He shrugged. "Bad enough. He wasted most of my mother's inheritance, had the reputation of a cheat at cards, and kept his word only when it suited him. When I was seven, he eloped to the Continent with a married woman. My mother never really recovered from his betrayal." Dominick took a deep breath. "I could overlook the rest but not that. She deservedbetter."
Roxanne's arm crept around his waist. "You never spoke of your fathertome."
"Ten years ago I couldn't. Because I was young, it was very important for me to appear jaunty and unconcerned. I guess I was successful, but I felt as if there was a hole in the center of my soul. Then I met you. Riding through that clearing, your hair blazing like fire because you hated wearing hats." The image was as sharp in his mind as if it had beenyesterday.
He ran one hand down her back. Under the thin fabric her flesh was warm and softly yielding. "I'd always enjoyed pretty girls. Usually I laughed and flirted a bit, then went my way without a second thought. But as soon as I saw you, I felt as if the hole in my soul had healed. I couldn't explain it then, and I can't now. Perhaps love can't beexplained."
A little desperately, she said, "I can't help but fear that over the years you have built me into an impossible model of perfection. I'm no paragon,Dominick."
He laughed. "I'm well aware of that. You've a sharp tongue, a stubborn streak, and you see things perhaps a little too clearly for comfort. Yet at the same time, those are some of the qualities I love in you." He kissed her temple again. "Your intelligence." He brushed her lips lightly with his. "Your directness." He laid his hand on her heart. "Your warmth, and if you can come to trust me again, yoursteadfastness."
He felt the beating of her blood against his palm. "When I saw you today at the inn, I felt exactly the same sensation that I did ten years ago. That you, and only you, can fill the emptiness inside me. No one else has ever affected me that way, so I don't think you can be considered ordinary. Or if you are, perhaps ordinariness is what I need." He took an uneven breath, for honesty was painful work. "Certainly Ineedyou."
There was a long silence before she whispered, "You make it easy to believe." Lifting her head, she touched her lipstohis.
He responded with fierce sweetness, murmuring her name over and over as he kissed her. Her breath quickened and she did not object when he joined her underneath the blankets. It seemed so natural to have him beside her, to return his caresses and rejoice in histouch.
As passion claimed her, she forgot the long, empty years and pressed against him, wanting to feel the length of his body against hers. In the dark privacy of the bed, they might have been alone in the world, Adam and Even sampling the forbidden fruit of desire. The large nightgown slipped from her shoulders easily so that his mouth could simultaneously soothe and inflame the ache in herbreasts.
Even so, she inhaled sharply when his hand slid beneath her gown and caressed the sensitive flesh inside her thighs. Hearing her alarm, he halted. "I have loved and wanted you so much, for so long, Roxanne," he said huskily. “I don't know if I can bear to wait any longer. If you want me to leave the bed, say so now, before it'stoolate."
For a moment, fear paralyzed her. She was standing on the edge of a precipice. If she dared to leap off into the abyss, her life would changeirrevocably.
To accept him now was also to accept his offer of marriage and his version of the past. It would mean making herself vulnerable to the same kind of pain she had felt ten years ago, but it would be a hundred times worse if she lost him again after they becamelovers.
And yet… She thought of the long, lonely years at Maybourne Towers, and had the stark realization that since that was her life, it was high time she changed or she would die without having lived. And he wanted her as no one else ever had. She was not a whim to him but a necessity, just as the memory of him had been necessary to her no matter how she had tried todenyit.
Feeling a deep sense of female power, she ran her fingers tenderly through his thick, silky hair. "You don't have to wait any longer,Dominick."
He exhaled roughly. Then, curbing his urgency, he initiated her into the mysteries of passion with infinite gentleness. She expected pain, and there was some, but there was also rapture beyond anything she could haveimagined.
When she fell asleep in his cradling arms, it was with the greatest peace she had everknown.
Chapter9
It was earlywhen the laborer shuffled into the Black Hart Inn. "My name's Wussell," he said to the innkeeper. "Is this where the lady wasstolefrom?"
The innkeeper winced. He'd never live this down. On the other hand, business was booming as people came to see the premises from which the Wild Man had abducted a modest English maiden. "This is the place. For tuppence you can see the room where it took place. Some of the savage's gear is still there." Wussell twisted his cap in his hands. "I'm not here for that. Yesterday I saw the brute and think I know where he might have taken the lady. They say her father isstayinghere?"
The innkeeper bustled off, and within five minutes Sir William emerged from a private breakfast room. "Searchers have been scouring the countryside without result," he said brusquely, "yet you claim to know where mydaughteris?"
"Won't swear to it, but yesterday afternoon I caught a glimpse of a shaggy, naked brute riding with a lady in front of him." Wussell pondered. "She had red hair. Right prettyshewas."
"A pity you didn't come forward yesterday, when there was still time to save her virtue!" the baronet snarled. "Heaven only knows what that savage might have done with her last night. She might be lying dead even as wespeak."
Wussell shrugged. "Didn't know he was a savage. Thought he was just a member of the gentry being odd. There's no accounting for the gentry. Wasn't till this morning that the milkmaid told me about your daughter being abducted. Came as soon as Icould."
"We must collect a party and rescue her," Sir William said. "Where is she being held?" Correctly interpreting Wussell's vague expression, the baronet dug into his pocket and produced his purse. "Will five pounds help yourmemory?"
"Reckon it would." Wussell accepted the money. "They were riding down the lane that leads to Orchard Cottage. This morning after I heard, I went to take a look. It's supposed to be empty, but there was smoke coming from the chimney, so Icamehere."
Sir William bellowed, "Innkeeper, find me some men! And make sure they'rearmed!"
* * *
To goto bed with passion and wake up with laughter was even better than Roxanne had imagined. Dominick's head was pillowed on her shoulder and his arm draped over her waist. His face relaxed and peaceful, he was a bonny sight. It awed her to think that, God willing, they would be waking up like this for many yearstocome.
When she stretched lazily, trying not to disturb him, his eyes opened. There was wariness in the depths, as if he feared that she regretted what shehaddone.
