“Your son is escaping.” Laughter shook his voice. Mr. Dog dug for a moment and then after walking himself in a few circles, the traitor snuggled up beside Mr. Bateman.
Aubrey stifled a moan and rolled so she wasn’t facing either of them.
“Ah,Princesse. Don’t be embarrassed.” His voice sounded warm and reassuring inside of the tent, but it didn’t help.
She was mortified.
For all the wine she had, when she realized he’d watched her disrobing and then… touching herself that way… Someone might just as well have thrown cold water in her face.
His hand dropped on her arm and one of the sobs she’d been holding back escaped.
“Aubrey.” His voice was closer now.
“I’m a horrible person!” It was all she could think to say. Not only because of what she’d done, but because of the thoughts she’d had while doing it. And if he was going to remain true to form, he’d likely known exactly what she’d been thinking.
“You are not.” His hand exerted pressure so that she had to turn and face him.
She rolled over but quickly covered her eyes. “I’ve never… I’m not…”
“Then you are one of the only ones.” His voice sounded far too reassuring. Did that mean that he did that? Of course! He was a man though!
“N-n-not ladies.”
“Yesladies.” He gently peeled her fingers away from her face. They were in near total darkness and all she could see was his silhouette. He hovered over her, careful to keep his weight from pressing into the dog lying between them.
“I feel different,” she whispered. Somehow, with him so near, her actions earlier didn’t seem nearly so abhorrent. They seemed… natural.
“What kind of different?” His gravelly voice wrapped around her in the darkness, inviting her to share all of her secrets.
“Prickly. Achy.” Which made no sense at all. “Different.”
“Ma Princesse.”He drew in a long, harsh breath. “You’re killing me.” And then his presence no longer hovered over her. In one determined motion, he’d returned to his side of the tent. She knew he was lying on his back now, because she could hear his breathing rasp into the air; heavy, gruff. “I won’t break my promise.”
Aubrey licked her lips. Now was the time. If she wanted him to kiss her, all she had to do was release him from that stupid promise she’d dragged out of him… yesterday? Or had it only been today? She ought to consider him nothing more than a friendly traveling companion but he’d come to mean so much more to her. She felt as though she’d known him forever.
“What if I want it?” She bit her lip, wondering if he would kiss her right away or if they would have a discussion first. “What if I want you to kiss me?”
His answer, however, left her more devastated than she’d been before. “It doesn’t matter. You were correct in asserting that we should not.” He sounded regretful but that gave Aubrey little solace.
He must not want to kiss her nearly as badly as she wanted to be kissed.
“Right. What was I thinking?” She buried her face in the quilt once again. “You must know plenty of ladies, ladies with more experience, that you’d rather kiss.” And then an even more horrifying thought struck her. “You are certain you are not married?”
“I am still not married, Aubrey. It’s just that…”
“There is someone then. What was I thinking? I shouldn’t have—“
“If I kiss you now, I’m not going to stop at just a kiss. You may not realize but when I watched you changing behind the tent… even before… God. To be honest, I’ve wanted to make love to you since I caught you watching me through the window.” He sounded almost as tortured as she felt.
His words emboldened her.
“So, you do wish to kiss me.”
“Hell yes, but… if I did… I couldn’t make any promises… lying here beside you all night—wondering what those pert little breasts of yours would feel like beneath my hands…in my mouth… wondering what sort of sounds you’d make when I buried myself between your soft thighs…”
Aubrey’s lips parted, each breath of air she took more shallow than the last. He was saying all the things she’d been fighting in her own thoughts.
And yet, he still hadn’t kissed her.
