The Passion (Notorious 2)

Her fingers moved to the sash at her waist. When she hesitated, their gazes fused. Loosening the tie, she let the robe fall from her shoulders.

She heard Nicholas's sharp intake of breath as she stood there naked in the dim glow of lamplight.

"What are you doing, Aurora?" he asked, his voice not entirely steady.

"Letting you win. If I give you my body, then maybe you will leave me alone."

He clenched his jaw, looking like a man in pain. "I didn't come here for this."

"Didn't you? Isn't this what you have wanted for weeks? A momentary pleasure?"

"What I want is you, as my wife." His faint smile never reached his eyes. "If all I wanted was sex, I could find it countless places."

His dark gaze remained solemn as he moved to stand before her. "I want more than lovemaking from you, Aurora. I want you willing, hungry for me. I want you to give me your body because you can't bear not to. Not because you feel you must placate me or bribe me."

Her breath faltered as she stared up at him. "I… don't want you, Nicholas," she lied.

"No?"

Lifting his hand, he touched the column of her throat, then drew his finger slowly downward. Her heart beat wildly as he deliberately brushed a taut, aching nipple.

"You aren't as indifferent as you pretend," he murmured softly.

He turned away then and went to the window. Without another word, he disappeared into the night, leaving her standing there, stunned.

Nicholas had managed to confound her once again.

Trembling, Aurora reached down for her robe and covered her nakedness, then moved over to the bed and weakly sat down. She had lost again.

Nicholas was right. She was not indifferent to him. Not at all. The intense feelings he stirred in her were frightening. The wild restlessness alarming. He had only to touch her to prove his power over her.

Aurora shivered. He had asked if she could ever care for him. She would care too much, that was the trouble.

That reason alone was enough to fear having him for a husband, even aside from the issues of control or the vast differences between them. It would be unforgivably foolish to allow herself to love a man who was at risk of dying any moment.

Her sorrow when she'd thought Nicholas dead had been deep and cutting – and he had been virtually a stranger to her then. How much more devastated would she be once she learned to care for him? Once she learned to crave his touch?

And what if he left her? He hadn't been able to promise her fidelity just now; he hadn't answered her question at all.

Nicholas was a passionate man. It was quite possible he could develop a craving for some other woman, as his father ha

d done. He would leave her to follow his heart – or, if he did honor his marriage vows, he would resent her for shackling him. He would be just like his father, entangled in the same misery.

Aurora winced at the thought. She couldn't do that to Nicholas, or to herself. No, her fear wasn't irrational in the least.

Her gaze fell on the journal, which she had left on the bedside table. Seeing it, Aurora felt her resolve strengthen. Most emphatically, she did not want to endure the Frenchwoman's fate, the kind of heartbreaking pain of losing the man she loved. She always wept over the final pages of the journal, for the tale did not end happily.

Nor had the affair between Raven's mother and Nicholas's father. Aurora could understand now why Elizabeth Kendrick had read the journal till the pages were worn; she had identified so deeply with the star-crossed lovers. Their passion was so powerful, their grief so devastating when they were ripped apart…

Aurora bit her lip hard. She would have to be stronger than either of those two tragic women had been, she vowed. The journal was an unintentional warning about the madness of desire, and she would do well to take heed. She had to zealously guard her heart from Nicholas, or the result would be disastrous.

Chapter Sixteen

I struggled fiercely against the dark turmoil of emotions he unleashed in me, but was I fighting him – or myself ?

Aurora was very much on Nick's mind that evening when, at Lord Clune's invitation, he attended a very private performance of a troupe of opera dancers. Their lovely charms held the all-male audience enthralled, but Nicholas remained uninspired and excused himself early.

He was surprised, however, when Clune followed him outside.