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Caleb stepped into Celeste’s apartment, intrigued and excited to be in her space. He wanted to learn everything he could about the many sides of her. At the house party, she’d stood out as an independent woman, and tonight, dressed as Thumbelina, she appeared both playful and seductive.

Yet, he suspected the décor of this room explained her more than anything else. It was masculine, with deep, rich colors, but then there were places where her feminine side came out. He picked up a pillow with elaborate flowers and lifted a brow. “You needlepoint?”

A blush covered her cheeks as she removed her mask. “We all have hobbies.”

He pulled his bandana off. His lips twitched upward. “I like it. You, Celeste, are a contradiction of so many things.”

She poured them each a brandy and handed him one before pointing towards the sitting area. “Aren’t we all? You are both a lord and a self-made man.”

He supposed, but why did she seem so different than any other woman he’d ever met?

Caleb studied her over the rim of his glass.

She sat with one leg folded over the other.

The fabric of her dress emphasized the shapeliness of her stem.

He suspected this was how she sat after a long evening of work, reflecting on the day.

“True. You said hard work helped you become a part-owner in the club. How did you start working here?”

Celeste was quiet momentarily, and he thought she would not respond.

Eventually, she said, “My mother died, and I was desperate for a job. I didn’t have many options, and the ones I had were worse than working at a scandalous club.

There was an advertisement seeking men for employment at the Den.

I begged Derry for a position. To this day, I still have no idea why he hired me. ”

While his father had been tossed out of his home, he’d taken an inheritance with him. Caleb had truly never known desperation, and fury filled him, imagining what Celeste must have endured. She shook her head. “Don’t feel bad for me. I survived and have done quite well for myself since then.”

He didn’t deny he was upset. “You don’t have any other family?”

Her mouth twisted with distaste. “Not that would claim me.”

Caleb realized that Celeste’s father was likely a lord. If he knew his name, he would make the man’s life a living hell. “Who is he?”

Her beautiful eyes widened in surprise. “I don’t need a defender. He knows I’ve flourished. Trust me. He simply doesn’t care.”

Sadness coursed through him. The lord in question was a damn fool. His intense gaze connected with hers. “It is his loss. Not yours.”

Celeste shook her head. “I never talk about such things with anyone. Why are you so easy to talk to? Maybe it is because you are American?”

He snorted. “Trust me. There are plenty of my countrymen you wouldn’t find so affable. It isn’t that. You like me, Celeste. That is why it is easy to share things.”

A pretty blush bloomed on her cheeks. There was something about the sweet color on her face when she was such a force to be reckoned with that tempted him.

“What about you? Have you always dreamed of returning to England and wedding a proper English lady on the marriage mart?”

“I have no interest in any of the young ladies being presented this Season. None of them have what I’m after,” he said, perusing her intently.

Celeste sucked in a breath, and he stopped himself from reaching across and pulling her on to his lap. They both sipped their drinks, and she asked again, “And returning to England is that what you have always wanted?”

Caleb was quiet for a moment, pondering her question.

He would stay here indefinitely, but it wasn’t the pomp of being a marquess that called to him.

It was the land. “My father, when we were children, used to talk to us about the estate, specifically about the fields of crops and the people. He held such a deep level of respect for it all. It was evident he missed it. In New York City, he was a businessman. Venturing out to the countryside was for holidays. Even as a child, I remember him always appearing as if he were a caged animal being forced to perform at all the pompous society events, but when we left the city, he was so different. He was free to be himself.”

“Did he admire you for journeying out west?” she asked, sensing a similarity in personalities between father and son.

Caleb laughed loudly. “No. My brother, Cory, and I proposed buying land in the western territories to expand the family’s portfolio. My father was furious. He at first refused to invest in the idea.”

He took a sip of his drink. Going west had made him grow up far more than any other choice he’d made in his adult life.

Laws in the region were determined by the men and factions there.

“He felt the areas out west were dangerous. It was mainly out of concern. Some would call the West uncivilized, but I never saw it that way. It is an area filled with groups of people fighting to survive. It changes how you act and who you are fundamentally.”

