JORDAN Nicole (37 page)

“Yes,” she said softly. “I know. I want you to make love to me.”

He glanced back at the doors leading to the library. “Not here. Not with my mother in the house.”

“Then where?” she asked.

“The cottage,” he said after a moment. “The gamekeeper’s cottage I showed you today. Will you come there with me?”

Roslyn nodded. “Yes,” she replied simply.

He felt his heart turn over with elation, felt his loins tighten at the thought of being with her again. This was his chance, Drew reflected, pulling in an uneven breath. Tonight he would make Roslyn feel overwhelming passion for him. The kind of ardent passion he had begun to feel for her.

Stepping closer, he lifted her hand and pressed a kiss to it. “Give me ten minutes. I’ll need to saddle a horse…and I must fetch something from my room first. Wait for me here, will you?”

Roslyn nodded again silently.

“Are you sure, sweeting?” Drew repeated.

“Yes, I am sure.”

Hearing no hesitation in her voice, he gave her fingers one last lingering kiss. “Ten minutes, then.”

Roslyn’s nerves were taut with anticipation by the time Drew returned. Without speaking, he laced his fingers with hers and led her through the library and down a corridor to a side door, where he had a horse waiting. Lifting her up, he mounted behind her and drew her back against him.

They rode across the grounds in silence. The summer night was beautiful and serene, the darkness awash with silver moonlight, but the ride seemed to last forever. Eagerness strummed inside Roslyn, beating an urgent rhythm in time with her heart. She could feel Drew’s warmth at her back, feel the hard muscles of his chest and enveloping arms arousing her senses.

When finally they arrived, Roslyn spoke for the first time. “Your gamekeeper won’t mind if we use his cottage?”

“He no longer lives here. I provided him a larger home and kept this for my own because I was fond of it. One of the privileges of having a fortune—being able to indulge my sentimental whims.”

She doubted Drew had many sentimental whims, so she was glad he could indulge this one.

Dismounting, he helped her down and preceded her inside. He didn’t light a candle but pulled aside the curtains on the front windows instead, letting the moonlight stream in.

This cottage was significantly larger than the one where they had first made love, Roslyn realized at a glance, and much better furnished.

“The bedchambers are upstairs,” he said, taking her hand again.

He mounted the wooden stairs with her and guided her to a room that boasted a large, high bed. When Drew opened those curtains as well, moonlight flooded in—bright enough that she could see the wryness in his smile as he turned back to her.

“It’s fortunate you decided to put an end to my misery, sweeting. I didn’t know how much longer I could endure not making love to you.”

Roslyn smiled. “Please don’t endure any longer.”

He stepped closer and took her face in his hands. For a long moment he simply gazed at her. “I have missed this…just touching you.”

“I have missed it, too,” Roslyn replied softly.

She raised her face to his, already anticipating the heat of his kisses, but Drew surprised her by reaching into his pocket and drawing out a pouch, which contained several small sponges and a vial of liquid.

“You said you wanted to take precautions against conceiving, so I brought this. Sponges soaked in vinegar should prevent my seed from taking root.”

It warmed her that he’d remembered her concern and taken the trouble to alleviate it. “Thank you,” Roslyn murmured sincerely.

He laid the pouch on the bedside table, then turned down the covers.

Returning to her, he pulled the pins from her hair and fanned it out over her shoulders. Then he undressed her in the hushed silence, and let her undress him.

When he stood naked before her, Roslyn caught her breath in awe. Moonlight poured over him, highlighting the chiseled planes of his face, the broad expanse of his chest, the virile contours of his body. His form was lean and powerful, sculpted and graceful, like that of a Greek god. And when he took her in his arms, she could feel sleek muscles rippling under taut skin.

The first touch of his lips was warm, intimate, almost sweet, but it kindled a flame in her that she knew would quickly grow. Then all thought fled as she lost herself in the pleasure of touch and taste and need. The tender, openmouthed kisses Drew cherished on her made her whimper, and so did the sensual hands that began to caress her. Her breasts swelled in arousal, while a tremulous pulsing heated her body.

Roslyn almost cried out in disappointment when his mouth left hers, but he only lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed, where he gently laid her down and then sat beside her.

