"Yes. Oh, yes."

"Then it's not teasing."

"But I want-"

He grabbed a pillow from the head of the bed. "However, if you insist," he murmured. "Lift up."

She rose to her hands and knees, and he slid the pillow beneath her hips. Her bottom tilted into the air as she sank back down again at the pressure from his hand. Hard and throbbing, he moved over her, placing his hands on either side of her shoulders, nudging her legs farther apart with his knee.

"Tell me that you want me," he said, unable to keep the words from ending in a growl.

"I want you," she gasped.

"Describe it," he ordered, trying to slow his breathing and the hard pounding of his heart.

"I want you inside me," Josefina said, arching her bottom against his aching, sensitive c.o.c.k.

Adjusting himself, he pushed slowly forward, burying himself in her from behind. Tight, and hot, and exquisitely his. No other man had ever had her, and he vowed at that moment that no other man ever would. "Like this?" he managed.

"Oh, yes," she groaned as he began slowly pumping his hips. "Yes."

Only now could he ask himself what the devil he was doing in this woman's house and in her bed, because now he didn't care what the answer might be. All that mattered at that moment was the sound of her rhythmic, barely stifled moans, and the indescribable feeling of their joined flesh. If the rest of their lives outside this room could promise half as much, he would never be able to part from her.

He didn't want to, as it was. Sebastian kissed her shoulders, felt her shake and quiver and come. Slowing his pace, he drew it out for her as long as he could, until she gave a m.u.f.fled cry into her bed sheets. "Want to try something else now?" he whispered into her ear.

She nodded, her fingers still clutched into the sheets. Pulling away, breathing hard, Sebastian turned onto his back and drew her over his chest. Josefina kissed him hungrily as he pulled her left leg across him so she straddled his hips. Immediately understanding, she sank down onto his length, her satisfied groan nearly sending him past his slipping control.

With his hand on her hips, he showed her how to move. A moan broke from his own lips as she caught on and began lifting up and down on him. "You're a quick study," he said, cupping her b.r.e.a.s.t.s in his hands.

Josefina leaned forward and kissed him again. "I want to see you lose yourself like I did," she panted, riding him harder.

"I can't," he grunted, trying to keep his eyes from rolling back in his head. "It could mean even more trouble for you."

"Sebastian, you don't, ah, have to be in control every moment. Oh, my. Sometimes you're not supposed to be."

"With you, you mean? My lack of...control where you're...concerned is what got us into this mess to begin with."

"Good."

He moaned again. "Good?"

"Yes. Good."

He would have questioned her further, but he lost the power of speech. Trying to push her off him, he fought her for another few seconds, then exploded, shuddering.

"d.a.m.nation, Josefina," he growled when he could speak again. "Don't you realize what might have just happened?"

She draped herself across his chest, her black hair curtaining her face from him. "Why, do you think things could get worse?"

He brushed the midnight waves back so he could see her eyes. "Yes, now they can."

Josefina lifted her face, looking at him from inches away. "Now we're as tangled together in here as we are out there." She flipped a finger toward the window and London beyond.

He frowned, more angry that she'd fought him than dismayed at what might have come of her-their-actions. "And you consider that a good thing?"

Her expression sobered. "Just think of it this way. The court won't execute a woman who's bearing a child." Her voice caught.

For the first time he realized how frightened she must be by what he threatened. He'd been so concerned with his own righteous indignation that he hadn't delved into her feelings. "If you'll trust me, I promise you that no harm will come to you."

Josefina held his gaze for a long moment. "You don't know everything I've done. And not just in England."

"When I climbed through your window," he murmured, "I didn't expect to find you lying here wearing a halo and angel's wings, Josefina. My only question is whether you'll make the right decision this time."

"I don't think I have much choice," she finally said.

"Then tell me what you know."

Chapter 18.

J osefina groaned when Conchita flung open the bedchamber curtains. "Close those at once," she demanded, pulling the blanket over her head.

"His Majesty says you must come downstairs. The Duke of Melbourne is here."

But he'd just left. Josefina sat up, her heart hammering madly. "What do you mean, he's here?"

Conchita smiled. "He must be anxious to marry you, Your Highness."

