“Say what?”
“Don’t suggest your situation is hopeless.”
“We must face facts.”
With surprising self-assurance, she lifted her chin. “I have no intention of watching the performance from the stalls. I shall do everything in my power to help you, Nicholas.”
“Why?”
“Why? Well, because we’re friends … and …”
“And?”
“And because I like you.”
“And?”
“And because … because I’ve waited seven years to kiss you and will die if I don’t kiss you again.”
The air between them sparked to life.
Again, he noticed her natural scent, an alluring aroma so enticing to a mate. With a lazy, lingering appraisal, he knew the cotton failed to hide the soft curve of her breasts. That he could have her naked in seconds. That he could feast on her flesh. Sate his craving.
“What do you want from me, Helen?” Evidently, he wasn’t taking her home. Based on his current train of thought, she would be his wife if he could keep one foot out of the grave. “I need honesty. I’ll accept nothing less.”
Words his mother had screamed at his father burst into his mind. Words thrown like daggers to cause untold damage, to maim.
I don’t love you.
I forced myself to give you one child.
I can’t pretend anymore.
“What do I want?” she repeated. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Her indecisiveness would be a problem for him.
“Perhaps you want a friend.”
“We’re already friends.”
“A confidant, then?”
“Nicholas, I have told you things I’ve never told another soul.”
Keen to banish thoughts of his parents and probe her mind, he chose to be bold. “Perhaps you want me to pleasure you. To drink from your body the way I did your mouth. Make you come so hard it was worth the seven-year wait.”
She swallowed hard but met his challenge. “I want you, Nicholas. I have already told you so tonight. I want you in ways I don’t understand and will take what you have to give.” She glanced down at her strapped breasts. “Cut my bindings. Free me from my constraints.”
Was she a naive maiden or a skilled seductress?
Either way, she held him spellbound.
“You know I’m a man of honour, or at least I was. You know what it means if we’re to do more than kissing?”
“Yes, it means we’re finally following our hearts.” She turned her back to him. “Stop thinking about what is right and honourable. Be selfish for once.”
He’d been selfish in Lady Brompton’s garden and hadn’t regretted it for a second. Now, he planned to pleasure Helen in the attic room of Fortune’s Den.