Melissa hadn’t had a chance even to finish packing her things the next morning when Daisy had come with the news. “A son of Lord Durham has been gravely injured during an altercation at one of the local gentlemen’s clubs.”
That had been all Daisy had been able to tell her, flying into her guestroom to do so because she believed it was something important her friend would want to know.
But Melissa thought she hadn’t wanted to know; even as she hurried in her best friend’s carriage to Lord Durham’s townhouse to offer her services, she wished she didn’t know. Not because she didn’t want to help but because she was terrified of what she might find.
Was Elijah Spurnrose now lying in the deathbed she had helped him avoid? It didn’t bear thinking about, yet it was the very thought that had set her in motion the moment Daisy had been unable to tell her exactly which Durham son was injured.
The fear in her heart threatened to break her. And though she knew she ought to stay away, the thought of losing Elijah without ever having given him a chance made her sick to her stomach.
Several times on the way over she thought of turning right back around but the moment she stood on the townhouse steps, it was too late. She knocked before she could take it back.
And when the door opened, she was astonished to find not a butler but Lord Spurnrose himself. Her shock was mirrored in his gaze, his face growing pale at the sight of her.
“Lady Bel …” he started to exclaim, but the sheer sight of him overwhelmed her so entirely that she threw herself directly at him.
Though half his size, she had little difficulty throwing the shocked nobleman backwards, and as she wrapped her arms around his neck and her lips connected with his, the townhouse front door was thrown closed.
Melissa kissed him like she had never kissed anyone before, throwing every ounce of feeling behind it, forgetting all her misgivings about the situation for just a few seconds.
At that moment, all that mattered was what she truly felt for him and that he was not on his deathbed.
And it seemed that he felt the very same way as he suddenly wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling her so close that she immediately felt the warmth and solidity of his body against her. She practically felt every muscle in him rippling as he pinned her back against the cool wood of the door.
Hands began to travel, and when they clutched her hips, pulling her pelvis towards him, Melissa knew very well what he wanted. He wanted her in the most carnal way imaginable, and honestly, she felt the same way.
Only the intrusive thought of someone injured within the house caused her to pull back to take a breath. Resting her nose against his, her eyes still closed and enjoying his nearness, she whispered, “I feared you hurt.”
“If I were, would you kiss me again?” he asked, and the husky tone of his voice caused her to do just that.
No further words were needed as Elijah edged her away from the door and into the nearest shadowed alcove, right beneath the stairwell.
Even as they went, his hand clutched up the skirts of her gown and slipped beneath.
As the reckless country girl she had always been, Melissa had refrained from putting on undergarments that morning, and the moment she felt his fingers slip between her thighs and wet folds, she was delighted not to have done so.
He growled deep in his throat as he felt her slickness, and Melissa reached between their bodies to cup his manhood, feeling him already solid beneath her palm.
Wild with desire, overcome with the joy that Elijah had not been the one hurt at the gentlemen’s club, Melissa gave in to his kiss when he cupped her chin and tilted back her head to expose the soft flesh of her throat.
Pressing himself against her, pinning her to the wall, he hitched her skirts up further. Determined to have him before she could change her mind, Melissa began to undo his britches.
And it was only then that something seemed to snap inside Lord Spurnrose. He pulled away as swiftly as she had flung herself at him. Grabbing her wrists, he yanked her hands from his britches and shook his head. “Not here, not like this.”
Shivering with desire and utterly furious with emotion, Melissa barely managed to stop the whine in her throat. Breathing deeply, she whispered instead, “I … I came to offer my assistance. I thought you had been harmed.”
Elijah’s forehead rested against her own then, and he breathed against her lips, “And that is why I have fallen in love with you.”
The words caught Melissa by surprise. Her heart skipped a beat.
“You … you love me?” she exclaimed, entirely breathless.
“As I have loved nobody before you,” he assured her, sounding as breathless as she. “It is why I asked you to marry me.”
Guilt tore at Melissa then. She thought to lie for a second but then remembered the loss and grief she had felt upon hearing of the accident. When she had believed it to be him, she had been broken, barely able to hold herself together long enough to learn the truth. What was that, if not love?
Is that enough? she thought, unsure whether she could bear to go through all that again. Immediately, standing there with him so close, she knew the answer.It is everything.
Barely able to breathe, Melissa pressed her head against his once more, and with her eyes closed, she barely dared to whisper, “Ask me again.”
