Second Best Wife (25 page)

'Mmm,' she murmured, distracted by the increasing passion of his kisses. 'I've loved you ever since I was ten years old, only I wasn't going to admit it! You wouldn't have made me marry you otherwise, William Ayres! I might not have known it was love exactly, but I knew I was going to marry you as soon as you kissed me when I came to tell you about Jennifer and Duncan.'

'Hush,' he commanded her. 'You talk too much. Be quiet and let me kiss you some more!'

But, laughing a little, she wriggled away from him to the far edge of the rug, turning her back on him. 'I thought this was going to be my time,' she reminded him, her voice not quite steady. 'I thought you were going to be gentle and loving—'

He plucked a leaf and tickled the back of her neck with it. For a moment he considered hauling her back into his arms whether she would or not, but then he acknowledged the justice of her complaint.

'Okay, little Georgina, what is it you want to know?'

She turned over to face him, her expression very serious. 'I want to know when you began to love me. You didn't at first. You were much too involved with Jennifer to notice me at all.'

He bent forward and kissed the tip of her nose. 'Not nearly as involved as you thought. I was attracted, that's all, and she seemed a very suitable person to deal with Celine.
Not
my most intelligent move, I know, but fortunately you came along and with great energy put an end to that arrangement for me.' His smile deepened, but the glint in his tawny eyes had nothing to do with amusement. 'I started falling for you when you claimed you were better stacked than Jennie. You are too!'

'Oh, William, I didn't! I might have indicated that I am—well, better endowed —'

His delighted laughter effectively silenced her. 'It amounts to the same thing,' he teased her. 'Is that all you want to know?'

There had to be a hundred other questions she wanted to ask him, but she couldn't think of one of them. She edged a few inches closer to him, overcome by the gush of warm excitement she felt as his arms closed about her.

'William, please love me!' she begged him.

She put her hands against his chest and discovered that his heart

was beating as fast as hers. 'William?' she murmured, opening her lips to the pressure of his.

'I'm waiting to do so,' he said.