She stiffened. “No,” she said. “I can already see improvements in his condition. I have no idea how far they can go, but considering that my father cared so much for the man, I see it as my duty to do whatever I can to help. I don’t regret taking on his care, my lord.”
Stalwood held her stare. “He is a good man, Diana. I would never have exposed you to him had I any doubt about that. But he is a spy. You know what that means. So be…wary.”
She blushed again. It seemed Stalwood had sensed some level of connection that had formed between them, even if she doubted he had guessed the whole truth. If he knew Lucas had bedded her, she had a feeling there would be a much larger explosion.
“I’m always wary, I assure you,” she said, then squeezed his hand and pulled away. “I’ll send an update on his condition in a week. Good day.”
“Good day,” he said, touching his hat to her before he returned to the fine carriage that was waiting for him in her small drive.
She shut the door and turned toward the stairs behind her. She’d promised Stalwood that she was always wary, and it wasn’t entirely untrue. She knew better than to trust Lucas with her heart. With her soul.
But her body was something else. She longed for his touch. Longed to finish what had been interrupted when Stalwood arrived.
She longed, and that was undeniable. She shook her head as she went up the stairs. Lucas’s bedroom door was closed and she hesitated a moment before she knocked lightly.
There was a sound of brief movement before he called out, “Come in.”
She stepped inside. He was propped up on the bed, still fully clothed, though Stalwood had apparently helped him with his boots.
“He is gone?” Lucas asked, his gaze flitting over her from head to toe. She shivered at the intimacy in that stare. At the intensity.
“Yes,” she said. “I wish you had called for me when you got tired. I could have helped.”
A brief flash of emotion moved across his expression, but then it was gone. “I did not want to interrupt you in whatever you were doing. Stalwood was up to the task of assisting me.”
She stepped closer. “I have a hard time picturing the very proper Earl of Stalwood being up to such a menial chore.”
Lucas’s brow wrinkled. “Do not mistake him. His title has never made him soft. He once worked heavily in the field before he took over as leader of the spies.”
She nodded slowly. “I suppose I should know more than any other not to judge a spy by his outward appearance. They are rarely what they seem or claim to be.”
She winced the moment the words were out of her mouth. She’d said far too much, revealed it to a man who was always finding deeper meaning in what was said. It was in his nature. And she saw him doing it now, examining her like he was collecting evidence.
“Come here.” He held out a hand to her.
She swallowed hard before she did as he’d ordered. She came to him and slipped her hand in his. There was an instantaneous reaction through her body. Heat and tingling desire and…comfort.
It was the last that made her want to jerk her hand away. She did not want to seek, nor find, comfort in this man. That was the most dangerous trap she could fall into.
“We were interrupted earlier,” he said softly, lifting the hand that wasn’t holding hers and gliding it into her hair. He massaged her scalp gently and she let out her breath in a long exhalation of pleasure.
“Yes, we were,” she murmured, letting him tug her in.
“I’d like to finish what we started,” he said as he drew her across his body and pressed his lips to hers.
She melted into his heat, happy he had chosen not to pursue anything but the desire that coursed between them. That was all she wanted, nothing more. Remembering that was paramount to her own safety.
But all those thoughts faded as he drove his tongue between her lips, swirling it around and around her mouth, tasting her and softening her and making her weak with wanting him. She shifted to move beside him on the bed and lifted against his body, rubbing against him like a cat as the kiss deepened and spiraled and went on forever.
She was lost in him and she loved it. She never wanted to be found if the pleasure and peace she experienced in his arms was what she could have forever.
The thought of forever jolted her, and she pulled back, staring up into his face. Not forever. There were no forevers for her. None that she wanted and none that were offered. Getting caught up in any thoughts otherwise was an exercise in pain and foolishness.
“I do not like that look,” he drawled, pushing her onto her back gently. “You are thinking…overthinking.”
She smiled despite her thoughts. “Am I so obvious?”
“Only to a keen observer of the human experience,” he said, sliding a hand down her body and catching the edge of her skirt. He began to slide it up inch by inch. “Which I am.”