Holding her gaze then, he made use of the pouch he’d brought…wetting a sponge, parting her legs and easing it deep inside her woman’s passage. Roslyn trembled at the delicacy of his touch, at the sensual eroticism he was deliberately employing. She was breathless by the time Drew stretched out beside her, bracing his weight on one elbow.

Longing to have him inside her, she reached for him, but he shook his head. “Not yet. We have all night.”

He bent his head to suckle her breasts. The touch of his searing mouth sent a streak of fire traveling downward to the heated, throbbing core of her body, making her arch up off the mattress.

“Drew, please…” she pleaded.

“What do you want, sweetheart?”

“I wantyou .”

He moved closer, pressing his body against hers—his hard belly, his sinewed thighs, and between his legs, his thick arousal—but nothing more. She relished feeling the naked heat and strength of him, but it wasn’t enough.

“Hurry,” she whispered.

“No. We need to take our time.”

Roslyn bit her lip, ready to scream, but she managed to quell her hunger for another few moments as he caressed her.

His fingers trailed down her body to the juncture of her thighs, gliding through the soft curls to find her slick cleft. She was already hot and swollen for him, even before he began stroking her aching flesh with exquisite tenderness.

“Drew, I can’t bear it…please.”

She exhaled a ragged sigh when finally he eased his body over hers, nestling his splendid length in the cradle of her thighs. And she met his first silken penetration with a blissful moan.

Her moans increased as he began to move inside her. Her hands roaming restlessly down his back, Roslyn clutched the taut curves of his flexing buttocks, urging him to quicken his pace. But he wouldn’t obey.

Instead he aroused her slowly, gliding in and then withdrawing. Thrusting, penetrating, filling…then sliding almost free, leaving her aching with want, gasping with need. He sought her pleasure, courted it, wooed it, whispering soft erotic things in her ear, until she was half wild with passion.

Drew was feeling the same wildness as he reveled in the feel and scent and taste of her. There was urgency in his every heartbeat, yet he forced himself to slow down. He wanted this to last. Wanted her passion to be blazing-hot.

His face taut with concentration, he drew back to watch Roslyn’s pleasure…and found his gaze captured by her desire-hazed eyes.

Quivering, she wrapped her legs around his hips, locking him close, surrounding him, drawing him in. Gritting his teeth, Drew plunged even deeper into her searing wetness, planting himself to the hilt inside her. Her harsh gasps becoming frenzied, she bucked against him, surging upward, making him share her helpless shudders as his own frenzy mounted.

She was flame-hot in her arousal; she was liquid fire beneath his aching body. He rode her harder, no longer in control of his response.

The rhythm of their desire turned explosive, and an instant later, Roslyn’s entire body clenched. Her keening cry melted his heart, while her convulsive ecstasy propelled his own body to a tempestuous climax.

Drew poured his desire into her, driving with fierce possessiveness, deeper and deeper, as if he couldn’t get far enough inside her. Groans tearing from his throat, he pounded into her, quaking, jolting, arching, until finally contracting powerfully and drenching her with his hot, spurting seed.

In the aftermath, they clung to each other with gasping shudders. When the tremors faded, Drew somehow found the energy to shift his weight so that he wasn’t crushing her, but their loins were still joined, his mouth buried in her hair.

The harshness of his breathing calmed as the night settled in around them. With a slow, sated exhalation, Drew shut his eyes. Their lovemaking had been a savage explosion of the senses, yet despite the fierceness, he’d never felt such intimacy, such tenderness, as he felt right this moment with Roslyn.

He was pondering what to say when he became aware of the slow evenness of her breathing and realized that she was no longer awake.

Drew smiled ruefully. He had set out to rouse her passion, but instead he’d put her to sleep. Carefully, he eased onto his side while leaving Roslyn still trapped in the shelter of his body. He didn’t want to fall asleep, though. He would rather watch her.

Surveying her exquisite beauty in the moonlight, he was hard-pressed to understand why he felt so content in her arms. Why she satisfied him so completely. Why her warmth touched him so.

