“Sleep?” He cocked a brow, making her groan.
“That’s all I’ve been doing.” And then she stared at him from beneath suddenly sultry lashes at the same time her pretty pink tongue emerged to slide across those full, luscious lips—lips he was intimately acquainted with.
Although not as intimately as he’d like.
“Sleep.” He rose abruptly and crossed to the door. Because if he stayed locked in this room with her a second longer, he couldn’t be held responsible for his actions. “Lock this behind me. And don’t let—”
“Anyone in unless I’m certain it’s you,” she finished for him. “Stone?”
He paused, glancing over his shoulder.
“Promise you’ll be careful?” That vulnerability returned to her eyes. “You’re the only person in the world who knows who I am—the only person who matters to me. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
He swallowed hard. He’d never been anybody’s onlyanythingbefore. “And you aren’t going to have to find out.”
“Should I wait up for you?”
“Try to sleep.”
Chapter 15
A Close Shave
Tabetha sighed. The pillow Stone had placed between them had been shoved away sometime during the night, and the warmth at her back, and wrapped around her, was her husband’s chest and arms.
And the poking against her bottom was her husband’s desire.
She squirmed to turn and face him, but before she could roll over, Rock burst out of the bed as though the hounds of hell were chasing him. She couldn’t help smiling at the sight of him standing by the bed, thick ruffled mahogany hair, sleepy eyes, and a rather large bulge pushing out of the front of the trousers he’d slept in. He searched around and snatched up his shirt.
“Good morning.” She pushed herself up to sit, smiling and stretching, satisfied to know that she was not the only one of them who was beyond frustrated by all this waiting.
She was also smiling because it was to be their last day in Gretna Green, and they were going to go on a picnic.
Her husband had unbuttoned his falls and was tucking the tails of his shirt inside. “Morning.” He turned to the side before she got more than a glimpse of his manhood.
She sighed, disappointed. “I can’t wait to get out of this chamber. Another day inside this room, and I would just die!”
“You are tired of my company already?” Rock glanced up from pulling on one of his boots, a teasing grin dancing on his mouth.
“Never.” She had no reason to be coy with him.
He held her gaze, not answering, but neither had he gone back to tugging at his boots.
Someday, when the two of them were old and gray, Tabetha vowed she’d understand the meaning behind all his silences. But until then… “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking I don’t deserve you.” His answer came easily, and then, looking down, he shoved a foot into his other boot.
She ought to take his answer as a compliment, but instead, it caused that uncomfortable niggling to start up again. That fear that she was missing something… and when she discovered what it was, everything would change.
And that change might cause her to lose him.
A bird swooped onto the flower box outside the window and broke into song, making her realize that she was being melodramatic.
“I’ll ask Mrs. Hettrick to have hot water sent up for your bath, and tea, and breakfast.” He’d shoved his arms into his dusty waistcoat and was running his hands through his hair.
“You are going to check on this Culpepper person?” She could tell by the tension in his shoulders, the awareness in his eyes, as he prepared to leave.
He nodded. “But I’ll be careful. And I shouldn’t be long. Make sure you—”
