His grin instantly faded and he went still. Just like that he shifted from sensual tease to earnest lover. He wiped away the tears with his thumbs, kissed her forehead, and searched her face. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Don’t you want me?”
She swallowed a few times before she could choke out the confession. “I want you so much it frightens me.”
His concerned features softened. He clasped her hands with his and slid oh-so-slowly inside of her. “I want you too.” He pulled out and slid back inside. His gaze never left her face. “So much.”
The pressure slowly built inside of her, tangled in the jumble of emotions in her heart. By the time he pumped into her one last time, her orgasm washed over her in a wave of sublime pleasure, wringing another unstoppable moan from her throat.
The man was a master. He’d given her four orgasms in one night, but it felt far too much like lovemaking and it wasn’t supposed to be that. How had it all gone so wrong and yet so wonderfully right? How in the world was she going to survive this? She’d keep him chained to the bed if she could. Her sex slave for the next three months. The idea held a certain appeal. She smiled to herself and cuddled against him, limp and languid and ready to go back to sleep after all that delicious pleasure.
“Why were you crying?” he asked gently after he rolled to his side and captured her hand in his.
The tender rasp of his thumb over her knuckles brought her eyelids open. He was watching her face with dark, unreadable eyes, waiting for her answer. An answer he apparently cared about. Oh, God. What was happening between them?
She carefully disengaged her hand and noted his frown when she did so. She turned on her side to look at him and pulled up the sheet to cover her breasts. “It was nothing. Truly.”
He studied her face for a moment and reached to push a lock of hair behind her ear. “I don’t want to hurt you, Nicole.”
She turned onto her back and stared at the ceiling, flinging her arm over her head to rest on the pillow. A hollow ache pulsed in her chest. “I was the one who demanded we do this.”
“Yes, but I was the one who insisted it not just be an act. I—”
“It’s fine, no need to explain.” Her voice was more terse than she’d meant it to be. They couldnotstart talking about their feelings. If that happened, there was no way she would survive with her heart intact.
He brought her knuckles up to his lips and kissed them tenderly. “I don’t know how to do it any other way.”
She swallowed hard and nodded, still staring at the ceiling. “I understand.”
He lifted up on his elbow and grinned down at her. Then he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the tip of her nose. “And it was fun, wasn’t it?”
She nodded again, a smile creeping onto her lips. “It was indeed.”
He rolled toward the edge of the mattress. “I need to get the day started but I, for one, am greatly looking forward to doing this again.”
She watched him leap from the bed and couldn’t help but stare at his magnificent backside as he disappeared into the next room to dress.
“Me too,” she whispered to herself. “And that’s the problem.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
“They’ve all arrived,” Lady Harriet told Mark later that morning in the breakfast room. “I’ve shown them to their rooms, but per your instructions, asked that they all meet in the blue drawing room at half past eleven.”
“Very good,” Mark replied, leaning back in his chair. Regina had already eaten and Nicole had ordered a tray brought up to their room. His uncle was too ill to come down to breakfast, so Mark and his aunt were there alone.
Lady Harriet had a smug little smile on her face too, which made Mark wonder if she had some way of knowing what he and Nicole had done last night. The old woman kept glancing at him and smiling. She was humming sporadically too. Mark couldn’t blame her. He rather felt like humming himself this morning.
During breakfast, he had tried to concentrate on preparing for the interviews he would conduct today, butall he could think about was last night with Nicole. It wasn’t his imagination. Ithadbeen better than he remembered. Wild, passionate, unencumbered. Nicole was fiery in bed and she drove him mad with the sounds she made in the back of her throat. She’d given herself to him entirely, holding nothing back, and he was mad for her. Damn it. How long did it take for a woman to know whether she was with child? A month at least, possibly less? He hoped to hell she wasn’t with child yet. He’d like to continue the method of producing an heir as long as possible.
He finished his eggs and coffee, stood from the table, and excused himself from Lady Harriet’s presence. “I’ll be in the drawing room at half past eleven. See you there.”
***
The drawing room was full of somber faces. Lord Anthony looked particularly solemn, spine erect, on a stiff-backed chair in the corner, his face drawn and pale. Lady Arabelle, blond and fragile, held a handkerchief in her fist and dabbed at her wide wet blue eyes repeatedly. Lady Arabelle’s mother, looking downcast, heaved sigh after sigh as she sat perched on the settee next to her daughter, patting her hand and murmuring to her. Lord Hillenbrand was stoic. Mr. Cartwright looked perturbed. Miss Lester sat next to Mr. Cartwright, her mother on the other side of her. They looked somber too. Everyone was dressed in black with nary a smile among them.
Oakleaf stood in the front of the room next to Mark, arms clasped behind his back. Lord Tottenham had arrived, but had not been asked to join the group in thedrawing room. Oakleaf wanted only the people who’d been at the dinner that night to be there.
The duke arrived shortly after, wheeled in by two footmen. All the guests stood and bowed to the old man. He feebly lifted his hand in the air. “Sit, sit, please.”
“I’m glad you’ve come,” the duke began as they all took their seats again. “It’s important for me to honor John here at the family estate. The memorial service will be tomorrow afternoon at the family cemetery over the hill. The naming of the heir shall be the day after. In the meantime, I hope you will all relax and enjoy yourselves as much as you are able, given the circumstances. If you need anything at all, please let one of the servants know.”
