Page 93 of The Countess Caper

“Half past two.”

“I slept for more than ten hours?”

“Laudanum can do that to a person.” His jaw clenched as he fell into step beside her.

The kitchen was dark and quiet, the tables scrubbed clean. A bowl of apples and pears sat beside a covered plate of scones. Tessa snatched one up immediately, her stomach rumbling. Roarke poured her a glass of apple cider and rummaged for a bowl of clotted cream. He broke a scone in half, slathering it with jam and cream. She couldn’t stop watching his hands, the flex of his tendons at the wrist. His forearms were more than twice the size of other men’s.

He lifted the morsel of scone to her mouth, waiting for her lips to part. She licked the pad of his thumb, catching the last bit of blackberry jam. His eyes narrowed on her, utterly focused. She swallowed, suddenly feeling naked. She may as well have been eating pastries in her bare bottom, the cool night air on her nipples. Everything went hot and liquid.

Roarke leaned closer, edging into her space until he was all she could see. “We have things to discuss,” he said silkily, with a touch of menace. The kind that made her press her thighs together. She tried to nip at his bottom lip, but he eased away, just enough.

Denied, her desire curled tighter and hotter. As did his. She could see it in the way his breath changed, the way he watched her mouth. She wanted to tell him that she loved him again. But he had not said it back. There was no guarantee that he did not wish things to remain as they were. She had not exactly brought quiet and peace to his life.

Why was this scarier than Lord Beville’s dagger at her throat, the footman grabbing at her? This should be easy. Simple, at least.

“Roarke,” she breathed. “I need you.”

It was truth.

But only part of the truth.

His eyes narrowed further. She licked her bottom lip. He tracked the movement. She played with the ribbon holding the neckline of her nightdress together. One little tug and it would fall to the ground at her feet.

“Tessa.” It was a warning. A delicious warning.

“If you won’t undress me,” she replied, “I suppose I must do it myself.”

She undid the knot. He growled. The sound filled her with light and heat. Her nightdress slid to the stones. His frown was scolding, chiding, but his hands were already on her. They stroked up her sides, under her breasts, ever so faintly over her nipples. She arched closer. He bent his head to suck one into his mouth, flicking at her with his hot tongue. She moaned. Loudly. Wantonly. Naked in her kitchen.

He trailed his fingers between her thighs, beside her sex. Her bud felt swollen as it throbbed. He circled it once with his thumb, filling her with two fingers, suddenly, perfectly. She tightened around him, so he did it again. And again.

Stopped.

“Roarke,” she begged, her release just out of her grasp. So close, so very close.

“Not until you stop running away from me.”

“I’m right here.” She tried to get closer, to rub her folds over his hardness. She reached for him, frantic to feel his cock, to make him want her as much as she wanted him. For him to beg. He was so hard, so smooth. His hands around her upper arms held her still. Frustrated, she made a sound she had never made before. He smiled. She glared at him. “Do you think this is funny?”

“I could cry with the need to bury myself inside of you,” he said roughly. “To take you so deeply, to fill you so completely, there’s nowhere for you to go.”

“Then do it!” His words brought that release close again, teasing with her. “Now. If you really want me.”

And that was the question, wasn’t it? The seed of doubt despite it all.

“You’re my wife,” he growled in her ear. Shivers trailed along her neck like tiny bites. “More than that, you are Tessa. And I will always want you.”

Oh, how she wanted to believe him. Wanted it so desperately. Desperate enough to be brave. Reckless. “You chose me because you could leave me,” she reminded him.

His fingers tightened on her. “Is that what you think?”

“It’s what we agreed on.”

“Tessa.” He lifted her chin when she would not meet his gaze. Could not. “I chose you because I didn’t want to leave you.”

Her breath wavered.

He cursed under his breath. She was still naked in his arms. Vulnerable. Powerful.