“Please be serious.”
He rose to his knees at the foot of the bed. “Arabella. Sex doesn’t have to be a serious matter. It can be a great deal of fun and delight for both of us. A man doesn’t have to be inside the woman for them both to find fulfillment.”
“Really?”
He caught her ankle and ran his hand up her leg, forcing her to part them involuntarily. He slid between them on his stomach and laid his head on her inner thigh. “Nothing would please me more than to prove it.”
And without another word, Rothwell showed her exactly what he liked best. Again and again through the long hours of the night.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Merrick crept across his bedchamber and stared down at the sleeping woman strewn across his bed. To finally make love to Arabella, to have been her first lover, was a heady, exhilarating experience. One of her long legs was in plain view, not under the bedding, tempting him to return and make love to her all over again.
Yet he could not. Not until he had taken care of a few things first. He and Arabella had to talk about the consequences of last night. Merrick would never abandon her. Not when she made him feel things he’d longed for all his life.
In the early hours of the morning, when Arabella had succumbed to exhaustion, he’d imagined a pleasant fantasy of a life with her as his wife. He would be so good to her. She would never want for anything. The one difficulty that blackened their happiness was her determination to keep her freedom.
He sighed and leaned against the bedpost. He did have to leave today, but he wanted to be certain he could return. He hoped to convince her to visit with Grayling and his wife while he was away dealing with family affairs, and then they could continue what had only just begun between them.
She stirred as he sat on the edge of the bed. It was like watching his sun rise. She stretched beneath the sheet and blinked up at the curtained canopy, a contented smile playing at the corners of her mouth. His heart tumbled over, adding to his certainty that she was the one for him.
“Good morning,” he said gently.
Regardless of his soft tone and their passions of last night, she scrambled for the sheets to cover her body. “Rothwell?”
He perused whatever curves remained in view and then forced the memory of her passionate responses firmly aside. He couldn’t think clearly around her when he was aroused. Last night had been bad enough. She’d almost escaped him because of his befuddlement. But in the morning light, mussed from sleep and his lovemaking, Arabella was near to irresistible. A siren unveiled. He met her gaze and tried his best to keep it there. “I think, perhaps, we are beyond the use of titles. I would be pleased if you would call me Merrick.”
“Merrick,” she said softly, her lips curving into an inviting smile. No blush today, but her skin glowed with health and vitality. The siren had woken and he was powerless.
He leaned in and paused a moment before he brushed a light kiss across her lips. “Did you sleep well?”
When he drew back, Arabella was blushing. “I did, thank you. Could you please tell me the time?”
“Almost nine.”
She sat up suddenly, glancing around the room. “Oh no.”
Merrick sat back with a satisfied smile. The siren was adorable when she was uncertain. “Did you not factor the morning into your plans before you came to seduce me?”
She held the sheet tightly against her breasts, depriving Merrick of the perfect view. “I did not imagine I’d fall asleep. Usually I have trouble sleeping anywhere else but in my own bed.”
He smiled. “It can happen if one is properly sated. I can happily accept that I exhausted you.”
Another blush swept her cheeks and she glanced down. “You did that very well.”
Merrick slipped his finger under her chin and lifted her gaze. “You were untouched before you came to my bed. You should have been honest with me.”
Her eyes widened in panic and he tightened his grip so he was holding her chin firmly. He wanted nothing less than her complete honesty.
She quickly nodded. “I was, and I’d be grateful if you could keep the embarrassing discovery to yourself. I’m in your debt.”
“My debt.” Merrick stood, suddenly irritated by her attitude. The gift she’d granted him was beyond price. “I should be the one to be grateful.”
“I don’t understand. You seduce women every day.”
A bitter laugh slipped past his control. “Not respectable women like you. An honorable man would offer to marry you after such a night and the discovery he’d taken something so precious, but you don’t want that, do you?” He strode to the tall windows and threw the drapes wide, unnerved by how easily his own truths tumbled from his lips when in her company. If this continued, he’d be confessing the secret of his first boyhood fantasy.
The bedsheets rustled. “Last night doesn’t necessarily need to change things between us.”
He glanced over his shoulder and immediately wished he hadn’t. Arabella sat in a puddle of bedsheets, legs crossed and her shoulders bared to his gaze. Long strands of pale hair tumbled over her limbs, tempting him to wrap his hands in the strands and never let go.
“How many times have I wanted you and thought you disinterested? But you were not the woman of experience I imagined you to be. You were as innocent as any new bride come to her husband’s bed,” he said quietly.
A rush of color swept her cheeks at his observation. “Those days are behind me. I was a virgin. But that was yesterday.”
Merrick could understand her willingness to throw propriety aside to experience passion, but what did that mean for him? Did she view him as a passing fancy? He had to know. “And what will you do now that your virginity has been taken? Bat your lashes at gentleman and invite them to your bed while expecting me to ignore your trysts without a word of protest?”
“No.” She fought to free herself from the bed and scrambled into his discarded banyan. “I’ll go on as I always have. I thought we were friends. You’re still friends with your previous lovers, are you not?”
“I am, but everything is different now. There is the slightest chance you could be carrying a child at this very moment. Did you think of that?” He was satisfied when her hand touched her belly. She appeared startled but not unduly alarmed that she could be carrying his babe. “I do not usually make mistakes in such matters, but with you I am utterly reckless. With all the half brothers and sisters I have, I can ill afford to continue that family tradition.” He set his hands to his hips. “What if I cannot forget last night? What if I cannot ignore the fact that I had you in my bed? I want you back there already.”
Her brow creased in a frown. “I…I’m sorry. It was my problem I sought to remedy, and I thought this wouldn’t change anything for you.”
He moved close to her. He needed to be near her again. In his arms would be better. “I cannot forget last night as easily as you will forget me.”
Her eyes widened. “I never said I would forget you. You’ve been so kind to me.”
“I’m not kind, Arabella. I’m in love with you.” At her silence, Merrick spun on his heel and headed for the door. “I’ll see your breakfast is brought to your bedchamber so we might say good-bye in proper surroundings.”
Merrick slammed the door behind him, appalled that he’d blurted out the state of his heart and received nothing in return. Devil take it. Pleasing Arabella last night had not been in his best interests. He couldn’t let her go. The idea was impossible.
He made arrangements for a breakfast tray to be prepared and then sat down on the staircase steps to await its delivery, pondering his next actions. He still had to order his carriage and gain Arabella’s agreement to visit with Grayling for the day before he could attend to family matters and then return to plead his case. In all he had at most an hour without interruption to get her agreement that marriage was the next logical step, or at least as something to consider.