As the Devil Dares (Capturing the Carlisles #3)(76)

Sliding her arms up to encircle his neck, she wanted to keep him close in her embrace for as long as possible. She had no idea what would happen between them when dawn came. But tonight he belonged to her, and she refused to let him go a moment sooner than she had to.

Tonight, for the first time in her life, she’d dared to imagine a different future for herself than the one she’d always wanted. A future not running Winslow Shipping but one with Robert, one in which they laughed together during the day and shared their passions at night.

Her heart ached, overwhelmed both by the joy he’d just given her and by the uncertainty of tomorrow. Because somehow, amid all the arguments and fighting, during all the dinners and balls and teas, she’d fallen in love with Robert Carlisle.





CHAPTER TWELVE





Robert nuzzled Mariah’s hair as she lay nestled against him and tightened his arms around her. Making love to her had been nothing short of breathtaking, but holding her like this afterward, when he’d never before wanted to remain with a woman after the act itself was over…

Heaven.

But what came next? Everything had irrevocably changed between them. Oh, they would still fight, he had no doubt about that. But now he hoped they could turn that anger into passion, because while he had no idea what would happen between them going forward, he knew he couldn’t give her up.

Give her up? Hell, he couldn’t bring himself to leave the bed! Even now he preferred to shiver in the cold darkness rather than part from her to start a fire. And that troubled him, because if he felt this strongly connected to her, what did she feel toward him?

A true gentleman would marry her for taking her innocence. March straight to her father, offer for her hand, then get a special license and wed her as soon as possible, especially since he’d not taken precautions. But he couldn’t offer without looking like an opportunistic fortune hunter in Winslow’s eyes. And that bothered him more than he wanted to admit. So did the knowledge that in doing so he would most likely lose both Mariah and the partnership.

She stirred and wiggled toward the edge of the bed.

“Don’t go.” He pulled her back into his arms, but his heart pounded with worry that he was already losing her. “I want you right here with me.”

She rolled onto her back and stared up at him, a moment’s hesitation on her beautiful face.

He held his breath, waiting for her to speak. To say anything. She’d been silent since the moment she’d cried out in pleasure, and he wasn’t used to such silence from the women he bedded. Or from Mariah.

What was going through her mind? She’d been an innocent, not some jaded society lady looking to ease an evening’s boredom. Despite his reputation as a rake, he’d never taken a woman’s innocence before, and he didn’t know what to expect from her now. Tears, anger…regret?

When she smiled and reached to brush a lock of hair away from his forehead, the worry in his chest eased away. “But it’s cold,” she explained. “Which is all your fault.”

He grinned. Typical Mariah, to blame him for the winter. “How is that my fault?”

“You had me undressed and in bed before I could light a fire.”

He grinned and nuzzled her bare shoulder. “You lit a bonfire, minx.”

“Robert!” A hot blush of embarrassment colored her cheeks. Then she giggled and smiled happily against his mouth when he kissed her.

“I’ll light a fire, then, shall I?” he offered.

She stared up at him through lowered lashes in a look of wanton innocence that stole his breath away. “Please do.”

With a playful growl at her innuendo, he kissed her again, hot and open-mouthed, plundering her lips until she moaned.

Then he slid off her and out from beneath the scratchy blanket. He reached for the tinderbox on the shelf over the little stove in the corner. In a few minutes, he had a fire going, small but enough to keep her warm.

“Robert?”

“Hmm?” He jabbed the poker into the stove at the coals.

She sat up, clutching the wool blanket to her breasts to cover herself. A pang of regret stabbed him that she’d lost her innocence in that poor excuse for a bed, with wool and straw scratching at her soft skin, when she should have had satin, velvet, and down. Yet she would have looked like a goddess even wrapped in burlap.

“You courted Diana Morgan last season,” she said quietly. A strange quality filled her voice that he couldn’t quite place. “Did you and she ever spend time together…like this?”

Understanding fell through him, and he realized that what he’d heard in her was insecurity, something he’d not witnessed in her before. It had never occurred to him until right then that the Hellion might have been just as jealous of Diana as he was of Whitby.

“Nothing happened between us,” he assured her gently. He set down the poker and admitted with a heavy sigh, “In fact, I never should have courted her at all.” He shook his head. Looking back now, he realized just how wrong he’d been. “I thought I needed to put a stop to all the wildness of my younger days and settle down. Diana seemed a good way to do that, but I was wrong. Thank God we both realized it in time.”

“Stop your wildness?” She dubiously arched a brow. “Didn’t you rent an elephant for a party last May?”