Josie Dennis by Wicked Persuasion

Author:Wicked Persuasion
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance
Published: 2012-05-20T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

“I’m thinking of begging off on this trip,” Patrick said.

“Why the devil would you do that?” Jon asked.

Patrick shook his head, settling into the chair nearest the hearth. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“What, share a woman with me? You’ve had no qualms about that in the past.”

Patrick fixed a glare on him. “True, but this is about the particular woman in question.”

Jon recalled everything they’d done to Anne during their short time on the darkened terrace, reliving for a moment how she’d responded to their not-so-innocent caresses. She’d been hurt by Patrick’s words. Hell, he’d been stung to learn that she believed they both thought to use her. His poet’s heart beat faster whenever she was near. To touch her was to take flight. As they’d both kissed and caressed her he’d been flooded with the desire to hold her forever.

“I find I want none other than this particular woman,” he told Patrick. “Tell me you feel differently, for if you do I’ll declare you a liar for the first time in our long acquaintance.”

“I want her, Jon. How could I not?”

Unease flitted through him, a worry that he would lose what he’d only just found. “Tell me you do not want to share her, then.”

“It’s clear she wants you,” Patrick said easily. “I wouldn’t keep her from you if I could. You have nothing to fear on that count.”

Jon felt suffused with joy at his friend’s words. “That is a relief, I admit. Then what is the problem?”

“If we take her, if we indulge in Lyme, how will that ever be the end of it?”

“The end of it?” Jon blew out a breath. “It’s the bloody beginning, Patrick.”

Patrick stared at him for a long moment. “You care for her.”

Jon sank down in his chair. “I believe I could do more than care for her. She is beyond beautiful to me, yes. But I find myself consumed with thoughts of her and in more places than bed.”

“You’ve known her for such a short time!”

Jon fixed a gaze on Patrick’s troubled expression. “And precisely how long did it take for you to fall in love with her five years ago?”

Patrick shook his head with a frown then let out a string of curses. “All right, I concede to you on that point. But I don’t know if I can risk that love again.”

“Then you are a bloody fool.”

“What? Why?”

“If any man were to ever call you a coward I would run them through. Yet you sit here, quaking in your boots at the thought of loving the sweetest creature on earth. A veritable angel come down from heaven to lift us to salvation.”

“There you go, with your poetic phrases again.”

Jon waved a hand. “Deny it. She is grace personified, Patrick. Did you not see how she comports herself in the face of such blatant disregard by not only her family but by all in Dorset?”

“They are fools, all of them.”

Jon waited for him to say more, but nothing more came from him.

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