Page 100 of My Rogue, My Ruin
They sat in silence, the heat from the fire spreading quickly throughout the small room, and soon, Brynn’s hair was dry and soft, falling through his fingers like liquid flame. The sensual feel of it set his body on edge. He wanted to see that glorious hair spilling over her naked shoulders, feel it falling onto his chest as he brought her to the verge and back again. But first, he needed to clear the air.
“Brynn,” he began again. “I want to finish what I started to say earlier. What you did for me… No one has ever done anything like that. You put your life on the line to save mine, and to save my friend, with no concern for your own safety. I can never repay you for what you have done.”
“You don’t have to,” she said quickly.
He swallowed and nodded. “You were right when you said that I never intended to marry.” The wounded expression on her face had him rushing to continue. “I didn’t think I could be happy. And I didn’t want the burden of making someone else happy, especially when I saw what that had done to my mother. Until you stormed into my perfectly ordered life wearing naught but a pair of men’s breeches, I don’t think I knew what true living was. I don’t think I even knew what true happiness was.”
Archer sat forward on the stool, her hair still twined between his fingers. “I know only that when I am not with you, I am desolate. I know that I want to do everything within my power to make you smile and laugh. To make you come alive in my arms. I cannot imagine a second in my life without you in it.”
It was the truth, raw and honest. Every word spoken lifted a weight from his soul, until he felt lighter than he had for as long as he could recall.
Brynn drew a shaking breath. “What are you saying?”
“I went to Ferndale. Your lady’s maid told me that you had gone for a ride.”
“You came to find me?” she asked in an aching voice.
“Yes,” he said. “And to return these.”
Releasing her silky hair, Archer reached into his trouser pocket. Her eyes sparkled with tears as his hand appeared again, her grandmother’s pearl necklace and matching earbobs filling his palm.
“You didn’t sell them,” she whispered.
“No, and I realized why only a few days ago. I wanted to keep something that you loved close to me. It was a poor substitute, but my wretched heart couldn’t bear to part with them. I wanted your love, you see.”
“My love?” she repeated, her gaze sealing itself to his.
“Yes. Haven’t you been listening to a word I’ve been saying?” he teased.
“Youwantmylove.” She stared at him, her lower lip trembling.
“Of course I do. What do you think this is all about?”
“But…I assumed you felt obligated…”
He smiled at her. “No, darling, the only obligation I feel is to love you unconditionally for every last day of my life.” His hands rose to her cheeks, cradling them between his palms as he memorized every beloved curve of her face. “And in return, if you give me your love, your anger, your joy, your passion, your hope, your dreams, or any little thing you choose, I would be eternally grateful.”
Archer reached for her trembling hands, still clutching her pearls, and pressed his lips to her wrist. His heart nearly burst with the need to make her his in every single way. But he wanted her answer first. Her unclouded acceptance. “Marry me. For real this time.”
His fingers brushed away the single tear tracing down the apple of her cheek, his voice catching on his next words. “I am madly and foolishly and unquestionably in love with you, Lady Briannon, and if you don’t put me out of my misery by giving me an answer, I—”
“Yes.Yes.” Brynn pressed a finger to his lips with a tremulous smile, her eyes shining with the force of her emotion. “Will you please kiss me now?”
He groaned as he drew her into his lap and crushed her to him. He kissed her eyes, the slope of her cheek, her nose, before searching for the softness of her mouth. His bride-to-be parted her lips sweetly, offering herself to him completely. This kiss was the opposite of the one by the river, full of promise and love, but no less consuming. This time, Archer held no part of himself back. This brave and courageous woman in his arms was his sole reason for living, and he wanted her to know it as firmly as he did.
She set her pearls on her abandoned stool and turned her hands to his chest, unbuttoning the first button there and then the second. His breath grew shallow as her fingers brushed lower, freeing the next three in quick succession. “Brynn,” he groaned at the trail of heat her fingers left behind. “What are you doing?”
She smiled, mischief glinting in her eyes as she pushed the material off his shoulders. “We are engaged, are we not?” she said wickedly, repeating his words from the library in Hadley Gardens. Her palm grazed the naked skin of his chest, flicking past the ridged muscles of his stomach. He stopped its descent with one of his hands, his breathing harsh.
“I want you so desperately, I cannot trust myself to stop,” he rasped.
“I don’t want you to stop.”
Archer stared into eyes the color of clover and warm honey. The world tilted beneath his feet at the explicit invitation in them. The invitation he’d craved. The one he’d waited for, for an eternity it seemed. His hand curled into the lustrous silk of her hair as hers wound around his neck. He lifted her easily and crossed the room to the bed.
The blanket over her shoulders fell away, leaving her in only her thin linen shift. Her dusky areolas pushed against the cloth, already hard and hunting for his touch. Brynn flushed at his hot stare, but Archer wanted her to feel no shame in her body’s response to him. He wanted to suckle her and make her moan. He wanted to put his mouth on every inch of her body, just as he’d confessed in her study at Bishop House.
He set her down slowly at the side of the bed, inching her body along his until her toes touched the floor. His arms curved around her to release the string tie at the neck of her shift. The linen fell in a pool around her ankles. Without breaking contact, he lifted her and placed her on the bed. Clad only in sheer bloomers, she made no attempt to cover herself from him, even though she blushed furiously as his eyes swept her from top to bottom, devouring every sublime inch of her body.
