The sound of retreating steps seeped through the door. Yes!
Audrey slid off the desk. Her gown had to go. She wanted to feel him, all of him, without too many annoying layers of fabric between the two of them. Audrey pulled the dress off and dropped it to the floor.
Kaldar crossed the distance between them. She turned her back to him. His hands closed about her, cupping her breasts.
“I want you,” she whispered.
“Marry me,” he told her.
“No.” He just kept asking and asking. What if he kept asking for the rest of her life? What then? “Why does it have to be marriage?”
“Because I want to be with you forever, and that’s the only way I can prove it. I want to stand there in front of everyone and promise to love you. It’s a promise you can’t break.”
His hand slipped down on her thigh, pushing her legs wider. He thrust into her, sliding in, harder and harder, in a possessive rapid rhythm. She braced her hands against the desk. He wrapped one arm around her waist, clamping her to him, his fingers hot on her skin. His right hand slipped down, over her hip, over her stomach . . . She tensed in anticipation. His fingers found that same sensitive spot, stroking her back to the edge, where the bliss waited. She pushed against the desk.
The pressure inside her crested.
Kaldar released her waist and leaned back, thrusting fast, deep, hard.
Joy drowned her, radiating through her in waves. They came and came, flooding her, overloading her senses. She felt weightless, exhausted, and happy.
He shuddered behind her. A second later, he pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her. She sagged against him, so thoroughly tired and completely content. She didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to speak. She just wanted to stand there, wrapped in him.
He kissed her cheek.
She was so happy.
Footsteps sounded down the hallway. Probably one of the Texas sharpshooters—the boot had a heel by the sound of it.
They couldn’t stay like that forever. Sooner rather than later, someone in the ballroom would notice they were gone. No matter how much she loved being held like that, they had to clean up, get dressed, and go on with their plan before their absence drew enough attention to put them all in danger. Audrey gently pushed at Kaldar’s arms, and he let go.
A bottle of water stood on the desk. Audrey swiped it, wet a handkerchief, and wiped her breasts, her waist, and then her thighs. She smelled like Kaldar. She wished she could curl up just like that, with his scent on her, and fall asleep while he held her.
She tossed the handkerchief to Kaldar.
“I told you you would like it.”
“You are so humble.” She brushed a quick kiss on his lips and pulled on her gown.
“Wedding at the end of the month, then?”
She pulled the clasp out of her hair and shifted it back into a decent hairstyle. She wanted the wedding. She wanted him whichever way she could get him. “Maybe.”
“Is that a yes?”
“I’ll think about it.” She was in love with Kaldar. She knew it. Their sex wasn’t just sex—it was making love. The way he looked at her made her shiver. But something inside her kept her from saying yes. It wasn’t pride. Fear, she realized. She was afraid that if she told him yes, he would lose interest.
He wanted to marry her. “For men like you, ‘marriage’ sounds a lot like ‘sentenced to forced labor in the mines.’”
“I never wanted to marry anyone before,” he said. “When two people marry, they surrender a small part of themselves. They become more like each other. I never met a woman who was better than me at things I take pride in, and I never wanted to be like them. I always knew that whoever I was with was temporary. There was always a new woman around the corner. I’ve seen marriages shatter. Twice. My mother left, then Richard’s wife. It almost broke my brother.”
“So how do I know that you won’t move on and leave me broken?”
“Because you are the one. You are better than me in some things, and I am better than you in others.” He drew her into his arms. “I don’t mind being a bit like you. I hope you don’t mind being a bit like me.”
He said exactly what she would have said if he had asked her why she wanted him.
Another set of footsteps echoed through the hallway. Kaldar glanced at the door.
If someone burst through that door and killed him, her life would be over. The realization rocked her, and she looked away.
“Audrey.” He turned her to him.
She couldn’t keep stringing him along. It wasn’t fair.
He was dead serious. His eyes searched her face. He was terrified that she would shoot him down. He hid it, but she knew his face so well by now. It was the face of a man she loved, and his eyes could no longer keep a secret from her.
“Different entrances,” he said. “We can’t go back into the ballroom together.”
“Of course I will marry you, you fool,” Audrey told him.
KALDAR slipped through the arched entrance into the ballroom. Morell seemed preoccupied with some older man. A few moments later, Audrey arrived. She didn’t look ruffled or disheveled. She certainly didn’t seem like she had just had scorching sex. As far as he could tell, their disappearance and return had gone unnoticed by anyone except for Cerise, who was observing him with a very concerned look.
Audrey had said yes. The elation filled him, and he had to maintain an iron grip on his face to keep from grinning.
The butler strode through the double doors and cleared his throat. “The Marquise of Amry and Tuanin, Peer of the Realm, Veteran of the Ten-Month War, Recipient of the Gaulish Shield, Bearer of the Triple Seal of the Golden Throne, Defender of the Gaulish Empire of Third Rank, Captain Helena d’Amry. And associates.”
Shit.