Page 65 of The Rake’s Convenient Bride

He grinned at her, that lopsided, boyish way of his that pulled at her heart. “You don’t intend to stay at my bedside all night, do you?”

She considered his words. “I might.”

“The bed is far more comfortable.” He scooted over, making space for her on the broad mattress. Indeed, there was plenty of room.

It would be a terrible lack of propriety to join him.

But then, they’d had no one in the room with them to protect her virtue. Or be a witness to such scandalous behavior either. After all, the staff knew that Elizabeth and Jasper were engaged, and regardless, any good employee did not share secrets.

An ache of discomfort had begun to burn at the back of Elizabeth’s spine, and the hard seat of the wooden chair was digging into her backside. The idea of lying down on the bed was indeed appealing.

The idea of doing so in Jasper’s arms was entirely irresistible.

Without letting herself question what she was doing, she slid off the chair and onto the mattress beside him, lying atop the covers as he rested beneath. Surely that was innocent enough, was it not?

He reached an arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward him so her head rested on the solid heat of his chest. His scent surrounded her, that sensual spice that made her blood go hot. Beneath the thin linen of his shirt, his heartbeat pounded deep and even against her cheek.

She had never been so close to a man before and was altogether entranced by the proximity. For this was not just any man, this was Jasper. The gentleman who had caught her attention the first time she saw him at the exact ball he’d first seen her, the gentleman who she had lied to her friends about having affection for, as she was certain he would want nothing to do with her.

“You’re right, this is far more comfortable,” she agreed, her words coming out like a purr.

His voice rumbled under her cheek as he replied, “I must truly have been concussed to have not thought of it before now.” His chuckle jostled her slightly.

“I’m glad you came here,” she admitted. “That we have this time to truly talk.”

Jasper’s hand stroked over her hair, likely still wild and loose from when she’d run out into the storm earlier. There was a quiet intimacy to allowing him to see her like this, a feeling she found she liked.

“When I told you I didn’t know if I could love, I hadn’t meant because of you,” Jasper said. “I meant in general. My parents accusations…they wounded me.”

“I understand that now.” Elizabeth scrunched her face with what she planned to confess, grateful she did not have to look at him as she spoke. “I never thought myself good enough for you, so when you said that…”

Jasper pulled back and looked down at her with incredulity. “I beg your pardon?”

She shrugged. “You have such an ease about you, always knowing exactly the right thing to say at the right moment. And you’re very sure-footed.” She gave a self-deprecating chuckle.

“I’ve learned to say the right thing to please people, to stay out from underfoot,” he admitted. “But I have never once thought myself too good for you. Quite the contrary. I thought a woman as kind and thoughtful, as beautiful and reputable as you, was far too good for the likes of me. Especially with the stain of my reputation.”

Her cheeks burned with the compliment, and she buried her face in his chest. “So much flattery.”

“So much truth.”

She looked up at him. “Perhaps we are just right for one another then, after all.”

He did not lower his head and kept staring at her, his dark eyes lit with a desire she now understood, as it was the same desire kindling in her own blood. “I’ve always noticed you,” he said. “I’ve always watched you, longed for you from afar.”

“I don’t believe you.” She laughed as she said it, her cheeks growing hot.

He shifted on the bed, putting his hand under the coverlets. When it emerged, there was a white silk ribbon curled in his hands. One that looked very like what she tied her stockings up with.

“Is that…?”

“Your ribbon that came loose from your stocking that night,” he confirmed.

She craned her neck up at him in surprise. “You truly kept it?”

“I’ve wanted you for so long, Elizabeth,” he whispered. “You’re beautiful, graceful⁠—”

“Graceful?” She laughed at that.