Mastered By Love

Sixteen

Minerva-take off the gown.

The words resonated in the dimness between them. He’d packed them with more distilled power, more direct command, than he’d ever used with her before; his tone filled her female ears with primitive threat, and unstated promise.

A not-at-all-subtle reminder that he was the sort of nobleman no one even thought to deny. Certainly no woman. Of their own volition, her fingers shifted on the fine fabric draping her legs.

She realized and stilled them, then, hauling in a breath through lungs suddenly tight, sat up, curling her legs, faced him, and narrowed her eyes on his. “No.” She set her jaw, if not as hard, then at least as belligerently as he. “You didn’t so much as glance at me all evening, and now you want to see me naked?”

His implacability eased not one jot. He drew his cravat off, and dropped it. “Yes.” A heartbeat passed. “I didn’t glance at you-and I’m well aware it was for the whole damned evening-because everyone, literally everyone, was watching me, watching to see me and Helen, my recent mistress, interact, and if instead I’d looked at you, everyone else would have, too. And then they’d have wondered why-why instead of looking at my recent mistress I was looking at you. And not being entirely devoid of intelligence, they’d have guessed, correctly, that my distraction with you at such a moment was because you’re sharing my bed.”

He shrugged off his waistcoat. “I didn’t look your way once the entire evening because I wanted to avoid the speculation I knew would ensue, and I know you won’t like.” He looked down as he dropped the waistcoat on top of his coat; he paused, then lifted his head and met her eyes. “I also didn’t want my cousins getting any ideas about you-and they would if they knew you were sharing my bed.”

Truth-all truth. She heard it ring in every clipped, precise vowel and consonant. And the thought of his cousins approaching her-all the males were as sexually aggressive as he-had been the prod that had affected him most powerfully.

Before she could consider what that might mean, with a barely restrained tug he pulled his shirttails from his waistband.

His gaze lowered to her body, to the offending nightgown. “Take that damned gown off. If it’s still on you when I reach you, I’m going to shred it.”

Not a warning, not a threat, not even a promise-just a pragmatic statement of fact.

He was barely two yards away. She mentally threw up her hands and turned to draw the covers down so she could slip beneath them.

“No. Stay where you are.” His voice had lowered, deepened; his tone sent a primitive thrill racing up her spine. He spoke increasingly slowly. “Just take the gown off. Now.”

She turned back to face him. Her lungs had constricted again. She drew in a tight breath, then reached for the hem of the fine lawn gown, and drew it up, exposing her calves, her knees, her thighs, then, still sitting, her eyes locked on him, she wriggled and tugged until the long gown was bunched around her waist.

The roughness of his brocade counterpane rasped the bare skin of her legs and bottom-and she suddenly had an inkling of why he might want her naked on the bed, rather than in it.

And she wasn’t about to argue.

From the waist down, she was no longer sheathed in the gown, but the folds shielded her hips and stomach, and all the rest of her, from his gaze.

Her mouth suddenly dry, she swallowed, then said, “Take off the shirt, and I’ll take off the gown.”

His gaze lifted from her naked thighs, locked with hers for an instant, then he grabbed the hem of his shirt and hauled it up and over his head.

She seized the instant-the barest fleeting instant-to drink in the arresting, arousing sight of his heavily muscled chest. Then he tore his hands free of the sleeves, dropped the shirt. His fingers reaching for the buttons at his waist, he stepped toward the bed.

Grabbing the folds of her nightgown, she hauled it up and off.

He was on her before she could pull her hands free. In a surging, muscled wave, he flattened her back on the bed.

Before she could blink she was stretched naked on her back across the crimson-and-gold brocade, with him stretched over her, one heavy hand locked about her tangled ones, pinning them, leaving her with her arms stretched out above her head.

Lifting off her, he set his hip alongside hers; leaning on the arm holding her hands captive, he looked down on her body as she lay displayed, naked and helpless, for his delectation.

For his taking.

Raising his free hand, he set it to her flesh. Used it to quickly, efficiently, ruthlessly arouse her until she writhed, until her body lifted and arched helplessly into that too-knowing hand, seeking, wanting.

His hand cupped between her thighs, working the slick, swollen folds, with two long fingers buried in her sheath stroking deeply, he lowered his head and set his mouth to one breast.

He licked, lipped, nipped, then drew her furled nipple deep into his mouth and suckled so fiercely, body bowing, she shrieked.

