“You were right. I left my departure too late.” He hitched up his blanket and leaned back in his chair, half-full wineglass in one hand. “It started snowing as soon as I got to the end of the drive.”
“You should have turned back at that point.”
He still sounded mortally tired. “You know why I didn’t.”
Maggie did. She cut him a huge wedge of the beef pie she’d warmed in the oven and slid it onto his plate. She’d looked after his meals since he’d arrived. Tonight why did this basic act of hospitality seem particularly…wifely? “Had Emilia started limping by then?”
“No. And I only had a few miles to go.”
“It must have been so frightening. I’ve been caught in a snowstorm a couple of times. I completely lost my sense of direction.”
“I could still make out the shape of the hills. And the prevailing wind has been from the north since I arrived. I wasn’t likely to get lost.”
She was overjoyed to hear him sounding much more like himself. “You noticed that?”
He shrugged and began to eat once more. “An architect notes a house’s cold and warm spots. Whoever built Thorncroft knew what they were doing. A small difference in the windows and the doors, and the place would be freezing.”
“It’s usually a warm house,” she said, serving herself a smaller piece of pie. “Especially with all the fires lit.”
Yet how cold and forbidding it had felt after Joss left. Now, it was the Garden of Eden. Such a difference love could make.
“We got to the pass, but it was blocked. I tried to go over the hills and around, but that proved impossible, too.”
Maggie could imagine how he’d struggled on. When he left her, she’d seen his determination. And regret.
She began to eat her pie. “I’m glad you had the good sense to come back.”
He sent her a hard look. “Are you?”
Joss had demolished his pie, too, so she served him the rest. “I don’t want you lying dead and frozen on a hillside.”
“That’s nice to know,” he said, with a hint of his familiar dryness.
He looked much better already. Remarkable, really, how quickly he recovered. It gave her hope that he mightn’t suffer any long-term effects from his trials.
She matched his tone. “Once the spring thaws start, the shepherds get upset if they find travelers who didn’t make it through the snow.”
Her heart cramped with love when humor lightened Joss’s features. “By all means, let’s keep the shepherds happy.”
***
Joss took Maggie’s advice and retired to his room early. He’d done his best to hide quite how battered he felt after fighting the elements, but his body ached like the devil after that long tramp hauling a lame horse. He’d been in a damned bad way when he’d staggered back to Thorncroft Hall. He’d thought winters in Sussex could be grim. He’d had no idea how bitter cold weather could be until he struck these wild northern uplands.
Now he lay in his big, warm bed, and he couldn’t entirely blame his restlessness on the aftereffects of his ordeal. Unsatisfied desire proved more agonizing by far than mere aches and pains.
Since he’d arrived, he’d spent hours lying awake in his room, hungering for Maggie. But tonight the yearning was sharper, more focused. Now he knew how her kisses tasted, and how perfectly she fitted in his arms, and the sounds she made when she enjoyed a man’s attentions.
Tonight he knew she wanted him, too.
Nothing had changed since he’d headed out on his futile quest to reach Little Flitwick. It was still wrong to seduce Maggie. Of course it was. Otherwise he wouldn’t have embarked on a journey that brought him to the brink of disaster.
But wrong or not, dear God, how he longed to have her here beside him. How he burned to see her all warm and rosy and responsive, the way she’d been after his kisses beside the pond.
The girl he’d first met had had sad eyes. But she hadn’t been sad when they’d skated, and when they’d kissed, and tonight when she’d welcomed him back. She’d been incandescent with joy.
And he’d recognized then that their coming together was inevitable. From the first moment, she’d caught him in her spell. Was that only four days ago?
He felt like he’d lived through a lifetime since.
Joss closed his eyes and surrendered to exhaustion, dreaming of Maggie becoming his at last.
