Too soon he raised his head and stared down at her as if he saw nothing else in the world. “You meant it?”
She licked swollen lips. He was more delicious than wine. She nodded and struggled for words. That kiss had smashed every thought but the need to be close to him. “Of course.”
His laugh was close to a groan and he leaned in until his forehead bumped hers and they shared each breath. The intimacy was as powerful as his rapacious kiss. “I couldn’t trust myself to look at you and still keep my hands off. Do you have any idea what torture you’ve put me through?”
A wry smile tilted her lips. “I might have an inkling.”
Her hands curled into his shoulders, then drifted down his powerful chest, feeling the heat beneath the wrinkled shirt. It gradually dawned on her that she could touch him when she liked. The thought was arousing.
He kissed her again. This time, she did more than cling in bewildered delight. Feverishly she explored him, feeling the hard muscles, the thunderous beat of his heart. Such a valiant heart. She wrenched her lips from his and pressed a kiss to his chest.
He angled her face up until their eyes met. “I want you so much, Eleanor.”
How she loved the way he said Eleanor.
His gaze sharpened. “What is it?”
“You’re the only one who calls me Eleanor.” She couldn’t help smiling. She should lament her ruin, but she’d never felt so free.
“You’ll always be Eleanor to me.” He looked younger, happier, than she’d ever seen him. “Although calling you Miss Trim always gives me a delicious frisson. I’ve dreamed of debauching the prim Miss Trim.”
“Oh,” she said, and he laughed.
“Well may you look smug.”
“Of course I’m smug. I’ve caught myself a wonderful man.” She cradled his face between her hands, reveling in the fact that she could, and pressed her lips to his beak of a nose. “Rather terrifying, I’ll admit, but definitely a handsome fellow. And the only man I’ve ever kissed.”
He drew her closer for a thorough kiss that had her knees imitating string again. “When you say things like that, I feel like a beast for everything I want to do to you.”
“Now?”
She saw him consider having her, here in this lovely, lonely clearing. She also saw the moment good sense won. “You deserve better.”
“I want you so much, I hardly care,” she confessed, knowing she made herself dangerously defenseless, but unable to stop. Every time he kissed her, love melted her very bones.
“Eleanor, you humble me.”
She blushed. “Would you rather I played games? I’m not experienced enough to know what I should do. Should I pretend reluctance?”
Another cracked laugh. “Dear God, you’ll drive me mad. No, don’t play games. You’re all that’s fine and true. I feel like I see into your soul.”
When she recalled her lies, she suffered a momentary twinge. But none of that mattered now. What mattered was that the man she loved wanted her and she wanted him.
He kissed her again. “I thought I had no chance. You sounded so certain when you refused.”
“If you’d kissed me like that, I wouldn’t have had a hope.”
A shadow crossed his features. “You should marry a good, respectable man and look forward to a gaggle of children and a home of your own.”
As she stared into eyes the color of pewter, the high tide of her euphoria ebbed. “If this is the only way I can have you, I can bear it.”
Regret darkened his expression before he pressed his lips to hers. The wildness retreated, but his tenderness turned her heart to syrup. With no reluctance, she abandoned that mythical good man and accepted that her fate was forever entwined with the Marquess of Leath’s.
When he withdrew, they were both shaking. She found it immensely moving that she, unimportant Nell Trim, made this superb man tremble. A muffled sound of disappointment escaped her as he stepped back. “Why did you stop?”
This time his groan held no amusement at all. “You take me to the edge, my darling. And this isn’t the place. Or the time.” He glanced up at the turbulent sky.
She hadn’t noticed that the weather closed in. “When?”