Page 43 of Rakes & Reticules
Siobhan pulled the covers over each child’s shoulders before bending to kiss each of their foreheads.
Strong emotion tugged Fletcher’s heartstrings.
Was there anything as beautiful or touching as a mother’s love?
Or, in this case, a surrogate mother’s love, for that is what Siobhan had become to her brother and sister.
For the first time in his recollection, Fletcher longed for children.
Hischildren.
Siobhan glanced over her shoulder, and her gaze locked with his.
“Fletcher, why are you looking at me like that?”
Slowly, she straightened.
“Because, Siobhan, I am again reminded what an extraordinary woman you are.”
He stepped nearer until only a few inches separated them. Seemingly of its own volition, his arm lifted, and he brushed a knuckle across one velvety cheekbone. “Every time I believe I have you figured out, you say or do something to astonish me and raise you higher in my estimation.”
He hadn’t meant to reveal his private ruminations, but just as he’d caressed her cheek, though it wasn’t wise, his deuced tongue insisted on betraying him.
“Since your opinion of me is below sea level,” she quipped, “I have a considerable distance to rise.”
There, she did it again.
Turned the tables and eased the tension by way of a witticism.
He slid an arm around her trim waist, drawing her nearer.
Her mouth parted, her pupils dilated, but she didn’t pull away.
“Not as far as you might think,” he whispered, his voice thick and husky.
Blister and blast. I’m in it up to my neckcloth.
He should march from the chamber straightaway.
Eyes wide with wonder, she searched his face.
“Are you going to kiss me, Fletcher?” Her breathless whisper sent a thousand frissons over his body.
“I want to.” Lord, how he craved the taste of those plump, cherry-tinted lips. “Would you object?”
“I should.” Biting her lower lip, she spared a glance toward her sleeping siblings. “It would complicate things immensely.”
Fletcher couldn’t deny her insight.
But something told him it would be bloody well worth every complication. Every difficulty. Every impediment.
“True.” Regardless, he took a step closer, her perfume and heat beckoning him like water lapping the shoreline. “But I’m willing to take that risk.” More fool him. “Are you?”
She stared at him for several heartbeats, desire and hesitation vying for supremacy in her eyes. At last, she shook her head and skirted around him.
“No. I’m sorry.” Her small breasts rose and fell in her agitation. “You have nothing to lose by acting upon your desires. On the other hand, I have everything, and I am not willing to compromise myself, this mission you’ve embroiled me in, or the wellbeing and future of my siblings.”
With blue silk swishing around her ankles, she fled the chamber.
