And I would have never had the chance to know the man I love, she thought.
She knew better than to say it. Flint Bracken didn’t need one more responsibility. It wouldn’t hurt to lay her head against his chest for just a few more minutes, though, would it?
“I’m sorry,” he said, surprising her right back to a position of staring up at him.
She couldn’t help it. She brushed her hand against that stubbly cheek. “What in heaven’s name for?”
He possessed quite an impressive scowl. If she hadn’t been hurting so much, she would have been forced to grin at him.
“I’m sorry you had to hear that conversation in the library.”
“Oh,” she said with a wave of her hand, her head back down so he wouldn’t see the truth in her eyes. “It wasn’t a surprise. Not really. And I did get my job back.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Her head shot up again, her stomach plummeting. “You mean you’re about to break that promise as well?”
His smile was gentle. She tried to pull away, but he held on inexorably, with utmost care. “I never made that promise, if you’ll remember. The duke did. I promised to marry you.”
She huffed. “If you wish to be truthful, you didn’t do that either. You simply said you wanted to. It’s all right. I forgive you. You were caught in a vise by your father, your honor and your loyalty. After all, I very well could have been a spy, and I would do just about anything to stop someone who threatened my country—”
“Felicity.”
“—and besides, there is this lovely house he was holding over your head, the beast—”
“Felicity.”
She couldn’t so much as look at him. She needed to get away before he shattered her into irreparable shards.
“—but I’m feeling so much better now, and if I could just get a rinse of water—”
Before she could say another word, he had a glass in his hand and was holding it out to her, along with the much-abused chamber pot.
Because she figured she couldn’t humiliate herself any more than she had, she rinsed her mouth and spit. As he accepted everything back, she tried to slide off the bed.
He was quicker than she was.
“You need to listen to me,” he said, his eyes deadly serious, his hands empty of encumbrance.
She shook her head. “If you dare try to make up for what your father said—”
He sighed. “I’m not making up for anything. I’m…Oh, blast, it seems there is only one way to get through to you.”
And before Felicity could so much as move, he had her in his arms again and was kissing her. Not a sweet kiss, not a kind kiss, not a kiss goodbye. A fierce, shattering, consuming kiss that robbed her of every ounce of strength so that she had to hold on as tightly as he held on to her. She lost track of time and place and self, somehow disappearing into the heat of him, of arms that held her up away from every hurt and sorrow, all the loneliness and struggle that surely waited beyond his arms. For now, though, for now she would sink into his embrace like a drowning soul and gladly give up all just for the exquisite heat of his mouth against hers, the comfort of his arms enclosing her, the music of his groan as he lifted a hand to the back of her head and held on even more tightly.
And then, from one moment to the next, he had her cheek pressed against his shoulder, and he was trembling as badly as she.
For a long while the two of them just breathed, silent and trembling. Inevitably, though, she felt him smile. “She doesn’t have a grave,” he said.
That brought her head back so she could face him. “Pardon?”
It didn’t help. She was already lost again in the sweet green of his laughing eyes, the hard-cut planes of his dear face. The scent of the outdoors and the night that was particularly his.
His smile broadened as he brushed that loose lock of hair back from her temple again. “Your grandmother. You swore on her grave. She doesn’t have one. At least Uncle Andy’s mother doesn’t. Would you like to meet her?”
Felicity found herself blinking like a stunned calf. “I’m sorry...”
This time he brushed a gentle finger along her cheek, leaning even closer. “Your threat if I followed you. I thought I would do my best to protect my poor cods by informing you that I don’t think a swear is valid if the thing you swear on is not available. Your grandmother is alive. Therefore, there is no grave to swear upon.”