But the simple truth was, Roslyn filled a need he’d never had a name for until now. It seemed irrational at this point in his life to discover there was this huge need inside him, yet he couldn’t deny it. She stanched a loneliness he hadn’t even known he was suffering from. She kindled delight and joy in him—

Drew suddenly went very still. He was experiencing some of the same symptoms she had tried to describe. He felt happy in her presence. He felt restless and empty without her. He felt a hunger that went far beyond the physical.

Heart lovewas what she termed it.

Something clenched in his chest; not pain, but wonder.

Was it possible he was actually falling in love with her? Was he capable of love after all?

How else could he explain the powerful emotions he felt for her? If his yearning for her was only carnal desire, it wouldn’t touch his heart and mind.

Drew closed his eyes, testing the theory. Roslyn had slipped beneath his defenses, that was for certain, but the knowledge didn’t make him cringe as he expected. Indeed, it was profoundly appealing—the thought of sharing intimacy and love and affection with her for the rest of their days.

He’d never expected to have that with his bride. But now he wouldn’t settle for less. He wanted a love match with Roslyn, not just a marriage of convenience. He wanted her to love him, not merely be forced to marry him to avoid scandal.

And if he couldn’t make her love him?

His arms tightened reflexively around her. He wouldn’t even consider the possibility.

He would never let her go, Drew vowed in the hushed stillness. He would win Roslyn’s heart before long. He would wed her and make her his duchess. And he would give her the kind of future she had once envisioned with another man…the kind of future he had never envisioned for himself.

Chapter Seventeen

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I was right to end it now before the possibility of future pain grows too great.

—Roslyn to Fanny

Roslyn was exceedingly relieved to return to Danvers Hall the following morning, not only because she’d had her fill of the duchess—who continued to treat her with icy disdain at her departure—but so that she could say farewell to Drew. Their night of lovemaking had been magical, Roslyn acknowledged, but such enchanted intimacy wouldn’t last forever. And before she sank even more deeply under Drew’s spell, it was imperative that she return to reality.

Regrettably, though, when he handed her down from his coach, he gave her a look so intimate, so searing, it made her heart turn over. Fighting the temptation to throw herself back into his arms, Roslyn instead wished him success upon his return to London. He planned to visit Sir Rupert’s solicitors again to discover what progress had been made during his absence toward learning the identity of Winifred’s ginger-haired thief.

When Drew took his leave, he merely kissed Roslyn’s gloved fingers, but she wanted him to do much, much more.

The temptation lingered long after he was gone. At loose ends, Roslyn found herself wandering restlessly through the house, stewing over her quandary. Yesterday had helped her recognize the grave danger she was in with Drew. Seeing that softer, tender side of him had melted her remaining defenses. And dismayingly, her feelings for him were growing stronger every moment she shared with him.

She knew now that she couldn’t risk letting him continue to romance her. Most certainly she couldn’t indulge in any more forbidden trysts with him. But with their betrothal still standing, she would be forced to share Drew’s company to a significant extent. And after their romantic interlude last night, she would find it impossible to keep her emotional distance.

She’d been deluding herself to think she could, Roslyn admitted. Trying to resist an irresistible man bent on wooing her would be impossible. Arabella had been in a similar fix a few short weeks ago. Belle hadn’t wanted to fall in love with Marcus, yet she couldn’t stop herself.

Roslyn worried her lower lip with her teeth, wondering apprehensively if she was following in her sister’s footsteps. Wishing her sisters or Tess were here to talk with, she gave a frustrated sigh. She missed them dreadfully just now and needed their counsel. But Arabella wasn’t expected home until late next week. And Tess had gone to London to assist Lily in an unusual undertaking at Fanny’s boardinghouse. Without them to rely on, Roslyn knew, she would have to solve her dilemma on her own.

Forcibly shoving her troubled thoughts away, she spun on her heel and headed for her bedchamber to change out of her traveling dress. She would visit the Freemantle Academy this afternoon. There were no classes scheduled for her to teach, since only a handful of pupils had stayed for the summer term and Jane Caruthers had them well in hand. But Roslyn enjoyed the girls’ company, and spending time with them would give her something else to focus on besides Drew’s disquieting wooing and the resolution of their uncertain future.