Could she be any more pathetic?
Hating that she could know so much rejection in one day, she released him and jerked to break free.
Only his arms held her tight, not allowing her to escape.
“Let me go! Just go! I don’t need you. I don’t need anyone.” It was too much.
“Naomi.” His hands were in her hair now. And then his lips touched her forehead as he cradled her head beneath his chin. “I want you. So much. But not like this. Not like this, sweet girl.”
“I’m not a sweet girl.” She was anything but.
His fingertips slid around to clasp the sides of her face. Oh, but he was going to force her to meet his eyes. After she’d essentially attacked him in her bedroom. His gaze wasn’t accusing though. It was almost loving.
“Youaremy sweet girl, and Iwillmake love to you. I promise you that. But not now. Not like this. You’ve been through too much. If I had only myself to consider, believe me, your clothing would be strewn about the floor already. And I’d be learning every inch of you—savoring the taste of you everywhere, your lips, your breasts, between your silky thighs. When that time comes, I’ll know the heaven of being inside of you.”
Naomi swallowed hard. Yes. That was what she wanted. His words made her want him even more. She dared not dwell on them. But…between her silky thighs? Heat flooded to her core.He was right there.
But he wanted to wait. Of course, he would wish to wait. She was nearly seven months into her pregnancy!
What was she thinking?
“I’ve been so stupid.” She’d kept this admission to herself for months now. She’d beenutterlystupid for going off with Arthur alone when she’d known she shouldn’t—by allowing him one impropriety after another and then by going against her own inclinations and believing his words of love.
“We all are sometimes.”
“I can’t imagine you doing anything remotely as stupid as I’ve done.”
Chapter Ten
Luke hadn’t realized he possessed such self-restraint. Since entering the military, he’d learned discipline he never could have imagined, but nothing had been as difficult as denying Naomi the physical satisfaction she craved.
Especially with the heat of her center pressing down on him and her mouth giving him all sorts of ideas… Every time she shifted, she created the most delightful friction along his cock.
He cleared his throat. He could do this. “I had just turned ten and three.” He would do the right thing. “I’m not certain most comprehend the dynamic circumstances we second sons are born into. Although our birth is, in fact, celebrated, at the same time, we aren’t really necessary. Being referred to as the spare has a way of making you feel somewhat expendable. And feeling expendable lends one to a certain… recklessness.”
He had her attention now, and she’d even relaxed in his arms.
“A waterfall marks the edge of my father’s land where it borders Gil’s father’s, as a matter of fact. In the springtime, I doubt I’ve ever seen anything more violently magnificent.”
“How high is it?”
“At least fifty feet.” For the sake of a good story, he’d exaggerate. Perhaps it wasn’t much higher than twenty. He bit back a smile at the suspicious narrowing of her eyes. “All right, forty-nine and a half. But not a foot less.”
“If you weren’t sitting here with me looking whole and healthy right now, I think I might be frightened of where this story is heading.”
“And you would be right to do so. But you are interrupting my story, Miss Augustine.” The shadow of a grin touched her lips that he would call her by her maiden name. “No more questions.”
“Very well.”
“Blackheart and I, Gil and Tempest as well, we swam there often.” Before any of them comprehended the worries that came with entering adulthood.
“I’m a horrid swimmer.” Her simple admission cut into his memories, replacing them with a sudden desire to teach her, to spend lazy summer afternoons with her, picnicking on a beach somewhere—perhaps in Brighton.
“I’ll teach you someday.”
“I’d like that.”
From the moment he’d met her, he’d been delighted with her perfect manners and countenance. But he’d also seen something different in her. When he’d rowed her across that pond, she’d removed one of her gloves dragging her hand along the surface. When he’d joked that wasn’t diving in after her bonnet, she’d splashed him.
