“Are you?” He didn’t know what else to say.
“Oh, yes. You’re about to take me up to your room and make love to me,” she murmured.
“Am I?”
“Hmmm.”
Ertugrul stiffened in more ways than one.
“Is this... after you marry me?” he asked in a whisper. “Or...?”
“Hmmm.”
He stared down at her until her eyelids fluttered open. She didn’t move her head, but her eyes darted about as if to determine where she was. “I fell asleep on you again, didn’t I?”
Despite his disappointment at realizing she had awakened from a dream in which he had obviously played a starring role, he grinned. “You did, but I don’t mind. Your father...” He stopped, his brows furrowing. George hadn’t said a word. Hadn’t attempted to wake him or scold him or threaten him with eviction. “Your father didn’t seem to mind, either,” he murmured in surprise.
Adeline sighed but didn’t lift her head. “He likes you,” she whispered. Her eyes suddenly widened and she moved to sit up. “Father saw us?” she asked in a hoarse whisper.
Ertugrul nodded. “He was just here. Drinking something.”
“Brandy, probably,” she murmured before she pointed to the book that still rested in his lap. Apparently deciding they weren’t in any imminent danger from an angry father, she asked, “Did you come up with a plan for your uncles’ palaces?”
He glanced at the illustration that spanned two pages of the open book. “I was... distracted,” he replied, as if he was trying to find the right word.
“Oh, dear. I’m so sorry,” she said, straightening on the couch.
“You’ve nothing to be sorry for,” he said. “But I might should your father find us like this again,” he said as he struggled with what he wanted to do.
Had they been in one of his father’s palaces, he would have asked her to join him in his bedchamber. Removed her gown. Pleasured her until she was ready for him. Made love to her until near dawn. Watched as the colored light from the stained-glass windows played over her features and her sleep-warmed skin. Kissed her nipples. Pulled her into his arms and held her close.
Perhaps she could read his mind, for her brows furrowed as her gaze fell to his lips. “What’s the worst that could happen?” she whispered softly, although it wasn’t apparent she was asking him the question.
“You would be forced to marry me,” he said, wincing slightly.
Her eyes widened. “You’d be forced to marryme,” she countered.
“There’s nothing worst about that,” he said, immediately realizing he had said the wrong word. “I mean... there’s nothing wrong or... bad... quite the opposite,” he stammered.
“I didn’t mean to imply I didn’t wish to,” Adeline whispered, her gaze once again dropping to his lips.
Ertugrul wasn’t sure if she initiated the kiss or if he did, but when their lips touched, he experienced a moment of elation he hadn’t felt in his entire life. He had never kissed a woman on the lips before. Never tasted the soft pillows of flesh that cradled his. Never felt the surge of desire the simple act of intimacy caused in his body. The twinge in his chest.
At the moment he thought the kiss was ending, he angled his head and placed a hand at the back of her neck to ensure he could continue the wondrous experience, sure there was more.
He had read about kissing, of course, but he had never understood the appeal of such an act. Lips and tongues engaged in some sort of dance? But when Adeline’s mouth opened slightly, an invitation for him to deepen the kiss, his tongue darted to her teeth and then collided with hers, tangling and tasting, until he realized he had to breathe.
Ending the kiss slowly, Ertugrul left his forehead pressed to hers as he inhaled and let the breath out in awhoosh. “If we don’t stop now, I...” He swallowed as his brows furrowed with indecision.
Adeline lifted her eyes to meet his. “I understand.”
“I’ll speak with your father tomorrow.”
“You will?”
He nodded. “Isn’t that the way it’s done? That I should let him know I intend to bed you?”
Blinking, Adeline attempted to suppress a grin and couldn’t. “You may not wish to start withthat, exactly,” she said.
