UnexpectedChristmas (5 page)

They found a large canister of walnuts in the shell and a
tin of crackers.

He grabbed her to him to kiss her hair but just then she turned
up her face to answer him and he found himself kissing her lips. His hot,
possessive embrace would have her protesting if she knew what it meant. She
clung to his coat lapels and returned the kiss in an untutored way, exciting
him even more, but he managed to tamp down his again roaring libido and take a
step back.

“Caro, my dear girl, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten
you.”

She surprised him by blushing, even though this
transgression was no worse than his others.

“I wasn’t frightened,” was all she said.

She busied herself setting the crackers and peanuts on top
of the bar.

“If there are nuts there’s bound to be a way to crack them.
Let me look again on the lower shelves.”

A moment later she straightened with a rusty nutcracker, her
face beaming.

“As long as we have water, we’ll be fine. And some heat, of
course. Shall I go cook the last of the eggs now? We might as well have a
hearty breakfast. For lunch and dinner we can always have peanuts and cheese
and crackers. Just think how our diet has improved with nutritious peanuts,
Sebastian.”

She sailed off to the kitchen and he stared after her.

Again he was tempted to tell her they only had a day’s
supply of wood left and again he resisted. He wanted her as happy as possible,
and again he wondered at his unusual concern. He followed her into the kitchen,
admiring how deftly she had learned to cook the eggs. This surprising girl was
without a doubt equal to anything she tackled.

* * * * *

The nuts turned out to be more filling than he’d expected.
As he sat cracking the last ones she’d allotted to him, she suggested he go
chop more wood while she cleaned up their dishes.

“Then I think I want to make snowballs. I haven’t done that
for so long and I pack a wicked snowball. When you get through you can join me
for a snowball fight.”

“I’ll join you right now, Caro. I’ve split all the wood
that’s there. I’ll bet I can make a harder snowball than you.”

She looked at him, grinned, and said nothing at all,
although her grave eyes told him she realized the seriousness of their
situation. She went upstairs to don her shabby cloak. How he’d love to dress
her as she deserved to be dressed. Have her gorgeous hair properly coiffed.
Give her the jewels to match her lovely new clothes. If she weren’t so
obviously a lady he’d set her up in the little house he kept in St. John’s
Woods. Thinking of how she’d react to such a proposition made him smile again.
He’d be lucky to escape with his masculinity intact.

He went outside to make his first snowball in at least ten
years. What a girl she was, to take the news they’d soon be freezing again. And
going out in the snow like an eager child to claim what joy she could. No
wonder she fascinated him.

* * * * *

When she joined him she surprised him once again.

“Oh just feel how soft the snow is.”

With a little jump, she laid herself flat on the snowy
surface and smiled up at him.

“Did you ever make snow angels? I used to love to do them
when the snow was just right—enough to hold you up but not let you sink.”

She began sweeping her arms up and down to make the angel
wings and his heart nearly stopped. Her beautiful face was aglow with pleasure.
He’d never seen a lovelier sight.

“Where did you make angels, Caro?”

His voice must have been soft enough not to alarm her as she
almost dreamily answered, “At Throckborn Hall, of course. We always spent
Christmas there.”

Not wanting to stop her reminiscing, he only said, “Of
course.”

Still, something alerted her and she jumped to her feet and
threw a snowball that hit him squarely on his forehead.

“Look to yourself, my lord Sebastian. I love a good snow
fight.”

He knew he was grinning as he began to form a tight
snowball.

And the fight was on.

* * * * *

Ten minutes later Caro acknowledged defeat.

“If I could I’d hold out longer but I’m exhausted. I don’t
think I could pack another snowball. It’s only that you have more strength, my
lord, not that you have superior strategy.”

She stood, panting and smiling, and his heart betrayed him
once again. His heart and his swollen cock. How he could grow so large with so
little encouragement and snow down his shirt and neck he didn’t know.

