He closed his book, keeping a finger to mark the page, and tilted his head to the side. “We are never too mature to learn new things.”
Ada’s gaze snapped to his, and for an instant, she thought she spied a gleam of deviltry in his dark eyes. She turned away. “I won’t keep you from your novel any longer, Mr. Clarke. I shall just retrieve mine and leave you in peace.”
She returned to the shelf, but this time, her fingers were trembling, so she couldn’t seem to grasp the spine. She released an annoyed exhale, but then jerked when another hand covered hers. She hadn’t heard Mr. Clarke cross the room. He easily withdrew the title from the row and handed it to her. “Is this what you wanted, Ada?”
Her breath caught at the sound of her name crossing his lips. “Don’t call me that,” she chided. “It’s entirely too familiar.”
Again, he flashed that dazzling smile. “But how else are people to know one another unless it is by familiarity?”
She held the book against her chest, as if it were a shield that might protect her from his attraction. “Who says that I wish to be any more familiar with you than I currently am?”
His mouth crooked upward at one side, and for a heart-stopping moment, she was afraid that he might lean down and kiss her. His eyes dropped to her mouth, but then he moved away to the mantel and crossed his arms. “I have a proposition for you, Mrs. Givens.”
Her mouth set in a firm line, so he continued quickly, “Before you get offended, allow me to explain.” He paused, waiting to see if her expression might change. It didn’t. Withholding a sigh, he went on. “What I would like to suggest isn’t a licentious arrangement, as you might think.” He allowed his gaze to travel the length of her body. “Although I wouldn’t be averse to a situation that might be more… intimate.”
In response to that, she lifted a brow. She wasn’t amused.
He cleared his throat. “I know that you don’t wish to marry again, but I find myself in need of a wife.” He found that this was the most difficult part to explain. “I have recently obtained a ward. She is four years old, and her mother has recently passed. I feel she needs a feminine touch.”
“It sounds to me as if you are in need of a governess, not a wife,” she countered.
He shook his head. “She wouldn’t get the sort of motherly attention that she would get from a governess.” He looked at her directly. “I know that most ton marriages aren’t ones that are generally chosen for love, but I was fortunate enough to be brought up with parents who were devoted to each other. Arabella is currently being overseen by my mother, but I don’t want her to have to bear the burden of such a young child when I know her health isn’t what she would like it to be. Thus, my conundrum.”
She narrowed her eyes, but she didn’t reply at first, making Brandt wonder if she was giving the matter some consideration. After a lengthy moment, she inquired, “Why me?”
It was a simple enough question, and the only way Brandt could answer was by being truthful. “I feel that you would be a good choice. You appear to have a modest character, to my everlasting chagrin, and you have known loss. I feel you would be able to help her through the grief she is currently experiencing.”
“She is little more than a babe. She will move past her loss soon enough.”
Brandt moved slowly toward her. “Does that mean you will not help us?”
She stiffened slightly but didn’t retreat from his advance. “I’m sure that whatever made you choose me, will also help you to find another.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” he murmured. He was standing directly in front of her now. He reached out and grasped her chin with the barest of touches and trailed the length of her bottom lip with his thumb. “Are you so determined to live as a wicked widow forever, then?” he pondered aloud.
Her green eyes were almost luminous as she regarded him. “I’m not wicked,” she whispered.
He could feel her wanting to sway toward him, but at the same time, some unseen force was keeping her at a distance. They had only met this night, but sometimes, attraction couldn’t be denied, even in the shortest circumstances. “Are you quite sure about that… Ada?” He let her name linger on his lips, and then he dared to place a hand on her upper arm and test her resolve by placing his mouth on hers.
He could feel a shudder pass through her the moment they connected, and his cock responded in kind. He had kissed many women during his nine and twenty years, but none tasted as sweet as this one. He prayed she would return the embrace, and when his tongue slipped inside her mouth, hers dared to join his in an erotic dance.
His arm slipped around her back and he brought her against his chest. She brought her hands up between them and he feared she would push him away, demand that he stop this foolishness. Instead, her palms slipped inside his shirt and touched his bare skin.
He groaned at the contact and lowered the hand on her chin until it brushed the underside of her breast. Without the confining stays of her underclothes, it was easy for him to tease and toy with her hardened nipple through the white cotton of her nightdress.
He heard the hitch in her breathing, and so he dared to take this dangerous game even further. He untied the fastening of her robe and when it slid free, he slowly drew up her nightgown. Turning them until she was against the bookshelves, he urged her bare leg to rest on his hip while his fingers made a sensual trail along her upper thigh. Just before he was about to touch the center of her, he paused, waiting to see if she would allow him to proceed.
When her hips moved forward, her hands clutching his shoulders and pulling his shirt free from his trousers, he knew that meant she was willing to continue. At least for now.
At the first brush of his fingers against her core, he closed his eyes and set his forehead against hers. “God, Ada,” his whispered harshly.
She said nothing as he began to pleasure her, slowly at first, but then faster and faster. She threw her head back and released a low moan and he could tell she was getting close to her peak. He inserted a finger into her passage and continued the rhythm with his thumb until she bit her lip and closed her eyes in ecstasy.
Brandt watched in amazement as the color on her cheeks grew high, her lips parted slightly. He had never seen anyone more beautiful.
As she started to come out of her sensual haze, her eyes opened and he feared that meant she was going to tell him to leave, to give him a set down he would remember forever. Instead, she fumbled with the fall of his trousers.
Without a word, he allowed his cock to come free. At the first, confident touch of her hand stroking him, he gritted his teeth. Surely she wouldn’t be so cruel as to take him to the brink and then refuse to finish what they’d started. Again, she surprised him, this time by guiding him to her entrance.
