He kissed her. It came without thought—this urge, this hunger. His hand sank into the thick tumble of her hair as his lips devoured hers.

“Wait!” she gasped.

He pulled back, but just an inch.

“I love you, too,” she whispered. “You didn’t give me a chance to say it.”

If he had had any hope of controlling his desire, it was lost in that moment. He kissed her mouth, her ear, her throat, and when she was on her back and he was over her, he took the delicate tie that held her gown together between his teeth and pulled open the knot.

She laughed, a throaty, wonderful sound that nevertheless startled him in so heated a moment.

“It was so easily undone,” she said with a helpless smile. “I could not help but compare it to your father’s knots this morning. And we’re in bed, too!”

He couldn’t help but grin, even though bed was the last place he ever wanted to think about his father.

“I’m sorry,” she said with a giggle. “I couldn’t help it.”

“I wouldn’t love you so well if you could,” he teased.

“What does that mean?”

“Just that you have a marvelous ability to find humor in the most unexpected of places.”

She touched his nose. “I found humor in you.”

“Precisely.”

Her lips came together in a rather satisfied smile. “I think— Oh!”

Clearly, she had just noticed his hand sliding up her leg.

“You were saying?” he murmured.

She made a delightful little noise when he found the soft flesh of her thigh, then said in a breathy voice, “I was going to say that I think we should not have a lengthy engagement.”

His hand crept higher. “Really?”

“For the sake of . . . Daniel . . . of course, and— Hugh!”

“Definitely for my sake,” he said, taking her earlobe lightly between his teeth. But he rather thought her exclamation had a bit more to do with the soft heat he had just discovered between her legs.

“We need to show that we mean to keep our side of the bargain,” she said, her words punctuated by soft squeals and moans.

“Mmmm-hmmm.” He let his lips trail softly down her neck as he pondered the wisdom of sliding one finger into her. He had just enough presence of mind to estimate that they had about thirty minutes before her cousin returned, certainly not enough time to properly make love to her.

But it was more than enough time to give her pleasure.

“Sarah?” he murmured.

“Yes?”

He touched his fingers to her core.

“Hugh!”

He smiled against her skin as he slid one finger into her heat. Her body jerked, but not away from him, and even as he began to move within her, his thumb found her most sensitive spot, pressing lightly on the nub before beginning a slow spiral of pressure.

“What is this . . . I didn’t . . .”