The Seduction of Lord Stone (14 page)

“A man can hope.”

“A man would be a fool if he did.”

He stood and despite the distance between them, his height left her feeling intolerably dominated. Intolerably dominated, but alive with excitement. She shivered as she recalled yesterday’s incendiary kisses. His intent expression indicated he too remembered.

A wry smile lightened his face. “I am a fool. Your fool.”

“Stop it. You don’t mean it.” She faltered back another step, berating herself for failing to run when he was too sunk in despair to follow. He no longer looked ready to cut his throat for his sins against Caroline Beaumont.

Instead, he looked…predatory.

“Yes, I do.” He loomed closer. “Who are you in love with, Caro?”

“West,” she said, tilting her chin in defiance.

He laughed softly and shook his head. “No, that bird won’t fly, my darling. You said too much in that touching little recitation.”

Mortifyingly true. She narrowed her eyes on the tall man prowling toward her. “I don’t see what business it is of yours. You’re a mere acquaintance.”

He shook his head again, those perceptive eyes fixed on her in a way that made her skin prickle with dread. And anticipation. “Fie, Lady Beaumont. Only a hardened flirt would kiss a mere acquaintance the way you kissed me yesterday.”

Her cheeks heated. Of all the men in the world, Silas Nash alone put her to the blush. Argument enough, should she need another, to avoid him. “A gentleman wouldn’t mention that unfortunate incident.”

“It wasn’t unfortunate.” He bared straight white teeth in a wolfish smile.

She’d called him piratical yesterday. She’d had no idea. Her silly heart was beating so fast, she felt dizzy. “Good God, Silas, you were close to having me in your greenhouse, with every kiss on show to the world and his wife. The whole thing couldn’t be much more unfortunate.”

“And of course you’re in love with another man.”

“Of…of course,” she said, cursing the betraying stammer.

“Yet still you mean to give yourself to West. What’s the matter with your beloved?”

Right now she could compile a long list of what was the matter with her beloved. Starting with his arrogance and his determination to plumb all her secrets. “He’s…he’s unavailable.”

Silas’s eyes held a wicked light and the flashing smile didn’t fade. “So you require a stopgap?”

Seriously apprehensive now, Caroline retreated further. “That’s hardly flattering—to Lord West or to me.”

He followed her. “Yet true.”

“Perhaps. As I said to you when I launched this bedamned enterprise, I’m looking for some adventure, not a lifelong attachment.”

He stopped and spread his arms wide, the stance opening his shirt over his powerful chest. “In that case, and in West’s absence, I offer myself.”

He looked utterly delicious. Every drop of moisture in her mouth evaporated, and she fisted her hands to stop them from reaching toward that impressively muscled expanse of skin.

She sucked in a breath and stepped to the side. He followed. She returned to her original spot. So did he. It was like a courtly dance, a reminder of how she’d spent most of the day trying to skip out of his grasp. And hadn’t that turned out a complete waste of effort? Here she was at his mercy, with nobody to blame but herself. After all, he’d given her the chance to leave and she hadn’t taken it.

“You won’t do, Silas,” she said, hoping she sounded more convincing to him than she did in her own ears.

She waited for pique, but he continued to fix that unsettling concentration upon her. “Why not? I promise to show you pleasure. Good God, the heat between us could spark a second fire of London. Yesterday, we were mad for each other.”

“Mad anyway,” she muttered, bumping hard against the wall behind her.

He sighed. “Caro, I’m here. You’re here. We want each other.” He paused as if waiting for another denial, but what was the point? They both knew the woman in his arms yesterday had been incandescent with desire. “You want excitement. I’m happy to supply it. Let’s go to bed.”

Floundering for arguments to win a point she was close to forgetting, she made a helpless gesture. “This could destroy our friendship.”

His expression softened and briefly he didn’t look like a hungry wolf, but like her dear friend. “There is no woman I esteem as highly as you.”

She struggled to remember why sleeping with Silas was a bad idea. “Then don’t you think…relations between us will ruin that trust?”

“I think
relations
…” He gave the word the same shaky emphasis she had. “..between us will be richer and sweeter because of that trust.”

