Sissy did her best to cover her modesty even though she knew it was already too late. He had seen everything God had given her. She gasped when Morgan eased the towel out of her hands and dropped it onto the floor before nudging her back under the covers. To her surprise, he joined her in the bed, and settled the sheets and blankets over them both.
‘Morgan.’ Sissy was nervous but knew that she could trust him. If she was honest with herself, she wanted this. She wanted to be this close to him, to see what came next. Whatever it meant for her future she couldn’t deny herself this moment to be with him. She wanted to be with him on every level.
‘I want it known, Sissy, that we can never go back from this,’ Morgan warned. ‘I am not going to allow either one of us to hide from what we have.’
‘I don’t,’ she protested.
‘Yes, you do. I have, which is why it has taken me so long to do something about the way I feel about you. I have felt this way for a very long time now. So long, in fact, that it is a part of who I am. I have tried to forget you and pretend that what I feel is nothing more than infatuation, or a passing fancy, but I have been lying to myself. The truth is that I have adored you since I was fifteen years old. I wanted you to attend the ball because I wanted you beside me but you didn’t turn up. It was then I realised that I had to at least try to do something about the way I felt about you. I need to know that you feel the same way, or think you can in the future, before we go any further.’ Morgan waited.
Sissy’s chin quivered but she refused to allow her tears to fall. There really was nothing to cry about. Morgan had just brought every dream she had ever had to life. She was happy, even though she struggled to see him through the thin veil of moisture in her eyes.
‘I have always loved you,’ she admitted boldly. ‘Even though I knew that a man like you could never feel the same way about me.’
‘A man like me?’
‘You are confident, bold, strong. You know your place in the world and can deal with anything life throws at you. People admire you,’ she whispered, her voice trembling with emotion as she gazed lovingly into his eyes. ‘I adore you.’
Morgan smiled tenderly at her. He knew that she didn’t realise it but she had just handed him everything in life he truly wanted. He therefore didn’t hesitate to lean over her until she was lying beneath him. She didn’t object when he kissed her or blew the candle out.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked when they were engulfed in darkness.
‘Showing you what happens next,’ Morgan murmured hoarsely and proceeded to do just that.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The following morning, Morgan opened his eyes and blinked sleepily at the room he was in. He was immediately swamped with memories of what had happened last night. His gaze flew to the woman still asleep beside him. Sissy.
Slowly easing onto his side, he tugged the covers down until he could see all of her face. He was still stunned at everything they had shared, everything that she had allowed to happen, but he didn’t regret it. In fact, he wished now that he had taken matters into his own hands sooner. To learn that she had loved him all along just reminded him of the time they had already wasted; time when they could have, should have, been together.
Determined not to waste a single moment of the future they had nows, Morgan eased from the bed. Without bothering to pick up a towel, or cover his nudity, he marched across the hallway to his own bed chamber. Moments later, he retraced his steps. Sissy was still asleep when he eased back beneath the covers. Morgan dropped what he had fetched onto the small table beside the bed and set about waking her up.
Sissy moaned when she felt the soft press of Morgan’s lips against her shoulder. She shifted a little closer and kissed him back.
‘Now, neither of us are in any position for any of that,’ he chided teasingly.
Sissy blinked up at him, a little disappointed but relieved at the same time. She smiled at the tenderness she found smiling down at her.
‘Good morning,’ she murmured lovingly, suddenly delighted with her day.
‘Good morning,’ he replied before giving in to the need to kiss her.
When he lifted his head, he decided to broach the subject he most wanted to discuss with her, preferably before the staff began to make their presence known by arriving to light the fire. ‘About last night.’
Sissy watched wariness enter his eyes and went still. She tried not to allow her concern to grow but it was difficult given something bothered him.
‘What?’ Her heart hammered while she waited.
‘I said that we cannot ever go back to the kind of acquaintance we had before we made love and I meant it.’
‘I know.’
‘Moreover, I refuse to have you as my mistress,’ Morgan continued.
‘I wouldn’t ever be your mistress,’ she announced firmly.
‘But you slept with me,’ he told her, as if she didn’t already know.
Sissy began to feel nervous. She knew where he was taking this conversation, she just didn’t think it would be this soon.