Sweet Enemy (28 page)

Liliana impressed Geoffrey with her honesty. He knew from the timbre of her voice and the fire in her eyes that she felt strongly about this issue, yet she’d willingly given him the flaw in her argument. Her obvious integrity only increased his respect for her.

“But I can tell you that at normal concentrations, sulfuric acid burns skin and tissues and, if ingested, can perforate one’s esophagus or gastric tract,” she stated. “If inhaled, it damages one’s lungs. It only stands to reason that even in small quantities, over a long period of time, exposure cannot be good for people.”

Liliana grasped his hand, sending a shock of awareness through him. Through her, too, if her expression was any indication, yet she held on, squeezing him firmly.

“I know my theory is correct. It may take me some years to gather conclusive data, but I know it.” Pink bloomed in her cheeks and she sighed, releasing him. “Forgive me. I’ve overstepped myself.” She turned her face away.

“Oxygen and water, you say?”

Liliana nodded.

“I wonder if that’s why my father closed that old well behind the folly a couple of years before he died,” he mused. “The villagers complained but he said the water was dead.”

“That certainly could be, if the well dug into the lead ore at any point,” she said.

Geoffrey gazed out over the valley, where he’d envisioned his soldiers living happily with their families, their children. He had no wish to do anything that might harm the very people he was trying to help. And if there was even a chance…“I’ll move the village.”

Liliana snapped her head around. Her eyes widened, but a small smile curled her lips and her shoulders relaxed. “You will?”

He nodded, her obvious relief convincing him that he was making the right decision. “I’ll have to clear some land behind us, but it can be done. I may even move the smelting mill down into the valley,” he said, calculating what such a move would cost in efficiency, as well as pounds sterling. “It shall be more expensive to operate, but I don’t wish the children to breathe the smoke it will generate.”

Liliana’s smile grew wider, even as her eyes took on a wondering look. “You
are
a good man,” she whispered.

Something tilted within him, and Geoffrey gave in to the need that had been building for days.

He kissed her.

It was no sweet suitor’s kiss, begun with a slow lean and fraught with anticipation. No, it was a hungry kiss, initiated first by his hands, which cupped Liliana’s face in a firm grip, followed by his mouth, which enveloped hers with ravenous desire.

She moaned low in her throat, a velvety sound that shot fire through him. He half expected her to pull away, but instead, she leaned up on her toes, relaxing into his hold and pressing herself against him. She opened to his exploration, allowing his tongue access to her mouth. Her skin was soft beneath his hands, like satin as his finger brushed the tender underside of her earlobe. She shivered in reaction, sending a tremor through him as well. By damn, she was so responsive it would take only—

Geoffrey yanked himself back, gasping for breath. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I should not have taken advantage.” He dropped his hands to her shoulders, gently putting her away from him, lest he drag her into his arms and take real advantage…the kind that could not be undone.

Liliana, it seemed, was having just as much difficulty regaining her composure. Her chest rose and fell, and he could see the throbbing of her pulse against her neck,
very near where his hand still rested. He released her, taking a step backward.

Her extraordinary eyes were wide but had darkened sensually into a deep amethyst. That incredible curiosity of hers gleamed in their depths as she watched him…that quality that he knew would make her an exceptional lover. He groaned. Thoughts like that would not help him in his bid to be a gentleman. “Forgive me,” he said, taking another step back.

Liliana remained, her chest rising in deeper, slower breaths. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lower lip, or perhaps to soothe it. His kiss hadn’t been gentle. Yet Geoffrey couldn’t regret it, even though he knew he should.

“I’ll not forgive you.”

Geoffrey grimaced. He straightened his shoulders and lowered his head, prepared to allow her to heap whatever well-deserved condemnation she wished upon him.

“There is nothing to forgive,” she said softly.

He raised his head, focusing on her face. Her lips were swollen, had deepened a shade from his kisses. Yet they were smiling.

“I have something to say.” Her voice didn’t waver, yet her cheeks pinkened, alerting him that whatever was on her mind wasn’t an easy thing to get out. “I’m going to be blunt, though it may cause you to think I am not a lady.”

Geoffrey held very still, his attention rapt.

Liliana took a deep breath. “I’ve told you I have no intent to marry, but that does not mean I have no wish to…”

He found he could no longer breathe.

“That is, I’ve been thinking since the night you kissed me in the library…” She shook her head and started again. Her chin trembled, barely enough for him to notice, but notice he did. “I am four and twenty. I have studied science since I was a girl. I am well aware of how…reproduction works.”

She took a small step toward him, and prickles of sensations rolled in waves over his skin.

“But I am only now becoming aware of a…” She licked her lips again, seemingly unconsciously, but it was as if she’d licked his own instead, so real was the jolt of lust that took hold of him. “A desire to experience it for myself.”

“Liliana,” he whispered, his throat too dry to speak. She waited for his response as bravely as any young soldier he’d ever witnessed, yet her lips quivered just a touch with a vulnerability that moved him. Still, he needed to understand what she was asking just as much as he needed time to cool his ever-increasing need so that he could think clearly. He swallowed and tried again. “You must know that I want you. A man doesn’t…kiss a woman with such fervency if he doesn’t desire her greatly.”

He waited for her nod before continuing. “So you understand that at this moment I would like to make love to you, more than anything else I think I’ve ever wanted?”

A shy, yet radiant smile accompanied the flaming blush that swept Liliana’s face, and for a moment Geoffrey thought he would lose his resolve to remain, in practice at least, a gentleman. A plan was forming in his mind, but he could not act on it until he’d had time to consider it fully without the influence of lust that currently dominated his every thought.

