Page 44 of The Earl

He spun her around. Two hands grasped the sides of her face as Conrad’s lips silenced the remainder of her words. He kissed her so deeply, and so thoroughly, that she completely forgot about everything, save the feel of him.

When his hands dropped to her waist, Cait held them there. She wanted to be even closer, to feel the warmth of his skin. When he reached up to cup her breasts, she moaned under his touch, keeping her own hands over his.

Conrad broke off then, looking down at his own hands. When he closed his eyes and moaned, she thought at first it was a sound of pleasure, until he looked at her again. Dropping his hands, he looked at her as if it were the first time he’d seen her that eve.

“What is it?”

When he stepped away, Cait could hardly see him, though she could hear him moving in the dark.

“Conrad?”

No answer. She could see him lower to the ground, to the bedroll she’d laid out earlier.

“Come here,” he said, his voice husky.

She sat next to him, Conrad’s face illuminated just barely from the moonlight seeping in through the tent’s walls.

“Lie with me.”

Confused, Cait pulled off her boots and tossed them aside. She turned to him then, her gaze drawn to the opening in his linen shirt.

“Do not look at me so,” he said, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear.

But Cait could not hide the desire he’d awoken in her. Indeed, she didn’t wish to try.

“Perhaps this will be better.”

Pulling her down next to him, her back to him, Conrad positioned her so that her head was tucked just below his, against his chest.

“I’d have easily taken you, here in a tent, unwed.” One arm wrapped around her shoulders. “I do not think when you’re near. It has always been so. From that very first day.”

The honor she’d always admired in him nearly choked her now, knowing it was responsible for the dousing of the fire he had ignited.

How had she not guessed that straightaway?

“I’d easily have been taken. Here. In a tent. Unwed,” she admitted.

Cait clasped her hand over his.

“’Tis not what you deserve.”

Cait had many thoughts about what she deserved, but none of them were worth mentioning now. She knew he would not wish to hear them.

“Because I am Terric’s sister.”

His silence was her answer.

“Even if we are betrothed?”

“But we are not . . .”

She could feel his breath on her neck.

“I am sorry for lying to the countess.”

“Are you?”

More silence. Then, “No, I am not. The way she looked at you . . . she acted as if your presence was improper.”