Seductive Wager (9 page)

In the center of the room, and dominating the whole space, was a huge, uncurtained bed piled high with mattresses. In the middle, nearly lost among the pillows, Kate was fast asleep. The shock of coming upon her, vulnerable and at his mercy, caused Brett’s body to tense with heat and hunger.

Her head rested on one hand, her golden hair spread over the pillow behind her like billowing clouds of spun gold; unusually dark lashes stood out against skin turned to alabaster by the moonlight’s cool glow. The covers had slipped off her shoulders and he glimpsed the valley between her breasts through the unbuttoned front of her nightgown. He drank in her beauty as a man in the desert drinks spring water, in great gulps and without regard for the consequences.

He moved closer to the bed, staring as one hypnotized, as she turned from her side to her back offering him a full view of one young breast where the gown had fallen open. Brett’s breath came hard and rough. He resisted the temptation to reach out and caress her face, touch the velvety skin, and run his fingers through her silky golden hair. With a strong effort of willpower, he turned back to his lonely chair.

For the first time in his life, a woman confused him, and that made him angry. He tried to ignore the conflict within himself, but he couldn’t and he dropped into the chair, his mind prey to unpalatable thoughts. Damn! He felt more than naked desire for this girl. He had lusted after many women, but none had ever made him stand motionless, staring dumbly and drinking in the intoxicating feeling of her nearness. Never had he just wanted to hold her hand or simply enjoy the feel of her soft skin against the roughness of his own. And
never
had the appearance of helplessness made him want to enfold her in his arms and protect her from harm.

He pulled off his coat irritably. He was beginning to sound like those milky youths of his college days. He would do what had to be done to get her settled before he left for France, but that would be the end of it. Never before had he allowed desire to overrule his judgment, and he wasn’t going to start now.

He took the time to hang his coat in the wardrobe among the less elegant garments of the landlord and his wife. He might have to spend the night in a chair, but he wasn’t going to sleep in his coat. However, his tie and shirt were allowed to drop to the floor. After a struggle, he removed his boots and set them by the door. Then he rummaged in the bottom of the wardrobe until he found several thick blankets; the room was icy cold and he was going to wake up stiff and sore as it was.

Brett sank into the lumpy chair with a muffled groan and the expectation of a miserable night. He moved about trying to find a more comfortable position but soon came to the conclusion it was impossible. That was another thing. No woman had ever caused him to spend the night in a chair. And he was doing it voluntarily, too!

There was enough room in that big bed for four people. She’d never know he shared it with her. Wouldn’t she be surprised to wake up and find his face on the pillow next to hers? It was liable to send her into hysterics or a dead faint. He wasn’t sure which was more likely, but he didn’t want to have to explain either to Mathilda.

Brett didn’t know how long he slept before he was pulled from the depths of slumber by a soft moan. Even before his eyes could focus, he heard Kate thrashing around in the bed. The sounds increased in urgency, and as Brett fought to clear his mind of sleep, she suddenly cried out, “No! No! Oh, my God, no!”

Wide-awake now, Brett remembered the slumbering guests in the inn, all hungry for just such a scandal as finding him sharing a room with a gently bred female would create, and in an instant he had sprung to her side and clamped his hand over her mouth. Kate’s brilliant blue eyes flew open, wide with fright, as she stared at him without recognition. She struggled frantically to break his hold, but he was much too strong.

“Kate! Kate!” he whispered as loud as he dared. “It’s me, Brett. You’re safe now. No one is going to harm you.”

She still didn’t know him, but at the use of her name, a puzzled look came over her lovely face. Then in sudden recognition she threw herself on him, wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, and sobbed into his shoulder. Worried that someone might hear her cries, Brett tried to soothe her nerves and calm her fears, but just as she would not be quieted when she shot the highwayman, so she failed to respond to his entreaties now. Soon at his wit’s end to know how to muffle the sound of her crying, Brett kissed her full on the mouth, lightly at first and then with increasing intensity. His aroused senses, bursting from restraint, were urgent in their headlong rush to savor the delicious pleasures of the soft, supple warmth that had been just beyond their reach all day.

