Page 37 of Sir Hugo Seeks a Wife
“Yes, we are.”Which was an inane thing to say.She wouldn’t waste all this ink and paper on a stranger.
He didn’t grace her answer with a response.Instead he began to read.“‘If you are at leisure today, perhaps you could call at Sweet Little Nothings.I have a matter of urgent importance to discuss.If you…’” He arched one eyebrow at her.“Very businesslike.”
She scrunched the unfinished letters she’d rescued and wished the floor would open up beneath her feet.“Don’t mock.”
He dropped that page on top of its predecessor and picked up another.“‘Hugo—’”
“Oh, God,” she moaned, closing her eyes.Of all the letters, he had to find this one.
“Better,” he said, then began to read.“‘I can’t forget your kisses.You’ve cast a spell on me.I dream of you at night.I feel your hands on my body.But you’re not here.It’s driving me mad.Please…’” He didn’t toss that letter aside.Instead he shot her a piercing glance.“Quite a change of tone in this one.”
He sounded cool and uninvolved, but she’d seen his eyes and she knew he was as famished for her company as she was famished for his.His voice was all polite curiosity.His fierce expression told her that he wanted to carry her away this very minute and work off his frustrations on her body.
She bit her lip, but the sting did nothing to rupture the fiery bonds of lust tightening between them.“I…I wouldn’t have sent it.I was just—”
The familiar tilt of his eyebrow.“Going mad?”
She swallowed to shift the agonizing humiliation that blocked her throat.“I’m sure you’re feeling proud of yourself,” she said in a sullen tone.
“Not particularly.I haven’t set pen to paper as you have, but believe me, the torment was entirely mutual.Why are you making us both suffer like this?”
That was a good question, and one whose answer had become more obscure through every miserable day without him.“I wish I’d never met you,” she said with an emphasis that came from her soul.
Hurt darkened his eyes to indigo, and he dropped the last, most revealing letter.“Athene, you don’t mean that.”
“I was content until I met you,” she said, even as her heart cramped at the sight of his pain.
He shook his head.“No, you weren’t.It’s clear you’ve spent all these years suppressing your natural inclinations.You were suffocating to death, settling for a life without hope or joy or freedom.”
She recoiled.“But I was safe.”She didn’t bother arguing with his conclusions.They both knew that he was right.Dear God, if only he’d stop watching her as if she were more precious than the rarest pearl.
“Is safe enough for you, Athene?”
“There was a time in my life when I wasn’t safe at all.”With a disheartened sigh, she let the unfinished letters in her hands drop to the floor.“Safe counts for a lot.”
“It doesn’t count for everything.”
“It’s greedy to want everything.”
“Hell’s bells, woman, be greedy.”He spread his hands in supplication.“Marry me and put us both out of our misery.”
She was already shaking her head.“I can’t.”
He surveyed her with a despair that made her want to cry.“Then what the devil are we to do?”
She squared her shoulders and shot him a direct look.“I can become your mistress.”
***
Hugo stared in torment at this woman he wanted above all others.Who wanted him back, he knew.He hadn’t needed to read those heartbreaking letters.God help him, she was so gallant and so dear and so alone.How could he resist her?“You’re worth more than that.You know you are.”
Her lush mouth flattened.“All I know is that I’m in a fever for you.”
“Athene…” He lunged forward, then stopped.Despite her provocative confession, she wasn’t ready to touch him.Which was a pity.The effort of keeping his hands by his sides tested all his restraint.“There’s no shame in wanting me.I want you, too.I’m wretched away from you.This last fortnight has been hell on earth.”
Her dark eyes softened at his confession, before a spark of bleak humor appeared.“How on earth did we get into this mess?”
He didn’t smile.After these last days, he couldn’t make light of how much he needed her.He stretched his hands out toward her and pleaded.“I don’t want to lose you.Please be my wife.I don’t want to lie and sneak around.I don’t want to act as if I’m ashamed of you.I want to grant you every honor.”
