Roman grimaced faintly. “I feared it might be. You have always been clear that you didn’t wish to marry, and I can’t say I blame you, considering how your life has been managed for so long. However, I am never going to do that to you. As my wife, you will be my equal partner at Lacey and Company. We will share the stake in the company together.”
Ellis realized this was very close to Pandora’s book, A Season in Shadow, where Dinah was able to make her own choice. But while Dinah chose herself, Ellis was choosing Roman. However, she realized in choosing him, she was also choosing herself—and a chance for happiness she had never expected.
Ellis knelt down in front of him.
“What are you doing?” Roman asked.
“You weren’t standing, and I want to kiss you.”
Roman cupped her face in his hands as he grinned. “Not if I kiss you first.”
He pulled back several moments later. “What made you change your mind? About marrying.”
Ellis felt embarrassed telling him, but she didn’t want there to be any secrets between them ever again. “I realized I thought I didn’t deserve to be happy. The duchess had quite convinced me that I wasn’t worthy of love and that I wasn’t at all wanted. Coming back to Henlow House, I see how everyone here loves me. And no one has ever made me feel as wanted as you do.”
“Ellis, nothing is truer than the endless want I have for you.” He kissed her again, hard and fast, then looked into her eyes as he cupped her face. “I felt much the same—that I was unlovable. Love and a family of my own are all I’ve ever wanted. Then Clarissa chose someone else. But I do have a family—the Laceys.”
“And me,” Ellis said quickly, aching for how lonely they’d felt until finding each other.
“And you.” He smiled gain. “You are my family. As well as my love.”
She pressed her lips to his and was immediately consumed with insatiable need she now knew was driven by the deep love they shared. Would they ever tire of one another? She couldn’t imagine it, especially not now. They kissed eagerly, feverishly, and she soon pushed his coat off. Ellis pushed him backward, but he clasped her waist and pulled away.
“We can’t do this on the floor in the middle of the library at Henlow House. Now, if we were at Bolton Street?—”
Ellis kissed him again to smother his complaints before rising and pulling him up along with her. “The settee is right there. Will that be acceptable instead of the floor?”
Groaning, Roman stood. “I should not let you seduce me, Miss Dangerfield. It’s highly improper.”
“It’s a bit late for propriety, don’t you agree?” She arched a brow at him as she guided him to the settee and pushed him down.
Roman chuckled. “I suppose. Do as you will, my love.”
“Thank you for your consent.” She hiked up her skirts and straddled him.
“I don’t suppose the door locks?” Roman asked.
“We’ll be quick,” she replied instead of telling him they did not. She slid her hands between them and stroked him through his breeches. This truly was madness. Anyone could interrupt them.
His gray eyes smoldered with want as she stared up at him. “I am powerless to deny you, even when common sense begs me to.” He cupped her head and pulled her down to him for a searing kiss.
Ellis shuddered with desire, desperate to feel him inside her. Would he remove himself from her body as they’d always done? They didn’t really need to, unless they preferred to avoid having a child just yet.
She snagged his lip with her teeth before lifting her head slightly to look at him. His lids rose, and she nearly lost herself in the haze of passion darkening his gaze. “Will you pull away from me when you climax?”
“Do you want me to?” he asked softly, and she couldn’t tell what he might prefer.
“No,” she said tentatively. “Is that all right?”
“That is more than all right, for too many reasons to count.” He kissed her again with something akin to possession, and Ellis felt she might burst with joy.
She continued to stroke him, and his hips moved with her, seeking her body. As she began to unbutton his fall, she heard the door open.
Damn.
Jerking away from him, she scrambled off Roman and adjusted her skirts. He worked to refasten his breeches, but his poor body was in a rather advanced—and unmistakable—state of arousal.
Thankfully, it was only Jo. Still, Ellis gave Roman a look that told him to stay where he was.
