She notched her chin up a bit higher. “I fear I possess little else.”
There in the moonlight she spied a dangerous light in his eyes. “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” he said.
His confession sent shivers through her.
“Do you know what could have happened to you—out on the road, at night, alone? There are men out there who, well, suffice it to say they aren’t gentlemen when it comes to unescorted, unprotected ladies. You could have come to grievous harm.” His brow furrowed. “I would never forgive myself if anything happened to you.” His hand brushed over a curl that had escaped her bonnet, and gently, protectively, he tucked it back inside. Then his hands went to her shoulders. His fingers, warm and steady, held her with determined resolve. “Promise me not to try anything so foolhardy ever again. At least not without me.”
Without him? She couldn’t think of anything else she would want more. To spend the rest of her days with him. Oh, it sounded like heaven. Then she looked into his eyes and saw a dangerous passion there.
Something to live for.
Oh, no, not that. She couldn’t be that for him. There wasn’t time. Not before …The hope in his eyes tugged at her. Why couldn’t he see that it wasn’t possible?
“I can’t stay,” she whispered, panic and anguish rising in her chest.
He misunderstood completely. “I know. I’ll help you. I gave you my word I would, and yet—” His words came to a hesitant halt.
“And yet what?” she asked, despite her resolve to leave.
“I don’t want you to go.”
There it was, the words she longed to hear. How was it that now, of all times, the enchantment of the stars had drifted down and worked their magic on him?
She didn’t know how or why, but his grasp shifted, from holding her at arm’s length t
o pulling her into his embrace.
“God help me, you drive me to distraction,” he murmured, before he leaned over and claimed her lips in another kiss.
She tried to tell herself to stop him, that this was desperate folly, but from the moment his mouth captured hers, Amanda felt as if she were being swept heavenward once again. She couldn’t do anything but sigh with elation and give herself to him.
His tongue boldly teased her lips, and she thought she would go wild with hunger for him—tasting him, letting him devour her.
Amanda had never imagined a kiss could be so intimate, so wildly delicious. She celebrated by winding her arms around his neck. Her body folded wantonly against his. Oh, bother her fears, her worries. She’d never have another chance to do this…
His hand pressed at the small of her back, pulling her closer. She felt the length and breadth of his chest, his body up against hers. This was what living meant.
Amanda’s heart pounded, dangerously so, and she wondered if she should stop. Stop before…
But how could she? Jemmy might have changed, but his kisses tasted of the impetuous rake she remembered from her Season.
A rake capable of making all her dreams come true, right now, this very night.
Yet the pounding in her chest grew more furious, more frightening, and Amanda wrenched herself out of his grasp.
What was she thinking? She shouldn’t be doing this—not if it meant…
“No,” she whispered. Not now.
He stared at her. “What is it?”
“I must be gone.” She backed away from him. “I must be away from here.” From you.
He caught hold of her once again. “What is it? What has you so frightened?”
“I’m not afraid,” she lied. Terrified was more like it.
“Yes, you are.” He pulled her close, into the warm and safe confines of his steady embrace. “I feel foolish, I don’t even know your name.”