Page 87 of Aurelia

His gaze flickered to the mobcap that covered her hair and his lips flexed into a moue of distaste. “I don’t care for this.” He reached up, pulled it off, and then tossed it aside without looking to see where it landed. “There. That is much better.”

“What—why did you do that?”

“Your hair is beautiful.” He caught a strand between his fingers and stretched it out, his gaze assessing. “Brown is too simple a word for it. There is gold, red, and a rich dark shade like bitter chocolate.” His eye met hers. “And your eyes are a constant source of interest.”

“I-interest?”

“They are changeable. Not just green or brown or gray or blue—but all those colors.”

Aurelia had no response for that.

“Why do you always leave a room when I enter it?”

He was so close that his low voice vibrated through her chest. “I don’t do that.” She paused and then asked, “Do I?”

“Yes.”

“I—I’m not sure that is—” Her words broke off when his hand slid around her jaw. It was the same touch she’d experienced earlier with Guustin. But with Guustin she had felt nothing other than a mild, detached curiosity.

With the earl, her nerves and muscles were suddenly so jangly and… needful that it felt as if she would fly apart if she did not—

“When did you learn to be so self-contained? So in control?” he asked, each light stroke of his thumb causing her already irregular breathing to stutter and hitch. “Always taking care of everyone else, hmm?” He caressed the skin beneath her ear and she shivered. “Who takes care of Aurelia?” He slowly bent down, until their faces were almost level, and then lightly rubbed the sides of their noses together. The gesture was singular in her experience. It was also deliciously intimate. And arousing. “Why do you run away? Is it because of that day on the beach?” he asked as his slightly rough fingers stroked her jaw. “Is that it?”

Suddenly, Aurelia could not bear the weight of his gaze. It was safer to look at the blank black patch. “You made your opinion of me perfectly clear that day.”

“You mean when I managed to restrain myself?”

“You—” she broke off and bit her lower lip, staring hard at the leather patch.

His hand moved from her cheek to her chin and he turned her, forcing her to meet his gaze. “Say what you are thinking.”

“You could not get away from me fast enough that day. W-what has changed now?” she demanded, exasperated and angry the moment the pitiful words came out of her mouth.

“I had hoped that I would forget about you if I stayed away long enough,” he said, and then smiled ruefully. “But leaving you only made me want you more.”

Aurelia knew she was gaping up at him like an infatuated schoolgirl, but how could she not stare when he had just spoken the words she had not even allowed herself to imagine?

“Do you forgive me?” he asked.

“For what? Trying to be a gentleman? Or w-wanting me?”

He chuckled. “Both, I suppose.”

Aurelia tried to think of something witty and sophisticated to say, but all she could manage was, “There is nothing to forgive.”

“Good. Because I’m going to kiss you again. But this time I’m not going to stop kissing—nor do I want to stop with only kissing.” He caressed her tightly clenched jaw. “This time I don’t want to stop at all. Is that what you want Aurelia—to become lovers? If not, you should step away now.” He released her but his hand hovered a tantalizing inch above her skin.

Aurelia wanted to kiss him more than she could remember ever wanting anything in her entire life. She wanted to wrap herself around his body and squeeze and touch and grab and explore every single inch of him—to know his thoughts as well as his body.

Where that terrifyingly intense impulse came from, Aurelia did not know, but she hurt with need for him.

She was tired of hurting and feeling empty.

And she was done waiting for what she wanted.

Aurelia deliberately slid her arms around his neck and pulled him down while straining upward to reach him, pushing up onto her toes.

The earl’s big body stiffened for a fraction of a second, but then his arms closed around her torso and he pressed his soft, warm lips against hers.