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Her lips pursed before settling into a tight line. “Then I find out whether I still have a position or not.”

It wasn’t the answer he was looking for. He’d much rather hear that she was conflicted about the thought of leaving his side. Or that she wanted him to take her with him.

The truth was he was conflicted about the thought of parting ways. He wanted to rescue her from the confines of the schoolroom and take her with him.

It was all irrational—crazy, even—but he couldn’t ignore the power of his need for her any longer. It wasn’t just attraction or lust or desire. It was her. Without him realizing it, she’d filled his waking thoughts and his dreams. He wanted to have more of those little inconsequential moments, like how she remarked on every early-blooming crocus they rode by, or the way she lightly touched her collarbone whenever she was lost in thought. He was attracted to her beauty, yes, but it was also her keen mind and the wicked little smile that would touch her lips when she was amused.

“Have you ever considered what it would be like if you didn’t have to have a position?” he asked.

She shifted to stare straight up at the ceiling. A few moments passed before she answered. “It doesn’t do me much good to think about things that will never come to pass. I can’t afford to have flights of fancy or daydreams.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but she rolled to her side and her mouth was on his and she was kissing him with the full force of a woman clinging to something she could barely grasp.

He knew he should untangle their limbs and tell her to return to her bed, but his will wasn’t strong enough. Instead he boosted her up so that her legs straddled his hips. Her hands went to his chest and her hair fell over her shoulders in a curtain. She was glorious like this—beautiful as a goddess, but all the better for being a real woman.

“Nicholas,” she said as she traced a pattern on his chest. “I want you.”

His entire body seized up at the power of her words.

“Jane.” He touched her cheeks softly, “I want you too, but—”

Her hand stopped its progress. “Please don’t tell me you won’t. Please don’t send me back to my side of the loft. I’ve never wanted to share this with anyone, but I trust you.”

She’d said those three words to him before, but he’d never really understood what she’d meant until now.

I trust you.

I know you won’t hurt me.

He was going to break his promise to them both. He’d already compromised her—he knew that—but somehow he could convince himself that she could still walk away unsullied despite the orgasm he’d coaxed out of her. Sex, however, would make her ruination complete. He’d told himself that he couldn’t do that—he wasn’t even supposed to covet her—but then she’d asked and he didn’t know how to deny them both. He wasn’t going to play the gentleman. He was going to be the worst sort of lout and, Lord help him, he was going to enjoy every moment of it.

He settled his hands on her hips and squeezed gently. “You’re sure?”

She bit her lip and nodded.

“You’ll tell me if I do something you don’t like?”

She took a deep breath and nodded. “Yes.”

Without another word he gently brought her down to the pallet and rolled her onto her back. He knelt between her legs and breathed in deep. He wanted to remember everything: the crushed hay, her lingering taste against his lips, the way her hair spilled out around her. If he took a moment to memorize this, perhaps that would be enough, because this night was all he could offer her. He might be a baron, but the title was near useless when what he could give Jane paled in comparison to what she deserved. And yet he was too selfish to turn her away, because she was the woman he’d always wanted but never knew he’d find.

Her legs opened wider as he positioned himself over her with one hand on either side of her shoulders. She was still slick and hot, and he had to hold back from burying himself deep inside her. He knew that he might cause her pain, and that knowledge knifed through him. The most he could do was take all the time she needed and make it as good for her as it could be.

The head of his cock brushed her slit, and he looked up at her. “You’re sure?”

“Yes,” she said. That steel he loved wound around the word like armor.

He dropped a slow, sweet kiss to her mouth and pushed a little way in.

She gasped and her body contracted.

He held his breath for a moment, regaining control of himself. “Jane? Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. I’m sure,” she murmured. “Please don’t stop.”

He slid in a little bit more, stopping to give her body time to adjust before pushing again. When his cock was buried in her to the hilt, his whole body shaking with desire and restraint, he gritted out, “Tell me what you want.”

“Everything,” she said, wrapping her legs around him and settling him a little deeper inside her. “Show me everything, Nicholas.”