Thief of Dreams by Mary Balogh

Author:Mary Balogh [Balogh, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Historical Romance, Action Adventure Mystery & Detective, Romantic Suspense
ISBN: 9781568957173
Google: cxIBAAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0515122742
Goodreads: 110298
Publisher: Jove
Published: 1997-12-31T11:00:00+00:00

He had wanted to keep the tone of today light, flirtatious, companionable. For his own sake he had felt the need of such a day—alone together, reveling in their new intimacy. And for her sake he had wanted a brief interlude of unclouded happiness. Her happiness had become a new responsibility to him, a new burden.

He kissed her, warmly, deeply, though without sexual passion. And she kissed him back openly and eagerly. Perhaps this day could be saved after all, he thought. But really for what? Tomorrow or the next day would inevitably come.

"Nigel." She moved her head back from his though she kept her arms about his neck, a feat she accomplished by standing on her toes. Her face was glowing with eagerness. "You do have a home again. You do have property. You have Kedleston."

He stiffened. Had Will Stubbs—?

"We will live here together," she said. "We will be happy here and bring up our children here. The time will come, you know, when our son—your son—will inherit Kedleston and be Earl of Worthing. In the meantime we will live here as if it belonged to both of us. I will not even think of it as exclusively my own from this moment on. I have worked very hard in the past few weeks learning about the running of the estate. You must help me. Perhaps you do not know much more than I since you were very young—nineteen?—when you left Dunbar Abbey. But you surely know as much as I and probably more. We will work together. There is a great deal to do both in the house and on the farms. It will be ours, Nigel, yours and mine. You have a home again."

He kissed her. It was tempting. Very tempting, if only for today.

He released his hold on her and her arms dropped from about his neck as he stepped away. He went to stand beside one of the lime trees and propped one shoulder against its trunk. He looked across the tops of trees to the valley and the hills opposite. And even now he wondered if he would turn the moment.

"Did I upset you?" Her voice came from just behind him. "Did I seem patronizing? Does it hurt very much that you own nothing while all this is legally mine? I am sorry. I would not have the disparity in our situations come between us, Nigel. Are you also—" She was silent for a few moments. "Are you also impoverished? You do not dress as if you were, and you said you had a fortune, but—my love, we must not allow such matters to come between us. But you are proud, of course. All men are proud. What can I say to—"

He rounded on her, his eyes blazing, and she fell silent. "You can say nothing, madam," he said sharply. "You can stop presuming to know my thoughts and my feelings."

His loss of temper took him by surprise. He had come prepared for this moment.

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