moon’s delicate glow.
She looked so beautiful in this silver light.
He had expected to spend their wedding night sleeping on a pallet on the floor while she took the bed, but Tulip surprised him.
She was having none of it.“It does not feel right to start our marriage off by separating us.”
“Then you are all right with having me share the bed?”
She nodded.“And I expect you to deliver on the promise of a wedding night.”
