Chapter Seventeen #2
“I love you.” As he nodded, his spirits rose once more.
“There are no words, I think, that can adequately describe how it happened or why or even when. All I know is that those feelings weren’t there and then they were.
” He shoved a hand through his hair. “It didn’t come on softly like what happened with my wife.
Instead, these feelings have plowed straight into me, knocked me tip over tail, and have left me gasping in the aftermath, but that’s just it. Perhaps love is different every time.”
“Oh, Barr.” Cate frowned at the ring resting on the blue faded satin, then glanced at him. “You needn’t keep on, for I understand what you’re trying to say.”
“You do?” Relief slid down his spine.
“Yes.” She nodded. “For I feel the same. At first, there was just the heat, but as I spent time with you, watched you, came to know you better, saw how the staff adores you, I’ve become taken with you, and I’m rather convinced I’ve been thrust into love with you despite knowing I’m all too wrong for you. ”
“What the devil does that mean?” Happiness had taken up residence in his chest… until she’d said those last words.
With a shrug, she looked at him. “You’re a duke, and I’m nobody.”
“Botheration, woman, that matters not to me.”
“It might matter later, and to your children, surely.”
“I doubt it. They were raised better than that, and at the heart of the matter, they would only wish me happiness. My daughter, especially, has told me that enough times.” He rested his hands on his hips. “When all is said and done, though, it is my life, and I want you to share it with me.”
Emotions warred on her face. “How can you think I’m duchess material?”
“Why do you assume you’re not?”
“I’m not of the ton.”
“And I’m not an archeologist, but that doesn’t dim my intentions of sponsoring a dig in Egypt in the next few years.”
“Of course you would choose to be stubborn about this,” she said with the shake of her head as she plucked the ring from its box. “I mean there will probably be gossip about us.”
“Gossipmongers can go hang, but if you truly wish to give them fodder, we could arrange to have intercourse in Hyde Park.”
“Don’t be indecorous, Barr.” The note of scolding in her voice made him grin.
“Ha. Don’t pretend you don’t enjoy that. I have a feeling if I wasn’t at least a bit daring, you wouldn’t have lingered around, would you?” Excitement buzzed through his veins, for he was on the downhill side of convincing her.
“Probably not, for I adore a challenge.” When she slipped the amethyst ring onto the fourth finger of her left hand, he held his breath.
“That is just one of the many reasons why I am accepting your suit, though I might be rubbish as a duchess.” As she spoke, Cate left the bed, and when she came to stand before him, he could finally breathe again. “For you, though, I’m willing to try.”
The purest joy poured over him as he caught her in his arms. “I’ll be with you every step of the way, but first, I must tell you that once the wretched weather is over or there is a bit of a break, you and I are going away on a wedding trip, to anywhere you wish, damn everything else.”
Amusement danced in her eyes. “All of that sounds amazing, and I can hardly believe this is happening to me, but above all that? Knowing that I’m quite firmly in love with a man who isn’t stuffy or stodgy thrills my heart.
” She laid a hand on his chest. “Even if you were a pauper, the steadfastness and honor of your person would shine through.” With her hair loose and flowing about her shoulders and clad in that night dress, she was every bit the siren of his dreams. “Thank you for being a decent man.” Her pink toes peeked out from beneath the hem of her night dress.
“You are welcome, of course, but I thought you wished for an indecent one?” Wanting nothing more than to tumble into bed, he snaked an arm about her waist, but he kept control of those impulses. She would be his soon enough.
“One of the lovely things about you is that you are both.” Her grin widened, and his world tilted. “It is merely one of the reasons you’ve managed to win my heart, I think.”
“I don’t know what to say.” His vow to keep his urges in check fractured when she laid a palm against his chest. The gemstones in the ring he’d given her sparkled in the dim candlelight.
In a few moments, he would have her in his bed, and if he were fortunate, they wouldn’t leave until it was time for Christmas dinner.
“Why say anything, then?” A giggle escaped her, and he would die a thousand deaths to hear that sound again.
Her fingers slipped over the fabric of his fine lawn shirt, and the heat of her seeped into his skin.
