He nodded, his expression so serious and so focused on her.It might have been wishful thinking but she could imagine he was actually concerned about her and her family.She had the most ridiculous urge to curl into him.To ask him to hold her, to take care of her.
With a sharp inhale she took a step backwards.
Another flicker of amusement in his eyes made her stop.Her heart did a full-fledged flip.Goodness, laughter looked good on him, even if it was just a quick flash of it in his gaze.
What would he look like when he smiled?
She felt a keen ache to know.
“You ought to be glad I’m the one who won the auction tonight, love,” he said.
Love.The meaningless endearment washed over her.Had that auction really been earlier that night?It felt like a lifetime since he’d rushed the stage and tore her away from those foul men.
His expression shifted as he peered at her with a sort of confused affection, or maybe bemused curiosity.“Did you think the man who won you would not notice that you are no virgin?”
She blinked.Her mind felt far too slow, like her thoughts were trying to crawl through mud.She’d say it was exhaustion, but it was something more.It was the way he was watching her—so closely like she was the only person in the world.
The only one who mattered, at any rate.
“Trust me, love, they would have known.”He reached out and cupped her cheek, his voice so gruff, it wrapped around her, warmer than any blanket.“And they wouldn’t have been pleased.”
But I am a virgin.That was what she ought to say.Her mind was slow, but this much she knew.But she couldn’t bring herself to say it, because she was hanging on his words now, desperate to know where he was going with it.
“But I would have been so very pleased,” he said, his whisper harsh as his grip tightened on the back of her neck, the lines of his face strained.“If I’d known you were no innocent, I never would have sent you away.”
Her eyes widened as his meaning became clear.
But I am a virgin.
She should say it.But a strange magic was wrapping around her, making her blood feel thick and slow in her veins, and her skin overly sensitive to his every touch.She was certain she could feel the air around her as it crackled and sizzled with that heat she’d felt before.The one that pooled in her lower belly and made her breasts feel heavy and aching.
When he leaned down, the heat of his breath made her heart race and her belly flip with anticipation.
She wanted it.She wanted this.
Everything in her begged him to close the distance, to kiss her.But he was waiting.
If I’d known you were no innocent, I never would have sent you away…
She wet her lips and took a deep breath.Reason tried to be heard, but she pushed it aside.She had no idea where she’d be tomorrow night or how she’d look after her family.But right here, right now, she knew what she wanted, and it was well within reach.
She peeked up to meet his gaze head on.“I wouldn’t have left.”