“You claim my boy?”
“Yes. I’m going to take you back to the house. Trust me. I’ll get you there safely and swiftly.”
“No. Not yet. Prying eyes can’t see us. Neighbors are working. We are sort of alone.”
They weren’t. His grooms had patrolled earlier and would again in an hour. Lawden sat in Wycliff’s carriage out front of the Croomes’, trying not to look their way, but failing.
Her pinkie touched his mouth. “They are smooth.”
“They can be, Ruth. Here’s a quick answer.”
He leaned in.
She did not move.
Wycliff dipped closer and blew a breath onto her lips. “May I?”
One, two, three, three and a half.
He gave her a small peck. Then a bigger one. And a bigger one.
Then she kissed him back.
Four years, two continents, two seas, and death, this feeling had never left him, like he was falling and being caught in the softest net.
She had a delicious mouth, one that curved perfectly to his. Her sensitive lips trembled when he whispered her name, vibrated when she moaned his.
Had a kiss done it?
Had that broken the spell? Had this moment returned his wife to him?
He sought to draw her closer. To trace and embrace what was his, what was meant to be his.
He took her hand and put it to his chest, drawing her fingers beneath his waistcoat, snaking her palm to his heart. “Warm it, Ruth. Reach in and own it. Make it shine bright for you.”
Her hand tightened on his, and she allowed a deeper kiss.
Heaven was in his arms. But that always meant hell was next.
Ruth pulled away but wiped her thumb along his mouth. “Those lips are nice, but no more, no more,Wycliff.”
She said his name like she had to remember it.
It was time.
She craved truth. He needed to give his, theirs. “Ruth, I need to tell you something.”
“No, you don’t. I know you’re not Adam. You’re too thoughtful, and I feel safe with you, so much more with you.”
His chest hurt. She’d kicked him in the teeth and complimented him in the same breath. “I’ve a secret that I can keep no longer from you. I need to confess.”
“No. Don’t force your secrets upon me. I don’t want to know. I don’t want my world changed or ripped asunder. Be silent on it.”
What?
He rubbed his face, searched for a joke, but his throat was dry, knowing his wife wanted no part of Adam. But he was Adam.
“I don’t know how to respond.”