Releasing her tortured flesh, he glanced at her face, caught her gaze, and thrust his fingers deep inside her-watched as she gasped and instinctively lifted her hips, wanting to, straining to, reach completion.

Through the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears, she heard him mutter something deep, dark, and guttural-she couldn’t make out the words.

Her skin was so flushed, so excruciatingly sensitive, she felt like she was burning-literally burning with unslaked desire. Bare minutes had passed since he’d spread her beneath him on the bed, yet he’d reduced her to this-to needing him inside her more than she needed to breathe.

His fingers withdrew from her. She opened eyes she hadn’t known she’d closed as he moved over her.

She tugged, wanting her hands free, but his hold didn’t ease.

“Later,” he ground out.

Then his body came down on hers and her lungs seized.

He was naked to the waist-the hair on his chest abraded her breasts, keeping her nipples painfully erect-but he still had his trousers on. The woolen fabric, finest worsted though it was, rasped the bare skin of her legs, made her gasp as it scraped along her inner thighs as with his legs he spread hers wide and wedged his hips between.

The skin on her back had already come alive, teased by the roughly textured counterpane. Her senses reeled under the concerted impact of so much sensory stimulation-of his weight pinning her to the bed, of the anticipation that soared as she felt him reach between her thighs and release his erection.

He set the broad head at her entrance, then gripped her hip, and thrust powerfully into her. Filled her with one long, forceful stroke, then withdrew and thrust in even more deeply.

He held her down and rode her, with long, powerful, pounding strokes; every thrust shifted her fractionally beneath him, every inch of her skin, every nerve, abraded each and every time.

Royce watched her, watched her body undulate beneath him, taking him in, wanting and accepting. He watched her face, saw passion overtake desire, saw it build and sweep her up, catch her in its heated coils, saw them tighten, gripping, driving.

He waited until she was nearing the peak. Releasing her hip, he closed his hand about her breast, lowered his head and took her mouth, claimed her, possessed her, there, too, as his body drove hers on.

She came apart beneath him more intensely than ever before.

Minerva gasped, sobbed as her world fractured, but the climax rolled on and on. He kept it going, thrusting deep within her, making her body shift slightly against the abrading fabrics, keeping her nerves flaring even as inner satiation swept through her.

It was like nothing they’d shared before. More blatant, more powerful.

More possessive.

She wasn’t entirely surprised when, after she’d slumped, spent and done, yet with her nerves and senses still alive, still flickering, he slowed, then stopped and withdrew from her.

He left the bed, but she knew he wasn’t done with her yet; he hadn’t yet claimed his release. From the sounds that reached her, he was dispensing with his trousers.

Eyes closed, she lay sprawled, naked and ravished, across his bed and waited. She hadn’t freed her hands from her nightgown, couldn’t yet summon the energy.

And then he was back.

He knelt on the bed, grasped her hips, and flipped her over. She rolled bonelessly, wondering how…Straddling her legs, he slid one large hand down and around to splay over her lower belly, then he lifted her hips up and back so she was kneeling slumped forward before him.

Hands still tangled, she drew her arms in so she could lean on her forearms. He pressed close behind her, his knees outside hers, then she felt the engorged head of his erection nudge her entrance.

Then he was inside her.

Pressing deeper than he’d ever been. Her toes curled, then he withdrew and thrust in again, seating himself even more fully within her.

She struggled to catch her breath, lost all she’d gained as he again thrust into her hard and deep.

Holding her to him, open and helpless, he set up a steady, driving rhythm that had her fingers curling, sinking into and clutching the crimson-and-gold brocade as he pounded into her, then he varied the speed, then the depth, then rolling his hips, he somehow caressed her deep inside.

She could swear she could feel him at the back of her throat.

She wasn’t sure she was going to survive this, not this degree of shuddering intimacy. This absolute degree of physical possession. She could feel the thunder in his blood, feel the wave of heated need and physical desperation rise and build.

When it crashed it would sweep them both away.

Gasping, frantic, she was clinging to reality when he leaned over her, one fist sinking into the bed alongside her shoulder. He still held her hips up, anchoring her, holding her captive for his relentless penetration

His belly curved over the back of her hips; she could feel the heat of his chest all across her back as he bowed his head. His breath sawed past her ear, then he nuzzled the curve of her neck.

“Just let go.”

She heard the words from a long way away; they sounded like a plea.

“Just let it happen-let it come.”

