He took two steps closer to her until only a breath of air separated them. “I’ve been living in your home. I’ve known you intimately. And I plan on sleeping in this room with you. If any of it ever became known, you would be ruined.”
Belle lifted her chin in defiance. “I was ruined a long time ago, Simon. Perhaps not in the sense you thought, but in every other way.”
“What happened to you will never define who you are. And you must be aware of the consequences of my staying here.”
He was too close. His scent was making her all hazy and doe-eyed.
“Then go if you must, but I will never marry. Not you, not anyone.”
It was the hardest thing she’d ever done, to keep declining Simon. He was everything she’d always desired years ago. If only she had met him then. Things may have turned out different. It was, however, no use mourning the past.
Before she registered his intention, Simon lowered his head and captured her lips in a possessive kiss. Taken off guard, Belle didn’t protest when he lifted her into his arms and deposited her onto the bed, never once breaking the kiss as he followed her down. A small sigh of pleasure escaped her.
His tongue flickered over her lips and Belle moaned at the sensation, giving him the opening he desired. His tongue plunged into her mouth even as his hands lifted her night rail, his hand roaming the length of her leg.
She held her breath as his hand circled her hip and then lightly, carefully, traced her scar. His kiss softened and her heart lurched.
“You aren’t getting rid of me so easily, Belle. I will make up for my blunder—that is a promise.”
Belle opened her mouth to protest, but he kissed her again. At the tail end of the kiss, he rolled her so that she faced away from him before scooping her up against his chest, his body protectively cradling hers. Pulling up the blanket, he covered them both before placing his arm around her.
“Good night, Belle.”
For a moment she considered kicking him out or at least telling him that his quest was hopeless, but she did not. And that alone worried her.
