The Reluctant Suitor (42 page)

Adriana lowered her gaze to the dark sheen of his silk waistcoat, wondering why she should be even remotely susceptible to his antics. “You were unusually bold about it. The way you looked at me made me feel . . .”

After a lengthy silence during which she failed to finish her statement, Colton peered down at her curiously. “Yes?”

“Never mind, it isn’t important,” she mumbled, looking elsewhere in an effort to hide her burning cheeks.

“You’re blushing again, which means you’re embarrassed by what you almost said,” he murmured warmly. “When you were a child, you’d turn the brightest red imaginable when I’d catch you and Samantha sneaking animals up to her room. Obviously you’re hiding something positively wicked . . . in relationship to your virginal innocence, that is.”

Adriana’s head snapped up, and though she made several attempts to protest, she managed nothing more than, “I never . . . !”

Smiling down at her, he raised a querying brow. “Made you feel naked? Is that what you were about to say?”

Fully aware of the flaming heat in her cheeks, she groaned aloud. “
Nooo
! I would never say such a thing!

”

“No, but you
were
thinking it,” he accused, his eyes dancing with delight. Unable to resist her evocative fragrance, he leaned his face near her temple once again, letting the scent waft through his senses.

“What if I were?” she snapped, brushing a hand upward over the mass of soft ringlets cascading from her crown and in so doing forcing him to straighten. “It seemed your intent to make me feel that way!”

“I was just remembering how beautiful you looked in the bathtub,” Colton acknowledged, wrenching a shocked gasp from her.

“A gentleman would never remind a lady of such an encounter!” she scolded, blushing furiously. “Nor would he have remained there one second after realizing the tub was occupied by someone of the opposite gender, especially when he was in such a shockingly shameless state himself!”

“You must forgive my vulnerability as a man, Adriana,” he replied smoothly, seeming totally indifferent to her attempt to make him feel ashamed. “Such sights as I saw before me then are far too rarely glimpsed by those restricted to military encampments for weeks or months on end, which accurately described my state just prior to that point in time. To be sure, I was overtaken by a hope that your presence in my bath was actually an invitation.” Another shocked gasp brought his one-sided grin into play again. “But then I realized you were quite distressed to find me there and, in all likelihood, had never in your life seen a naked man before, especially one who had been caught up in his lust for you.”

Adriana would have bolted right then and made good her escape, but Colton chuckled softly and swirled her about in widely turning circles until she was nigh giddy. Lowering his head, he indulged himself once again in the tantalizing bouquet of roses as he breathed above her ear, “Would you tear yourself away

from me merely because I’m being honest?”

“Stop turning, please,” she begged, her head reeling. “I’m feeling faint.”

“I will . . .
if
you promise not to fly away,” he bargained, easing the intensity of his circling rotations.

She gripped his sleeve in an effort to keep herself upright, wondering what discomfited her more, his uncompromising honesty or the fact that he said he desired her. “You leave me little choice.”

Ceasing his lazy whirling, Colton led her in a fairly simple dance, allowing her to settle herself. After a moment, he peered down at her. “Feeling better?”

Had she run a long and difficult race, Adriana would have felt no less winded, but that breathlessness had nothing to do with her actual physical state, but rather the emotions that had begun racing through her womanly being. This man, who had once been so adamant in his refusal to consider their future together, had just said he desired her. Had he swept the floor out from under her, he could not have astonished her more. “I would if you’d allow me to sit down.”

His soft chuckle seemed to entangle her mind. “Roger is waiting for you, and I don’t want to lose you, least of all to him of all people. Besides, we must talk seriously about our courtship.”

“I don’t intend to demand more than what you’re willing to give, my lord, if that’s what you’re afraid of,”

she answered, hoping to lay hold of her sanity once more. The fact that she was still in his arms after what he had said to her seemed viable proof of her lunacy.

Colton sighed heavily, as if thoroughly frustrated. “Adriana, if we’re going to be together as a couple for at least three solid months, I insist you call me Colton.”

“Colton it is, then,” she complied, with a single nod affirming her concurrence.

A sigh of exaggerated relief wafted from his lips. “I’m delighted we have finally vaulted over
that
hurdle.

Now
we can get on to more important details.”

Adriana readily offered her opinion.

“ ‘Tis now my understanding that we’re both committed to seeing this agreement through to the end, whatever that may be . . . if only for the sake of our parents. Do you concur?”

Again he responded with a lazy shrug. “It could be the end . . . or possibly even the beginning. Who knows what will come of it?”

“You needn’t try to assuage my feelings. As long as the contract has been signed, I’ve realized the limited possibility of a wedding actually taking place even if a betrothal follows our courtship. So, please spare me your pretenses. There is no need for them.”

He pondered her answer for a moment before offering an undeniable truth. “Our parents hope otherwise.

”

“Yes, I know they do,” Adriana conceded in a small voice. Disappointing her mother and father would be the last thing she wanted to do.

“We should at least make some sort of pretense for them.”

“I guess we should, at least a nominal one. If they see more than that, they’ll likely be encouraged.”

“We can’t have that, now can we?”

Did she really see his lips twitch? “They don’t expect much now; to give them hope would only cause them greater hurt when we part.”

Colton’s brows gathered thoughtfully. “I’ve never courted a woman halfheartedly before. I’m not sure I’

m capable of restraining myself in that area. In fact, my dear Adriana, this chicanery you propose will probably prove more difficult than you can imagine.”

She lifted her own slender shoulders nonchalantly, only to remember too late that his consuming eyes were ever watchful for invitations of that sort. “Marriage with me or your freedom, sir. That is the choice you’ll be facing. ‘Tis as simple as that.”