***
The sound of the door opening pierced Joss’s dreams of fighting through snow as sticky as melted wax to reach Maggie. Instantly alert, he opened his eyes. He felt no disorientation. He knew where he was. He knew who had come in, even before he rolled over to face the doorway.
Elation surged so powerfully, it was painful. His heart began to race, and his mouth went dry with anticipation. He must have been asleep a couple of hours. The fire burned low and painted the chamber dull gold.
“Maggie?”
The woman who was his delight and his torment hovered on the threshold. Her hand shook so badly that her candle sent shadows jumping against the walls. She wore the white flannel nightdress, familiar from his first night.
Joss knew better than to take her presence for granted. Her arrival mightn’t mean what he so desperately hoped it did. “Are you in trouble?”
“Yes…” Her voice was a frail thread.
He was out of bed before he recalled he was naked and that if she’d come to ask for help, a huge lummox wearing nothing but his skin was likely to scare her silly. “What’s wrong?”
Her eyes, dark and mysterious, widened as she stared at his body. The candlelight performed a slow waltz. Joss saw her delicate throat move as she swallowed.
“I’m sorry,” he said gruffly, fumbling to find his dressing gown. Until he remembered it was in his pack. He’d been so bloody tired and sore when he came upstairs, he’d toppled straight into bed.
Her attention fell to where his cock rose hard and insistent against his belly. Through the uncertain light, he saw a delicious wash of pink color her cheeks. The dangers of sharing this house with her had never been so stark as they were right now.
When she lifted her eyes, he couldn’t mistake the desire he saw in her face. She licked her lips as if she wanted to taste him, the way a hungry man wanted to dive into eating an extravagant meal. Even through his astonishment, his body reacted predictably.
“Don’t be sorry.” That whisper played havoc with his control. With difficulty, he resisted the urge to cover himself like a bashful schoolboy. Instead he turned away and walked across to where his saddlebags rested against the wall.
She’d get an eyeful of his bare arse, but damn it, what choice did he have? His hands weren’t much steadier than hers when he opened his bag and rooted out his dressing gown. He shrugged it on, worried that Maggie remained so deathly quiet.
Even though he could no longer see her, her image burned in his brain. Slender. Graceful body wreathed in white, as incendiary a sight as a blatantly naked courtesan. Her auburn plait curled across her breast, following the path that his hands itched to trace.
Battling for control, he turned as he tied the sash. She was staring at him as if she beheld the wonder of the ages. That did nothing to cool his arousal. The beat of blood in his head was so loud, he had trouble hearing her.
“I forget how…big you are. And then…”
Then he started prancing around with his tackle waving in the breeze. Maggie Carr was the one woman in creation who could make him blush. How his louche chums in London would cackle to see libertine Joss Hale turn as awkward as a boy with his first lass.
And all because that lass was so breathtakingly beautiful.
And fragile.
And strong.
All his tried and true strategies with a pretty girl seemed tired and outmoded. Because never before had his heart been involved in a seduction.
He wasn’t a fool. Nor was he in the habit of deceiving himself. From the first, Maggie had stirred something more profound than a young man�
��s natural yen to bed a comely wench.
But only now did he realize how close he came to loving her. Whatever happened tonight—whatever happened after tonight—this affair would change him forever.
“Then I see how huge you are.”
He knew she described his size as a whole, but all this talk about dimensions made his dick swell with excitement. Yet the possibility remained that he was getting all worked up about nothing. “You said you need my help.”
She squared her shoulders as if facing some great task. “I do.”
His stomach dropped. Disappointment made his voice crack. Disappointment he had no right to feel, damn it. “Are you ill?”
To his surprise, Maggie took a faltering step into the room. Even as he counseled caution, his heart turned a somersault. She must realize that entering his territory was dangerous.
“No, I’m not ill.” Maggie shifted from one bare foot to the other. She had to be freezing. But unlike their first night, he didn’t trust himself to lay his hands on her.