Why did this one girl have such power over him? Surely it
was only because there was no other distractions when they were so isolated.

He smiled a devilish grin.

“Did we set a forfeit for the loser? No, we did not. I
therefore claim my winner’s prize.”

There in the snow he took her in his arms and kissed her
with the passion that had been building for the last two days. Ever since she’d
raised those glorious eyes. Greatcoats, capes, snow coating both their faces
and hair, nothing could dim his kiss and her passionate response.

When he could breathe again he did not release his hold on
her.

“Caro, do you know where this is going? Do you even begin to
know how much I want you? I can’t promise to hold back tonight.”

She was silent even as she snuggled as close to him as she could
get.

“Yes, I think I do. It’s not nearly as much as I want you,
Sebastian. But if I surrender we both know what that means. I’m not worthy of
your notice in the
ton,
where you shine. And I’m not really cut out to
be a mistress. I need to think.”

He buried his face in her hair.

“Ah, Caro. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted another
woman.”

She moved away from him.

“I’m not sure that’s enough, Sebastian. Maybe for you. But
maybe not for me.”

She struggled through the snowdrifts to the door of that disreputable
inn and then disappeared.

He stared after her. He’d told the truth when he said he
wanted her more than he’d ever wanted another woman. That was clear even to his
muddled head. But how to claim her without violating her considerable pride he
did not know. And if he destroyed her shining integrity, would he still desire
her?

Far more important, would she still value herself?

Her frank response had amazed him. Her integrity would be
intact, no matter what she decided. He didn’t have to worry about that.

He’d never met such an honest woman.

He couldn’t see his desire fading, even though his history
told him otherwise. He had a distinct impression his passion for Caro was of a
different dimension.

But how did a simple man know?

He went back to bringing in the last of the logs and banking
the fire in the kitchen stove to make it last as long as possible. With the
eggs gone, they could go back to using the main fireplace. At least that
provided a modicum of heat to the bedrooms above. At the thought of the coming
night, he almost felt despair. He did not dare get in bed with her again. He’d
be on top of her in a minute, parting those luscious legs and making her his.
He had no more resistance left.

He couldn’t do that to Caro. Yet he wanted to be near her while
he could.

He’d sleep on the floor and hope his extra body heat would
warm the room a little. He’d also hope they were rescued before another night.
They’d better be. They’d starve and freeze, were they not. And he’d have taken
her in every position he knew. On her back, on her knees, against the wall with
her legs clinging around his waist.

Probably for her he’d even invent some new ones.

She was so damn gorgeous, both in looks and in character.

Where he’d gotten his sudden scruples from he didn’t know.
He could fuck her, leave her, and no one would know. She didn’t have any
influence to stop him. She had no power in the world he lived in. He could
laugh off any claim she made.

Impossible.

He could not do that to Caro.

He’d sleep on the goddamn floor, goddamn it.

This time he’d stay there.

* * * * *

He’d not taken into account the full effect that being in
the same small room with her would have. He’d brought his one pillow from the
bed and placed in on the floor. He left all but one of the blasted, meager
blankets on the bed. For her. He was a grown man, by god. He could spend one
night on a freezing cold floor without any lasting damage. She needed to sleep.

He was still aroused as hell. He wanted nothing more than to
join her in that miserable bed, roll her under him and slake his desire. Still
he arranged his pillow and one blanket, determined to freeze if he must but
leave Caro unviolated.

He’d not reckoned with Caro. His delightful, unpredictable
Caro.

“Sebastian, what on earth are you doing? You can’t sleep on
the floor.”

He ground his teeth.

“I think it’s best this way, Caro. If I join you I’ll make
you mine in every physical sense of the word. Using your hand will not be
enough. You inflame me, Caro. But you’re a lady in every way that counts. I can
offer you nothing but my body. Go to sleep and be thankful I’m at least a
modicum of a gentleman.”

There was a long silence and then Caro spoke.

“Come to bed, Sebastian.”