“Will there be much more talking, do you think? There are other, more urgent, endeavors I’d like to get to. ”
“Somehow, I don’t think I’ll be able to survive a life with you.” He could scarcely breathe from the sudden overwhelming emotions that crowded into his throat. “Imagine, me married a second time. I didn’t think it was possible.”
She laid a palm against his cheek. “Everything is once you start living.”
“Or stop hiding beneath research and in the stacks at the lending library?”
Another laugh came from her, and the feeling of falling assailed him. “Yes, exactly. Perhaps we are well matched after all. At least we have the love of books between us.”
“And to think forbidden words have bound us…” Barr laid his hand over hers, turned his head, and then pressed a kiss into her palm. Then, because he couldn’t stand it any longer, he tugged her into his arms. “Damn, but you feel good.”
“So do you, but I honestly think we both have far too many clothes on,” she whispered. Then, holding his head between her hands, Cate pulled back enough to peer into his eyes. “Thank you for choosing me.”
“How could I not? You are arresting and enchanting, and you sometimes smell like books, and I adore your mind.” He rested his forehead on hers. “This happiness, this looking forward to marriage a second time around, frightens me.”
“You wouldn’t be human if it didn’t. I’m scared too about a few things, but we will meet all the challenges together.” She rose onto her toes and pressed her lips to his. “And I suspect you’ll have fun this time around without needing to worry about producing an heir or attending to your title.”
“True.” Excitement buzzed at the base of his spine. “Perhaps after the new year I will write to my mother and children, as well as my sister, and tell them the news. Hopefully, by Easter, we can manage to gather together so everyone can meet you.”
“I hope they like me.” Such love glimmered in her eyes, another round of emotions beset him.
“How can they not? I adore you after only a week.” Then, because he couldn’t stand it another moment longer, Barr settled her into his arms and kissed her, drank from her, showed her without words how much she was coming to mean to him.
Tangling his hands into her long tresses, he urged her head backward and deepened the embrace.
Silk slid along satin as their tongues danced and dueled.
Tiny fires erupted through his blood and that heat fueled his hunger for her.
Easily, he worked at the ties of her satin and lace robe and urged it from her shoulders.
The nearly sheer material fell with a whisper to the floor.
She plucked at his shirt. A low growl escaped him, for he was obliged to break the kiss to shed the garment only to toss it to the floor.
Then her fingers glanced over his chest and abdomen, dancing, stroking, caressing, and he thought he might die from the heaven of that touch.
“Cate…” Both needing to feel her everywhere on his person and not wanting her to extend the torture, he sucked in a breath. “I want you naked and in my bed. We’ve not coupled there yet.”
“I haven’t bid you nay, Scarborough.” The way those smoky tones uttered his title had his shaft hardening faster than if she’d teased it.
While she held his gaze, Cate slowly, so damn slowly, removed the thin night dress.
When it pooled on the floor at her adorable feet, a breath shuddered from him.
“If you don’t put us both on the bed post haste, I swear I will start without you. ”
Oh, dear God. As much as he celebrated her boldness when it came to carnal matters, she might indeed be the death of him.
“Like hell you will, Miss Pickwick.” The breeches proved problematic when he got a foot stuck in one of the legs.
She watched him with a mix of amusement and desire in her expression that didn’t help as she crawled into the bed, but finally he had the foot free.
Seconds later, he joined her beneath the bedclothes and covered her body with his.
The warmth of her called to him; the faint floral scent of her teased his senses, hurtled him further into arousal.
“Finally nude, and every bit as wonderful as I thought.” Her whisper in the room with the snow leaving lacey shadows on the window and walls enhanced the intimacy of the moment.
“I can’t wait to explore all of you.” She peppered the underside of his jaw with kisses, nipped a line along the column of his throat.
“We have the whole night, and the house is ours. Only two maids live in.” While he made love to her mouth, he teased a breast with his hand. A moan sounded from the back of her throat and her spine arched, for she enjoyed it when he flicked and rolled her nipples.
“Good, because I might need you more than once this Christmas morning.” Cate urged a hand between their bodies. When she cupped his shaft and stones, he sucked in a breath, for he was so hard that he might pop off at any moment. “Will I ever stop marveling about this part of you?”