Regency High Society Vol 3. Elizabeth Rolls

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СКАЧАТЬ quite off her feet, and before she could so much as cry out in protest, she had been tossed carelessly down on the four-poster bed.

      The two hundred pounds of solid bone and muscle that were swiftly lying half on top of her, not to mention the one strong hand effortlessly holding both her wrists captive above her head, made any attempt at escape rather futile. Torn between indignation and amusement, she stared up into dark eyes brightened by a gleam that was no less predatory than the grin which hovered about that shapely mouth only inches above her own.

      ‘Let me go at once, you great ox!’ she demanded, nowhere near ready to admit defeat, nor reticent to continue doing battle with the only weapon left to her.

      ‘Certainly, when you’ve apologised for your appalling behaviour,’ he responded, with all the smug satisfaction of someone who knew he had the upper hand.

      ‘My behaviour …?’ Incredulity succeeded in stilling her tongue for all of five seconds. ‘Fagh! That’s rich, coming from you!’

      One dark brow quirked. ‘Are you going to apologise, young lady?’

      ‘Never!’ she avowed, stubborn to the last.

      ‘I was hoping that would be your answer,’ he surprised her by announcing before lowering his head, and masterfully preventing the unflattering string of epithets rising in her throat from passing her lips.

      The instant his mouth touched hers, Katherine’s defences crumpled, and she found surrender far too sweetly satisfying even to contemplate a resumption of hostilities. Something lurking somewhere in the deep recesses of her brain was desperately striving to peal out a warning, but the chime was too indistinct and too swiftly silenced by the demands of a body aroused by that wholly masculine and intensely special touch.

      Not one inch of her skin seemed immune to the wealth of sensations prickling through her as he removed his mouth from hers to trail his lips down the length of her neck to explore the hollows at the base of her throat. The instant the grasp about her wrists slackened, she raised her arms and wrapped them about him, eager to acquaint herself with the contours of a strong back and powerful shoulders. The guttural sound that instantly followed was no less satisfying than the demands of the mouth which once again captured hers, or the hand which stole beneath her to hold her so fast against him that her breasts both ached and tingled with pleasure at the hard contact with the large expanse of chest for those few brief seconds before he repeated an action which was rapidly becoming all too frustrating. Releasing her abruptly, Daniel once again proved that he could move with amazing agility for a man of his powerful build and was on his feet within seconds, leaving Katherine, bereft and bewildered, to stare up at him. He returned her gaze for a few moments, his expression wooden, devoid of emotion except perhaps for a trace of what might have been regret, then he swung round on his heels and headed across to the door.

      ‘I’ll leave you now to get some sleep.’ His voice sounded so coolly matter of fact that he might have been addressing a complete stranger, not the person with whom he had just shared an all too brief but exquisitely intimate episode. ‘There’s no need for you to rise early. We do not need to leave here until mid-morning.’

      Determined not to give way to tears that could serve no useful purpose, Katherine waited until, without so much as a backward glance or a gentle word of farewell, he strode from the room. Then she lay and stared at the canopy above her head, at a complete loss to understand why he should have called a halt to an occurrence that innate feminine wisdom assured her he had been enjoying every bit as much as she had herself. Yes, he had done so before, she reminded herself, on two quite separate occasions. Somehow, though, this time had been different. For all his threat of reprisals, he had been gentle from the first, swiftly extracting a response that—God forgive her!—was all too swift in coming.

      Ashamed though she was to admit to it, she could no longer deny that when in Daniel’s arms self-restraint and morality were all too easily forgotten, swept aside by a rapidly increasing yearning demanding fulfilment. Just the touch of his hand had the power to affect her like no other man’s had done before. But so it had been from the very first, on that bitterly cold January day, when they had collided with each other in the doorway of that inn and he had prevented her from falling.

      How strange that she should recall the incident now; recall too that his touch had put her forcibly in mind of her father’s reassuring, protective hold. Yet there had been nothing paternal in the hands which had caressed her so gently not so very long ago, and honesty prompted her to admit that she was glad of it.

      Drawing her eyes away from the lace-edged canopy, she glanced about the tastefully decorated chamber, clearly recalling its owner’s parting words after they had dined together. ‘You may rest easy tonight, petite. This part of the house is entirely private. Be assured too that, although the bed you sleep in is indeed mine, no man has yet been invited to share it with me.’

      Although Josephine might have spoken no less than the truth, Katherine was brutally aware that one might well have been sharing it this night if Daniel hadn’t possessed the strength to call a halt before their mutual passion had taken them to a point beyond which there was no turning back.

      For her sake, and most especially for his, it must never occur again, she thought determinedly, little realising that below, in the room which functioned as both dining and sitting-room, Daniel’s feelings on the matter were vastly contrasting and that he was equally determined that it should.

      His appetite having deserted him, he had managed to consume very little of the delicious supper the housekeeper had kindly brought to him, and he rose from the table, taking both bottle and glass over to a comfortable chair.

      Scant compensation, he mused wryly, studying the bottle for a moment before refilling his glass. All the same, it would need to suffice for the present, though there were times, he was forced to admit, when he wished he might forget that he was born a gentleman. And never more so than tonight!

      Yet, deep down he knew he had done the right thing, the only honourable thing, he reflected, leaning back against the soft fabric of the chair. No, he could never have reconciled it with his conscience if he had taken advantage of the situation in which they now found themselves. For all that she could match his passion with her own, she was a highly moral young woman. Furthermore she trusted him. How could he betray that trust, even though he now felt quite certain that she wasn’t indifferent to him? When he did make her his own, and he would eventually, it would be on their wedding night and in his own bed, not in a room in a Normandy bawdy house. To have done so would have been to cheapen what he felt for her, and take cruel advantage of her vulnerability, not to mention her innocence.

      No, there was not a doubt left in his mind now. Although at the beginning of this venture he might possibly have experienced no more than the desire to take her to his bed, that had swiftly changed. Katherine was the woman with whom he wished to spend the rest of his life. They were so right for each other in every way—almost kindred spirits. But first there was still that one huge barrier which needed to be demolished: somehow he must find a way to rid her of those foolish notions that she had allowed herself to believe in an attempt to protect herself from future hurt. He could not have her fretting unnecessarily, believing the worst every time he might be delayed in returning home, as most assuredly she would, unless he eradicated those fears completely and forced her to face the truth. Now was certainly not the time to make the attempt. Once they were safely back in England, once this foolish escapade was behind them, he would storm the citadel of her fears. In the meantime he must continue to maintain that control over his desires and emotions, which during the past couple of days he had succeeded in doing reasonably well, even though it had meant for the most part attempting to ignore her very existence.

      ‘Ah, mon cher!’

      Josephine, СКАЧАТЬ