“Olympia, this is no place for a woman. You should not even know such a place exists, should have been thoroughly protected from such knowledge. It . . .” He stopped speaking when she pressed her finger over his lips.
“I know ugliness, Brant. Do not forget who I am and what I can do. Even when I would very much prefer to remain ignorant, I stumble upon the ugliness of what man is capable of all the time. Whatever I might learn from spying on Dobbin House matters less than nothing against the need to help those children. Whatever shock or distress I might suffer will be easily soothed by the fact that I will have helped to free them from that hell.”
“You will not go inside and you will not touch anything,” he said, thinking of the horror and deprivations a gift such as hers could reveal. “I want to hear you agree.”
The words he spoke were a harsh command that would usually cause Olympia to immediately bristle with rebellion but she felt none. Instead, she wanted to smile for his words also told her that he believed in her gift, in what she could do. Olympia began to think that he always had, for that first day at Fieldgate, he had never questioned what she had seen when she had leaned against the wall or that she could see anything at all. She doubted he would ever understand just how much that meant to her.
Unable to resist, she brushed her lips over his and whispered, “I agree.”
Light though the touch of her mouth was against his, it sent a wave of heat straight to his groin and Brant nearly groaned aloud. He ignored the stern voice in his head that told him to move away. He pulled Olympia fully into his embrace and kissed her, not even trying to hide the need clawing at his insides. Her mouth was soft and warm beneath his, opening willingly beneath the soft prodding of his tongue. The taste of her banished all caution from his mind.
When she stroked his tongue with her own he lost what little restraint he had managed to hold onto. He ran his hands down her slim back and back up again, savoring the way she shivered beneath his touch. When he pressed a kiss to the side of her throat she tilted her head back to allow him more access. Everything about the way she responded to him made him ache for her. He kissed her again and gently moved his hand up her rib cage until he covered her breast, the ripe fullness of her filling his hand and making him want to see and kiss the treasure he now caressed.
Olympia began to feel too much, the fever he created within her too strong. The way he stroked her breast even as his tongue stroked the inside of her mouth had her trembling like a sapling in a strong wind. She liked to be in control of herself and what he made her feel stole that control. It was wonderful yet terrifying. The moment his mouth left hers and moved to her throat, she placed her hands on his chest and pushed ever so gently. For one moment his hold on her tightened but before the flicker of fear that caused her could come into full life, he moved back a little.
“It has been a very long time for you?” he asked as he fought to rein in his desire to make her want him as he did her.
“I was with a man once,” she said as she fought to gain control of her breathing. “When I was but thirteen. The man became my husband. He died shortly after.”
Shock held him silent for a moment. He knew there was far, far more to the tale than she was telling him. Before he could think of the right questions to ask, the sound of the boys returning caught his attention. He moved away from her and watched as she hastily straightened her gown and attempted to smooth out her tousled hair.
“We have come to say good night, m’lady,” announced Abel as he strode into the room followed closely by the other four boys.
Every single one of the boys eyed him closely and Brant just smiled. He refused to feel guilty about what had just happened between him and Olympia. He had taken nothing she had not willingly given him and he had stopped the moment she had indicated that she wanted no more. A quick study of her as the boys gathered around her told him that she had regained her calm, and he felt a little insulted about how quickly she had shrugged off the passion they had tasted. Then he noticed her hands, which were clasped together in her lap far too tightly. She was not as unmoved as she tried to appear.
“Are all of you staying here?” she asked the boys.
“Thomas will be returning to the other house with his lordship.”
His lordship was not ready to retire to his house but Brant said nothing. It was probably best if he did just that. Olympia had confessed a secret about her past and he needed to consider the ramifications of it all before he acted on his desire for her again. He no longer wished to be gallant and leave her alone. Such passion as he had tasted in her kiss was the sort a man would be a fool to run away from.
“But do we not need to discuss spying on Dobbin House?” she asked, turning to him.