“I don’t give a damn what anyone else knows.Iknow. And if you think I’m the sort of man who would shirk his obligation—”
“That’s just it,” she burst out. “I don’t want to be married out of obligation—out of some misplaced sense of honor. You don’t want to marry me, and don’t try to tell me otherwise because I can see it in your aur—eyes, I mean.” Her gaze flashed, her bosom heaving. “Which is just as well because I don’t want to marry youeither.”
His palm itched for his calming locket, which of course he didn’t have because he’d given it to her. Yet another thing she’d tried to refuse from him. Goddamnit, he was worried enough about his potential shortcomings as a husband. He didn’t need the added burden of having to convince her of the sodding obvious: wedlock was no longer a choice.
“It doesn’t bloody matter what either of us wants because I compromised you. You may not take stock in my honor, but I do. I seduced you in a carriage in the middle of the day, by God, and I’m going to do what is right!”
He hadn’t meant to shout, but his intentions seemed to have little impact on his behavior where the infuriating chit was concerned. She sat there, blinking at him, and he wanted to punch the wall in frustration. God, what would it take to convince her that, right or wrong, she belonged to him now?
Because, he fumed, she bloodydid.
“I do take stock in your honor as a gentleman,” she said quietly. “That’s not the issue.”
He released a breath, one that he hadn’t known he was holding. He didn’t know why her faith in him should matter, but it did. “Then what is?” he pressed.
“I don’t want you to marry me just because you have to.”
“That’s not the only reason.” As the words left him, he realized they were true. He reached for her gloved hand, saw how small and fragile it was. Bringing it to his lips, he murmured, “You can’t deny the attraction between us. The pleasure you’ve felt in my arms.”
“That’s just… desire.” She drew her hand away, the movement shaky. Rather like her arguments. “It’s not enough to overcome our differences.”
Seeing the sensual awareness in her eyes calmed him, renewed his confidence. “Desire can make up for a lot of things, kitten. Let me prove it to you.”
~~~
Pulse racing at his smoldering intent, she planted her palms against the bulwark of his shoulders. “That is what got us into trouble in the first place!”
“We were rubbing along just fine before we started talking. As I recall, you enjoyed my rubbing so well that—”
“That’s not the point,” she said desperately. “There are barriers between us. Ones that cannot andshouldnot be ignored.”
To her surprise, he backed away. Gave her a measuring look. “All right. Have at it. Tell me all the reasons bouncing around in your pretty head.”
“You’re going to listen?”
“Are you going to let me make love to you?”
“No!”
“Then I have nothing better to do.” He shrugged, settling back against the cushions. “But you had better get on with things. We’re not leaving this carriage until we settle the matter, and that means the longer you tarry, the more you risk getting caught with me.”
Her head whirling, she blurted out the first reason that came to mind. “You’re Rosie’s.”
“I beg your pardon?” He blinked at her.
“She had hopes where you’re concerned, and I’ve betrayed her.” Guilt cinching her throat, she looked down at her lap. How could she have done this…again?
“You must be joking.”
Her head snapped up. “I amnot. I have a sense of honor too. Rosie is my bosom chum, my sister in every way that counts—”
“For God’s sake, do I look like a sodding hair ribbon to you?” He sounded thoroughly disgruntled. “I’m not an object one can lay claim upon with a word. I haven’t given your sister any reason to believe that I have intentions toward her because I don’t and never will. She has nothing to do with what goes on between you and me.”
“It’s still my fault for betraying her.” Self-recrimination weighed like a sodden cloak.
“Bollocks.”
She started at his expletive. “Pardon?”