She heard his breath hitch, then he pressed deep inside her, shortened his thrusts so he was barely withdrawing at all, just moving deep within her, rolling his hips into hers, stroking her inside.

The climax hit her so hard, on so many levels, she screamed.

Her body seemed to pulse, and pulse, and pulse with successive waves of glory, each brighter, sharper, more glittering as sensation spiraled, erupted, splintered, then flashed down every overwrought nerve, sank and melted under every single inch of sensitized skin.

Completion had never been so absolute.

Royce held her through it. His erection sunk deep within her convulsing sheath, he felt every scalding ripple, every glorious moment of her release; eyes closed, he savored it, savored her, savored the fulfillment he found in her body, and in her.

His own release beckoned, tempted, lured, but while he’d wanted to take her like this, he also wanted more.

Greedy, but…

It took effort to rein his aroused and hungry body in, to gradually slow his deep but short thrusts until he held still within her. He took one last moment to drink in the sensation of her sheath gripping his erection all along its rigid length, the scalding velvet glove of all men’s fantasies.

Only when he was sure he had his body under full control did he risk pulling back from her.

Bracing her body with one hand, with the other he wrestled the covers down, then scooped her up and laid her back down. High in his bed, her head and shoulders cushioned in the pile of pillows, her delicate, flushed skin soothed by the cool silk of his sheets.

He sat back on his ankles, and looked at her, some primitive part of his psyche gloating. He fixed the image in his mind-her hair a rumpled silken veil flung over his pillows, her lush body lax and sated, skin still flushed, nipples still peaked, her hips and breasts bearing the telltale marks of his possession.

Exactly as he always wanted to see her.

Her head tilted slightly on the pillows; from beneath her long lashes, her golden eyes glinted as she watched him studying her. Her gaze slowly trailed down his body.

Then she raised one arm, reached out, and closed her fingers about his aching erection. She stroked slowly down, then lightly up.

Then she released him, settled deeper into the pillows, held out her arms to him, and spread her legs wide.

He went to her, into her arms, settled between her widespread thighs, and sank, so easily, into her body, into her embrace.

Where he belonged.

He no longer doubted that; he buried his face in the hollow between her shoulder and throat, and with long, slow strokes, gave himself up to her.

Felt her accept him, her arms wrapping around his shoulders, her hands spread on his back, her legs rising to clasp his flanks as she tilted her hips and drew him yet deeper.

As she opened herself to him so he could even more deeply lose himself in her.

His release rolled over him in long shuddering waves.

Eyes closed, Minerva held him close, felt the golden joy of such passionate intimacy well and suffuse her. And knew in her heart, knew to her soul, that letting him go was going to slay her.

Devastate her.

She’d always known that would be the price for falling in love with him.

But she had.

She could swear and curse her own stupidity, but nothing could change reality. Their joint realities, which meant they would part.

Destinies weren’t easily changed.

He’d slumped upon her, heavy beyond belief, yet she found his weight curiously comforting. As if her earlier physical surrender was balanced by his.

Their combined heat slowly dissipated and the night air wafted over their cooling bodies. Wriggling and reaching, she managed to snag the edge of the covers and, tugging and flicking, drew the sheet up over them both.

Closing her eyes, she let the familiar warmth enfold her, and drifted, but when he stirred and lifted from her, she came fully, determinedly awake.

He noticed. He met her gaze, then flopped back on the pillows alongside her, reaching to draw her to him, into his side, her head on his shoulder.

That was how they normally slept, but while she let him hold her within his arm, she came up so she could look at his face.

He met her eyes, a faint lift to his brows; she sensed a certain wariness, although, as usual, nothing showed in his face.

Reminding herself she was dealing with a Varisey-a naked male one-and that subtlety therefore would be wasted, she went straight to the question she wanted to ask. “What happened to your five-nights rule?”

He blinked. Twice. But he didn’t look away. “That doesn’t apply to you.”

She opened her eyes wide. “Indeed? So what rule does apply to me? Ten nights?”

His eyes narrowed fractionally. “The only rule that applies to you is that my bed-wherever it is-is yours. There is nowhere else I will allow you to sleep but with me.” One dark brow arched, openly arrogant. “I trust that’s clear?”

She stared into his dark eyes. He wasn’t a fool; he had to marry-and she wouldn’t stay; he knew that.

But had he accepted that?

After a long moment, she asked, “What aren’t you telling me?”

It wasn’t his face that gave him away; it was the faint but definite tension that infused the hard body beneath hers.