Brett laid a blazing trail of kisses from her lips to her eyes, over her ears, and down the fluted column of her throat to the beveled plane of her shoulders. He was intoxicated by the smell of her skin, and the sweet softness of her body caused the volcanic fires within him to blaze higher and higher. Oblivious to her resistance, he tore open the front of her gown and plunged his hand within to fondle the warm breast whose invitation he could not resist. Its soft and resilient fullness destroyed any remaining shred of control, and he lowered his head to savor its sweetness. Ignoring her shocked protests, his lips brazenly explored the softness until he became aware of a furious pounding on his head and a voice raised perilously close to a scream. Kate was furiously resisting the liberties he was taking with her body.

Kate had not been awake when Brett enfolded her in his arms. Feeling safe nestled next to him, she had clung blindly to her protector. She enjoyed the first tender kisses, but as they increased in intensity and wandered from her lips to her ears, she became uneasy and tried to push him away. Rather than let her go, Brett held her more tightly and pressed his scalding lips down her neck and along her shoulders. In the grip of fear, she struggled to break loose, but he continued to plant little circles of fire all over her flesh. The pinpoints of heat increased in intensity until her skin felt like it would burn up from the miniature cauldrons boiling below the surface.

To her utter amazement, Kate found her body responding to his touch. Little fingers of delicious warmth arched through her like forked lightning across the night sky. Shivers of excitement chased each other along her nerves, slowly at first, and then with mounting speed and increasing frequency until her entire being was alive and rebelling against her efforts to control it.

This rampaging fire threatened to consume her when Brett turned his attentions to her breasts. Struggling valiantly to keep from being swept away by the swift current of these unsuspected sensations, she pounded him over the head and shoulders with her fists, but it only seemed to increase his desire and the boldness of his attack.

“Stop,” she demanded in a fierce whisper.

But Brett seemed not to hear her. His hands fondled a second breast and his lips sank lower until they found her nipple and started to nibble and caress until she feared she would faint from the intensity of the wildly pleasurable sensations he had kindled in her body. She sank deeper and deeper into the warm, welcoming, engulfing embrace of the startlingly new sensations that threatened to wash away her resistance completely. With one final frenzied effort, Kate forced her mind back from the treason of her senses.

“In God’s name, Brett, have pity,” she cried, and kicked him in the groin.

With a howl of pain, Brett came crashing back to reality. The moment he released her, Kate scrambled as far away from him as she could and pulled the bedclothes tightly up under her chin. Her magnificent eyes watched him in fear and confusion; she didn’t trust him anymore, and after what had just happened, she didn’t trust herself, either. The two of them faced each other across the expanse of the bed like embattled wild animals.

Blazing passion still held Brett in its grasp, but the pain in his groin had broken the floodtide of its rise, and anger, a third violent emotion, penetrated his brain. Abruptly Brett tore his eyes off Kate’s face and walked over to one of the windows. He threw it open and let a blast of frigid air cascade over him. The knifing cold of the winter night caused his teeth to chatter, and he trembled from the violent cooling of his passion. He felt like a dying man in the death-dealing grip of a fever.

But his growing anger caused him to forget his physical discomfort, and he rounded on Kate, his brow black with rage, but before either of them could speak, they heard footsteps coming quickly down the hall and a discreet but firm knock sounded on the door.

“Mr. Franks, is anything Wrong?” a voice called, its quiet urgency laced with concern. “I heard the mistress and came as quickly as I could. Should I call Dr. Credlow?”

Damn the nosy wench,
Brett swore to himself as he spun around toward the closed door. She would ruin everything if he couldn’t fob her off with some tale.

“Don’t make a sound,” he whispered fiercely to Kate who was still huddled under the covers. “Ill get rid of her.” Kate just stared at him and clutched the covers more tightly than ever.

“It’s all right, child,” he said in a breathy whisper, trying to sound like a man waked out of a sound sleep. The mistress just had a nightmare.” His voice didn’t sound like Michael’s, but he hoped she would not be able to tell the difference through the door. “She’s all right now. She’s gone back to sleep.” He had no idea if Mathilda suffered from nightmares, but he could think of nothing else.

