“There are no other women. Not anymore. I tried to tell you the day after you went to the theater.” His breath strangled in his chest for a second as he remembered the kisses they had shared that day, how she had told him she didn’t want him to be good and stroked his cock through his breeches. “I promise I gave them all up last year after I made love to you.”
Strange sounds were coming from her. Could it be? It was laughter. She was laughing. She was the only person he had ever seen laugh without smiling.
“Oh, oh, oh, Ph-Ph-Phineath. W-we didn’t make l-l-love. We f-f-f-f-fucked.”
“Caro!”
She quieted.
“I’m hurt you would say that.”
“N-n-n-no, you’re not.”
“How do you know that?”
“You didn’t even do that th-th-thing with your eyeth. That thad thing.”
He took another step toward her.
“What sad thing?”
“You know.”
“No, I don’t. What sad thing?”
She made a dramatically pathetic face, with her mouth turned down and her eyes wide.
“I don’t look like that.”
She nodded and rolled her eyes. “Yeth. You do. You pretend to be thad to get your way.”
Another few inches. “If I pretended to be sad right now, would you marry me?”
“No.”
“Well, I would like to make love to you.”
She reddened and looked down.
“Would you like that?”
“N-n-n-no.”
Now he actuallywasa little bit hurt. But he would try his best not to show it. “Why do you say that, Caro?”
She raised her head and looked at him. “B-b-b-becauthe we d-d-d-d-don’t l-l-l-l-l-l-l—” She stamped one foot in frustration.
He had promised himself he would not interrupt her or complete her sentences. But he knew what she was trying to say. And it gave him the strangest sensation in his chest. The same wrench after he had read in her diary about Lady Huxley’s ball and realized she had never had the dances she wanted all those years ago.
She took a deep breath. “L-l-l-l-love each other.” Oh, the flash of that pink tongue.
Too soon. Too much. She won’t believe you. She’ll run away again. Say something else.
Another step closer. “But maybe once we got to know one another, we could love each other.”
And then he was astounded. Two tears rolled down her face. His brave Amazon. She of the few words and the daring sexual virtuosity. He had seen her angry. But to see her cry?
He couldn’t hold back any longer. He lunged toward her, but she put out her arms, holding him off.
