Wicked Temptation (Regency Sinners 6)(36)
She shot him a frowning glance. “It seems to me that you still harbor doubt as to my innocence in the matter of treason.”
He reared back at the accusation. “Why on earth should you think that?”
She breathed deeply through her nose. “Is it not obvious?”
“Not to me,” he answered again.
“You are suspicious of my movements. No doubt you still have men watching me—”
“The men watching you are for your protection.”
“Then I suggest you ask them where I have been since we parted earlier.”
“We did not part, Pru, you walked out of my house in the middle of a disagreement.” A nerve pulsed in his clenched cheek. “Do you have another lover beside me?”
She gasped. “How can you even suggest such a thing after our lovemaking earlier? Or do you suspect me of taking another lover in the few hours we have been apart?”
What Titus suspected, knew, was that he was behaving like a jealous fool. Because Pru belonged to him, damn it. “You will marry me,” he thundered.
“Only if you intend to tie and gag me, and then carry me to the altar!”
“Your ass needs another good spanking!”
“You are an ass if you think that will solve anything!”
Titus drew in several deep breaths, knowing that once he had placed his hand on Pru’s bare bottom he would be carrying her up the stairs to her bedchamber, not to finish this discussion but to show her once and for all to whom she belonged. “I think it for the best if I leave now,” he bit out instead. “Your father has invited me to dinner this evening—”
“In that case, I shall be indisposed.”
“You will get your delectable ass down to dinner this evening or face the consequences!”
She scowled. “I believe you to be obsessed with spanking me.”
He was obsessed with a lot more about her than that, but now, when Pru was so bristly and uncooperative, was not the time to discuss it. “Only if you allow it,” he reminded.
“Which I shan’t.”
Titus pulled her fiercely into his arms. “I suggest you bathe and change your clothes before this evening.” He claimed her mouth in a long and punishing kiss before lifting his head. “At the moment, you bear the distinct odor of spring flowers, lemons, and eau de Titus’s cum!”
Her cheeks blazed with color. “You—you—”
He raised his gaze to the ceiling. “At last you are rendered speechless.”
“Bastard.”
“Witch.”
“I hate you!”
“All evidence to the contrary, my dear.” Titus released her abruptly. “Do not test my patience any more today, Pru,” he warned as she would have spoken again. “Nor imagine that your parents’ presence at dinner this evening will save you from my retribution if you should continue with this rude and unreasonable behavior.” He turned abruptly on his booted heel and strode from the room.
Before he gave in to the temptation to take that retribution out on her backside right now.
Chapter 13
“Do not fuss, Mary,” Pru snapped as the maid fiddled with and primped her hair. “It is only dinner at home with my family.”
“And Viscount Romney,” Mary reminded coyly as she pinned another golden curl in place.
As if Pru could forget Titus’s stated intention of dining here this evening.
As if she could ever forget a single thing about that impossible man. That impossible, wonderful, delicious man, who made her toes curl and her loins heat merely thinking about him and their lovemaking earlier today.
Eau de Titus’s cum, indeed.
Her blue gown had been completely ruined, of course, and was even now screwed up into a ball and consigned to the darkness at the back of her wardrobe. But a long soak in a scented bath for Pru had taken care of any lingering evidence of their lovemaking. Apart from a slight soreness, which had eased marginally in the bath but still ached enough as a reminder of Titus’s possession.
Could she even now be expecting his child?
Even the possibility of it warmed Pru’s insides.
She could see that child now, a little boy who looked exactly like Titus, with dark curls, deep blue eyes, and his father’s tall and perfectly formed body.
Or a golden-haired little girl whom they would name Priscilla, in honor of her sister.
Those images made Pru’s heart ache for it to be reality.
Except…
She could not marry Titus because he felt obligated to offer for her based on lovemaking she had instigated.
Her father had given no further remonstration on that subject when Pru had seen him an hour ago, already dressed for dinner and on his way downstairs. Although the smile on his lips and the happy glow in his eyes seemed to indicate Pru’s mother and their discussion might have something to do with her father’s mellowness of mood.
How delightful it must be to have the freedom to take one’s husband upstairs and make love with him at any time one chose.
Not that Pru particularly liked to think of her parents in that way—she doubted any grown child did—but the return of her father’s evenness of mood after several hours in the bedchamber with her mother was undeniable.
None of which changed the fact Pru was now expected to go down to dinner, with Titus as her parents’ guest, in the knowledge those same parents were both fully aware Pru had gone to Romney House earlier today and seduced him.