"Miles was here today," she confessed.

"I know. My men saw him slinking in."

"He left for London right away. He's devising a scheme that he hopes will send you away."

Damian scoffed. "Don't worry about Miles. He doesn't have the courage or intellect to injure me in any fashion."

"I'd hate to have anything bad happen to you."

"It won't," he insisted.

He was weary of her chatter and desperate to be closer to her than he'd been so far. He had to push their relationship to a new level, had to show her they could have a liaison that would prove fulfilling to them both.

He rolled her onto her back, his body pressing hers into the mattress. She was determined to depart in the morning so he had to keep her with him in the only way he could.

A single female couldn't blithely consort with a male; there were too many consequences. So he would rush the issue of fornication, then she would have to rely on him-whether she liked it or not.

He dipped down and sucked a pert nipple into his mouth. The fabric on her faded nightgown was so thin it seemed as if she was wearing nothing at all. She moaned and arched up, offering him greater access. He shifted to the other nipple, and he went back and forth, back and forth, tormenting one, then the other.

Down below, he was raising the hem of her nightgown, working it past her knees, her thighs. Finally he was able to slide his fingers between her legs and into her sheath. With barely a flick of his thumb, she soared to the heavens.

As her pleasure crested, as she tumbled down, she was laughing, sputtering with surprise.

"How do you do that to me?" she asked when she could speak again.

"You're simply a very sexual creature."

"Am I? Can a woman be such a thing?"

"Absolutely. Sometimes it takes a man to reveal a woman's true nature."

"And mine is...sexual?" She paused, then groaned. "Ah! Listen to me, voicing the word sexual. Clearly I'm marching down the road to a very hot place."

"If you're going to Hell, I'll be there too so you'll have a friend to greet you when you arrive."

"Are you my friend?"

"I might be."

"Then I'll be in competent hands once I'm there."

"Yes, you'll always be safe with me."

He started in yet again, kissing her and kissing her, using it to distract her from the fact that he was continuing to remove her nightgown. He tugged it above her waist, and she put up a bit of a struggle, but he won it. A quick yank had the garment up and over her head.

Frantically she grabbed for a blanket, but he wouldn't allow her to have it so she tried to cross her arms over her bosom, but he wouldn't allow that either.

"Let me cover myself," she said. "Please?"

"No. I like you like this."

"It's too much, too soon."

"In my book, it's not nearly enough."

"You constantly spur me to behaviors I never imagined or intended."

"I'm glad. You're looser than you realize, but for what I have in mind that's perfectly fine."

"I don't want to be loose."

"Every woman should be once in a while. Life is too boring otherwise."

He drew away, sat on his haunches, and pulled off his shirt. He didn't usually take it off. He wasn't embarrassed by his scars, but when people saw them, they gawked and asked questions he didn't like to answer.

But the room was dark, and she'd already observed them. He clasped her hands and rested her palms on his chest.

"Touch me all over," he told her.

"Can I?"

"Yes, I like it."

He lay down again so they were breast to breast, her nipples poking into him like shards of glass.

"My goodness," she murmured as they connected skin to skin.

"It gets better and better, Georgina."

"I had no idea. What now though? You've removed my nightgown. You've removed your shirt. I'm so uncomfortable."

"Don't be."

"I'm afraid of what will happen."

"You're with me and you're afraid? Don't be ridiculous."

He didn't want her focusing too much on where they were, didn't want her second guessing or attempting to stop him. He'd never force her, but if she refused to proceed, he'd pester her until she relented. Wasn't it best to accomplish it immediately?

He captured her lips in another torrid kiss, and with her naked he was growing unruly. She needed him to slow down and give her time to acclimate, but he couldn't temper the pace. He was too anxious to arrive at the end. She was so wet, so relaxed, and he stroked his fingers in and out of her sheath, escorting her up the ladder of pleasure again.

