Yet sleep eluded her. Rhys’s closeness had a stimulating effect on her senses. She was all too aware that his state of undress matched hers: only his fine linen shirt separated her cheek from his firm pectoral muscle, and her stocking-clad leg lay next to his hard, trouser-clad thigh. His hand rested on her hip. His heat permeated her, his spicy musk filling her nostrils.
Thoughts entered her head. Dangerous thoughts. Thoughts she had no business having.
When she willed herself to stop thinking about them, they grew stronger. Memories assailed her: the flexing of his back muscles beneath her palms. The blissful shock of his manhood stretching her, pushing her deeper and deeper toward the heart of pleasure. She recalled the exquisite spasms that had rippled through her, followed by his primal sounds of satisfaction…
For heaven’s sake, stop thinking like a harlot, she told herself desperately.Go to sleep.
Something that Rhys seemed to have no trouble doing. Beneath her head, his chest rose and fell in the rhythm of sound slumber. Unlike her, he wasn’t being kept awake by lustful urges.
The last time she’d had this physical closeness with a man was with Rhys. Never before and never since. The blackness spun around her senses, cocooning them from logic and good sense. She felt like a sleepwalker wandering through a fantasy. The yearning in her grew and grew…until restraint crumbled.
In the dark, her fingertips found the open vee of his collar. His throat was a strong, corded column beneath her feather-light touch. She skimmed upward over the masculine bump, finding the bristly jut of his jaw and chin.
The pleasant scrape raised shivery goose pimples on her skin. She lightly traced the wicked, sensual ring of hair around his mouth. Their first time together, he’d been clean-shaven, and now she had an unholy curiosity about how that beard and mustache would feel against her skin…
“Enjoying yourself?”
His voice, the warmth of his breath against her fingers, jerked her back to reality. Her hand still hovered by his mouth, and she snatched it away...but not quickly enough. He caught it, rolling in a swift movement so that he was atop her.
It was too dark to see his face. She could only feel his hard, virile power surrounding her. Swamping her with desire.
Don’t do this. Her mind resisted her body’s clamoring need.Don’t act like a whore.
“You promised,” she managed. “You said…you wouldn’t take advantage.”
“I won’t. The choice is yours.” His voice was husky, sin and temptation wrapped in velvet. “Tell me to stop, and I will.”
She realized that, while he hung over her, he wasn’t holding her in place. He’d deliberately taken his own weight. His fingers were loosely linked with hers against the softness of her cloak, and she could pull away if she wanted to. Stop everything…if she wanted to.
I don’t want to stop.
She blurted, “I’m not a harlot.”
“No, you aren’t. And I don’t understand why you would think that you are.” His hand found her jaw, cupping it. “You’re a beautiful, hard-working, passionate woman, Maggie. I respect you.”
She wished she could see his eyes. Confirm the sincerity in his deep tones. “Truly?”
“Truly.” His thumb trailed over her bottom lip. “I respect you, which is why I must be honest about my desires and what I have to offer. What I want from you, what I can give, is the pleasure of the moment. Nothing more, nothing less.”
The pleasure of the moment.Oh, how shewantedit. Yearned for it with every fiber of her being…but she couldn’t make the same mistake twice.
Her good sense rallied. “There cannot be consequences…”
“Ah. I have a solution for that.”
She could picture the sensual curve of his mouth.
“Not with me at the moment, but there are many ways to make love, Maggie. Ways to find pleasure without me spilling my seed inside you.”
Her entire being shuddered at his bluntness. At the image and sensations his words evoked.
“Will you allow me, sweeting?” he murmured. “Will you let me make love to you, to pleasure you without consequences?”
Could she trust him? The truth was, all those years ago, he hadn’t broken a promise to her: he’d never made any to begin with. Since his return, he’d been looking out for her. He’d defended her from her brother, taken care of her at the fair, even won her a commission. Tonight, he’d risked his neck to save her and her brothers from the excise men.
Now he was offering to see to her physical needs, with no strings attached. There would be no consequences; no one would know. And he couldn’t hurt her again because she was no longer a fool and knew exactly what she was signing up for.
One night of mindless pleasure.
