“Mercy,” he murmured softly. “You are so soft, so sweet. I don’t want to hurt you. I’ll try not to.”
She trusted him now as she never had before. Grabbing handfuls of his silky hair, their panting breaths mingled, his sweet with champagne. Insatiable curiosity mixed with desire made her sob and cry out, eager for some inexplicable tantalizing release that hovered out of reach.
* * *
“Good morning, sleepy head.” Grant leaned his head on his hand beside her. “Did you sleep well?”
She gave him a lazy smile that warmed his blood. “Yes, did you?”
He had woken again in the early hours and watched his charming wife sleep. Her delicate beauty enthralled him, her thick lashes fluttering on her creamy cheeks. He had been drawn to her the night he first saw her, he remembered. But he’d never imagined this. It was more than the lust he’d had for other lovers, or even the affection he’d felt for them. His heart banged against his ribs as he gazed down at her. Despite admiring her independent spirit, he was frustrated that she continually fought him when he merely wished to protect her. It suddenly became of vital importance that she loved him, and more than that, esteemed him.
Mercy’s unaffected curiosity last night promised an exciting love life. He wanted to make love to her again knowing the first time was never the best for a woman, but her body needed to heal. And it didn’t seem right with what he must now tell her. “Hungry, my sweet?”
She sat up, the sheet falling away from her full breasts sending another flash of desire through him.
“I am a little.” Shy, she grabbed at the sheet. “Would you mind pulling the bell rope?”
Grant leaned his head back on his forearm and smiled at her. “I confess I am so snug here, I don’t yet want to get up. Perhaps you could?”
Her pretty face clouded and she glanced across at her dressing gown over the back of a chair on the other side of the chamber. Her nightgown was somewhere on the floor. She bit her lip and slowly shook her head.
He chuckled. “No?”
She laughed and folded her arms across those breasts he ached to touch.
“Ah. A pity. You are wonderfully decorative.” He threw back the blankets and jumped from the bed, strolling across the carpet to pull the bell.
He turned to find her watching him.
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen a naked man before. I shall never wish to see another, only you.”
Grant grinned. “Unsurprisingly, I want that too.” He brought Mercy her dressing gown, deciding not to join her in bed again; the temptation to make love would be impossible to resist. His mind already struggled for the most prudent way to tell her. But in truth, there was nothing he could say to soften the fact that he was about to leave.
When he bent to kiss her, she coiled her arms around his neck and pulled him down, pressing her sweet mouth to his. “I mean it. You are beautiful,” she whispered.
Charmed by her sweet words, he fought against desire, easing up and away from her. “Nonsense. Women are beautiful. You are beautiful. Men are all muscle, tendons, skin and bone.”
At the knock on the door, he snatched up his banyan and slipped it on, sliding his feet into his slippers. “Come.”
A footman entered carrying a loaded tray. He placed two cups and saucers, a rack of toast, butter, preserves, and a pot of chocolate on a table, opened the curtains, tended the fire, then left them.
“A dainty breakfast for my lady,” Grant said. “I shall eat in the breakfast room. I require something more robust.”
“Are you riding this morning? I’d like to join you.”
He came back to the bed and took her hand. “Sweetheart,” he began, his eyes capturing hers, “I must leave you for a while today. Important business has called me away.”
Mercy frowned and pulled her hand from his. She drew her dressing gown closer. “For how long?” Her choked voice made him want to unburden himself. But he’d sworn an oath to the Crown that he considered sacred. And he wasn’t sure what Mercy would do if he did tell her.
“A few days at most. I shall return as soon as I can…I hate leaving you, sweetheart, please believe me. Our first night together was glorious. It was perfect.”
“Are you going to London?” she asked in a cool voice. She climbed down from the bed and tied the ribbons on her dressing gown, shutting away her body from him, and he feared, her heart.
“No. North. Grandfather will be as cross with me as you are.”
“I doubt that.” She sat on one of the chairs upholstered in pink satin and poured chocolate into cups.
He sat and drank the thick brew although he preferred coffee. “I can only say that it’s something I must do. I have no choice in the matter.”
