“I don’t know. And I don’t care, either. Until she wrote me, I was still making plans to return and marry her myself. But after that …”
She reached over to grab his hand. “You were hurt, of course.”
“Not just hurt, but furious.” When she squeezed his hand and then tried to withdraw it, he kept it between both of his. “I had tried to marry her and for what? So my father could drag me off to France and berate me for the rest of our time there? So I could be separated from those I held most dear foryears? I had risked all of that forher,and she not only didn’t care, but she blithely went off looking for another rich dupe of consequence.”
“Remember, she was young, too,” Giselle said. “And you do not know if her parents forced her to make the match.”
“I doubt that. They were the very definition of doting parents. Besides, she never wrote such a thing in her letter—shewrotethat she had found a ‘new love.’ I remember it well.” He hunched forward, still holding her hand in his. “And just like that, my father’s words made sense. She had eloped with me solely because I was the heir apparent to the Earl of Heathbrook.” His voice turned bitter. “If I had been Rupert Oakden, the farmer next door, she wouldn’t have given me a moment’s notice.”
“You cannot possibly believe that,” she protested. “You are a charming man, not to mention a clever and responsible one. Anywoman would have been lucky to have you. I am sure she felt the same.”
He sat up to shoot her a skeptical look. “You’re going to defend her now?”
“Of course not,” she mumbled. “I am merely pointing out that you have attractive qualities which have nothing to do with your title or fortune.”
“Such as?” he asked in a husky voice, and slid his arm about her waist.
“Stop that,” she said, though she did not remove his arm and he continued to hold her hand with his free one. “Finish telling me the rest.”
He huffed out a breath. “There’s nothing left to tell.”
“Ah, but I have more questions.” When he stared at her, she had to look away. “When you … um … kissed me that day in Verdun, were you wishing I was her?”
“Good God, no.” He squeezed her waist. “Surely you remember that you didn’t come to Verdun until over a year after the rest of us did. I had long before emerged from the fog of romantic fancy that Lily had wrapped me in, enough to know that I had made a lucky escape. Though at that point I would never have admitted it to my father.”
Now, he did release her hand, only to tip up her chin so she was staring into his solemn eyes. “Nor did seeing her tonight change my mind about that. Lily was never my ‘one true love.’ She was my first boyish infatuation. Whereas you …”
He bent his head as if to kiss her, and she murmured, “Heath, perhaps we should not do this.”
“We probably shouldn’t,” he whispered against her lips. “Or at least not until I confess to the one lie I have indeed told you.”
Her heart sank. “Oh?”
Brushing her lips with his, he said, “That day at Freeman’s Inn, when you asked what I would’ve done if your fatherhadn’tthreatened to call me out, I told you it didn’t matter since we couldn’t change it now. Remember?”
Her breath quickened. “I-I remember.”
“I lied,” he rasped. “Itdidmatter. And wecanchange it. I wantto change it.” He took her mouth with his so tenderly, she thought she’d dissolve into the bedcovers.
Slipping her arms about his waist, she gave herself up to the kiss with enthusiasm. So, it was some minutes before he drew back to speak again.
“Know this, Giselle,” he said, his voice resonating through her. “You are to Lily as the sun is to a candle. Brighter. More thrilling. The greatest temptation I’ve ever known. And I don’t want to fight it anymore.”
“Nor do I.” What was the point? If she could not be with the man she had always wanted, did she really want to be with anyone else? “But we must be quiet. If Maman should happen to knock, or, fearing the worst, ask a servant to let her in—”
“My servants would never do such a thing without asking me first. You are my fiancée, after all. But if it will help assuage your worries …” He stood and held out his hand. “Come with me.”
Heathbrook’s blood pounded in his temples, and he itched to grab her hand, lift her into his arms, and carry her off to where they could be sure of not being disturbed. But it had to be her choice. Bad enough he was breaking his own rule—never deflower an innocent. He had done that once with Lily, and that had been a disaster in the end.
He did not want this to be a disaster for her.
Then she took his hand in hers with a shy smile, and he exulted. She was his at last.
Now he must make sure she stayed his. He couldn’t think beyond that, couldn’t consider the ramifications. All he wanted was to show Giselle that she meant more to him than Lily ever had, and making love to her seemed the best way to do that.
You’re thinking with your cock again, man.
He was. He didn’t care. He needed Giselle, and she wanted him, and that was all that mattered. He tugged her up into his arms and gave her a hard kiss to mark her as his.