“Yet, I cannot,” he said as gently as he could. “I have too much respect for you to allow you to throw away your maidenhood, which by all rights should belong to your husband.”

Liliana frowned, her eyes turning downward. “But I’ve already told you—”

He held up a hand. “I know, but you might yet change your mind. In fact—” Geoffrey stopped himself from saying the words aloud, but he could not halt them in his head.
In fact, I hope that you will.
He stepped forward, Familiarizing hers to his touch
cupping his hand around her cheek. “I cannot do anything that will take that choice away from you. That would make me the worst sort of man,” he whispered, staring deep into her eyes. “A dishonorable one.”

She dropped her head, the weight of it resting in his hand. He caressed her cheek, drawing his thumb lightly over its surface before drawing it over her lips.

“But neither can I deny us both what we want,” he murmured.

Liliana brought her head up, her eyes contracting with confusion, with shame and with something that looked suspiciously like hope.

“I will show you some of what you wish,” Geoffrey said, knowing he shouldn’t say it but unable to keep the words inside. “But only so far. I will not allow us to do anything irreparable.” Yet even as the words left his mouth, Geoffrey was afraid that what they began was already irreversible. “And we will take it slowly.”

In answer, Liliana turned her lips to his thumb, which was still absently caressing her, and kissed it. Geoffrey closed his eyes, unable to watch the incredibly erotic kiss.

“Do you agree?” he said.

“Yes,” her voice reached his ears. He opened his eyes. Liliana looked as mesmerized as he felt.

“Good,” he said roughly. “Because I’m going to kiss you now, properly, as I should have from the first.”

He leaned toward her, gently pulling her to his lips. His heart leapt when she leaned in to meet him on her own.

The first touch of her lips on his nearly brought a moan from his still tight throat. It was as if the stricture was melting at her touch, allowing him to breathe in fully of her, her scent, her being.

Her lips were warm, tentative, as if she feared showing her passion lest he call a stop to her experimentation. He tightened his grip on the back of her neck, caressing, massaging as he moved his lips lightly from side to side.
Familiarizing hers to his touch, showing her that he could be gentle, too. He could feel the puffs of her breath on his face, becoming shorter, faster. Hell, at least she could breathe.

When he could stand it no longer, he tilted his head and fitted his mouth to hers. He brought his hand back to her face and put enough pressure on her chin with his thumb to get her to open her mouth. As his tongue swept inside, he returned his hand to her neck, holding her as close to him as he could.

She moaned, welcoming him, yet he sensed she still held herself back. That was fine with him. He didn’t know if he could handle it if she didn’t. He tried to keep the kiss light—tried to contain the force of his own passion that he struggled to keep leashed. He stroked her tongue with his, long strokes, short ones. Exploring her, savoring her as he hadn’t had time to during their previous, heated kisses. He’d expected her to taste of lemon, but it was apples and honey that came to mind, tart yet sweet. Her taste was as contrary as the woman herself.

When she finally allowed her tongue to stroke his, the leash slipped. He gathered his arms around her, lowering them to the soft grass on their knees. He maneuvered to his backside, then brought his left hand around her back and slipped his right under her knees to gather her into his lap, never breaking the kiss. When he had her settled, he brought both hands to cup her face, deepening his kiss, ravenous for her.

He’d been so tempted to settle her astride him, as he’d imagined ever since seeing her galloping astride on horseback. Her cotton shirt and breeches would be a paltry barrier between them, and the urge to feel her breasts against his chest, her warmth pressed against his arousal with only the thin cotton between them, was almost irresistible. But then he would be breaking the very rules he’d just set.

Besides, there was always later.

Geoffrey admitted, the moment she touched her
tongue to his, there would be a later with this woman. She made him feel things…His passion-charged mind couldn’t fully comprehend it, but despite his claims to the contrary, he knew. Knew he would have to have her.

He broke the kiss, gasping for breath. He was still caressing the side of her neck when she lifted her chin, struggling for her own breath. His lips immediately found the pulse point at her neck, his tongue darting out to feel the beat of her heart against him. He ran his mouth down to the hollow of her throat as his hand trailed over her collarbone to her chest, cupping a full breast in his hand.

Her low moan brought his lips back up to hers in a drugging kiss—he didn’t want her to surface from her sensual haze yet. He knew they couldn’t remain in the open like this, yet he wasn’t ready to let go. He gently squeezed her breast, sweeping his thumb across her nipple, feeling it tighten beneath the cotton of her shirt.

She moved restlessly in his lap. It was his turn to groan as the globes of her bottom brushed against his arousal. He was quickly losing control. He dragged his lips from hers. He could not, would not take her here, not now, after he’d just told her he wouldn’t dishonor her. He had to think, get some perspective.

He tucked his face into the side of her neck, trying to calm his breathing. Her breast was still cupped in his hand, nipple straining against his palm. He slid his hand gently down her side to settle on her waist. It took supreme effort to remain still, not to touch her, to let her regain her composure.

Liliana lifted her head, her eyes direct. “Is it always like this?” she asked, her voice a breathy sound that stroked him as surely as if she’d touched him. “This…” She pressed her lips together and her brows dipped, and Geoffrey knew her innocence struggled to find the words for how she was feeling. “This overwhelming, gnawing ache inside?” She smoothed her palm down her center, settling it low on her stomach.

Geoffrey shook his head. It had never been like this for him before. Ever. “No,” he whispered. “This is something special.”

She gave a slow nod of comprehension, never looking away from him.

She
was
something special. What she made him feel was something special. Something he’d never before even wanted to feel but now was beginning to suspect he didn’t want to live without.