What surprised him, however, was how powerful his response to her had been. He’d never experienced lovemaking quite like that before. Never felt that liquid fire pouring through him.

Lily had felt it, too, he was certain. She had met him fiercely, giving as passionately as she did everything else. Her vibrancy made him feel intensely alive, filling him with exhilaration and something very much like joy…

“Now perhaps you will believe me,” he murmured against the crown of her head, “when I say you are a woman of great passion.”

Sated and boneless, Lily pressed a kiss against his bare shoulder. “I think you give me too much credit. You are devastatingly adept at lovemaking.”

His laughter came quietly against her hair. “You will soon become adept yourself.”

That could very well happen, Lily reflected, if they made love again. And she certainly wanted to. Passion was as thrilling and wonderful as Heath had promised it would be.

Recalling the magic of it, Lily sighed once more. He had appeased the aching need deep within her, shown her pleasure beyond her wildest imaginings. She had felt part of him with their bodies joined, skin against warm skin, flesh against naked flesh, hardness against softness.

And now, when he enfolded her more tightly in his arms and stroked the curve of her hot cheek with a soothing finger, Lily shut her eyes, savoring his tenderness…the intimacy, the bliss of lying here with him like this.

Suddenly she found herself swallowing against the tightness in her throat. That threatening ache had returned, along with an odd, yearning sensation that spread out from the region of her heart.

This would never do, Lily warned herself. She couldn’t allow Heath’s tenderness to overwhelm her emotional defenses. She only wanted his passion, nothing more.

Determined to break the spell he had cast over, Lily pressed her hands against his chest to loosen his embrace.

“So,” she commented casually, drawing back a short way to gaze up at him. “If you approve of my carnal abilities, does this mean you will consider me for the position of your mistress?”

Chapter Fifteen

He refused my offer to become his mistress out of hand.

– Lily to Fanny

Lily felt Heath stiffen at her question. All his languidness had flown, she realized as he fixed her with a measuring stare.

“You cannot possibly think I would set you up as my mistress,” he finally responded.

“Actually, I do think so.”

A scowl wreathing his handsome features, Heath sat up in bed, absently propping the pillows behind his back. “Have you taken complete leave of your senses?”

Lily dimpled up at him. “I believe I am in possession of all my faculties, my lord. At least the ones that still remain after you obliterated them just now.”

“Lily, damn it all…”

“Your swearing at me is becoming rather repetitive.” She pushed herself up to brace her weight on one elbow. “I want to be your chere amie, Heath.”

He shook his head in disbelief, then said very slowly, as if speaking to an extremely dimwitted child, “But I do not want you for my mistress, sweeting. I won’t settle for less than marriage.”

“And I won’t settle for marriage, especially after tonight…now that I know what making love to you is like. It was even better than you claimed it would be. I am certain the role of your mistress will be significantly better than that of your wife.”

“No, it won’t be,” Heath said tersely. “And it is unworthy of you even to suggest it.”

Lily arched her eyebrows. “Unworthy? Why? I think it is the perfect solution to our impasse.”

She rose so that she was kneeling beside him. Immediately his gaze drifted down to her bare breasts, then abruptly lifted again when she continued:

“A mistress has numerous advantages over a wife, Heath. Chiefly the independence to be her own woman without the misery. I will be free to leave an affair if I choose, just as you will. You wo

n’t have to be saddled with me for life.”

“I have told you, I want to be saddled with you.”

Tags: Nicole Jordan Historical
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