He half shrugged, then settled his shoulders deeper into the bed, urging her down again. “Earlier, when you weren’t here, I thought you were sulking.”

A change of subject, not an answer. “After learning about your five-nights rule, then having you ignore me all evening as if I didn’t exist, I thought you were finished with me.” Her tone stated very clearly how she’d felt about that.

Having relieved her lingering ire, she yielded to his importuning, slumped back into his arms and laid her head on his shoulder.

“No.” His voice was low; his lips brushed her temple. “Never that.”

The last words were soft, but definite-and that telltale tension hadn’t left him.

Never?

What was he planning?

Given how she felt-how deeply he’d already unwittingly snared her-she had to know. Hands on his chest, she pushed up again. Tried to, but his arms didn’t give. She wriggled, got nowhere, so she pinched him. Hard.

He flinched, muttered something distinctly uncomplimentary, but let her lift her shoulders enough to look into his face.

She searched his eyes, replayed all he’d said, and how he’d said it. His plan for her, whatever it was, revolved about one question. She narrowed her eyes on his. “Who have you decided to marry?”

If she could get him to declare that, she could accept it, know it for fact, and prepare herself to hand over her keys, relinquish her place in his bed to another, and leave Wolverstone. That was her destiny, but while he refused to name his bride, he could draw their liaison out indefinitely, and draw her ever deeper into love-so that when she did have to leave, leaving him would shatter her.

She had to make him define the end of their affair.

He held her gaze, utterly expressionless. Utterly implacable.

She refused to back down. “Lady Ashton confirmed that your failure to make the promised announcement has been widely noted. You’re going to have to make it soon, or we’ll have Lady Osbaldestone back up here, in a foul mood. And in case you’re wondering, her foul mood will trump your temper. She will make you feel as small as a flea. So stop pretending you can change your destiny, and just tell me so we can announce it.”

So she could organize to leave him.

Royce was too adept at reading between other people’s lines to miss her underlying thoughts…but he had to tell her. She’d just handed him the perfect opening to break the news to her and propose, but…he didn’t want to yet. Wasn’t yet sure enough of her response. Of her.

Beneath the covers, she shifted, sliding one long leg over his waist, then easing across and sitting up, straddling him, the better to look into his face. Her eyes, the glorious autumn hues still darkened by recent passion, narrowed and bored into his, golden sparks of will and determination flaring in their depths. “Have you chosen your bride?”

That he could answer. “Yes.”

“Have you contacted her?”

“I’m negotiating with her as we speak.”

“Who is she? Do I know her?”

She wasn’t going to let him slide around her again. Jaw setting, eyes locked on hers, he ground out, “Yes.”

When he didn’t say anything more, she clutched his upper arms as if to shake him-or hold him so he couldn’t escape. “What’s her name?”

Her eyes held his. He was going to have to speak now. Engage with her now. He was going to have to find some way-forge some path through the mire…He searched her eyes, desperate for some hint of a way forward.

Her fingers tightened, nails digging in, then she uttered a frustrated sound; releasing him, she raised her palms, along with her face, to the canopy. “Why are you being so damned difficult about this?”

Something within him snapped. “Because it is difficult.”

Her head came down; she pinned him with her eyes. “Why, for heaven’s sake? Who is she?”

Lips thin, he locked his gaze with hers. “You.”

All expression fled from her face, from her eyes. “What?”

“You.” He poured every ounce of his certainty, his determination, into the words. “I’ve chosen you.”

Her eyes flared wide; her expression wasn’t one he could place-she wasn’t afraid of him. She started to draw back, pull away; he locked his hands about her waist.

“No.” The word was weak, her eyes still wide; her expression looked strangely bleak. Abruptly she dragged in a breath, and shook her head. “No, no, no. I told you-”

“Yes. I know.” He made the words terse enough to cut her off. “But here’s something-some things-you don’t know.” He caught her gaze. “I took you up to Lord’s Seat lookout, but I never told you why. I took you there to ask you to marry me-but I got distracted. I let you distract me into getting you into my bed first-and then you turned your virginity, the fact I’d taken it, into an even bigger hurdle.”

She blinked at him. “You wanted to ask me then?”

“I’d planned to-on Lord’s Seat, and then here on that first night. But your declaration…” He paused.

Her eyes narrowed again; her lips thinned. “You didn’t give up-you never give up. You set out to manipulate me-that’s what all this”-she waved her arms, encompassing the huge bed-“has been about, hasn’t it? You’ve been working to change my mind!”