Unable to utter a word, Sebastian closed his eyes and prayed
for a strength to resist that did not come.

He rose slowly from the floor, the blanket trailing from one
hand. Too late he wondered if he should have draped it around him to hide his
fully erect cock. No matter, she’d seen it before. But this time he needed it
in her beautiful body.

“Ah, Caro. My beautiful Caro. Do you know what you’re
doing?”

He threw the blanket on the bed as he approached. Caro sat
upright, watching him with shuttered eyes and a half smile on her lips.

“Yes. I’ve thought about this all day. I will never have the
chance to know love if I do not know it now with you. There will be no
repercussions or regrets, Sebastian. I doubt I’ll ever desire another man as I
do you. I want you to teach me about love. I want beautiful memories to last me
through the years. You can make me a wonderful present in this season of
Christmas giving.”

Sebastian’s mind was in turmoil. This wonderful girl,
wanting only him? As a gift to her? Did she then have no idea of her beauty?

Caro’s golden hair cascaded over her shoulders and her eyes
smoldered with a passion he doubted she recognized.

“Ah, Caro.”

He joined her in the bed and threw the blanket back so he
could cover her body with his. Capturing her lips with his own, he tried to
part them and insert his tongue. Her sudden recoil made him realize that no
matter now insistent his desire, she needed to be led gently along. She was a
novice at the game of love.

Damn, slowing his rampant body down was going to be hell.
His cock urged him to plunge into her at once, to teach her every delight he
knew, whether she was ready or not. Shocked at his thoughts, he pressed his
forehead against hers. He was not a barbarian, even though she made him wonder
if he had the strength he needed to keep from being one.

He framed her face with his hands, his lips moving around
her cheeks and forehead and finally settling on her mouth. This time she parted
her lips and he slid in his tongue, tasting all her sweet crevices. In spite of
the fact this type of kissing was obviously new to her, she soon seemed to
relish it and tried to follow his every movement. Their tongues tangled in an
erotic dance that left them both trembling. Somehow her innocent eagerness was
far more sensual than any caresses he’d received from experienced partners.

By all the saints, how was he going to slow himself down
enough that she would find pleasure? It seemed to him he’d known and wanted her
forever, not just for three days.

It was far too cold to strip her naked but he let his hands
rove where they would, feeling if not seeing the delicious curve of her hips,
her small waist and flat stomach and finally, good lord, her perfect breasts.
Plump yet not too big to lift in his hands. He pulled down her gown enough to
kiss them, thinking the room was far warmer than it had been.

She was trembling against him, flexing her body to touch him
anyplace she could. She thrust her hips against him and he nearly exploded on
the spot. Suddenly she stopped, looking up at him with great, questioning eyes.
And he knew she’d felt the huge hard lump of flesh between his legs and was
wondering if would fit. Even last night he’d not been this large. He held her
hands with one of his, exploring her beautiful body with the other. When he
reached her mound he felt the thick crisp curls and concentrated on caressing
them, gradually finding the little nubbin protruding from her folds.

She freed one hand and tried to stop him but he took her
hand away and caressed her most sensitive spot until he felt her warm juices
and knew she was ready. He entered her then, going as slowly as he could until
he was seated deep within her. She gasped but made no other sound. Her body
clutched his in reaction and he knew he’d never felt such tightness. He laid
his forehead against hers and fought to keep from climaxing at once.

“Caro,” he groaned. “Just hold still for a moment.”

“But I need to move. I love the feel of your big body,
although I do wish I could see it.”

“Probably a good thing you can’t. Caro, hold still.”

To both his pleasure and his chagrin, she rotated her hips
and he climaxed in a burst of pleasure such as he could not remember.

She stilled immediately, although the walls of her vagina
clenched his cock. She was so hot, so tight, he could have plunged in and come
again but he did not. She had been a virgin, for god’s sake. He lowered his
forehead to hers and waited for the waves of pleasure to calm. Then he kissed
her lips, gently and with regret.