Page 90 of The Rebellious Countess
“I swear on all that is holy I should have never let you go.” He continued his advance.
“You’re not a particularly religious man. You threatened to throw a cardinal out of a boat.”
“He valued his dress more than a life. I would say he was the one who wasn’t a religious person.”
“I still don’t believe you.”
“I swear to our unborn child, I love you with everything that I am.”
“Yet you left me.”
“I thought you deserved more than what I had to offer. I am sorry I hurt you. I was trying to do what was best for you.”
“And what is best for me now?”
“To remain married to the father of your child, who will spend the rest of his days making up for the sorrow he caused you.”
Her heart seized. He knew, and he was just saying that because he wanted his child. Her child. “I will not let you take away my child. I will use Ross’s power as a duke to destroy you or anyone else who tries to take my child from me.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Yes, good. The woman I love would never let anyone take away our child.”
She stared at him, wanting to trust his words but not daring to trust him with her heart. “You’re not an earl.”
“I am an earl, thanks to your brother-in-law, Ross, and Sir Robert Williamson of the War Office. They petitioned our Regent with my heroism in rescuing Astley. They were quiet about rescuing the cardinal. Ross believed the real reason His Majesty granted me the title was their timing. Our Regent was preoccupied with his mistress, and he wanted them gone. He expelled them from the Buckingham Palace for the next year. Ross is heartbroken.”
“I don’t love you,” she blurted out.
Elias grinned as he slowly crossed the library to where she stood. “You are a terrible liar,mo ghaol.”
She lifted her chin in defiance. It was her last line of defense against his charm and smile and those damn kissable lips. “It’s true.”
“Your writings on the window say otherwise.”
She looked over at the window and found herself in his arms before she could deny the truth once more. A tear ran down her cheek, but she couldn’t look away from the damning words she’d written just moments before.I love him. I love him. I love him.
“Say it,” he whispered.
“I love you, but?—”
His lips were on hers, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, she was home. When she was in his arms, nothing else mattered but the two of them together. This was where she belonged. Where she’d known she belonged from their very first kiss.
His lips were strong and dominating and he tasted like everything she’d ever dreamed a man should be, as he pushed her against the bookcase. His cock hardened against her, reminding her of the everything he could do to her body. He groaned as she pressed into him, lifting her hips to create more friction. Her fingers slid through his wet hair as her nails duginto his scalp and she pulled his head down to deepen their kiss. What this man did to her was madness.
He pulled her hands from his scalp and wrapped them behind her back as his lips trailed down her jaw and neck. She bent her neck to the side giving him more access as he sucked on her pulse point, making her body respond in a way only Elias could.
“Oh, God, don’t stop.”
“I don’t plan to.”
She should have thanked the stars, the moon, the rain for allowing her to feel this way again. Intoxicated, drunk, thoroughly foxed on her passion for Elias—until she wasn’t.
“Wh-what are you doing?” She tugged on her wrists, only to find them tightly secured behind her back. “Elias?”
He lifted his head and grinned a devious smile that on any other man would be frightening. “I told you I would use the cardinal’s robes to tie you up.”
