Page 73 of The Moonstone Governess
He chuckled. “No, you simply take my breath away. Brenna, I crave you. I crave you and I fear to hurt you. Meeting you has been the best thing for me, and also the worst. What will I do to you if ever we disagree?”
“Haven’t we disagreed on things already?”
“No, little dove. We haven’t yet, but it is inevitable we will fight about something at some point. Do I let you win? Will I seethe with resentment afterward? Will I beat you?”
“Oh, Daire. You are looking at it all wrong.” She wrapped her arms around his neck. Her body was so soft and warm pressed to his.
“How am I looking at this wrong?”
“If you loved me, you would not care who won or lost. You would not look at our differences of opinion as combat postures. We would listen to each other and come up with a compromise together.”
“And if we could not?”
“Then one of us would give in. Even if we both stubbornly held to our ground, you would never hurt me. You are not capable of this. Your heart is too good. Just ask Juliana—she knows.” She looked up at him, and he wanted to kiss her into eternity.
She sighed as his lips hovered over hers. “Daire, this is the way love works. We willingly sacrifice to make the other happy. Yes, one of us is likely to sacrifice more. It is rarely an even balance.”
“Are you going to keep talking, Brenna?”
She smiled up at him. “Do you wish me to keep talking?”
He laughed. “No, you lovely, opinionated, bossy bit of goods. I want to kiss you until we are both in flames. I want to lose myself in you.”
“Lose yourself in me?”
Gad, she was so innocent. She did not know what this meant.
To be inside her.
To make her howl with pleasure.
Scream his name.
“I’ll explain it to you another time. Just know that I will not take you outside of marriage, although my body has not stopped aching to know yours since the day I met you.”
“Outside of marriage?”
“Do you think there can ever be anyone else for me?” He did not wait for an answer, but lowered his head to hers and kissed her with all the passion she had stirred in him. Molten heat poured over him like lava. He covered her mouth with his, aching to possess her, conquer her, gain her surrender. Earn her love.
She was so sweet. Her lips tasted like honey. He dipped his tongue inside her mouth, probing the velvet warmth, tasting tea and strawberries.
“Brenna, my little dove,” he whispered, lifting her up against him and shuddering as her beautiful, softly rounded breasts pressed against his hard chest.
He wanted to be inside of her and delve into her soul.
She responded with innocent ardor, her mouth soft and welcoming, her tongue hesitantly matching his thrusts.
“Brenna, what am I to do with you?” he asked, tearing his lips from hers. “My smart-mouthed governess. My fairy princess.”
She still had her arms wrapped around his neck and was trying to draw him closer still. She met the heat of his mouth again and again. After a moment, she let out a soft cry. “Oh, Daire. Let me go. What have we done? What are we doing to each other?”
Chapter Thirteen
How had itsuddenly come to this? Had they fallen in love with each other? To what end?
This was so much worse than dealing with Albert’s marriage proposal.
Brenna and Albert had known each other a full year before he proposed. She’d known Daire a mere week and was already lost to him.
