To Desire a Wicked Duke (Courtship Wars)

As she lit her bedside lamp with shaking hands, Tess noticed an odor that didn’t belong: the smell of an unwashed body. Even if Rotham had entered her room and left again, his clean masculine scent would not have disturbed her.

Someone or something had been in her room, she was certain of it—a realization that actually did frighten her for real.

Knowing she would get no sleep if she remained there, Tess climbed out of bed. Taking up her lamp, she hurried down the corridor to Rotham’s wing of the castle, telling herself she would only take refuge there until morning.

Her soft rap on his door was initially met by silence, then by his sleep-roughened voice bidding entrance.

Hastily, Tess slipped inside his room. Closing the door to shut out the threat behind her, she exhaled an uneven breath at finding Rotham sitting up in bed. Just seeing him already made her feel safer. Even though he was bare-chested, the covers thankfully concealed his lower body. His gold-streaked brown hair was tousled from sleep, convincing her that he hadn’t been the one to pay her an eerie late-night visit.

“What is it, Tess?” he demanded, his tone now alert, but strangely wary.

“I … I am sorry to disturb you,” she stammered, “but I think there was an intruder in my room. Something touched my face when I was sleeping, and I don’t believe I was merely dreaming.”

There was a long pause while Rotham observed her standing there in her nightdress, barefooted, her hair spilling down around her shoulders.

“I am afraid to return, Rotham,” Tess insisted when he was silent.

“I cannot imagine you being afraid of anything,” was his noncommittal reply.

She swallowed. “It is one thing to disbelieve in ghosts. It is another to deny a real, physical manifestation. I am not returning to my room tonight. Fanny is in Basil’s room, though, so I cannot stay with her. I will be more courageous in the morning, but until daylight, I want to stay here with you.”

He looked at her for another long moment. “You are not using the ghost as an excuse to torment me?”

“What?” Her brow furrowed. No, she was not pretending to be frightened for her own purposes, as Fanny had done. “No, of course not. Why would you think that?”

“If you remain here, I cannot vouch for my control. I cannot spend another chaste night with you in my bed. I don’t have the willpower.”

It surprised Tess that he would admit to having any vulnerability to her, particularly that she could make him lose control.

She slowly crossed the room to his bedside. “I want to stay, Rotham,” she repeated.

“Do you know what you are asking?”

Understanding his question, she hesitated. If she remained, the long-delayed consummation of their marriage would take place.

Was that what she wanted? Tess wondered, her gaze roaming over him. The lamp glow played over his bare torso, over sleek skin rippling with muscle.

Tess shivered, yet her reaction had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with her unwilling desire for Rotham. She craved his warmth, his sheltering arms. She wanted him to protect and hold her and keep her safe from harm.

But she also wanted so much more.

The dryness in her throat made her reply a rasp. “Yes … I know what I am asking.”

His gray eyes sparked with unmistakable fire as he drew the covers down beside him, while his voice grew husky.

“Then stay.”

Incredible is the only way to describe it.

—Diary Entry of Miss Tess Blanchard

Tess hesitated for another long heartbeat, yet she could not possibly have turned away. Rotham’s powerful, hypnotic aura held her spellbound—that same captivating allure that had made her heart flip over when she’d first set eyes on him at nineteen.

His eyes just now were heavy-lidded and unexpectedly soft as he regarded her, waiting silently for her final decision. Yet she knew this moment was inevitable. They had danced around each other for days now, ever since their first, ill-advised, explosive embrace had resulted in forced matrimony. But it was time to end the battles between them … at least momentarily.

Releasing the breath she was holding, Tess carefully set her lamp down on the bedside table. When she started to extinguish the flame, however, Rotham stopped her with a gentle order.

“No, leave on the light.”