What did that mean?
She moaned and turned onto her side, running her hand down his shoulder. “I think I’m going to like being married.”
Stone pulled her close and pressed his mouth to her forehead. “I think I’m going to love being married.” He’d lost all grasp of reality.
And he didn’t care, at least until she realized he wasn’t good enough.
If her memory wasn’t restored by morning, he would tell her everything. He needed to tell her everything regardless. He reached for the quilt and drew it up and over them both.
“I love you, Stone.”
Stone stiffened, waiting for her to realize what she’d said. But she only nuzzled him again, her breathing coming steady and even.
She’d told him she loved him but when she learned the truth, would she still feel the same? Was the love they’d found together going to be enough?
Chapter 21
Between a Rock and a Stone
Tabetha lay on her back, staring up at the midnight sky, listening to Stone’s breathing, deep and even beside her, feeling his chest rise and fall to the same steady rhythm.
He was not Rock Chester. He was Stone Spencer, the man who’d done his very best to frustrate her at every turn since the day she’d made her come out.
And she had married him in Scotland, not because they were madly in love, but because they’d both been drunk as wheelbarrows and decided it was the best way to save her from Culpepper. She even remembered waking up the morning after. She’d marched out of the room and fallen down the stairs in a fit of temper.
He turned onto his side, pulling her closer.
Stone Spencer had promised Westerley he would watch over her because he’d lost a bet. Her heart missed a beat, but she forced her breathing to stay even.
How much of it had been a lie? The name was the one they’d checked into the inn under. And they were legally married. But why had he gone along with her belief that they were in love with one another? She pinched her lips together.
She had literally thrown herself at him. No wonder he’d been distant after she’d joined him behind the privacy screen.
Which parts of everything he’d told her were lies, and which parts were true?
She’d all but demanded he consummate their vows.
Still, he had known the truth all along and failed to share it with her.
She rolled around and buried her face in his chest, inhaling his scent, feeling as though this was precisely where she belonged. Only he wasn’t the husband who’d married her for love. How could she feel this way about Stone Spencer?
What an idiot she was! Had been? Was going to be again?
She had been so happy as her other self. She’d been free as Tabetha Chester. That happiness hadn’t come from wearing the most fashionable gown, or having the most suitors, or marrying a stupid duke.
Why then?
One week ago, she had been ninety-nine percent certain she would feel whole after marrying Culpepper—a man who was vile, selfish, and cruel—merely because she would have the status her father would have been proud of.
Stone’s breathing hitched, and one of his hands smoothed down her back to caress her thigh. Tabetha did nothing to stop him when he lifted her knee onto his hip, and his tip teased the sensitive flesh at her apex.
She wasn’t ready for this to end.
“Are you sore?” He fondled her with his fingertips.
“No.” She was almost afraid to speak, afraid that he could read her mind. Already, she was wet and slick. “Love me.”
Was this what she really wanted? For him to love her?
