Page 19 of Master of Games
No plan ever succeeded with that kind of desperate energy. If there was one skill he’d learned it was to feign disinterest.
Not that he could feign anything in this moment. One, his head swam from his exhaustion.
But two, he’d heard Tabbie’s story. She’d rushed to her mother’s aid without a single regard to her personal welfare.
That was a woman who knew how to love with her whole heart. Could she teach him?
He leaned into her, catching her scent, wild rose that mingled with the scent of the ocean to create the perfect mix. She smelled of natural abandon and feminine grace. He’d like to make love to her in the rain, while the ocean roared.
Tabbie did almost everything in her life with strength and passion. He already knew that making love to her would be better than anything he’d ever known.
Not that he was capable in this moment of doing anything but hunching closer, burying his nose into the crook of her neck.
“I should retrieve a few footmen to help?—”
“I’ll be fine in a moment,” he murmured into her skin. “I just need a rest.”
“You should be in bed.”
“You’re right,” he answered, his lips grazing her skin. She tasted delicious. A lovely combination of sweet and the slight salt of skin that drove him wild and made him forget that he’d been near collapsing a few moments before. “Care to join me?”
“Ironheart!”
“Caden,” he smiled into her skin. “And we can leave our clothes on. I’ll simply sleep better with your heat and I know you’re tired too.”
“That’s a dangerous proposition,” she whispered back.
“Why? Your reputation?”
He felt the flutter of her breathing, the way her pulse skipped. “I don’t do casual relationships, Caden. I’m not certain I’d even know how.”
“Thank the saints for that,” he answered, without much thought. He wished he’d never learned how and he didn’t intend to participate in them any longer. They degraded the soul even as they satiated the body.
“What does that mean?” she asked, pulling away.
He sighed, wanting to continue to nuzzle her skin. “I regret much, and that might be the largest among them.”
She gasped, her eyes going wide. “Are you attempting to tell me that you’ve changed, that you’re no longer a rake?”
“I quit women when I quit drinking.”
Her mouth fell open. “But…”
“I’m ready to return to the house. Will you help me?” he asked. He had every intention of keeping her body pressed to his. And then he’d like to nap with her, curling her body in the curve of his.
“Of course.” She placed herself under his arm, allowing him to lean his weight on her. Imagine if anyone had ever done that for him when he’d been small and vulnerable.
“Did I tell you the origin of my given name?”
“No,” she replied, huffing a little breath at the exertion of carrying his weight.
“It’s the name of one of my mother’s many lovers.”
Tabbie stopped, staring up at him with wide eyes. “Caden.”
“I like my given name better, because it is, at least, honest. I have never been an Ironheart.” He didn’t add that his mother was the one who taught him that to punish his father, debauchery was the best weapon.
Tabbie didn’t need to hear all that today. He’d said enough. If she were going to share the worst moments of her life, then he’d share his too.