He unbuttoned his trousers and opened the flap. All the while, he kept her busy so she didn't notice how he spread her thighs and his torso dropped between them. His cock was a disobedient rod, and he guided it to the precise spot where it was begging to be.

Suddenly she froze.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm about to make love to you as a husband does his wife."

"Would I...I...still be a..."

She couldn't finish her sentence so he finished it for her. "You won't be a virgin after we're through."

"How would it occur?"

He pushed with his hips, wedging in a tad farther. "I'll join myself to you."

"I don't understand what that means."

"I'll show you, remember? It's easy, and I swear you'll like it."

"I can't, Damian."

"Yes, you can."

"I've led you on like the most impertinent coquette." She waved down her nude body. "Look at me, loafing in this bed without my clothes. Of course you think the worst of me, but I can't be the person you need me to be."

"You haven't led me anywhere. I'm here because I choose to be, and it will be over in a trice."

"No, no." She shook her head. "I asked if you'd promise yourself to me, and you wouldn't."

"We don't have to be married, Georgina. It's merely physical conduct."

"I realize we don't have to be married, but I want to be married. I want to proceed with my husband, not with some...some stranger who doesn't care about me."

He hated to have her claim he was a stranger. In the past few days, she'd learned more about him than anyone he'd met in years. Anne and Kit were the only two people who knew some of what Georgina knew. Couldn't she sense it? Didn't she recognize how close he'd permitted her to be?

"Let me, Georgina."

"I told you my price, but you're not willing to pay it."

His heart was pounding, and he felt bereft, as if he'd lost a precious treasure. A wicked demon was shouting in his mind. Just agree, you oaf! Tell her what she's dying to hear!

He was a cad and a bounder, a dangerous criminal and a liar to boot. Hadn't he warned her he was a liar? Hadn't he warned her that he never kept his promises? If she didn't believe him, whose fault was that?

"You win," he said. "I promise myself to you."

"You promise. Will we wed or what?"

"Yes, we'll wed."

"When?"

"On Sunday morning, we'll have the preacher call the banns at the church in the village."

"The wedding will be in a month?"

"Yes, in a month."

He expected to be long gone by then, with the manor put to the torch and the farm rented out to neighbors.

"You'll stay with me at Kirkwood? You'll be my husband in truth."

"Yes." Falsehoods rolled so easily from his tongue.

"I plan to make a home for you here. You'll be so happy."

Oh, Georgina! You foolish girl!

He should have scolded her for being so gullible. Hadn't she been taught that a libertine would utter any vow to obtain what he desired from a female?

"Whatever you wish, Georgina. It will be how you yearn for it to be."

"What about my aunt and my cousin, Sophia? What about Miles?"

"I can't talk about them now."

"But I have to know if-"

He placed a finger on her lips, silencing her. "Hush. We'll discuss them in the morning."

"Swear it," she insisted.

"I swear."

That was all he could manage. He couldn't delay another second, and he began caressing her breasts, playing with her nipples. She jumped into the fray, convinced he'd meant every word. For the briefest instant, his dormant conscience flared and disgust rippled through him.

Since he deemed her to be so extraordinary, why would he hurt her? Why would he lie?

Marriage was important to her. Kirkwood was important. Her relatives were important, but none of those things were important to him. He didn't care about any of it, and he truly believed he was binding himself to her in the best way he could.

She had her mother's wanderlust so he'd take her with him when he departed. He'd convey her to any spot on the globe where she chose to live. He'd buy her a new life, and she'd leave with him because she would have no other option but to leave.

He touched her between her legs and swiftly goaded her to paradise. As she groaned and soared with ecstasy, he gripped her hips and impaled himself. It was a smooth thrust, a quick thrust, and she didn't even tense or cry out.

She gasped with astonishment though. "Oh my, what happened?"

"I've joined my body to yours. Remember? I told you about it."

"It feels...strange."

"Try to relax."

"Aren't we finished?"

"There's more to it. It can end in pleasure for me-as it ends for you."

"I didn't realize it."