“Are you sure there’s nothing I can do?” the voice asked anxiously. “Would she like a glass of hot milk? Maybe a little whiskey to make her sleep better.”

Persistent minx,
Brett cursed. “No!” he said more emphatically. “She’s asleep, and I don’t mean to wake her. Now good night.”

Brett waited anxiously. He heard the footsteps begin to retreat down the hall, pause, and then begin a slow, tentative return. He tensed and cursed under his breath; the footsteps paused once again, and then retreated, this time quickly, down the hall. Brett listened closely for the slightest sound, but when he heard nothing for several minutes, he let go of his breath and his body sagged against the door.

Kate was frozen in the same position, but as Brett moved away from the door, she immediately shrank from him, her eyes reflecting her alarm.

“You can rest easy,” he said in something like his normal voice. “I have myself under control.”

“That’s what I thought before,” she said a trifle breathlessly but with a resumption of her old spunk. Her response to his advances had stunned her, and she was more shaken than she wanted him to realize. The closeness of his handsome, virile body frightened her, but it also filled her with an excitement as mysterious and disturbing as it was unanticipated. She needed to be able to calm her racing mind and consider the problem dispassionately, but Brett’s proximity would not allow that.

Kate had never seen so much of a man’s body at close range, and she had never seen
any
man with Brett’s magnetic appeal. His shirt was open to the waist and his powerful chest, still heaving from unspent passion, was open to her wide-eyed view. His muscled calves, powerful thighs, and flat, taut abdomen all contributed to the impression of a sleek and hungry animal poised for the attack.

In spite of her chagrin, Kate could not tear her eyes off his mesmerizing torso any more than she could deny the surge of turbulent feelings springing up within her own body. She felt her nipples harden, and she blushed fiery red as she realized her traitorous body was crying out against the constraints of her mind.

Brett misunderstood her blush. “I would remove my inflamed body from your presence if there was anywhere I could go,” he said with punctilious formality. “Unfortunately, the only piece of furniture in the inn not already in use is this miserable chair,” he said, gesturing to the chair in the corner.

Kate crouched lower in her corner, and with his anger draining away, Brett found himself beginning to feel sorry for her. He had been her only protection, and now he had turned himself into the enemy. She must be feeling terribly frightened and utterly alone.

“You cried out and I tried to comfort you,” he explained. “But I’m no different from any other man, and the excitement of holding you in my arms was more than I could stand.” When she continued to stare at him in uncomprehending fear, he burst out in exasperation, “My God, girl, don’t you ever look in a mirror?”

He stalked over to the dresser, picked up a small mirror, and thrust it in front of her. The undeniably lovely face of a young girl with wild, frightened eyes stared back at her. “Don’t you know what a beautiful woman you are?” Brett thundered in her ears. “Every part of you cries out to be admired, touched, loved. Just being near you is enough to drive a man crazy. No wonder your brother kept you out of sight. He’d have had men climbing over the walls and in through the windows.”

“I’m not blind, sir,” Kate replied, a little frightened by the excessive energy of his outburst. “I realize I’m pretty…”

“Pretty!” Brett barked. “What bloodless turnip ever used such a paltry word to describe you? You’re not pretty, my girl, you’re absolutely stunning, and the mere sight of you sets my blood boiling. Pretty!” he repeated in disgust. “That sounds like the kind of stupid thing Martin would say.”

Kate struggled to contain her pleasure and mask her confusion. ‘That may be, but no one ever became so overexcited by my beauty as you.”

“That’s only because they never saw you. To have you this close and not be able to touch is worse punishment than a whipping. Go back to sleep,” he said, hoping to calm his own racing pulses. “It’s past two o’clock already and the kitchen wakes up at a beastly hour.” He settled into his chair, tucked the blanket up under his armpits so it wouldn’t fall away during his slumbers, and leaned back closing his eyes. It would be some time before he got to sleep, but he was not going to let her guess that. He was not willing to admit to himself yet just how much she had disturbed him.