Page 56

As always, he smelled superb, and there was something deliciously wicked about rubbing her cheek against his chest hair.

Why had no one ever mentioned how tantalizing and seductive a man’s chest could be?

“Don’t take offense, sweet.” His voice had become a throaty purr, and a shiver of awareness sluiced through her. “I assure you, I’m more than delighted at your forwardness.”

Georgine angled her head upward, expecting to meet his humor-filled gaze. However, her stomach plummeted to her feet when she recognized desire, raging and barely constrained, simmering in his irises instead of jollity. “You don’t mind?”

“Mind?” Firming his embrace, Robyn spoke into her hair. “Good God, no. I’ve marched down that corridor dozens of times these past days, only to turn around for fear you would not receive me.”

Georgine could not prevent her jubilant smile before admitting shyly, “I’ve been waiting for you, hoping you would come. Doctor Tinsdale assured me my shoulder does not prevent intimacy as long as we are mindful of certain positions.”

“He did, did he?” Distinct irony weighted Robyn’s husky tenor.

“I don’t know what he means by positions.” She crinkled her nose.

Robyn chuckled again. “I do.”

His tender expression grew serious as he searched her face. “Are you certain, Georgine?”

“Absolutely.” Placing her palm against his bristly jaw, she nodded. “I love you, Robyn.”

“Thank God.” He closed his eyes, his thick lashes a dark fringe on his high cheekbones. When he opened his eyes, she gasped at the adoration shining there. Touching his forehead to hers, he whispered hoarsely. “I’ve loved you for so long and didn’t dare hope you could ever come to love me too.”

Tears blurred her vision. “I truly do. I’m sorry it took me so long to realize it, but I want to be your wife in every way.”

“I would carry you across the threshold, but I fear I’d injure your shoulder.” Keeping one arm wrapped around her waist, he guided her into his bedchamber and shut the door with his other hand.

As they approached his massive bed, she glanced upward. “Robyn?”

“Aye?”

“What, exactly, did Doctor Tinsdale mean by ‘different positions?’”

Robyn untied the ribbons on one shoulder of her chemise, then bent to kiss her bare skin.

She gasped and clutched his banyan.

Lord, have mercy.

“Why don’t I show you, my love?”