Page 83 of Across Time

“I plan to remain every bit as careful as I was earlier.”

Earlier. I think of it, and I want him again—the thick press of him entering me, that dazed, desperate look on his face before he came, the frenzied way he thrusted as he did. My stomach tightens with want, in a way I’m barely familiar with, and my fingers go to his thigh.

“I’m sure earlier was an aberration. It won’t be like that with us most of the time.”

There’s a dangerous light in his eyes, which now linger on my mouth. “An aberration, you say?”

I struggle not to smile. “An aberration. I’m sure it will be calm…subdued, even, from now on.”

In a heartbeat he’s pulled me down beneath him, and his mouth is on mine. He pins my wrists with his hands and sits up just enough that he can see my face. “How calm do I seem to you now, little thief?"

I arch against him. Even through his pants I can feel how hard he is, wedged against my stomach. “Very calm. Nearly asleep.”

He goes to his knees, pulling the sheet back as he tugs down his pants. “Then,” he says softly, “I think it’s time I woke up.”

* * *

It’s early in the morning when I broach the topic of Marie again. “She’ll be here in a few hours,” I sigh. “We probably need some…ground rules.”

He runs a lazy hand over my breast. “We won’t have sex when she’s in the same room. That’s all I’m willing to agree to.”

I laugh, but it fades quickly. “Henri…she’s religious. I can’t imagine she’ll approve of this.”

“What occurs between a man and the woman he’s marrying is not her concern and she knows it,” he says. “She’s probably just relieved we’re both in one piece.”

I swallow. “Marrying?”

He raises a brow. “I said the conversation could wait an hour, not forever.”

“It just seems a little sudden,” I reply, “given that you were telling me I should have stayed in my own time a few hours ago. I must be ridiculously good in bed.”

He laughs. “You are definitely that. And it’s not really sudden for me—I’ve been picturing it for months.”

I lean back against the headboard. “You pictured being married? To me?”

“I’m trying hard not to be insulted by how astonishing you seem to find that.”

My smile fades a little. “I guess I was so certain it wasn’t possible that I never let my head go in that direction.”

His eyes darken. “Because of Mark.”

I keep forgetting that for him, Mark is still an issue, still competition. He doesn’t understand how completely I’ve left the idea behind. “No,” I say with a vehement shake of the head. “Just that it would mean giving up home, and my own time, which seemed impossible. Plus…the coming years are bad. It’s nothing I ever dreamed I’d enter into voluntarily.”

His lips press together. He focuses on the tray, his thoughts unhappy. “I should have the strength to tell you to leave, but I don’t, not yet. But if this war comes like you claim, I want you to go back.”

“Are you insane? You think I’d leave you here during that? It’s going to be years and years.”

“If something happened to you, I’d never be able to live with myself. And you could come back to find me when it’s done…you wouldn’t even need to wait. You could just jump ahead to the war’s end.”

“And I’d never be able to live with myself if something happened to you because I wasn’t here to help. Do you know how many people die during the war? You might not even be alive when I get back."

He hangs his head. "All the better reason for you to stay safe in your own time."

“I’m not going anywhere,” I reply, my jaw set hard.

His nostrils flare. "What about children? You'd want to raise children during a war? When there might be rationing or worse?"

"Children?" I ask, startled. "You're getting way ahead of yourself."