Page 70 of Sir Hugo Seeks a Wife
Her lips felt so stiff, they could have been made of metal.“No.”
“Then I don’t either.”
She sucked in a relieved breath.At least he wasn’t leaving her.
Yet.
“We have so much.”Regret weighted her words.“You’ve made me so happy these last few days.We can go on like this.”
He went back to brooding over the fire.“For a while, I suppose.”
She muffled a whimper.“I know it isn’t forever.I won’t cause problems when we’re done.”
His brief sardonic laugh was so different from his usual heartfelt humor.“Very accommodating of you, I’m sure.”
She spread her hands, wondering how a night that started out with such joy ended in this devastation.Her fault.Everything was her fault.“You’ll have to marry at some stage.”
He shot her another of those piercing glances.“If Yorkshire is the stumbling block, I can leave Yorkshire.”
She took a clumsy backward step and pressed one hand to her racing heart.“But Hampden Crags is your home.”
“Aye, it is.”
“And you love it.”
“Aye, I do.”
“You can’t give that up.”
“I could, if it means you’ll be my wife.”
Incredulous, she sank into her chair.The scale of Hugo’s offer befuddled her reeling mind.“I’m not worth it.”
“Yes, you are.”He rested one muscled arm on the wooden mantelpiece and bowed his tousled golden head over the flames.His broad shoulders slumped in something that looked very like defeat.Once, she’d thought nothing could defeat him.
“We’ve only been together a couple of days.It’s too soon to upend your entire life.”
“I won’t change.Will you?”
Athene should say yes.She should say that she had every intention of moving on, once their passion faded.But she couldn’t lie.A lie would taint the stark honesty of what she felt every time he joined that big, beautiful body with hers.“No.”
His hand fisted against the mantelpiece.While he avoided looking at her, her gaze clung to his rugged profile.His physical splendor just seemed to make everything worse.
After a long pause, he spoke.“We can live anywhere.Dorset.Cornwall.Scotland.London.If you’re worried about people talking about you, we can go to the Continent.France is open to British travelers now.You could see Italy at last.Hell, why not Australia?That will get you well away from scandal.”
She licked dry lips.“You don’t want to go to Australia.”
“No, perhaps that’s taking things too far in every sense of the word.”
She rose on rubbery legs and crossed to place one hand on his back.Under his flimsy cambric shirt, she felt the warmth of his skin and also his quivering tension.She waited for him to jerk away, because she knew that he was angry with her.But he remained where he was.
“Hugo, you’d come to hate me if I forced you to leave your home,” she said softly.“I’m not cruel enough to make you give that up.”
Whirling around, he seized her hand.He fastened a lacerating gaze on her features.“I can’t give you up either.”
To avoid the agony she read in his eyes and also because she hungered for his touch, she stepped close.She slid her arm around him, taking dangerous comfort from his strength.He released her hand and drew her against him.She snatched a breath redolent of his spicy masculine scent and told herself to accept what she had, because it was all there would ever be.After all the lonely years, it should satisfy her.
But by all that was holy, she wanted more.She wanted what he wanted, heaven help her.Hugo in her bed every night.Building a life together.Children.Plans.Promises.
