He arched a brow. “I value my research.”
“And what has it told you about me lately?”
“You have a number of offers. Good ones. Your brother is even hoping for a high lord.”
“He is. I met him tonight.”
Something passed across his eyes.Jealousy. My heart beat faster.
“I have looked into Plufield’s affairs,” he said, fingers tapping on one crossed arm. “He is not a bad choice, all things considered. Lucian was prowling a dinner affair and met the high lord. He commented that he was nice enough. My reports say the same. Moderate consumer of spirits and gambling. Plenty of money to keep you in style. The ladies report that he is not hard on the eyes. One of your others—Ratching, is it?—is also a decent choice.”
I stopped a foot in front of him. “Yes. Both decent choices.”
“Whom will you choose?”
I took another step. “Who do you think I should choose?”
“Ah, but that is not my decision to make.”
I closed the last six inches and tilted my head up. “I’m asking your opinion, is all.”
His fingers curled into white knuckles.Yes. “And I’m not giving my opinion to you.”
I pushed flush against him, eyelids dropping to half-mast, his arms automatically falling and allowing closer contact. “Then I suppose I should determine my favorite with a kiss?”
He crushed his lips to mine, and I eagerly returned the assault.
“I’ve missed you,” he said against my mouth.
I pulled away an inch. “I’ve missed you too. I worried about y—”
He kissed me again. “I know. Talk later.”
He turned and pushed me down on the bed, crumpling papers beneath me as I leaned back on my elbows.
“I’ll never find anything in that pile again,” he said, his voice rasping as if he’d run ten miles as he continued to kiss me. He pushed against me, hard and delicious, and I pushed back, wanting the heat.
“You can’t find—” I arched back as he freed a breast and sucked the tip. “—anything in those piles anyway, admit it.”
“Never.”
He lifted my skirts, the layers of material ballooning and bunching around and between us. He stroked a finger along me, unerringly finding the exact spots that made me writhe against him, sneaking a fingertip inside, on the path my body had already made. His body aligned with mine and my throat caught.
Fingers threaded through my hair and brilliant green eyes met mine. I looked in his eyes and read the honesty reflected. Desire, caution, love.
The question.
“I don’t want any of the others.”
“They could give you the life you deserve.”
“No.” I shook my head. “They will give me anything but.”
“I’m the son of a butler and drift dancer, Marietta. Hardly someone that—”
I put my finger to his lips. “I love you.” I felt the shock jolt through him, and barely kept hold of myself as the movement thrust him inside me another inch. “Love is what none of the others could give me,” I said breathlessly. “I know you do not desire marriage. I don’t expect—”
His finger echoed mine, stroking my lip. “I never said that. I worded myself very carefully. I wanted to give you a clean chance to do as you wanted.”
