“So are you.”
Her openness charmed him. Hell, everything about her charmed him. Particularly her nakedness. To ease the solemn atmosphere, he smiled and caught her hand. “I’m blessed. A gorgeous girl with bad eyesight.”
Eleanor laughed, as he’d intended. And as he’d yearned to do since he’d first seen her, he took stock of her loveliness.
Any attempt to make light of what happened was doomed. Words jumbled in his throat. He’d dreamed for so long of this moment. Now she stood bare and willing before him. Tinged gold in flickering firelight.
Tenderly, Leath slid a wing of hair aside, revealing her breast. He feasted his eyes on her. On the white skin. The sinuous lines of breast and hip. The long, lissome legs. The flat belly with its neat navel and soft nest of curls below. Curls darker than her moonlight hair.
She exceeded his fantasies—and in his fantasies, she’d been exquisite.
Raising his eyes, he saw that she watched him with that deep seriousness that was so innate to her. He tried to smile reassurance, but he was too moved to succeed. What emerged wasn’t what he wanted to say at all.
“Are you sure, Eleanor?”
Chapter Nineteen
Nell trembled with nerves and anticipation. The urge to wrench the sheet from the bed and huddle into it was almost irresistible. She only kept still because if she betrayed her abject terror, his lordship would surely decide against fulfilling his nefarious plans.
While she was frightened, she also wanted. Desire triumphed over trepidation. Just.
She shifted from one foot to the other. Her grip on Leath’s hand tightened and she swallowed to moisten a mouth arid with fear. “I’m sure.”
“You don’t sound it.” His expression warmed with the tender smile that always made her feel like she stood in sunlight, but nothing hid his edginess. His jaw was sharp and a muscle in his lean cheek jerked in an erratic dance that echoed the bump and skip of her heart.
She struggled to inject a wry note into her voice, but all she achieved was breathless uncertainty. “I’m standing here without a stitch of clothing, my lord. The die has been cast.”
His smile faded. “I’ll know you’re sure when you call me James.”
She stepped into the shelter of his body. This was like standing beneath a huge oak tree. He was like oak, true and strong and deeply rooted where he’d grown.
“I know this is wrong.” Nell’s voice was scratchy as though she hadn’t used it in a long time. And so low that he bent his dark head to hear her. “It goes against everything I was taught.” She confessed the miserable truth. “When my sister fell victim to a wicked seducer, despite how sorry I was for her, I thought she’d been a fool.”
He winced. “Yet here you are in a wicked seducer’s arms.”
She summoned a smile. “I wish the wicked seducer was holding me closer.”
“I never want you to think this was a mistake.”
She had a nasty inkling that she might. Not now. Not tonight. Not while they were together. But when he made his brilliant society match and resumed a public life that left no place for an illicit arrangement with his housemaid? Then, oh, yes, then, she’d wonder about her choice.
She raised her chin, battling to ignore the fact that she was as naked as the day she was born. How on earth had she ever believed that this man ruined Dorothy? Right now, his principles struck her as a complete nuisance.
“I’ll regret denying what I feel tonight.” Impatience sharpened her voice. “Leath, I’m standing here, begging you to touch me. How much more must I do to convince you that if you don’t take me to bed, I’ll spend the rest of my life sorry that I missed this chance?” She frowned and wondered if perhaps she’d mistaken his reluctance. What if chivalry wasn’t at the root of it? “Unless you’ve changed your mind.”
His lips twisted in self-mockery. “You know how much I want you. I can’t hide it.”
Her gaze shifted to the front of his breeches. A gasp of awe—and, she had to admit, apprehension—escaped her.
Bitterness tinged his laugh. “I’m a selfish lover, Eleanor. Once I have you, I won’t easily let you go.”
She shivered, this time with anticipation. “I like the sound of that.”
Dear heaven, if she let him stew on his scruples, she’d be as virgin tomorrow as she was now. What a sad outcome that would be. She drew his rich scent into her lungs and told herself to be brave. She’d been brave coming to Alloway Chase. She could be brave in pursuit of pleasure. Still her legs were wobblier than jelly as she linked her arms around his neck, feeling the silky tickle of his hair against her fingers. “Kiss me.”
He tensed with surprise. His lordship was used to taking the initiative.
She’d been painfully conscious of her nakedness, but with her skin sliding against his, the promise of the night to come charged through her like runaway horses.