Nothing Denied: A Novel by Jess Michaels

Author:Jess Michaels [Michaels, Jess]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 0061657727
Amazon: B004J8HWLY
Publisher: Avon Red
Published: 2009-01-02T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Gareth watched as Beatrice slowly shimmied her chemise over her head and smoothed the fabric over her skin. Just that simple act aroused him beyond reason, and he had the strong urge to lay her back across the grass and take all the pleasure and warmth he could from her pale flesh.

But he didn’t, because so much had changed in just a few hours. He had felt the shift as they made love, but the new understanding between them had been voiced perfectly when Beatrice admitted she needed his permission to find her orgasm. That was a powerful declaration from this woman who wanted to be in control of everything and would lash out if someone threatened her power.

Deeper than that, even, was the fact that he had spent his seed inside her sheath. He hadn’t planned that moment of abandon, it had simply happened naturally as they reveled in ultimate passion and release.

Still, that one moment’s weakness changed everything. Gareth was many things, but he would not sire a bastard. There was a chance of a baby now, which sealed their future as a married couple even before he had fully tested her ability to surrender to his lifestyle.

She faced him as she gathered up her dress from the grass and Gareth’s pleasant but confusing thoughts faded. He frowned as he saw the faint black stain of a bruise lashed across her arm. And it wasn’t a mark made from his passion. No, the grip of her attacker had done that.

An attacker who had come here because of him.

“My God, Beatrice,” he breathed as he reached out to trace the faint mark.

She glanced at the bruise and a shadow of fear crossed her face even though she said, “’Tis nothing. It will be gone in a few days.”

He shook his head. “I owe you my deepest apologies for what you endured today. I have lived on this estate for many years. I am afraid my comfort with the place led me to be complacent. I never would have let you roam the estate alone if I had believed—”

To his surprise her normally tense face softened. “Of course you wouldn’t. I don’t blame you for what happened today,” she soothed him.

Then she seemed to recognize how much emotion she was sharing, for she turned away abruptly. Without looking at him, she stepped into her gown and quickly fastened the buttons along the front. Keeping her back to him, she began to comb through her long blond hair with her fingers. It was a completely ordinary motion, but he recognized that it was her way of keeping him at arm’s length.

“When you approached the man who confronted me in the woods,” she said softly. “You seemed to recognize each other. Who was he?”

Gareth stiffened and finished buttoning his own shirt before he answered her perfectly legitimate question. He didn’t wish to share the truth, but after what had happened, he owed it to her. If she was being threatened, she deserved to know by whom.

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