As an Earl Desires by Lorraine Heath Page B

from too
much drink and tobacco.
    He grinned up at her. “You see? It was jolly
good fun.”
    â€œHow can you smile?”
    â€œHow can you not?”
    Then he did the most remarkable thing. He laughed.
Deep and long. She felt the rumble of his chest against hers.
    â€œYou looked incredibly funny,” he
said.
    â€œMe? You should have seen yourself. I thought
your eyes were going to pop right out of your head.” Then in
spite of her best intentions not to do so, she remembered how he
had looked, striving to find his balance. A bubble of laughter
escaped her throat.
    It was met by another bark of laughter from him.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she saw him again, the comical expression
of horror on his face, and the laughter rolled out of her, mingling
with his. She’d never seen anything so humorous in all of her
life.
    Abruptly he went silent. She opened her eyes, saw
the intensity with which he watched her, and her chuckles died away
beneath the onslaught of his raw and exposed desire.
    â€œYou have such a lovely laugh,” he
said.
    â€œDon’t be—”
    â€œNo!” he growled, cradling her face
between his hands. “Don’t go away. The woman you are
now, let her remain.”
    â€œShe is a silly woman; she wouldn’t be
taken seriously.”
    He trailed his finger around her face.
“Everything about you changed in that moment when you
laughed. So young, so carefree. I believe I could love a woman such
as that.”
    â€œShe would break your heart and hers as well.
She cannot give you a son, and you cannot give her a
dukedom.”
    â€œI could give her a kiss.”
    He lifted his head, and even though she knew she
should pull back, she didn’t. She remained as she was,
sprawled over him, closing her eyes as his lips touched hers. So
tenderly, so sweetly. How could he not understand that it was
because she cared for him so much that she couldn’t allow him
past her barricades?
    He drew back from the kiss and held her gaze.
“That wasn’t so bad now was it?”
    She pressed her fingers against his lips.
“You break my heart.”
    She offered him no chance to react, but shoved
herself off him and reassembled her barriers. “How do you
propose we get up?”
    He rolled into a sitting position, his chest
against her back, his breath wafting along the nape of her neck.
“Stay with me a while longer, the woman you are now, until
the end of the path.”
    â€œPromise you won’t kiss me.”
    He pressed his warm mouth against her neck.
“Promise.”
    The movement of his lips over her skin almost had
her turning around and begging him to break that promise. Then he
was gone, and she was aware of the sound of movements as he worked
to get himself to his feet. She glanced over her shoulder and
thought that she might never again view him as she had before this
moment. He seemed to require no effort at all to push himself to a
standing position.
    He reached his hands down to her, and she looked up
into his face. His hair had fallen over his brow, and he was in
need of straightening, but she couldn’t seem to find any
impatience for his disheveled appearance.
    â€œI’ll make you fall again,” she
said.
    â€œNo, you won’t. I’m stronger than
I look, I’m braced and balanced.”
    She placed her hands in his and allowed him to pull
her to her feet. He grinned. “You see? It’s easier to
stand when you allow another to help.”
    â€œI’ve grown accustomed to doing
everything on my own.”
    â€œI know you have,” he said. He slipped
her arm around his. “I don’t mind your leaning on
me.”
    She couldn’t remember a time when she’d
leaned on anyone. She’d certainly never dared to look to her
husband for support. She wasn’t afraid of all men. She knew
some men were kind and gentle. But she also realized that receiving
that gentleness required a