She turned her head and gazed longingly at the door. Only a few feet away, yet it might as well be a hundred miles. “You have no respect for the women you bed.”

Comprehension widened his hazel eyes. “Is that the problem?”

“One of them,” she admitted in an unsteady voice. “You never take your amours seriously.”

She waited for him to tell her he loved her, but to her surprise—and chagrin—laughter lit his face. “My dear Caro, you appear woefully confused. If you want a short affair, surely it’s best if I don’t take our liaison seriously.”

She made a low sound of irritation. “You twist my words.”

“Then let’s stop talking altogether. You want a lover. I’m eminently qualified. Stop all this havering, sweetheart, and come to bed.”

The shaming truth was that Caroline was powerfully tempted. Beyond tempted. She teetered on the brink of a decision that had once been unthinkable. But how could she resist him? It was difficult enough when she was alone to remember how wrong he was for her. When he stood before her, tall, lean, virile, willing, her longing outstripped good sense.

She waited for the familiar suffocated feeling to return, to remind her why surrendering to this one man meant death to all her dreams. To her surprise, the feeling stayed away. While her heart was racing, her breathing remained unrestricted. At this moment, the problem was that all her dreams focused on Silas Nash.

“You make it sound so simple.”

“Isn’t it? I want you. I hope…I believe you want me. We owe nobody else our loyalty.”

She had a nasty inkling that they both knew she fought a losing battle. “I couldn’t bear you to dismiss me as yet another girl Lord Stone has made silly.”

The warmth in his eyes had her heart turning pirouettes. “Do I make you silly?”

“You know you do,” she said with stark honesty. Heaven help her. She rapidly reached a point where retreating wasn’t an option.

His smile was sweet and reminded her of his care for a lonely widow new to London. “Well, that’s a relief. You’ve sent me silly for months.”

Oh, dear, her resolution now clung only by its fingertips. “I have a question.”

“Ask me anything.”

“Does Mr. Harslett really seek his mother’s approval for his mistresses?”

The abrupt change of topic disoriented him, then left him shamefaced. He shook his head. “No.”

“I’ve had trouble even looking at him since you told me that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“And Harry Hall washes?”

“As far as I’m aware. It’s not like I’ve questioned the fellow’s valet.” He shuffled his feet and she tried not to find his embarrassment charming. Tried and failed. He frowned at her. “Hell, Caroline, I said you drove me mad. There’s proof of it. I’ve acted like a louse, maligning good men whose only fault is that you expressed an interest in them. I should be flogged.”

“Perhaps that’s a little extreme.” She’d been flattered to learn of the stolen letter. Hearing that he’d lied about his friends to keep her from their clutches shouldn’t leave her equally flattered. But it did.

Something in her tone must have encouraged him because he glanced up with a pleading light in his eyes. “My only excuse is that I love you to distraction.”

Oh, he was a temptation. And despite all her flutterings and evasions, she had a strong suspicion she was about to succumb at last. “That’s no excuse.”

“Perhaps not. But I promise to make it up to you in that bed. After yesterday, aren’t you curious about what it would be like between us?”

So curious she’d stayed awake all night, restless and hungry for more of his touch, even while she’d steeled herself to go to West. “You make it hard to say no.”

“I hope so.”

She tried not to smile. “If you kissed me, your victory would be assured.”

She thought he’d seize her then, but she’d underestimated him. To her astonishment, he raised his hand as if to ward off an attack. “I know you too well, Caro. You’ll never forgive yourself or me if you don’t consent with heart and mind united.”

“My body wants you. Isn’t that enough?” she asked softly, shifting away from the wall until she stood in front of him.

He closed his eyes. “By God, woman, you set yourself to torment me. Is that yes?”

Troubled, she studied him. He’d won, but she conceded very much against her better judgment. All the barriers to an affair with Silas remained—except that when he stood here like this, loving her and desperate, those barriers didn’t seem nearly as impassable. “It’s a request for you to make the decision.”

“That’s like asking the mouse to take charge of the key to the cheese cupboard.”

She made a frustrated sound. “God give me strength. You’re
so
annoying. After behaving like a complete scoundrel, now you discover your honor. You’re not proving a convenient lover, Silas.”