She studied him. “You liked it?”

He nodded. Caleb missed it. “I loved it. Whenever I returned to New York City, I suddenly felt like the caged animal.”

“Why are you giving it up? Could you not be a lord and hire someone to oversee things here?”

He could, but Caleb wanted his father’s land—the need to have it and manage it overpowered even his strong feelings for their ranch out west. “My brother Cory will care for our property. It is a messy place, and of all of us, he is the best to adapt to the changes coming. The American government wants to control the area but has been unable to so far.”

Caleb saw both the pros and cons of a centralized government but believed it was inevitable. He feared for the tribes in the area. He and his brother had great relationships with them, but others would come who wouldn’t.

She looked at him and smiled softly. “That is why you seem so different. You are a man formed by a place that most see as uncontrollable or untamed.”

He smirked at her, and the heat between them flared. Caleb liked her description. She tapped her foot nervously. Celeste took another sip and asked, “Did your father change his mind?”

Pushing away his lustful thoughts, Caleb said, “Yes. He was able to visit our land before he passed. He said the fields reminded him of the Haven Estate.”

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the back of the chair. “I still find it very noble that your father wed your mother.”

“He hated it when anyone said he did the right thing. To him, that was irrelevant. He loved her too much to give her up—that was his only reasoning.”

Her eyes fluttered open, and she mused, “I imagine you and your siblings are all hopeless romantics.”

Caleb found himself tired of talking about the past. He finished his drink and stood. “Come here, Celeste.”

***

Celeste didn’t bother to resist. She placed her glass on a table and walked to him.

This man insisted she was a fascinating contradiction, but wasn’t he?

He was a man who wanted for nothing but still ventured into the unknown, not once but twice, first by settling in the American West and then by making England his home.

This was only for one night , she reminded her heart, which was beginning to ache.

Trying to take back some of the control, she smirked up at him. “I don’t like to be ordered about.”

He stroked her cheek. “Sweetheart, I’m not asking you to do anything you haven’t already decided on.”

“You think you know me so well after a handful of encounters?” she asked breathlessly.

His lips trailed along her jaw. “I do. I don’t know why it feels like I’ve known you forever, but it does. Yet, at the same time, I’m hungry to learn more.”

Warmth shot straight to her core. “I promise there isn’t much else to share.”

He kissed and licked her neck, and her hand grasped the front of his shirt.

He sighed deeply in her ear. “That is where you are wrong, Celeste. I need to know so much about you. What will make you whimper for me? What will make you beg for more of my touch? Most importantly, how do I make you let go and give yourself to me completely?”

His words both drew her closer and terrified her.

They weren’t the words of a casual lover but of someone who wanted more than that.

Someone who would demand more. She wasn’t that woman, especially not for the Marquess of Haven.

Still, Celeste wanted this moment with him, and selfishly, she wouldn’t deny herself.

Later, she would deal with the repercussions of that choice.

Even though Celeste didn’t like giving up control, she wanted to give herself to Caleb. He wouldn’t be the first man she’d slept with, but with others, it had always been centered around her precise terms. Tonight, she didn’t want to think about rules but simply to get lost in his touch.

He cupped her face with one hand and pressed his lips to hers.

Her arms slid around his neck, and any further conversation halted.

Caleb’s tongue dominated hers, stroking and teasing.

She moaned and pushed her body into his.

His hands slid down her back before grasping her hips and rocking her against his hard shaft. Her core clenched.

Finally, he broke the kiss. “While this dress is a temptation I will fantasize about for a long time. I need you out of it. Turn around.”

She did as he asked. He quickly removed the wings and then set to work on loosening her gown. A shiver ran down her spine as he slowly unbuttoned her costume. She wore nothing underneath. Celeste heard him suck in a breath when he discovered only skin lay beneath the lace.

Shocking her, he stepped back, and Celeste turned to see what he was doing. He discarded his jacket and sat on the edge of the bed, watching her intently. “Take it off, sweetheart. I want to watch you.”

Celeste attempted to step out of her heels, and he shook his head. “Leave them on.”