needing to bend his head to avoid cracking his six foot plus height on a beam. ‘May I sit down?’
‘If you can find something to sit on,’ she said, deliberately unwelcoming. To her complete consternation he sat on the campaign chest. He appeared to be holding himself stiffly. She wondered if he were uncomfortable. Then she saw the flash of his eyes in the lamplight and had the impression of something held tightly leashed, something dangerously hot.
‘I imagine you know why I have come,’ he said in a quiet voice strangely at odds with the burning look in his eyes.
Burning? She gave herself a mental shake. She must be imagining things. It was just the reflected lamplight.
‘I came to make quite sure you understood what I offered you this morning. I want more than a casual tumble. I would take you as my mistress, Selina. If you still refuse, then so be it, but I thought you might find my protection more acceptable than Faringdon’s persecution.’
A gentle way with women… ‘Why?’
She thought he blinked. ‘Why? Because I’m asking you, Selina. Not forcing you. If you become my mistress, it must be willingly.’
‘No. I meant, why do you want me as your mistress?’ And why am I even asking?
He definitely blinked. ‘Isn’t that obvious, Selina?’
‘No.’ She couldn’t imagine why he would want her. According to her aunt and cousins she had nothing to recommend her. Oh, she knew why Godfrey wanted her. Because she was defenceless and he was a swaggering bully, not far removed from the loutish schoolboy who had once drowned a kitten in front of his terrified little cousin, merely because he knew she was fond of it.
But Max—Lord Blakehurst—was not of that ilk. She had not the least idea why a man with a reputation for taking beautiful women as his mistresses would want her.
‘Because I desire you of course.’ The sudden huskiness in his voice shocked her. ‘Because I want to take you in my arms and kiss you and every one of those damn freckles. Because I want to see your eyes go black with desire when I make love to you. Because I want to hear you beg me to take you. And I want to hear you cry out in pleasure when I do.’
As if he couldn’t help himself, he reached for her and she jerked back against the wall. Instantly his arms fell to his sides. She heard the rasp of his breath, saw the sudden flattening of his mouth.
‘I’m s-sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t mean to make you angry. You startled me.’
Silence hung darkly between them.
‘I’m not angry,’ he said at last. ‘Well, yes, I am. But with myself for frightening you. The truth is, Selina, that I want you. I wanted you the minute I laid eyes on you. Or, to be accurate, the minute I felt you in my arms.
‘Think about it,’ he went on. ‘Even if you are not dismissed, there is still Faringdon. He may leave you alone while I am here, but what do you think will happen when I leave? At least if you come with me you will be treated well, you will have clothes, jewels and money. A house to live in. After we part you will have a generous sum of money settled on you.’
Any single element of what he offered would be a great deal more than she had now. It would have been tempting…if she had wanted any of it. It was what he didn’t mention that tempted her—that briefly there would be someone who cared a little. Someone who would treat her tenderly. Someone she could care for. After we part… Inevitably there would be a parting. Even now her heart ached in the expectation of pain. Would it be worse to have the joy and lose it, or never have it at all?
He said he wanted to make love to her. Godfrey had told her what he wanted of her in explicitly crude detail that left her shuddering. The word love hadn’t entered into it. Max’s hot words left a burning ache in her breasts, a shimmering glow throughout her entire body that she knew would burst into flame if he so much as touched her. That was why she had jerked back. Max held a far more dangerous power over her than Godfrey Faringdon because she wanted him, despite her mind screaming that she was insane even considering such a step, that she would be ruined, lost forever, should she take it.
It was far too dangerous to accept. If he ever found out who she was… She did not think she could bear the disgust and horror in his eyes. For the drudge, Selina, to accept his offer was unexceptionable. For Miss Verity Scott to become his mistress… She could protect herself against the Faringdons’ scorn. She didn’t love them, never had, but Max…he would hate her if he ever discovered the truth.
‘Selina?’ The very softness of his voice caressed her. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. But believe me, what we could have together would be very different from what Faringdon has forced on you.’
She believed him, and did not bother to correct his assumption that Godfrey had already stripped her of her innocence. In a way he had. As had all the Faringdons. She had very few illusions left as to how the world viewed a girl in her situation. A drudge. A source of unpaid labour and a convenient victim for bullying. He had offered her escape. Not love.
She had to refuse him. But her whole being cried out in protest at being denied the tenderness he offered. Surely she could have just one last, tiny taste of heaven, one small joy to cherish in the years ahead?
‘I must refuse you, my lord,’ she said quietly, praying that the lump in her throat wouldn’t choke her.
‘Must you?’
She could only nod.
‘Very well.’
He rose from the chest and picked up his lantern and she realised that he was leaving. That if she didn’t speak now he would be gone. With all her dreams.
‘But, if you do not mind, my lord…I…I should like to kiss you again.’
He turned very slowly. ‘Why? If you do not wish—’
She interrupted. ‘I cannot be your mistress, my lord, but it is not because you frightened me, or that I do not trust you.’
His mouth twisted ruefully. ‘If you will offer to kiss me after what I said to you earlier, then your trust is self-evident. Are you sure, Selina? Be warned: I have every intention of using this kiss to change your mind. It will start with a kiss, but if you want it to stop there, you are the one who will have to say so.’
She swallowed. He had warned her, that was fair. The risk was hers, to take or reject. She took it. Trembling, she held out her hand.
His smile deepened and he came to her.
This time he sat beside her, his weight tipping her towards him, and she realised just how much bigger he was. In the enveloping shadows his large frame loomed over her, the faint scent of cologne teased her senses, wafting over her. She felt his hands on her shoulders, urging her towards him, drawing her with shattering care into his embrace.
Her breathing hitched, drawing the scent, the essence of him, deeper. His large, warm hand slid under her chin, tipping her face up. Delicately he touched her, tracing her cheekbones, her nose, the line of her brows. And where his fingers caressed, his lips followed, tasting, teasing until her breath shivered and broke in pleasure.
Those tantalising fingers found her jaw, stroked and circled while his thumb brushed her mouth, following