Good heavens. They were engaged. In the deliriousness of last night and earlier this morning, she'd forgotten. If they were married, they could spend every night like that. Goodness.

She scrambled out of bed, grabbing her shift off a chair and pulling it on while Conchita stood up to her elbows in the wardrobe. Considering that she had no explanation for why she'd shed her nightrail and crawled back into bed naked, avoiding the question altogether seemed the wisest course of action.

"What time is it, anyway?" she asked, frowning as Conchita held up an ornate blue gown. "Simpler. This is a morning visit; not a coronation."

"It's half ten," the maid replied. "You must have been done in; I've never known you to sleep so late, Your Highness."

Done in, and awake until nearly five o'clock, when Sebastian had finally climbed back out her window and slipped away. She felt sated, like a cat after a bowl full of cream. "I had a restless night," she offered, going to the dressing table for her hairbrush.

"I think the rey did, as well. The green one?"

"Yes, that's fine." Josefina paused in her brushing, her heart skipping a beat. "What makes you think His Majesty also slept poorly?"

"He had Tomas up and attending him before first light, and then he spent near three hours closeted with Halloway and Orrin." The maid sent her a sly sideways glance. "Considering who's about to join the family, I imagine there's a great deal of preparation to make."

So he'd met with his cohorts about strategy, and she'd slept through it. Under the circ.u.mstances she felt grateful he hadn't tried to wake her up to partic.i.p.ate. She hadn't told Sebastian everything last night, but she'd done enough-enough to enable him to stop her father or to throw the lot of them into prison.

She dressed and finished her toilette as swiftly as she could, then threw open her door and hurried downstairs to the morning room. In the open doorway she paused, relishing in the abrupt delight that coursed through her as she saw the man standing inside.

Sebastian lounged by the fireplace, a cup of tea and saucer in his hands and his gaze on her father seated beneath the window. The duke had worn brown and gray, his cravat starched and white and not a fold out of place. Even if she'd never set eyes on him before she would know that this tall, lean man with the deep gray eyes and that sensuous mouth was someone to be reckoned with.

As though sensing her in the doorway, he turned and faced her. Her heart skipped again, for an entirely different reason this time. He was glorious. And that look in his eyes, the possessiveness and the desire, that was for her.

"Good morning, Your Highness," he said, setting his tea on the mantel and sketching a deep, formal bow. "I hope you slept well."

Josefina held out her hand to him, hoping her father couldn't see her fingers shaking. "Good morning, Melbourne. And yes, I slept quite well, thank you."

He strode forward to take her fingers, bringing them to his lips. At his touch, warm desire flew just under her skin. "Good," he murmured.

"Now that the greetings are finished with," the rey said from his chair, "let's settle matters, shall we?"

Sebastian turned again to face her father. "Before I set pen to paper about anything," he said, his voice cooling, "I have several matters I want clarified."

Her father stood. "Until you put pen to paper and sign your agreement to marry Princess Josefina, lad, I simply don't feel comfortable discussing anything else. A monarch's, and a father's, prerogative, I suppose."

"I go into nothing blind." Before her eyes the gentle, pa.s.sionate Sebastian vanished, replaced in the same instant by the implacable Duke of Melbourne. "That is my prerogative."

"Then I will leave it to you to explain why you proposed to my daughter as a jest. Are you so mighty you think to toy with royalty and escape unscathed?"

For a moment the duke stayed silent. "The advantage I provide to your...mission is my respectability and my status," he said quietly. "Putting me in a position where either is compromised would undo whatever it is you hope to accomplish by adding me to the equation in the first place."

"What I hope to accomplish," her father retorted, his tone less even than the duke's, "is secure loans to aid my country, and settlers to do the same. That is how we arrived in England, and that is how we shall leave." He narrowed his light blue eyes. "Anything that counters my statements is merely jealous rumor and speculation."

"If you expect me to throw my lot in with you, you're going to have to do better than make p.r.o.nouncements."

Her father drew himself up straighter. "You seem to be a.s.suming, Your Grace, that I am perpetrating some sort of fraud. While I admit that our prospectus was partially...borrowed from other sources, that was only done in the interest of saving time better spent setting up a government."

Heavens. He seemed so sure of himself that she could almost believe it. Did he? Had his wish to be someone important become so all-consuming that he now believed his own fantasies? Was he mad?

