‘Likewise,’ I whispered. ‘Likewise, Mr Ambrose, Sir.’
The time for jokes and games was past. Gazing into the shadowy pools of his eyes, I knew that now it was time for just him and me, and what we were about to do. Wordlessly, he gathered me up in his arms, lifted me, and gently laid me in the exact centre of the bed - the same position, I could see in his eyes, that I occupied in his heart. He leaned down. I stretched up, clutching his broad shoulders.
‘I’m going to have to hurt you,’ he whispered.
That was Rikkard Ambrose. Straight to the point. Brutally, beautifully honest.
‘I know.’ I smiled. ‘Don’t worry. You have lots of practice. I’m sure you’ll manage.’
‘Miss Linton, this is no joke! I don’t want to hurt-’
‘I’ll whack you over the head tomorrow if it makes you feel better.’
This time he kissed me to shut me up, and I let him. I let him do much more than that. Strong hands encircled my ankles, parting them as far as they would go. He leaned down until his forehead pressed against mine, and other parts of him pressed against me, too.
‘Ready?’ he demanded.
‘For you?’ My smile widened. ‘Never and always.’
That night, Mr Rikkard Ambrose wasn’t silent. That night, some talented person whose name I won’t mention managed to make him scream.
*~*~**~*~*
When I awoke the next morning and started to blink the sleep out of my eyes, for a moment, I didn’t remember where I was. My bed suddenly felt unusually hard, and during the night, it seemed to have grown two clamps that were tightly wrapped around me. Hard, warm clamps that wrapped around me tightly and felt suspiciously like the bare arms of a-
I jerked upright.
Or at least I tried to. But apparently, Mr Ambrose’s slumbering arms were exactly like the rest of him awake: grabbing anything and giving away nothing for free. His arms tightened around me as if I were the key to the vaults of the Bank of England.
‘Hey! I’m not a big jewel or a bag of money! You can let go.’
He gave a sleepy grunt of protest, and his grip tightened.
Blast! Even asleep that man was stubborn as a slab of rock! Pushing at his iron-hard arms, I tried to slip out of his grasp - but it only tightened farther, nearly squeezing the breath out of me. Wheezing, I used my one free arm to prod his shoulder.
‘Hey! Wake up! You’re strangling me.’
‘I am awake,’ he told me, making me jerk.
‘Good God! Then why are you squeezing me half to death?’
‘Because.’
‘That’s not an answer! Why won’t you let go?’
Pressing close from behind, he placed a searing kiss against my neck that made me shiver.
‘Because this is where you belong. With me. Bound forever.’
I felt heat rising to my ears. Holy Moly! Why, after everything we had done last night, would that make me blush?
Well…
Because what we had done last night had been under cover of darkness. It had been safe - my own little secret, tucked away in the shadows. Now I was wide awake. A new day was dawning. Sunlight was streaming in through the windows and falling on me and Mr Rikkard Ambrose, tangled up together in my own bed, inside his parents’ home.
All right, there probably was reason to blush. But no need to let him see it.
I jabbed him in the ribs.