But his reaction wasn’t what she wanted. He was treating her like a silly innocent, and Tina was neither. She might be young, but she had grown up a great deal lately, and now that she’d formed her opinion she didn’t believe she would change it.
The heart, once given, would be given forever.
Behind her Richard was still speaking. “My brother was married to a woman who was unfaithful to him.” She heard him crumpling up Lady Isabelle’s sketches, one by one. “He never knew, but others did. They looked upon him like a fool, a dupe. I cannot forgive that. He did not deserve that.”
“I’m sorry.”
Richard threw the crumpled pages into a pile on the floor and wiped his hands on his trousers, as if he felt soiled. Tina realized that it mattered to him, too, that loving someone, marrying someone, was a serious business to Richard Eversham. Not something he would take on lightly.
Remembering his words from last night, she wondered if that was how he felt about her. Did he really want to spend the rest of his life with her? But surely, if he did, he wouldn’t let this promise, whatever it was, get in the way. Men, she thought with a touch of scorn. Why did they have to complicate everything?
“I’ll be leaving in the morning,” she told him, watching him carefully, but he didn’t react. “Charles and I will be going back to Mallory Street . . . or wherever we are to live. I’m sorry I won’t be able to pay you for your lessons, Richard.”
“I didn’t want to be paid; well, only if you succeeded in capturing Gilfoyle. Remember? That was our bargain. And frankly I was hoping you would fail.”
Tina smiled—that was better. “The strange thing is that now I don’t want him, Horace suddenly seems to be finding me fascinating. But I know I would be miserable with him. I’m sorry to disappoint my parents, but actually in an odd sort of way I’m looking forward to being poor.”
He laughed. “Tina, do you have any idea what being poor means?”
She pursed her lips, pretending to be serious. “I will have to dress myself and fetch my own breakfast, I suppose.”
“Minx,” he growled, and came toward her.
Chapter 29
Tina tried to run but he caught her around the waist and swung her into his arms. She gasped, and the next moment they were tangled together on the sofa, lying among the soft, colorful cushions.
“I will dress you and fetch your breakfast,” Richard said, leaning over her, his warm gray eyes smiling into hers.
Tina ran a fingertip over his lips, tracing their shape. He cupped her face, smoothing his thumb against her skin, and then he leaned into her and began to kiss her.
The passion she had felt last night, that she always felt when she was with him, instantly caught fire inside her, brighter than ever. His tongue delved into her mouth, teasing her, while his fingers slipped beneath her bodice and found the hard nub of her nipple.
“I thought that was one of the places I shouldn’t allow a gentleman to touch me,” she managed breathlessly.
“I’m not a gentleman,” he said.
“Oh, I think you are,” Tina whispered. “You are very much a gentleman despite what you want people to believe.”
“Would a gentleman do this?” he retorted, reaching down to draw up her skirts into a bundle so that his hand could find her stockinged calf and caress her knee. Tina thought of the darns in the woolen cloth, wondered whether he would notice, and then didn’t care as his fingers found the bare skin where her stocking ended.
She slid her own hands over his chest and down to his belly, finding the hard shape of him beneath the fine cloth of his trousers. Already, she was familiar with his body, wanting to touch him, explore him. And then his fingers found her moist center and he pressed deeper, and she cried out in pleasure and anticipation.
He lifted his face from the crook of her neck, which he’d been kissing, and met her eyes. His own were glittering with desire, and as her hand closed around him, he groaned deep in his throat.
“I want you,” he said, and she could tell he meant it.
His fingers slid into her heat, confident, sure, giving her pleasure. She moved with him, pretending it was his body inside hers, that they were joined together. But they weren’t, and suddenly it wasn’t enough. With an urgent whimper, she pushed him away and sat up, her hair coming loose about her, her breasts bare through the half-open bodice of her dress.
He rolled onto his back and reached for her again, settling her on top of him so that she was straddling him, her hot nakedness pressing against his hard bulge through his trousers. Despite their not being skin to skin, the pressure was exquisite, and she moved against him, hearing her voice deep in her throat, crying out with the pleasure of it.
He gripped her hips, holding her, urging her on, guiding her, until their passion reached its crescendo and tipped into ecstasy.
The first thing Richard thought, when he could think again, was: I won’t have to break my promise. I didn’t lose control although by God it was a close thing.
His arms were full of woman, soft and glorious, and he could feel himself growing aroused again already at the memory of what they had just done. If he didn’t get up and put some distance between them . . . well, how much longer could he trust himself?
And yet he didn’t