Her arms crept up around his neck, as his hand brushed the side of her breast. She gasped against his mouth and he mumbled something untenable in return. When his thumb flicked the hardened nipple beneath her bodice, Alyssa’s hands tightened on his broad shoulders.
“Did you like that?” he whispered against her lips.
She nodded, so he did it again, and then he cupped the mound of flesh in his hand and began to knead gently. Alyssa bit her lip, and moaned.
“Look at me.”
She opened her eyes and saw that he was watching her with a touch of manly pride mixed with raw lust. He smiled wickedly as he pressed the lower half of his body against her, letting her feel the hard evidence of his erection. “Do you know what that means, Alyssa?”
She swallowed,finding it difficultto manage any soundat this point. “You’re…aroused.” Her face flamed with mortification, for she had never thought to utter that word aloud in her life.
“It means I wantyou,” hecorrected in a gravelly voice. “Stay the night with me.”
Alyssa’s senses slowly started to return. “I…can’t.” She blinked. “You know that. My reputation…”
“I told you before that I would marry you, Alyssa, if you wouldbutgive me a chance. There is enough passion between us, that we could enjoy a happy life together.”
She let her hands slide down from around his shoulders and pause on his chest. She could feel his strong heartbeat beneath her palm. “Passion fades.”
With a deep breath, she pushed against him. She thought she might meet with some resistance, but he dropped his arms and let her move away from him.
He shoved a hand through his hair. “What do you want from me that I haven’t already offered you?”
The sting of tears made her blink, but she refused to let them fall. Instead, she lifted her chin and said, “If you don’t know by now, then I’m afraid I can’t answer that for you.”
Chapter Thirteen
For the next three days, Alyssa kept her distance fromTravell. What made matters worse was that she didn’t even try to hide the fact. She arrived at Rosewood at various times, tended to her flowers, and left long before he had a chance to do more than pass heron herway out the door.
Mr. Lyridon wisely said nothing about the change in her sporadic patterns, and continued hiswork with the earl. At times he was able to drive back a lucid moment, but nothing further that might help with his current ailment, or the answers that Travell longed for. But at least his violent outbursts had ceased and hehad started to sleepthrough the nightwithout laudanum to assist him, so there was that.
But the more his father improved with treatment, the more Travell found himself falling down into a deeply troubledstate.
Hestrode to the stables one afternoon, determined to put Alyssa out of his mind as effortlessly as she had pushed him aside.Her cool attitude of late was starting to annoy him, for he thought they had started to make a more permanent connection, but she had quickly nipped that in the bud before it could even blossom into something more.
Unfortunately, it appeared that all his efforts to keep her in England were going to be met with opposition. Was she truly so determined to travel to America that she had to continually spurn his attentions?
Travellmounted his horse and galloped across the grassy expanse that had been in his family for centuries, ever since the time of the Romans.It was supposed to be relaxing, buthe found a frown creasing his brow nevertheless.
He finallyreined in atop a grassy knoll that looked out over Breyton Hall. From this vantage point, he could see the stone manor displayed in its entire splendor. He remembered many trips to this property in his youth. Although he didn’t much care for the current Lord and Lady Lockley, Alyssa’s parents had always been kind and welcoming.
Little Mouse.
He recalled the nickname that Alyssa had been given, and it angered Travell to know that she continued to allow herself to become a laughingstock, rather than to accept his hand. He’d never met such a stubborn woman in all his life.
“Lord Curdiff. What a surprise.”
Travell clenched his jaw, but forced a cool smile as he turned to meet Lady Lockley’s gaze.“Good day, my lady.” Her mouth was curved upward in that usualsmug expression he’d come to associate with her. To anyone else, she might have appeared rather becoming in her peach dress and royal blue redingote, her golden curls escaping her straw bonnet, but he only saw her for what she was—a conniving pretender.
“I daresay I wasn’t expecting to see you today, but it’s a particularly lovely day.”
He didn’t wish to tarry any longer than necessary, so he said succinctly, “Indeed. I do leave the manor on occasion.”
He started to turn his horse around, but she said, “Is everything quite well between you and Alyssa?”
Travell hesitated. Any mention of Alyssa caught his attention. “Why do you ask?”
She shrugged. “Merely that’s she’s been spending more time atBreyton Hall rather thanRosewood, of late.I suppose all that nonsense about her roses needing such constant care was merely a lark to stay away from us, but then, we still don’t see her that often, for she generally takes her meals in her room, despite all my best efforts to coax her out. I’ve done everything I could to embrace her as family, and yet, she still retains such a distance.”
