Page 29 of The Gilded Lady (The Gilded West #3)

She smiled up at him and kissed him again, a soft caress of her lips, as if she couldn’t stay away. Desire urged him to go further, but he wouldn’t. Not tonight. She was too vulnerable now and more than a little drunk.

“We should get some rest,” he said, using up every last ounce of restraint that he had.

She grinned again. He couldn’t understand how she could keep smiling after all that had happened. Rage and tenderness were at war inside him. She rose, still a little unsteady on her feet and surprised him by holding out her hand. “Will you come with me?”

He stared at that hand, recognizing the moment for what it was.

She was offering him a tiny opening into her life.

This wasn’t about the past, this was about moving forward.

He took her hand before he could even think of what it might mean for them.

Closing his fingers around hers, he followed her to her bedchamber.

She offered him her back. “Can you help me?”

His fingers were suddenly clumsy as he worked the fastenings, parting the rich blue silk to reveal her undergarments.

When she shrugged out of the gown, he thought he should turn away but he was frozen where he was, unable to look away from her.

He felt like he’d felt the first time he’d ever lain with a woman, even though he knew this night wasn’t going to end up in sex.

Yet, it seemed so much more intimate somehow. His palms were clammy.

The corset and some sort of underskirt followed the gown, tossed over the trunk at the foot of her bed.

One by one the pins came out of her hair to be tossed onto the dresser.

He swallowed hard as he watched the red waves cascade down to her waist. She looked shy and eager as she looked up at him.

His hands moved with a mind of their own as he responded to her expectant gaze.

He took off his coat and waistcoat and toed off his shoes before following her to the bed.

She laid down on one side and he climbed into the bed beside her.

Her eyelids were heavy. He knew it’d be minutes before the brandy’s effects put her to sleep for the night. “There’s something else I want to tell you.”

Rising up on his elbow to see her better, he said, “Anything.” His curiosity about this woman was insatiable.

Taking in a shaky breath, she said, “I was there for over a year when I…I became with child.”

Rage coursed its way through him, and his instinct was action.

He wanted to go out into the night and pull Dubose from whatever hole he was hiding in.

His heart pounded, urging him to go, but he fought the impulse.

It wasn’t what she needed from him and it wouldn’t be wise.

Not until they knew more about Dubose’s plan.

Instead of saying anything, he put his hand on hers.

She immediately turned it over so they were palm to palm.

“One night…” There were no tears in her eyes, but there was deep sadness on her face and in her voice. “He already had adult children and hadn’t wanted any more. He pushed me down the stairs. I went into early labor and…I lost the baby.”

“I’m so sorry.” His eyelids sank closed as he tried to imagine her pain and confusion when that had happened. He couldn’t do it. The torture she’d faced at the hands of that mad man was unfathomable.

When he opened his eyes she was staring up at him. Her face open and solemn. “I’m sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you that. I didn’t want to make you sad, I just wanted…I wanted to share it all with you.”

“Don’t be sorry. Please don’t ever be sorry with me.”

She smiled and touched his face before turning over on her side away from him. “You don’t have to stay all night if you don’t want to, but would you mind staying until I go to sleep?”

He nodded, too awestruck by the woman before him to find his voice.

Realizing she couldn’t see his nod, he moved slowly closer to her, wary of how small she felt next to him.

He suddenly felt too large and clumsy, as if one wrong move could mar the perfect creature before him.

She was a queen and he was a lowly subject that had somehow stumbled his way into being allowed to touch her.

He expected her to pull away, but the moment his arm went around her waist she snuggled back into him.

He let out a breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding.

Her small frame fit perfectly against him.

She was small where he was big, soft where he was hard.

God, was he hard. He gritted his teeth against the sudden arousal that pulsed through him.

She must have felt him, throbbing there against the most perfect backside he’d ever felt, but she didn’t say anything or move away.

Finally, after a few minutes, the tension left his body and she relaxed into him even more.

He’d never lain like this with another person.

Not even Christine. Their meetings had always been quick and rushed.

They’d never had the luxury of simply being together.

The idea of it had never even occurred to him, but he liked it.

Glory’s presence soothed something in him that he hadn’t even realized needed calming.

Her hand found his resting on her stomach and she surprised him again by lacing her fingers with his.

He gently tightened his hold and closed his eyes as he buried his face in her hair.

He didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but for now he was with her and that’s all that mattered.

He fell asleep almost immediately. The weight of all that he’d learned pulled him down into a dark sleep. The scent of roses filled his dreams. So decadent, yet so dangerous.