Three Nights of Sin (27 page)

“Of course.”

“You say it as if it’s obvious. Why would you keep track of such a thing?”

He arched a brow. “I value my research.”

“And what has it told you about me lately?”

“You have a number of offers. Good ones. Your brother is even hoping for an earl.”

“He is. I met the earl tonight.”

Something passed across his eyes.
Jealousy
. Her heart beat faster.

“I have looked into the earl’s affairs,” he said, fingers tapping on one crossed arm. “He is not a bad choice, all things considered. Jeremy, whose real London project happens to have two legs and a twittering laugh, was prowling a dinner affair where he met the earl. He commented that he was nice enough. My reports say the same. Moderate consumer of spirits and gambling. Plenty of money to keep you in style. The ladies report that he is not hard on the eyes. One of your others—Ratching, is it?—is also a decent choice.”

She stopped a foot in front of him. “Yes. Both decent choices.”

“Whom will you choose?”

She stepped forward a few inches more. “Who do you think I should choose?”

“Ah, but that is not my decision to make.”

She closed the last six inches and tilted her head up. “I’m asking your opinion, is all.”

His fingers curled into white knuckles.
Yes
. “And I’m not giving my opinion to you.”

She pushed flush against him, her eyelids dropping to half-mast, his arms automatically falling and allow
ing closer contact. “Then I suppose I should determine my favorite with a kiss?”

He crushed his lips to hers, and she eagerly returned the kiss, the assault.

“I’ve missed you,” he said against her mouth.

She pulled away an inch. “I’ve missed you too. I worried about y—”

He kissed her again. “I know. Talk later.”

He turned and pushed her down on the bed, and she smeared papers beneath her as she leaned back on her elbows.

“I’ll never find anything in that pile again,” he said, his voice rasping as if he’d run ten miles as he continued to kiss her. He pushed against her, hard and delicious, and she pushed back, wanting the heat.

“You can’t find—” She arched back as he freed a breast and sucked the tip. “—anything in those piles anyway, admit it.”

“Never.”

He pulled up her skirts, the layers of material ballooning and bunching around and between them. He stroked a finger along her, unerringly finding the exact spots that made her writhe against him, sneaking a fingertip inside her, on the path her body had already made. Fire and desire combining as he made her body sing. His body aligned with hers and her throat caught.

Fingers threaded through her hair and brilliant green eyes met hers. She looked in his eyes and read the honesty reflected back. The desire, the caution, the love.

“I don’t want any of the others.”

“They could give you the life you deserve.”

“No.” She shook her head. “They will give me anything but.”

“I’m the son of a butler and governess, Marietta. Hardly someone that—”

She put her finger to his lips. “I love you.” She felt the shock jolt through him, and barely kept hold of herself as the movement thrust him inside her an inch. “Love is what none of the others could give me,” she said breathlessly. “I know you do not desire marriage. I don’t expect—”

He placed a finger against
her
lips. “I never said that. I worded myself very carefully. I wanted to give you a clean chance to do as
you
wanted.”

“I want
you
.”

“Are you sure?”

“Completely.”

He smiled. A smile full of charm and roguish intent. Her pulse raced even as the happy light in his eyes made her heart soar. And then he was all the way inside of her and without looking away from each other they were moving together and cresting over the edge.

He pushed the papers from the bed, scattered leaves gently settling on the hardwood below. He held her to him like a warm blanket and she clung back.

“You do realize,” he said lightly, “that once I commit to something, you’ll never be rid of me?”

“I’m counting on it.”

“Excellent.” He traced a pattern on her back. “Now about those three nights…”

ANNE MALLORY is a lifelong romance reader who sold her first novel to Avon Books after becoming a finalist in RWA’s Golden Heart contest.
Three Nights of Sin
is her sixth book.

Aside from writing, she is an enthusiastic hobby collector, game player, water girl, cat lover, chocolate consumer, and homebody. Not necessarily in that order. A native Michigander, Anne currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Visit her online at
www.annemallory.com
. She loves hearing from readers, so feel free to drop her a line if you’re there!

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This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

THREE NIGHTS OF SIN
. Copyright © 2008 by Anne Hearn. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Microsoft Reader March 2008 ISBN 978-0-06-164573-0

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