“Then what is it?” He cursed the impatience in his voice, but having her so near in this silent house asked too much of a mere mortal. The stillness somehow worsened his torture. When he’d gone to bed, the wind had been howling like the hounds of hell, but it had since dropped. He felt like the world held its breath to see what happened next, and every word carried the weight of destiny.
Maggie bit her lip, and he closed his eyes against the sight of small white teeth sinking into cushiony pink flesh. He rapidly reached a point where if she didn’t leave, he wouldn’t be responsible for the consequences. He wanted her so badly, each breath hurt.
“I…I could have lost you today.” Her voice was low and husky. “You tried to make light of it, but you forget I live here, and I know the risks you took by going.”
“I know the risks if I stay here.” His voice rasped. “You’re a chaste woman.”
“Yes, I am.” She grimaced. “But what use is that chastity to me?”
This time, the silence crashed down as hard as an avalanche. Before he could stop himself, Joss stepped closer. He spoke through a tight throat. “You’re not thinking clearly. You’re upset because I got caught in the snow. In the morning, you’ll regret a rash decision.”
Why in Hades did he try to talk her out of yielding, when it was so bloody obvious that was what they both wanted? But for the first time in what he recognized as a selfish life, his pleasure wasn’t of paramount importance.
“I am thinking clearly.” A stubborn expression settled on her face, banished her nervousness. “Until you came, my life was flat and meaningless. Each day was exactly the same as the last. Once you leave, that’s what my life will go back to.”
The bleak picture she painted made his gut knot with pity. A pity he knew she’d despise. “Sweetheart—”
Her voice hardened as she ventured closer, until only a few feet separated them. “In the years to come, when the nights are cold and the bed is too big for one person, I want something glorious to remember. Don’t make me beg, Joss.”
For pity’s sake, what could he do, when she said that? He knew what was right, but he needed her so desperately. “Come here, Maggie.”
The tension drained from her expression, and she launched forward. The sudden movement did for the candle, and it flickered out as Joss’s arms closed hard around soft flannel and softer woman.
Chapter 10
Firelit night descended like a benediction. With a luxuriant sigh, Maggie melted against Joss as he bent his ruffled head to kiss her. The snuffed candle fell to the ground with a soft thud, as she kissed him back with all the longing in her heart.
The flickering, concealing darkness was welcome. It saved her blushes. Because while she came to Joss with no regrets, enough of the vicar’s daughter remained for shyness to set its claws into her.
She knew now how to tease and lure and play, so their kisses quickly turned into a passionate game. After a brief, fumbling moment, he whipped the nightdress over her head and cast it away. Fleeting self-consciousness cramped her stomach. She’d never been naked with a man before. But the heat of Joss’s lips against hers soon blasted any bashfulness to ashes.
His hands explored bare skin, tracing searing trails wherever he touched. He kissed an incendiary line down her neck, making her shiver and gasp. His hands found her breasts, and he played with her nipples until they were hard and aching. A powerful pulse set up between her legs. On an incoherent plea, she pressed closer, shoving the edges of his dressing gown aside.
Shocked pleasure punched the breath from her lungs, when she felt his hardness rising against her stomach. The dark encouraged her boldness, although she couldn’t help remembering how huge and demanding he’d looked when he left the bed. She shivered with a heady mixture of trepidation and excitement.
Maggie sucked air into her starved lungs. He smelled like heaven. Surely she could live on his scent alone. She rubbed her face against him, feeling the soft friction of hair against her cheek.
“May I touch you?” she murmured into his skin.
“Oh, yes,” he groaned, nipping at the curve of her shoulder.
Grateful that the banked fire left her in shadow, she pulled far enough away to untie the dressing gown. Her hands were clumsy, and by the time she’d released the knot, they were both panting with impatience. She pushed the heavy garment from his shoulders. With a rustle, it fell to the floor.
Tentative hands fluttered up his arms and down his chest. She’d touched his chest before, but now every caress brought her nearer to their union.
