Princess Charming (Legendary Lovers 1)

Maura glanced regretfully out the window again, where the rain was still pouring down. “I suppose you are right.”

Ash was not as sanguine about sleeping with her as he pretended, however. After tasting Maura’s sweetness just now, he wasn’t certain he could endure the torture all night long, certainly not in the nude.

“Did you bring a nightgown with you?” he asked.

“No. There wasn’t room in my saddlebags, and it would have seemed odd for a peddler lad to be in possession of a nightdress. Why?”

“Because you’ll need to put on some clothes when we turn in. I don’t dare spend the night in bed with you with no barriers between us.”

At her questioning glance, he expounded. “I might act on my lust in my sleep. I don’t trust myself not to ravish you.”

Her smile held a warm glint of humor. “I am not certain I trust you either.”

That enchanting, provocative smile of hers made fresh desire flare inside Ash.

Forcibly holding his hunger in check, he let his head fall back on the pillow. He lay there savoring the feel of her, remembering his body’s response when he’d undressed her for the first time. He had made love to innumerable lovely women before Maura, but none of them had ever aroused him so strongly or kindled this sharp swell of possessiveness inside him.

Like Maura, he hadn’t expected the intensity, either. It astounded him, the power of his desire for her.

Which only heightened his dilemma.

Bringing her to pleasure had given him a primal satisfaction, as did knowing he was her first lover. Yet he wanted more.

Even now he had to fight the savage urge to drag Maura beneath him and make her fully his. His efficient, dispassionate climax had eased his physical pain for the moment, but he wouldn’t be sated till he rested deep and tight inside her.

Yet honorably, to have that right, he would have to wed her.

Ash was understandably leery of taking such a drastic step after so fleeting a courtship, even if there was no denying that Maura had gotten into his blood. He doubted she would accept a proposal of marriage from him, in any case.

Which meant that he would have to resort to coercion to implement his plan. Thus, he was very glad for the storm and even for her stallion’s temporary lameness, since he needed a powerful excuse to keep Maura at the inn with him until his letter to Bow Street bore fruit.

In the meantime, Ash knew, he would have to keep a strict rein on his desire and refrain from claiming her warm, delectable body for his own.

Maura’s enchantment lasted through the night as she slept in the bed, wrapped in Ash’s arms. Her frustration, however, returned by morning. A chill drizzling rain was still coming down, making the conditions for travel unpleasant if not actually precarious.

After a breakfast of poached eggs and cold beef, Ash visited the stables and reported back that the stallion’s shoe had been replaced, but he was still favoring his left fore despite a poultice. Ash also unearthed a two-day-old newspaper and brought Maura a novel that a passing traveler had left behind. Yet she kept vigil at the window, fretting over the dreary weather and watching the occasional activity in the inn yard below.

It was clear that Ash felt none of her urgency.

“Stop pacing, Maura,” he exhorted for the second time that morning. “You are wearing a groove in the floorboards.”

“I am worried that Deering’s minions are on my trail. He doubtless has them searching for me.”

“His minions will be looking for a lone Miss Collyer, not the wife of a nobleman.”

At least they looked more the part of husband and wife this morning, since Ash had retrieved her traveling dress from her saddlebags and had donned his own dry, superbly tailored garments.

Maura did cease her pacing, but when she wouldn’t leave her window post, Ash returned to his familiar refrain. “You know, love, it is still not too late to call off this misadventure.”

“I am not letting my horse fall into Deering’s clutches ever again.”

“Nor will I. In fact, I have a viable solution to your dilemma. I can stable Emperor at my country estate. Neither Deering nor his minions would be able to touch him there. And you and I could return to London with no one the wiser to your theft.”

Maura’s brow furrowed as

she considered his generous offer, but then she shook her head. “I could never be certain Emperor would be safe at Beauvoir, so close to Deering. Scotland is a much better hiding place. Besides, as I’ve told you before, I don’t want to drag you into my battles.”

“You have not dragged me. I flung myself in willingly.”