With a disgusted snort, she tried to get off him. He tightened his grip on her waist, kept her exactly where she was, straddling him. She tried to fight loose, tried to pry his fingers away, wriggled and squirmed.

“No.” He bit the word off with sufficient force to have her look at him again-and grow still. He trapped her gaze, held it. “It wasn’t like that-it was never about manipulating you. I don’t want you by stealth-I want your willing agreement. All this has been about convincing you. About showing you how well you fit the position of my duchess.”

Through his hands, he sensed her quietening, sensed that he’d caught her attention, however unwilling. He dragged in a breath. “Now you’ve forced my hand, the least you can do is listen. Listen to why I think we’d suit-why I want you and only you as my wife.”

Trapped in his dark eyes, Minerva didn’t know what to think. She couldn’t tell what she felt; emotions roiled and churned and tumbled through her. She knew he was telling the truth; veracity rang in his tone. He rarely lied, and he was speaking in terms that were utterly unambiguous.

He took her silence as acquiescence. Still holding her captive, still holding her gaze, he went on, “I want you as my wife because you-and only you-can give me everything I need, and want, in my duchess. The socially prescribed aspects are the most minor-your birth is more than adequate, as is your fortune. While an announcement of our betrothal might take many by surprise, it won’t in any way be considered a mйsalliance-from society’s perspective, you’re entirely suitable.”

Pausing, he drew breath, but his eyes never left hers; she had never before felt so much the absolute focus of his attention, his will, his very being. “While there are many ladies who would be suitable on those counts, it’s in all the other aspects that you excel. I need-demonstrably need-a lady by my side who understands the prevailing social and political responsibilities and dynamics of the dukedom as, courtesy of my exile, I do not. I need someone I can trust implicitly to guide me through the shoals-as you did at the funeral. I need a lady I can rely on to have the backbone to confront me when I’m wrong-someone who isn’t afraid of my temper. Almost everyone is, but you never have been-among females that alone makes you unique.”

Royce didn’t dare take his eyes from hers. She was listen ing, following-understanding. “I also need-and want-a duchess who is attuned to and devoted to the dukedom’s interests, and first and last to Wolverstone itself. To the estate, the people, the community. Wolverstone is not just a castle-it never has been. I need a lady who understands that, who will be as committed to it as I am. As you already are.”

The next breath he dragged in shook; his lungs were tight, his chest felt compressed, but he had to say the rest-had to step off the beaten path and take a chance. “Lastly, I…” He searched her autumn eyes. “Need-and want-a lady I care about. Not the customary Varisey bride. I want…to try and have more of a marriage, a more complete marriage-one based on more than calculation and convenience. For that I need a lady I can spend my life with, one I can share my life with from now into the future. I don’t want to occasionally visit my duchess’s bed-I want her in my bed, this bed, every night for all the nights to come.” He paused, then said, “For all those reasons, I need you as my bride. Of all the women I might have, no other will do. I can’t imagine…feeling as I do about any other. There never has been any other I’ve slept beside through the night, no other I’ve ever wanted to keep with me through the dawn.” He held her gaze. “I want you, I desire you-and only you will do.”

Staring into his dark eyes, Minerva felt her emotions surge and swell; she was in very deep water, in danger of being swept away. Being pulled under; the tug of his words, of his lure, was that strong-strong enough to tempt her, even her, even though she knew the price…she frowned. “Are you saying that you’ll remain faithful to your duchess?”

“Not to my duchess. But to you? Yes.”

Oh, clever answer; her heart skipped a beat. She looked into his eyes, saw his implacable, immovable will looking back-and the room spun. She drew an unsteady breath; the planets had just realigned. A Varisey was promising fidelity. “What brought this on?”

What on earth had proved strong enough to bring him to this?

He didn’t immediately answer, but his eyes remained steady on hers.

Eventually he said, “I’ve seen over the years what Rupert, Miles, and Gerald have found with Rose, Eleanor, and Alice. I’ve spent more time in their households than in this one-and what they have is what I want. I’ve more recently seen my ex-colleagues find their brides-and they, too, found wives and marriages that offered far more than convenience and dynastic advance.”

He shifted slightly beneath her, for the first time glanced beyond her, but then he brought his gaze back to her face-forced it back. His jaw tightened. “Then the grandes dames came and made clear what they expected-and not one thought that I would want, much less deserved, anything better than the customary Varisey marriage.” His voice hardened. “But they were wrong. I want you-and I want more.”

