Page 26 of A Remarkable Rogue

He stilled at her unexpected boldness, his fingertips lingering against her bare skin, and evaded, “Lots of men want you.”

Triumph surged through her that he hadn’t denied it. “Perhaps.” The tip of her tongue darted out to wet her suddenly dry lips. “ButIdon’t want most men.” The words were soft as a breath as she confessed, “I want you.”

“Sydney.” Her name was an aching protest, yet he didn’t move away from her, as if he couldn’t find the will.

She arched herself against him in invitation. Even if he gave her only one night in his arms, she would gladly take it. In the morning, she would worry about what came next, what new threats Scepter would make against them, and what charges the Home Office would accuse her of committing.

Tonight, she only wanted to think about Nate.

With a groan of frustration and need, she rose onto her tiptoes and snaked her arms around his neck to draw herself against him. He wanted her, she knew it. Sweet heavens, pressed up against him like this, she couldfeelit.

Yet even now he resisted encircling her in his arms. He inhaled sharply, and his tense body shook as if her touch burned him.

Then with a faint groan, he softened in surrender and lowered his head to slide his mouth against the corner of hers, to finally take the small taste of her that he’d been denying himself. Yet this kiss wasn’t quite a kiss, and beneath her fingertips, she felt his muscles trembling with restraint.

“Nate,” she begged and turned her mouth fully into his. “Please.”

At her soft plea, his restraint snapped, and his mouth captured hers so greedily that he stole her breath away and left her gasping even as his lips fed hungrily on hers. His tongue teased at her lips, and when she parted them, he stroked inside her mouth.

Sydney lost herself against the ferocity of his spicy sweetness, just as she’d longed to do from the moment she walked into the stables and saw him—no, since long before that. Since she saw him at Barton’s when he made her laugh and momentarily forget the fear and suffering inside her. All of it was cemented by his promise to protect her. Her body ached in turns between the acute arousal he flamed inside her and her own emotions.

She brushed her hands over the hard planes of his bare chest. Was all of him this smooth and warm, this hard beneath? And would he let her find out?

She tore her mouth away from his to place a delicate kiss to his bare chest, right over his pounding heart. “Come home with me,” she tempted, and this time, instead of a simple kiss, she caressed her lips across his skin in an openmouthed kiss. It was a promise of what would happen if only he gave her the chance. “Let me have you tonight.”

She pressed her hips against his and thrilled at the hard ridge in his breeches that pressed back.

He groaned. “Sydney—”

“Come home with me,” she repeated, willing her voice not to tremble as fiercely as the rest of her.

He rested his forehead against hers and squeezed his eyes shut. “I can’t.”

Her mind churned in confusion. He wanted her. He was shaking with it, for heaven’s sake! “Yes, you can.”

“No,” he insisted, his voice a barely controlled rasp. “I can’t do that.”

She slipped her arms from around him and let them fall to her sides. “I’m sorry.” She breathed hard as she tried to sort through the desire-fogged turmoil in her mind, to keep the stinging rejection at bay. “I thought—I thought you wanted me.”

“Of course I want you.” He blew out a harsh breath and admitted, “You have no idea how much. But I can’t…I won’t.”

He stepped back and stared at her as if she were some sort of siren come to take his soul. Yet she could still see the desire in him, and the confusion it spawned shook the ground beneath her.

“Go home, Baroness,” he said quietly, “before that man comes looking for you again.”

“I don’t understand.” Leaving was the last thing she wanted to do. She wanted to remain right here with this enthralling and challenging man who bothered her body and bewitched her mind. “Why are you—”

She choked off as the dreadful realization seeped over her like ice water.

“Who is she?” she asked quietly but with absolute certainty. “The woman you think you’ll be betraying by being with me?”

Darkness shadowed his face and proved her right. This wasn’t about her.

Another woman stood between them.

“Go home,” he repeated. “You’ll be safe there.”

“You don’t know that.” The only place she would feel safe tonight was in his arms, but he’d denied her that solace. Her chest panged, already dreading the rest of the wretched, lonely night ahead and the nightmares that came nearly every time she closed her eyes.