Mariah’s heart skipped. Robert was staring at her. Again.
Sitting at a desk the next morning in the shipping office, Mariah tried to pay him no mind, but he wouldn’t stop staring. As if he could see right through her dress to every naked inch of her beneath. Blast the hot blush threatening at the back of her neck at everything that stare implied! And oh, how very much it implied.
Even now, surrounded by office workers, she couldn’t help but remember the pleasure of being in his arms last night, how he made her feel special and beautiful. Just as she couldn’t stop the urge rising inside her to somehow get him alone right now, scandalously in the middle of the afternoon when she was supposed to be going over the warehouse lists for anything Papa might be willing to donate to the school. A flimsy excuse for why she’d come to the office, when the truth was that she’d simply wanted to be near Robert.
But every time she looked at him—and every time she caught him looking back with that knowing twist to his sensuous lips—her mind blanked and her body tingled, in all kinds of wicked ways.
She hadn’t known what to expect this morning when they saw each other again, after sharing themselves both physically and emotionally last night. Oh, they would always argue. A tiger would still be a cat even if it managed to change its stripes. But they were no longer enemies.
As for how he felt about her as a woman…well, that one she had no answer for. Although they’d spent the night in each other’s arms and he’d made her happier than she’d been in her entire life, he’d not once admitted to having feelings for her. And she’d not asked for fear of hearing an answer that might destroy her. Because no matter what he felt for her, she had fallen in love.
He glanced up and caught her watching him. Their gazes locked, and a pulse of heat curled down her spine.
Oh my.
As her cheeks flushed, she looked away. Yet she couldn’t stop the flutter of happiness low in her belly.
Without drawing attention to himself, Robert rose from his desk and casually approached her. He leaned over her shoulder as if reaching for the papers in front of her. The nearness of him sent an electric shiver spiraling through her.
“You look beautiful,” he murmured low enough that none of the office workers could overhear.
Drat him for making her heart stutter! Yet she somehow managed to roll her eyes at the compliment. “I’m wearing last year’s dress.”
“Can I help it if you’d look beautiful wrapped in gray drab?” His hand brushed hers as he pretended to examine the inventory, sending a warmth up her arm. “I want to see you tonight.”
A soft ache began to throb dully between her legs in quick arousal. How was it possible that he could affect her so viscerally with only a husky murmur? Yet he did just that.
“You are going to see me,” she reminded him a bit cheekily. “We’re having dinner with Lord and Lady Hammond.”
“We’ll have to beg off, then.” His eyes sparkled wickedly. “Because that kind of feast is not what I had in mind.”
At his rakish innuendo, she lowered her face and cleared her throat to keep the hot blush at bay as she enticed with a breathy purr, “What, exactly, did you have in mind?”
“Dinner by ourselves at Park Place.”
She wheeled around on her chair to face him, unable to stop the happy dancing of her heart. “Park Place?”
Oh, that meant so much more than only a physical intimacy! He was letting her into the most private aspects of his life, and surely, that meant he held affection for her…didn’t it?
“Hmm.” He reached for the papers to continue the pretense that they were only speaking of business, although from the amused curl threatening at his lips, he knew exactly what she’d been thinking. “I’ve given the entire staff the night off, down to the last scullery maid. They’ve all been warned not to step foot inside the house until midnight.” He pretended to sort through the lists. “Just you and me, laughing and talking and…other things.”
That was exactly what she’d longed for. Another night in his arms, another night spent making love to him. “Heavenly,” she breathed out. The happiness that sent her heart leaping into her throat made it impossible to speak.
With a slight hesitation, he set the papers onto the desk. “Is it truly?”
“Yes.” Instant nervousness knotted her belly. “Why would you doubt that?”
He looked away guiltily. “I wouldn’t dare presume that after last night, after the things I revealed to you—”
“Presume it,” she whispered breathlessly.
His eyes sparkled with relief as they returned to hers, and with an affection in their sapphire depths that stirred warmth inside her. “So you like me after all.”
“Stunned the daylights out of me to realize it, I daresay.” She smiled when he chuckled at her. But then it was her turn to hesitate, before she asked nervously, “Does that bother you?”
There was a world of deeper meaning in that simple question. An exploration of emotion neither of them had yet dared to raise.
“There are a great many ways in which you bother me, Mariah Winslow,” he admitted, his voice husky and low. “Many tantalizing ways…and many more I hope to teach you tonight.”
She lost the battle with her blush, and it sped hotly across her face and down beneath her neckline.
“But you liking me,” he assured her quietly, “doesn’t bother me at all.”
Hope sparkled inside her. “I’m glad.” Very glad.
His eyes flared possessively, and from the way his body tensed, she knew he felt the same frustration of not being able to reach for her that she did. They hadn’t been alone all day, not since they left the offices last night, and not being able to hold him or kiss him was driving her mad. For one desperate moment, she considered the wanton thought of finding some excuse to accompany him upstairs where they could be alone, if only for a few minutes—
The bell over the door jangled as a rush of wintry air blew in from the street, seemingly carrying Whitby along with it. He’d pulled his beaver hat low over his ears in defense against the blustery day, which only served to make his already outsize ears appear even larger. The usual goofy grin lit his face.
“Whitby, you’re here!” Mariah came forward to greet him, although more to recover herself and slow her pounding heart than to welcome him. Robert had just admitted to holding affection for her, and while liking was a great long ways from loving, her heart still flipped joyous somersaults. The wait until tonight would be interminable. “I didn’t expect you to stop by.”
“I wanted to make certain you were feeling better.” He frowned at her with concern. “You left the ball so quickly that I didn’t get to say good-bye.”
She cast a quick glance at Robert. “I—I had a terrible headache and needed to go home.” Swift guilt pierced her at the pretense they’d been forced into. But if she had her way, they wouldn’t have to lie much longer. “I’m feeling much better today.”
Papa’s office door opened, and Mr. Ledford stepped out, as always with stacks of ledgers and ships’ manifests filling his arms. Distractedly, he nodded to them as he hurried past toward his own desk in the corner of the outer room.
“Carlisle,” her father called out from his office doorway, his serious gaze sliding awkwardly past her to Robert. “A word with you.”
Mariah stiffened. Her father wanted to talk to Robert? Surely, it was about business. Couldn’t be about last night. It was impossible that her father could have discovered what they’d done. Not when Robert had returned her home by the time the ball would have ended. Not when they’d given excuses to his mother and Evie that she’d fallen ill and had to leave early. Nothing had appeared amiss.
But if they were found out, oh God, it really would be the convent for her!
“Of course.” Robert solemnly met Mariah’s gaze, not a stray emotion revealed on his stoic face when she was certain that a wealth of guilt and panic gripped hers.
Without a lingering look to betray them, he followed her father into his office.
*