“It means we shouldn’t have done that earlier. It was wrong.”
“Kit, tell me.”
His voice dipped low. “Gentlemen may have dalliances. I do not,” he repeated. Something warm and possessive curled in my belly as understanding took hold. My smile turned predatory. He groaned, his forehead falling to my shoulder. “That wasn’t an invitation.”
Even as his response pleased me, I knew it made my efforts less likely to succeed. Any other man of six and twenty who had never laid with a woman would be an easy mark. But Kit… It would only make him more determined. “How?”
He pulled back from my shoulder, gaze catching mine. “When would I have time? I spend all my time chasing after you.”
“I’m not going to succeed in seducing you, am I?”
With a gentle hand, he tucked a still-loose curl behind my ear. “Not for lack of desire. But if you hope to succeed, you’ll have to marry me first.”
Instinctive incredulity thrust the word from my lips. “What?”
His fingertips settled against my neck, warm and soft, while his thumb traced my lower lip. He held me in place and leaned in with a delicate kiss. Lips still brushing mine, he whispered, “Marry me. Marry me and you can do whatever you want with me. Marry me and I’m yours.”
“What?” I repeated dimly, as he pulled back just enough to meet my befuddled gaze.
“I know you’ve no wish to marry anyone. I don’t understand it, but I don’t need to. But I cannot lie with you unless we’re wed. I cannot have only a part of you. I won’t be able to give you up. It will be nearly impossible as it is. Davina, I want it all.”
My heart was in my throat, a throbbing knot trapped there by his earnest gaze. “Kit, I…”
“Don’t say no. Don’t say anything yet. Give me the rest of our journey. Think about it. I don’t want you to give up your adventures. I want to go on a new one with you, together.”
“I infuriate you.”
It was his smile—a quarter one—that screamed predation this time. “Aye, you do. In the best possible way. I want to spend the rest of my life being infuriated by you.”
“We could not be more different.”
His gaze dropped down, his hand caught mine. He brought it up between us as he slid our palms together. One by one his fingers slid between mine and his other hand came up and settled atop mine, pushing my finger to clasp his. “We fit. You and me, we bring out the best in each other.”
“Kit…” I tried again. The hand that wasn’t clutching mine caught my jaw again. How could so new a sensation feel so comfortable, so right, after a handful of occurrences?
“Don’t… Remember? You don’t have to say anything.” He sealed that promise with another kiss, not the sensual dance of tongues and teeth from earlier. Instead a mere, desperate, pressing of lips. A pressing that left me dizzy and weak-kneed.
I didn’t want to be married—I didn’t. I knew that. But for some strange reason, I was struggling to remember a single reason why. I was struggling to remember anything but the feel of Kit’s lips on mine and his woody, inky scent around me.
When he pulled away, it was abrupt and my lips chased his instinctively, only to be met with empty air and a self-satisfied chuckle.
“Why are you being so difficult?” I whined.
“You get your way far too often. It’s good for you to be denied on occasion.” He was pleased with himself, far too pleased. Men who proposed and received no response really ought not wear such a smug expression.
“When did you become so patronizing?”
Something about the insult had him gifting me a full smile. This one was quick, easy. His eyes and lips were in perfect sync, his cheeks rising with the grin. “You’re so beautiful,” he replied, completely ignoring my very valid criticism.
Unfortunately, his compliment combined with the deadly smile had the effect of dampening my frustration.
His hand slid down from my neck to span the width of my shoulder.
“You’re truly not going to kiss me properly again unless I agree to wed you?”
That easy smile turned wicked in a flash, his eyes darkening. And oh, I felt that expression in delicate areas that ladies weren’t supposed to know anything about. Whatever he said next, it was about to wreck me.
“I never saidthat. I said I wouldn’t lie with you until we were wed. But I suspect I’ll need every tool at my disposal to convince you to say yes.”
