Free The Earl's Secret by Kathryn Jensen

him. Although, at the moment the idea seemed an entirely acceptable one. “Everyone who wasn’t in town has let out their places to friends for the exhibition.”
    â€œAnd you plan to sleep where?”
    He had to laugh at her skeptically arched brow. She could do that proper-young-lady look so well. He would love to walk straight up to her, tear off her conservative white blouse and stand back to enjoy her reaction. He had a notion that behind all that determination to behave herself, she was burning to be touched. He would be delighted to oblige.
    â€œThis isn’t the least bit humorous,” she said.
    â€œOf course it is. Do you suspect every man you meet of conspiring to get you into bed?”
    She blinked at him, and he wondered if she wasdisappointed or just surprised that he’d come out and said it. “You mean you’re not?”
    â€œI won’t claim innocence. It isn’t that I wouldn’t welcome the opportunity to join you between the sheets. It’s more a matter of having already given up the battle.”
    â€œOh.” She nibbled pensively at her lower lip, then looked away. Her shoulders gave an almost imperceptible quiver. If this was a woman who didn’t want to be loved, then he must have lost all ability to read female body language.
    â€œYou, woman, are driving me mad,” he muttered, suddenly overcome by a vital need to kiss her.
    In two swift steps he closed the distance between them. Embracing her before she had a chance to dance away, Christopher brought her to his chest. His lips closed demandingly over hers. He expected her to push him away. If she had, he would have let her go immediately and apologized, even though he wouldn’t have meant it. But she didn’t push, and he had no willpower left to make the effort himself. Then her mouth opened beneath his, and that sign of welcome was far too exciting to pass up.
    He loved how sweet she tasted. He delighted in the sensation of her body melting against his. When they had kissed before, he told himself that was all that could ever happen between them. A simple kiss. No more. Then he had caressed her breast, and he’d drawn another mental line beyond which he swore he wouldn’t step. Now his mind stopped functioning entirely, stopped laying down rules and limits, stopped demanding he do anything but follow his instincts and satisfy his hunger for her.
    He would feel himself inside of her. He would.
    Her voice came to him, as if in a dream, through the blinding heat of his passion. He made himself pay attention despite his body’s insistence that he not listen. “Please…” she whispered urgently.
    Please… what? Was the next word, stop? Or more? It was a lousy time for the woman to forget how to speak in complete sentences!
    With other women there always had been a spiritual distance, a separation between emotion and the physical act. Everything seemed obvious then. The message he got from their bodies, their eyes, their hands was easy to interpret. They had come to his bed to indulge their own desires. Consequently, the sex they shared had satisfied his needs. Staying together for any length of time had not been an issue.
    Jennifer had appeared out of the mists of Loch Kerr in a funny red van. She had charmed him before he realized what was happening. He had been too busy flirting and playing tour guide to realize that he was feeling something real and special for her. And now, as he held her, he understood it was too late to step away without causing himself, and maybe her, as well, considerable pain. But it had to be done. It was the honorable thing to do.
    He started to push her away, but she clung to him.
    â€œI don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered in her ear. “I didn’t plan this. Believe me.”
    â€œI don’t care,” she whimpered, but he wasn’t sure what it was she didn’t care about. About her leaving him? About