She inwardly shivered. She would have sworn she didn’t outwardly, but his hands, until then warm and strong about her waist, left her, and he reached for the counterpane, drew it up to drape around and over her shoulders. She caught the edges, drew them closer. She wasn’t cold; she was emotionally shaken.

To her toes.

“I…” She refocused on him.

He was looking at his hands adjusting the counterpane around her. “Before you say anything…when I went to see Hamish today, I asked his advice about what I might say to you to convince you to accept my suit.” His eyes lifted and met hers. “He told me I should tell you that I loved you.”

She couldn’t breathe; she was trapped in the unfathomable darkness of his eyes.

They remained locked with hers. “He told me that you would want me to say that-to claim I loved you.” He drew breath, went on, “I will never lie to you-if I could tell you I loved you, I would. I will do anything I need to to make you mine, to have you as my duchess-except lie to you.”

He seemed to have as much trouble breathing as she did; the next breath he drew shuddered. He let it out as his eyes searched hers. “I care for you, in a way and to a depth that I care for no one else. But we both know I can’t say I love you. We both know why. As a Varisey I don’t know the first thing about love, much less how to make it happen. I don’t even know if the emotion exists within me. But what I can-and will-promise, is that I will try. For you, I will try-I will give you everything I have in me, but I can’t promise it’ll be enough. I can promise to try, but I can’t promise I’ll succeed.” He held her gaze unflinchingly. “I can’t promise to love you because I don’t know if I can.”

Moments passed; she remained immersed in his eyes, seeing, hearing, knowing. Finally she drew in a long, slow breath, refocused on his face, looked again into those dark, tempestuous eyes. “If I agree to marry you, will you promise me that? Promise you’ll remain faithful, and that you’ll try?”

The answer was immediate, uncompromising. “Yes. For you, I’ll promise that, in whatever way, whatever words, you wish.”

She felt strung tight, emotionally tense-poised on a wire above an abyss. Assessing her tension made her aware of his; beneath her thighs, her bottom, his muscles were all steel-he otherwise hid it well, his uncertainty.

Gazes locked, they were both teetering. She drew breath, and pulled back. “I need to think.” She swiftly replayed his words, arched a brow. “You haven’t actually proposed.”

He was silent for a moment, then succinctly stated, “I’ll propose when you’re ready to accept.”

“I’m not ready yet.”

“I know.”

She studied him, sensed his uncertainty, but even more his unwavering determination. “You’ve surprised me.” She’d thought of marrying him, fantasized and dreamed of it, but she’d never thought it might come to be-any more than she’d thought she would share his bed, let alone on a regular basis, yet here she was-a warning in itself. “A large part of me wants to say yes, please ask, but becoming your duchess isn’t something I can decide on impulse.”

He’d offered her everything her heart could desire-short of promising her his. In one arrogant sweep, he’d moved them into a landscape she’d never imagined might exist-and in which there were no familiar landmarks.

“You’ve thrown me into complete mental turmoil.” Her thoughts were chaotic, her emotions more so; her mind was a seething cauldron in which well-known fears battled unexpected hopes, uncataloged desires, unsuspected needs.

Still he said nothing, too wise to press.

Indeed. She couldn’t let him, or her wilder self, rush her into this-a marriage that, if it went wrong, guaranteed emotional obliteration. “You’re going to have to give me time. I need to think.”

He didn’t protest.

She dragged in a breath, threw him a warning look, then slid off him, back to her side of the bed; turning onto her side, facing away from him, she pulled the covers up over her shoulders and snuggled down.

After a moment of regarding her through the dark, Royce turned and slid down in the bed, spooning his body around hers. Sliding his arm over her waist, he eased her back against him.

She humphed softly, but wriggled back, setting her hips against his abdomen. With a small sigh, she relaxed slightly.

He was still tense, his gut still churning. So much of his life, his future, was now riding on this, on her; he’d just placed his life in her hands-at least she hadn’t handed it straight back.

Which, realistically, was all he could ask of her at that point.

Lifting her hair aside, he pressed a kiss to her nape. “Go to sleep. You can take whatever time you need to think.”

After a moment, he murmured, “But when Lady Osbaldestone comes back up here and demands who I’ve chosen as my bride, I’ll have to tell her.”

Minerva snorted. Her lips curved, then, against every last expectation, she did as he’d bid her and fell fast asleep.