Page 87 of Her Dangerous Beast
He didn’t begin to understand her, and despite his best intentions, that intrigued him.
“Why do you want this?” he bit out, thinking again of her proposal, although he knew he should not. “Not the search for the exiled prince, but…the rest.”
The loss of her virginity, he meant, but he couldn’t speak those words aloud for fear of the effect they’d have upon him. Already, the notion of making her his, of having her beneath him in bed, was a sensual taunt he couldn’t quite excise from his mind. Enough to make his blood simmer and his trousers far too snug.
“I prize my freedom,” she said. “For ten long, merciless years, I have had to sacrifice it for the good of my people. And soon, I’ll enter an arranged marriage for the same reason. I want something that is my choice alone. Something that is for me, before I must resume my duty. This time I spend in London may well be the only chance I have. If you’re not amenable, I’ll find someone else who is.”
The devil she would. A strong, protective instinct rose, one that wouldn’t be quelled. Because he understood, to his marrow, how it felt to sacrifice himself for others. He’d been doing it from the time he’d been born as the illegitimate son of a marquess and a London actress.
“You are intent upon this course, Your Highness?”
She held his gaze, unwavering. “I am.”
Heat unfurled through Archer, the air in the room seeming suddenly heavy with possibility. “Then prove it.”
