Damn near a plea.
Her hands circled his neck. “My arms just broke out in gooseflesh.”
“Christ, Leonora. Are we really doing this?” Washereally doing this? This was about the only resistance Dare could manage. The only words he could utter to appease the conflicting desires within him. He wanted her. Badly. He also didn’t want to taint her with his shadows.
“A rake is this hesitant? Should I beg?” She chuckled. “Beg a rake?”
“I’m also still just a man.”Who doesn’t want to hurt you yet cannot let you go.
“And I am also just a woman.”
“An innocent one. Asmartone.”
“Well, then, since I’m so clever,” she pressed her bosom against his chest, “you cannot question my choices.”
He should have seen that coming. Ah, this woman. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Who are you hurting?” Her grin turned suggestive. “Surely not me?”
Ah yes. He couldn’t hurt her because she didn’t feel the same way for him...
He leaned close to inhale the scent of her skin. “I promised myself, when it came to you, that I wouldn’t do anything I’d regret.”Anything I’d need forgiveness for.
“How funny, Dare.” Her hands framed his face. “So just don’t regret.” One of her hands dropped to trail a finger over his jaw. “Icertainly won’t regret anything that happens in this room, trust me.”
He captured her wrist, searching her gaze. She didn’t move, merely stared at him with bright eyes, allowing him to see all the truth reflected there.
That small hint of encouragement was enough for any last resistance to crumble. He loved her. He loved her in a way that defied reason. He loved her in a way he had never loved any woman in all his life. And he couldn’t give her forever, but he could give her tonight.
He brought her wrist up to his lips, brushing a gentle kiss against her hand, a silent promise. “No regrets, then.”
Her smile took on a new light, a sultry one. “No regrets,” she agreed.
“You will be the end of me, you know?”
“I know.” She leaned into him, saying like a true seductress, “That has never been my intention, but it might just become it.”
“Whathasbeen your intention?”
“With you?” Her tongue darted out to lick her lips, sending a shiver to the base of his spine. “I don’t rightly know.”
He chuckled. “Now, that, little temptress, I do believe. I also don’t know what I’m doing half the time either, especially where you are involved.”
“Then let’s not know together.”
But I do know more than you, temptress.“But—”
She cut him off with a finger over his lips, both teasing and commanding at the same time. “That word, or similar, is not allowed in this space.”
He kissed her finger. “I was merely going to say that I do know something. You shall now be thoroughly ravaged.”
“Finally.” Her arms circled his body, squeezing. “For this night,” she said, “you are mine.”
Christ. “Leonora . . .”
“You don’t like me saying it.”
“I bloody love it.” He lowered his head until his lips touched her ear. “There are many types of love I can give you,” he whispered. “But true love...”
