Page 61 of Miss Flibbertigibbet and the Barbarian
“There’s really only two roads he could have taken,” Dickie pointed out. “He either went east on Eastgate or continued along Northgate.”
Nicholas swallowed. “Unless he’s a local and turned west or even came to the marketplace to meet with someone and turned south again.” After a moment of apparently imagining that, he grunted and returned his gaze to his plate. “In reality, he could have gone in any direction. All we can be sure about is that he was in the road alongside the marketplace, and according to our last sighting, he was heading north.”
Addie let their comments and arguments flow past her, which earned her puzzled looks from them both, but she had other things to think about. Namely, how to explain to Nicholas what, exactly, her response to his ultimatum was.
Finally, with dinner dispensed with and the dishes removed, they retreated to the chairs by the fireplace. Conversation lagged, and soon, they were all smothering yawns.
After another jaw-cracking yawn, Dickie announced, “Today was yet another long day in the saddle. I’m for bed, the better to throw myself into our search bright and early tomorrow.” He met her eyes and grinned. He wasn’t an early riser.
“In that case”—she rose as he did, and Nicholas followed suit—“we’ll expect to see you at the breakfast table, shall we say at six o’clock?”
Dickie groaned. “Seven. There’s no sense in going outtooearly—the people we need to speak with won’t appear before eight.”
As he was correct, Addie dipped her head in regal agreement. “Seven o’clock, then. But not a minute later.”
Dickie grumbled and led the way upstairs. At the head of the stairs, they parted, with Dickie going into a room close by.
With Nicholas ambling beside her, Addie walked down the corridor that, on that level, bisected the inn. Nicholas’s room lay to their left, while hers was one door farther down on the right.
Luckily for Addie’s plans, tonight, there was no Sally sharing her room. No one to know where she spent the night.
They drew level with Nicholas’s door, and he paused.
Addie gripped his sleeve, stepped across him, and opened his door. She sent it swinging wide and barged inside, tugging at him to follow her. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
CHAPTER10
To Addie’s relief, after an initial hesitation, Nicholas glanced swiftly back along the corridor—no doubt confirming that her brother had gone into his room, closed his door, and hadn’t seen her performance—before looking back at her. After a second of studying her, he consented to step into the room, and quietly shut the door.
She released his sleeve, took two steps, and whirled to face him. She drew in a huge breath and let it out in a rush of words. “You said I had a choice to make between continuing as merely friends or becoming lovers.”
He halted before her, his gaze locked with hers. “Provided that, if you opt to become lovers, it’s on the understanding that you’ll accept an offer from me in due course.”
She managed a reasonably decisive nod. “I’ve made my choice.”
He searched her face. “And?”
She stepped into him, breast to chest, gripped his shoulders, stretched up, and pressed her lips to his.
The connection—one of heat and need and wanting—leapt instantly to the fore. If she’d needed any reassurance that the mutual hunger she’d encountered before was still there, on both their parts, that immediate reaction—him to her and her to him—was impossible to mistake. As if underscoring that he was equally affected—equally susceptible—his hands closed around her waist and gripped tight, seizing and holding.
Confidence solidifying, she drew back enough to open her eyes. When his lids rose, she met and held his gaze. “Becoming your lover—lying with you—is what I want. However, while I’m not in any way set against marrying you, I do not wish you to feel that I’m trapping you into marriage by pressuring you to…”
When she foundered, one dark brow arched. “Initiate you into the pleasures of the flesh?”
“Yes!” She fought down a blush. “Exactly. That.” She drew in a tight breath and forged on, “To me, lying with you and marrying you are two completely separate things. I want to—I need to—know what lying with a man is like, and you, it seems, are my only hope of learning all I wish. Given our circumstances, nobody will know that I’ve spent the night in your bed. If—not after, not tomorrow, but at some later time, after we come to the end of this adventure—you still wish to offer marriage, I’m willing to promise I will definitely consider it.” She searched his eyes. “But I don’t want you to offer because you feel you should. That you must.”
She tipped up her chin. “If and when you make an offer, you will need to convince me that you really mean it—that your wish to marry me is genuine, real and true, and not an action prompted by honor or some such notion.” Her gaze locked with his, she declared, “That’s what I want and what I’m willing to agree to.”
He studied her for several long moments, then said, “You spoke of spending the night in my bed. That, in the circumstances, there’s no reason anyone would know.” He arched a brow. “What about tomorrow night and the night after?”
She frowned and, scrutinizing his features, bit her lower lip. His gaze remained steady, unwavering, giving her no clue as to his thoughts. After a moment, she released her lip and offered, “Perhaps we should start with just one night.” She tipped up her chin again and challengingly stated, “I want you to seduce me with, for you, no strings attached.”
Nicholas continued to cling to his libido with a white-knuckled grip. He flicked a glance at the door, then returned his gaze to her face. “I believe most would see this”—he gestured between them—“as you seducing me.”
She stared at him, then wildly waved both hands. “I don’t care who is said to be seducing whom. Can we just get on with it?”
She gave him no chance to reply, but framed his face, hauled his lips to hers, and plunged them both into the unrestrained conflagration of an out-of-control kiss.
