“Yet you do not wish to be my wife.”
She shook her head. “I do wish to be your wife. But, Robert, we don’t even know how long I will be here. For all we know, I might wake up tomorrow back in the twenty-first century.”
“All the more reason to take what time we may have together.”
“I can’t do that. I can’t marry you, knowing that I might leave you at any moment. It wouldn’t be fair.”
“I will not keep you here against your will.”
Beth frowned. “What?”
Robert’s jaw clenched. “What I meant to say is, I want whatever time we have together to be spent as man and wife. If, after we speak our vows, you should find a way to return to your time and desire to do so, I will not force you to stay with me. I want you to be happy, Beth. I know you miss the comforts of your time and—”
Anger suffused her. “Are you kidding me?” she demanded, her sorrow evaporating. Sitting up, she yanked the covers away from him and tucked them up under her arms to cover her breasts. “You think indoor plumbing and air-conditioning and-and-and freaking rocky road ice cream mean more to me than you do? You think that is why I didn’t say yes?”
Robert sat up slowly, brow furrowing. “I—”
“If it weren’t for Josh,” she raged, “I wouldn’t give a rat’s ass if I returned to my time!”
His eyebrows flew up.
Had her language surprised him? Or the temper he had sparked?
Beth didn’t know and really didn’t care. “Those things,” she ranted, her voice rising with each breath, “don’t mean squat to me if you aren’t there to share them with me!”
“Beth—”
“Which is not to say that I won’t try to make changes if I end up staying here, because that garderobe is just not working for me, Robert. I mean, we are seriously going to have to do something about that.”
“Beth—”
“But I’m not so shallow that I’d give you up for a hot shower or chocolate or satellite television or whatever the hell else you think I can’t live without. I can’t live without you, damn it! I’m going to be miserable if I go back to my time and have to spend the rest of my life without you!”
“Sweetling—”
“I know I don’t fit in here. I keep forgetting to omit modern slang and sometimes can’t find medieval equivalents for modern words, so my Middle English probably ends up sounding more like Spanglish to you. And I shake men’s hands and curse when I’m pissed off and do a hundred other things wrong every day. But that doesn’t mean that I—”
Robert abruptly cupped her face in both hands and pulled her mouth to his.
Caught off-balance, Beth tumbled forward against him as he plundered her lips. Desire rose, swift and strong, commanding her to bury her fingers in his hair and press her breasts to his chest.
Robert softened the kiss and drew back.
Beth stared up at him, her body already tingling.
“Wait.” She frowned, her anger not yet spent. “Oh, no you don’t. Don’t think you can distract me by—”
Again Robert took her lips with his own, seducing and devouring as though he were converting all of the hurt he felt at her refusal into pure lust.
When next he pulled back, her breath came as quickly as his own.
“Okay,” she admitted hoarsely. “You win. You made me lose my train of thought.”
He kissed her forehead. “Will you listen to me now?”
She nodded. Relinquishing her hold on him (the man was just too tempting), she scooted back to place a little distance between them.
He hesitated a moment. “I loved another in my youth, Beth.”
A heavy weight lodged itself in her chest. She had expected him to start enumerating all of the reasons he thought they should marry, not make a confession that sucked all of the air out of her lungs. He had loved another?
“When?” she asked. “How long ago?”
“I was ten and eight.” Robert shifted until he sat with his back cushioned by their pillows. “Come here, love, and let me hold you.”
She did feel a sudden need to cling to him, as though whatever he intended to reveal might tear him away from her.
Beth snuggled up against his side. “Who was she?”
“I was squire to Lord Edmund. She was a handmaiden and a year younger than I.”
“Was she pretty?” Though it was totally irrelevant, she couldn’t help but ask.
“Aye, she was. In truth, she was somewhat similar to you in appearance, small and dark haired. But she lacked your strength.”
“What do you mean? Like physically?” She doubted the women here spent whatever free time they managed to find doing yoga and running marathons.
“Aye. She was plumper and had not honed her muscles to perfection as you have.”