Regretfully he stared back. “I have to agree.” He studied her as if he read every fear lurking in her heart. “But I want you to be sure.”

Genuine confusion flooded her. “How can I be sure?”

He reached toward her face, but stopped before making contact. “Tell me what you’re afraid of.”

She abandoned pride. “I’m afraid if we do this, you won’t be my friend anymore.”

“I’ll always be on your side, whatever happens.”

“Even if I take another lover?”

Something dark and primitive moved in his hazel eyes, but his voice remained steady. “I can’t lie and say I’ll like that. I vow I’ll make you so happy that you’ll never think of leaving. But my love isn’t a prison. You’re free to choose what you do.”

Deep within Caroline, a delicate seedling of hope unfurled toward the sun. Could she do this? Was Silas the one man in a million who could want a woman without caging her?

“What else are you afraid of?” he asked softly.

“That you’ll want more of me than I’m willing to give.”

He shrugged, the gesture so characteristic that her heart somersaulted with love. “I swear on everything I hold holy that I respect your sovereign soul. I’ll take what you give and I won’t badger you for more. Nor will I throw jealous tantrums, although after my recent behavior, you might find that hard to believe.”

She regarded him doubtfully. “So no jealousy?”

His smile was crooked. “I can’t promise that, but if the circumstances arise, I’ll deal with it. I’m merely human. Let’s make a pact. If I behave like a grumpy, possessive brute, you have the right to terminate our arrangement without a word of apology. I’ll put that in writing if necessary.”

“I trust your word.” Despite all his devious antics to bring her to this pass, she did.

“Good. What else?”

This was the most difficult issue. “I’m afraid that I’ll want more of
you
than you’re willing to give me.”

His smile was gentle and at last he completed the caress, cupping her jaw with a tenderness that melted her bones. “Trust me. Trust yourself. We’ll come through.”

Uncertainly she met his eyes, more gold than green in the candlelight. She wanted to trust him. Oh, how she wanted to. But her freedom was too dearly won to surrender easily.

“One night,” she whispered, even as she leaned into his hand.

She waited for an argument, but after a pause, he nodded briefly. “One night.”

“Just one,” she said, surprised he accepted the limits she placed on their affair.

“
One
night,” he repeated in seeming agreement. He looked as if he made an eternal vow. Before she could question the emphasis he placed on the first word, he went on. “Let me show you what joy a lover can bring you.”

Accepting his offer was utterly terrifying, like crossing a gaping chasm. She spanned it with one step and went eagerly into Silas’s arms.

She might call herself a dashing widow, but when she linked her hands around his neck, she felt as flustered and excited as an untried girl. “Kiss me, Silas.”

B
ecause rushing seemed like blasphemy on this strangely sacred occasion, Silas slowly bent his head and placed his lips on Caroline’s in a kiss that was almost chaste. At last she’d consented. He’d been so sure this moment would never come.

Her lushly curved body rested against his before she strained up to deepen the contact. Teasing her, he brushed his lips across hers again and again.

Eventually she leaned back to see his face. To his delight, her expression held no reticence, just curiosity and a stirring sensuality that made him hard. “I know you can do better than that.”

“Aren’t you enjoying it?”

“Of course I am, but perhaps it’s time to get to the good stuff.” Her pout did nothing for his precarious control. “We’ve only got one night.”

Over his dead body. “Caro, stop trying to direct events. I’m your lover, not the steward on your estate awaiting daily orders.”

“But, Silas—”

He hauled her up against him and took her mouth in the kind of kiss that shook empires. She stiffened in shock before on a muffled moan, she kissed him back. After yesterday’s fierceness, he should know what to expect from her passion. But her reckless ardor sent his heart crashing against his ribs. He lost himself in a succulent heaven of satiny lips and flickering tongues and nipping teeth. When he raised his head, they were both breathless.

“Shall I take down my hair?” she asked huskily, releasing his shoulders.

“Let me.” He caught her hands and placed quick kisses on each set of knuckles. “I’ve waited for this since I first met you.”

“Really?” she asked in a wondering tone. “I had no idea.”