“Not quite as simple as that,” he countered after peering into her bodice again. Perusing her creamy breasts was a temptation he couldn’t seem to resist. He was fascinated by the way the fullness seemed to flow with almost fluid grace into the shallow lace undergarment. From a distance he had casually noted how tightly other women’s breasts had been pressed above their fashionably low décolletages, and he had been led to wonder if there had been any small degree of roundness left underneath those mounds. “

Nevertheless, we shall see the way of it as our courtship progresses. I do think, however, that we should proceed with all possible haste.”

Adriana’s suspicions were evoked anew. “Of course, I understand. You wish to have it behind you so you can get on with your life?”

His palm moved upward between her shoulder blades, pressing her closer against him, and in gently swirling her about again, he had cause to catch his breath in sharp reaction as their thighs brushed. The contact left him battling a familiar ache, the intensity of which could’ve been likened to being hit in the gut, very much like what he had experienced weeks ago when he had watched her laughing and flirting with her courtiers outside the church. The fact that he desired her perhaps more than any woman he had ever known had dawned on him with startling clarity during those moments he had stood underneath the tree.

No one could’ve even come close to guessing the difficulty he had had remaining there merely as an observer and not staking his claim on her. Her escape to her parents’ landau had frustrated him to the extent that he had been motivated to move to a place where he could continue to view the proceedings unobstructed, where his eyes could feed on her every gesture, smile, shake or nod of her bonneted head.

Though only just awakening to sensual emotions, Adriana was not to escape unscathed. There was a slow, strength-shattering roll in the lower pit of her stomach that all but took her breath away; it definitely weakened her knees, leaving in its wake a gnawing, hungry craving that seemed to pulse at her very core.

Awed by the feelings sweeping through her, she lifted her gaze to find Colton watching her closely, as if searching for something beyond her ken.

Even as she stared up at him, fraught by confusion, he seemed unable to keep his eyes elevated. They swept downward into her bodice again as the cloth loosened over the delicious fullness. From there, his

gaze roamed upward slowly over the ivory column of her throat until it reached her mouth. For a wild, mad moment he wondered what it would be like to taste her quickening breath in his mouth and kiss the tempting softness of those lips that parted in . . . Was it surprise? Or . . . passion?

He managed a smile, but it was somewhat strained as he redirected his attention elsewhere, a much needed requirement to regain control over his mind and body. With fierce dedication he lent his thoughts to an area he was loath to recall, the battlefield whereupon he had last fought. While cannonballs hurtled down all around them, stripping life and limb from many of them, he had led a charge into that thick fray with the burgeoning knowledge that if he and his men eased their assault one whit, the day would be lost.

They had fought with desperation during the whole bloody conflict, and at long last a sense of victory had finally rallied their lagging strength. In the next moment, a shell exploded nearby, sending shards of debris searing into his leg as the blast hurled him aside. Dazed, he had struggled to his feet and fought valiantly on until they had gained the day. By the next afternoon, his wound had begun to putrefy, and when he had thought of his approaching death, an image of his sire had come to mind.

“You know as well as I that my father was said to have been a man of keen intuitive intellect,” Colton mused aloud, breaking the lengthy silence between them. “He was adamant in his belief that we would be good for each other. Call it an experiment, if you would, this courtship of ours, but I’d like to find out for myself all the reasons my father had for thinking that.” He laughed rather ruefully. “As you know, my dear, I’m a rather skeptical individual; I didn’t like having my life laid out for me in the usual customary rote . . .”—his brows shrugged upward as he made his point—“by my father. Yet I will do all I can to honor his memory as I earnestly probe the whys and wherefores of his reasoning. I can only ask that you bear with me as we go through this pretense together. The task will hardly be offensive to me. You’re an incredibly beautiful woman, Adriana, and yet, in spite of having known each other early on in our lives, we have become, as you said, little more than strangers during my absence. Before I can ask more of you, I must come to know you personally.” Tilting his head contemplatively, he asked, “Has my honesty offended you?”

“No, Colton,” she replied, offering him a hesitant smile. “If truth be told, I prefer your frankness, for you see, in the time that it will take for you to discern my true nature, I hope to discover yours. As with any couple, getting to know each other is part of establishing a firm foundation upon which a marriage can be built. Determining the character of the other is vital in making a prudent choice before the vows are spoken. Although I cannot expect much to come from our courtship because of your past resistance, I shall be willing to give you every chance to judge whatever merits I may have as a wife.”

“Thank you, Adriana,” he murmured softly.

It took a moment before she could answer him, but when she did, Adriana was amazed to find her voice weak and trembling. “I know we have much to learn about each other, Colton, but I tell you truly, I’m not much changed from that little girl you once rejected. Three months from now, we may decide to take different paths other than the one your father intended for us. Should that occur, I hope we shall each be tolerant of the other’s feelings and somehow manage to remain friends for the sake of our families.”

The corners of his lips twitched in amusement. “Strange, but I thought you had changed a great deal since I left home. As much as I’ve searched, I cannot find that light smattering of freckles that once bridged your nose.” His eyes followed the straight, delicate lines of the mentioned feature before moving to her softly curving lips. “Truth be told, my lady, I don’t recall ever being tempted to kiss that little girl I left behind.”

Adriana gave him a challenging look. “I think, Colton, ‘twould greatly behoove you to proceed with caution.”

“A little kiss here and there is harmless. . . .”

“A little kiss here and there is dangerous,” she countered, thoroughly convinced of that premise where he was concerned.

A dark brow arched wonderingly. “Are you so fearful of losing your virtue, Adriana?”