His breath jagged, his legs weak, Dare sank farther down into the water and leaned back against the pool's edge. An exquisite peace came over him as the heated waves lapped gently around their joined bodies.
"Are you falling asleep?" he heard Julienne whisper hoarsely after a moment.
"Mmmm. I was having dreams. Erotic dreams."
"Of me?"
"Who else?"
She stirred her hips in provocative answer. "What if I am not yet satisfied?"
"I fear you will have to wait, love. I couldn't possibly move. You've depleted all my reserves of strength."
Julienne raked her teeth over his skin again. "You cannot be exhausted just yet. We have one more night together."
Her teasing remark made Dare's exhaustion suddenly fade. He drew back to regard her solemnly. "We can have more than just a single night together."
"I have to return to London by Saturday if I hope to have a career. But I admit," she added softly, echoing his thoughts as she laid her head on his shoulder again, "I almost don't want this to end."
He reached up to fondle a sweetly-rounded breast. "It doesn't have to end, Julienne. You can remain here with me."
"If I did, I would no longer be employed."
"Your employment would be to provide me companionship."
She smiled wryly against his shoulder. "Become your mistress, you mean. But then you would win the wager."
"So?"
Her laughter was muted, shielding the wistful train of her thoughts.
After this magical time with Dare, it would be incredibly difficult to return to her daily life, she knew. During the past few days, as pleasure played upon pleasure, she had found herself pretending that nothing had ever come between them. Worse, she'd found herself thinking of what might have been, dreaming of what the future could hold.
For so long she had refused to dream. But locked in Dare's arms like this, their heartbeats mingling, she could let her imagination wander freely. She could picture herself staying with him, sharing this sweet ecstasy, lovers forever.
For a moment, Julienne closed her eyes, letting that vision fill the emptiness within her. Dare was the only man she had ever wanted, ever loved. The only man to bring her happiness. She had loved him so deeply…
But that happiness had been shattered long ago. And this magical interlude had to end.
It was foolish to think it could go on. Foolish to hope for anything more. They had even less of a future together now than they'd had seven years ago. The obstacles for an exalted nobleman and a simple shopkeeper were now magnified a dozen times over. Dare could never take her for his wife. She was a notorious actress, no longer the virginal innocent she'd been when she first met him. And after all that had happened between them, the bitterness and pain…
Dare wanted her for his mistress, she had no doubt, but she would never agree to that role. It would give him too much power over her. Financially and, even more damning, emotionally. In such a dependent relationship, she would be too defenseless; it would be too easy to let herself fall in love with him again.
Julienne silently shook her head. She understood clearly the lunacy of handing her heart to a gazetted rake who was relentlessly set on breaking it.
Even so, she thought wistfully as her lips nuzzled Dare's sleek, wet skin, she still wanted to dream.
Chapter Thirteen
Returning to London proved to be a dose of cold reality for Julienne. Indeed, if not for her career, she might have remained away a good deal longer. She worried that in his determination to continue the search for Caliban, Dare would make himself a target and put himself in grave danger.
Moreover, it required all of her acting skills to resume her public game of seduction with him and pretend to be unaffected by the passionate interlude they had shared.
The current gossip about them in the scandal sheets was even more pronounced. Their disappearance from Newmarket had been particularly noted, since one of Dare's colts had won the 2000 Guineas race and he was nowhere to be found. The speculation that he had gone into seclusion with London's brightest Jewel was the talk of the town.
Julienne refused to confirm or deny the reports with her sulking admirers, but she was required to satisfy Solange's curiosity when her friend called at her lodgings immediately after her return.
"And so?" the Frenchwoman demanded, settling herself in a chair in the cheerless parlor. "Was the Prince of Pleasure as marvelously wicked as legend holds?"