Chapter Fifteen #2
He was keeping his trousers on for certain.
But it was warm in the room, so he tossed off his shirt before stretching out on the bed.
The slats groaned beneath him as he sank back onto the mattress, which was yet another reason they should not engage in the activity Gwendolyn wished.
They’d wake up the entire inn with that noisy bed…
and what if Gwendolyn turned out to be loudly expressive in her satisfaction?
No, they could not do it.
Gwendolyn frustrated the daylights out of him by neatly folding his shirt and placing it over the chair atop her gown, a gesture that proved how naturally nurturing and caring she was. Then she climbed back into the bed beside him and nestled against his body. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“Curling up beside you.”
Bloody blazes.
Why couldn’t she simply accept his marriage proposal? He knew her well enough to understand she would not be curling up next to him, practically lying atop him while clad in the thinnest strip of linen as the only barrier between them, unless her heart was fully engaged.
As for her brain, that organ had yet to catch up to the inevitable.
Yes, it was telling her to be wary of commitment. To her, commitment and abandonment were too closely linked.
But how was choosing to spend only one night in his bed in any way helpful? Gwendolyn was not made that way, not made to give her body to just any man, not even him, for just one night. She was not “sophisticated” in this way. Her brain was a roil of confusion.
But her heart, if she went through with this mad request, would be his forever.
Against his better judgment, he let her remain in his arms.
“Sweet dreams, James.”
He made the mistake of kissing her gently on the lips when she looked up and smiled at him. “Sweet dreams, Gwen.”
Their mouths fit so perfectly together.
She moaned softly in response to the light press of his lips on hers.
He deepened the kiss. Really deep, ignoring his own caution, his own rule about marriage needing to come first.
In truth, it didn’t. That was a rule he had made up and was now tossing to the wind.
Was it not just as important to determine whether they were compatible in bed? When would he have a better chance to be alone with her to investigate this? If she appeared at all reluctant, he would stop.
After all, this was why she trusted him. He was always going to keep her safe, never force her to do anything she was not ready to do.
“Gwen,” he moaned, feathering kisses along her throat.
She sighed and turned toward him. Her bosom came in contact with him, those soft, yielding mounds molding to the wall of his chest.
She purred.
His body responded to her mating call with a volcanic blast of heat through his veins. His blood roared and sparks shot through him.
Fireworks.
Wasn’t he too old? Too cynical? Too experienced to respond like this to Gwen’s attempts to seduce him, assuming she had any idea what she was doing?
He kissed her again, trailing soft kisses lower and easing the shift off her bosom to taste her creamy skin and tease the pink buds.
A part of him wanted her to declare they had taken this a step too far, that she wasn’t ready and they needed to stop. But there was also the savage male in him, the hunter-protector part of him, that knew he had found his mate in Gwendolyn and needed to make her his.
He did not know whether to be dismayed or delighted when she wound her fingers in his hair and began to make delightful sounds, oohs and dovelike coos, to entice him and encourage him. “This feels so nice, James.”
Nice?
He was devouring her, about to touch her in places not to be mentioned… Well, she liked what he was doing so far.
He jerked onto his back. “Stop me, Gwen. Dear heaven, you need to push me away.”
She refused. “Your lips felt so good against my skin. Need I describe the exquisite effect your tongue—”
“You cannot tell me that. Haven’t you learned by now that men are one step removed from wild apes? It isn’t safe to unlock our cages.”
“Good. Do you need more encouragement?” She ran one slender leg along his thigh. “Because this is about us. You and me. No one else. Not revenge. Not hopeless yearning. Not the pathetic spinster desperate for a thrill.” She cleared her throat. “You are thrilling, by the way.”
He groaned.
“This is me searching for hope and happiness, and believing I have found it with you. This is about me finally being where I belong. I think my place is with you, James. No one has ever made me feel as happy as you do. And do you want to know something else?”
He smiled and caressed her cheek. “Tell me.”
“I hadn’t felt truly happy in so much time that I forgot what it felt like until you came along.”
“Oh, Gwen. I’m so sorry.”
She burrowed closer to him. “My entire being feels light and free every moment I am with you. My heart smiles at the mere mention of you. It soars whenever I see you, especially when you are around your sons. The three of you are such a good team. I adore watching you and them together. You are father, protector, and mentor to them. You are everything to them and they love you so much.”