“You’re so warm.”
He caught her hand and pressed it to where his heart hammered against his ribs. “Let me keep you warm.”
What an irresistible offer. Until he came to Thorncroft, her life had been endlessly cold.
“Yes,” she whispered, leaning in to kiss one firm male pectoral. The room’s dusky light brought senses other than sight to the fore. His scent hung rich in the air. His skin was smooth beneath her hands, and tasted of salt and snow. His breath was an erratic rasp in her ears.
“Let me undo your hair.” Joss shivered under her kiss and spread his hand across the back of her head, holding her face against him. He nuzzled her temple. “I’ve dreamed about seeing your hair loose around your shoulders.”
“Have you?” Maggie asked in surprise.
His low groan was a growl against her ear. “Good God, yes.”
Wonder flooded her, and she felt like she dissolved into a warm puddle of honey. He’d dreamed of her. How amazing. Perhaps they were more equal in this desire than she’d imagined. “I had no idea.”
“Don’t you know you’ve haunted my every thought, since the moment I stumbled over the threshold and fell into the clutches of a cranky fairy?”
With a choked laugh, she pressed another kiss to his chest. “That doesn’t sound very appealing.”
His lips drifted down, and he nipped her earlobe between his teeth. The sting set desire churning in her belly and jammed the breath in her throat. Her fingers encircled the hard flesh of his arms, as she fought to keep her balance under the overwhelming onslaught of sensation.
“A sweet, exquisite fairy.”
“That’s better.” She’d arrived at his door in a grim spirit of necessity. Joss, bless him, showed her that starlight shone through the darkness.
“I’ve had a million fantasies about your beautiful hair.”
She straightened and stared up at him. When he smiled, she caught the gleam of his eyes. “You make me so happy.”
He cradled her head between his hands and kissed her. “And I’ve hardly started.”
“Undo my hair,” Maggie said, amazed at the way such a seemingly innocuous act became so significant, when she stood naked before the man she wanted. As he reached out and with a shaking hand untied the ribbon, she felt like she presented him with a precious gift.
They stood so close, she heard the hitch in his breath when he began to p
art the strands. She trembled under his touch. As his hands moved, his knuckles brushed her breasts, setting off a cascade of thrills.
It took him forever to unbind her hair, but some instinct held her back from helping. At last she felt the soft tickle of hair across her naked skin.
With a reverent touch, he began to run his fingers through her long hair. His deep sigh of satisfaction communicated his pleasure in her in a way mere words never could.
“Lovely,” he murmured, lifting a silky hank and letting it drift down through his fingers so it caught the red glow of the firelight. “Lovely, lovely, lovely.”
Confidence unfurled in her heart. Joss wanted her. She already knew that, of course. But she hadn’t known he’d dreamed of her. She hadn’t known he yearned the way she’d yearned.
Her hair cascaded in thick auburn waves down to her waist. With another of those wordless sounds of appreciation, Joss collected great handfuls and buried his face in it. She smiled, enjoying his pleasure, and stroked his head, the crisp curls cool under her fingers.
“Let me light the candles,” he said urgently as he raised his head. “I need to see you.”
“Next time,” she whispered, feeling daring and wanton as she thought of the nights stretching ahead of them.
White teeth glinted as he smiled. “Yes, next time.”
He swung her up into his arms, so she felt like she was flying, the way she’d felt she was flying when they skated. With Joss, her soul took wing.
Helpless against the wild clamor of desire, she curved into his body and slid one arm around his powerful neck. “I love how strong you are.”
I love you.
That rumble of subterranean amusement always made her heart skip a beat. “I’m a big brute, that’s for sure.”
“You can pick me up with one hand,” she said breathlessly.
“Not quite.” He laughed softly. “How angry you were when I hauled you down to the kitchens that first night. I thought my boldness must bring a fairy curse down on my head.”
Mistletoe Wishes Page 54