"I see," Sebastian said slowly. "Perhaps I have sped to conclusions I should not have. You must tell me what I would be signing, though. I don't think that's an unreasonable request."

"All I wish you to put in writing is that you will marry my daughter, making her your wife and d.u.c.h.ess, and that you will contribute to the betterment of Costa Habichuela in your speech and writing, and by pledging us a sum of say, twenty-five thousand pounds annually."

Josefina blinked. "Twenty-five thousand?" she gasped. "Father, that's outrageous! It's far too much."

"I won't debate Josefina's value, but only my willingness to part with sums I could better use to support her. Five thousand a year." Sebastian hadn't blinked.

"Twenty."

"Ten, or I might as well purchase my own country."

The rey's jaw twitched. "Ten, then."

"And your daughter would not become a d.u.c.h.ess," Sebastian went on, his fingers brushing hers as he spoke. "She has a higher t.i.tle, and would retain that."

"The..." For the first time her father hesitated.

Of course he would want his daughter to have a legitimate t.i.tle over a lofty invented one. Sebastian was brilliant-and yet he hadn't wavered about the marriage, itself. Surely he knew he couldn't marry a soldier's daughter who routinely tricked people out of their money, even if the betrothal hadn't been just a ruse invented to save his life.

"I was the only one declared a ruler," the rey said a moment later, pacing to the window and back, knotting his fingers together as she'd seen him do on countless occasions when he was working through some plan or other. "Maria and Josefina's t.i.tles are honorary. She would of course a.s.sume the t.i.tle of d.u.c.h.ess of Melbourne upon her marriage to you."

It sounded like complete nonsense, but Sebastian merely nodded. "Josefina's children, then, would be n.o.ble, and not royal."

"Yes. Correct."

"Who will inherit your kingdom, then?"

She expected that to stump her father, but he smiled. "You will. And then you will be Sebastian Griffin, rey of Costa Habichuela. And still the Duke of Melbourne, naturally."

"Naturally." Sebastian regarded the rey. "I think the chasm of our differences is narrowing."

"I'm gratified to hear that. This is a situation where all of us can do quite well for ourselves if we proceed wisely. Mine is a new monarchy. I won't deny that of course your alliance with Josefina lends more respectability to my cause."

"I don't join enterprises that don't make me money," Sebastian returned in such a matter-of-fact tone that Josefina looked at him. "Particularly when I have concerns over the fate of British citizens. To satisfy me, you will give me both your written a.s.surance that I will be made rey upon your death, and a guarantee that this will be profitable beyond the pittance of loan money designated, I a.s.sume, for you."

"I can't guarantee that," her father retorted.

"I can, if you would allow me to advise your investments."

"Why should I trust you to do that?"

Sebastian smiled, charming and cold at the same time. No wonder most people feared to cross him. "Because I will be a member of your family, Your Majesty. What affects you, affects me, and vice versa."

That hit on her father's main point in encouraging the marriage. Josefina watched him, waiting to see whether he would accept Sebastian's offer, or whether the duke had put too neat a ribbon on the package.

"You have the reputation for being a man of honor and principle, Your Grace," the rey said, taking a seat once more. "Pray excuse me if I find your conversion somewhat...convenient."

The duke snorted. "'Convenient'? It's anything but." He lifted an eyebrow. "It was your initial plan to involve me, was it not? Prinny said you requested that I be the one to a.s.sist you."

"Perhaps."

"Then I suggest you take advantage of my partic.i.p.ation."

Josefina held her breath. Whatever Sebastian was doing, obviously her father needed to cooperate in order for it to succeed. But was she at this moment standing by and letting Melbourne set a trap for her father that could end in his incarceration and death?

The rey held out his hand. "Agreed. With reservations."

Sebastian shook the proffered hand. "I believe I can set your mind at ease."

"What will set my mind at ease is seeing you standing in a church beside my daughter."

"I require one month to make the arrangements," Sebastian said calmly. "A duke and a princess cannot marry without ceremony. We can do without the reading of the banns, but I will have to get dispensation from Canterbury. We will have to hold an engagement ball. And as the wedding will take place at St. Paul's, there are a limited number of dates from which to choose."