Carolyn Davidson – The Marriage Agreement (страница 12)

“Can you bring yourself to trust me? Will you do as I ask you?” As the query penetrated her mind, he watched, noted the expression of confusion that painted her features, and then the hope that dawned in her dark eyes.

“I don’t know what to do,” she murmured. Her hands gripped together and her knuckles turned white as he watched them tighten. “I thought he was dead.”

“Lily.” He spoke her name once, then again. “Lily, listen to me.” His thoughts moved quickly, past this day to tomorrow and the next, to the multitude of Wanted posters that would be cluttering towns from Chicago to New Orleans and back. “You can’t be known as Lily Devereaux any longer. Not if you don’t want to be found.”

“But that’s my name,” she said.

“If you pretend to be my wife, you can become Lily Morgan.”

She looked up and met his gaze, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. “And then what? Pretend for the rest of my life?”

“I can use you as my wife. You’ll make a good cover for me.”

“A good cover for what? What are you, Morgan? Some sort of a crook?”

He shook his head. “No, far from it. But right now I need to get back on the job, and with you along as my bride, I’ll fit the image I need to portray.”

Her shoulders squared and her spine stiffened as she gathered herself, a visible process he recognized. “Let me get this straight,” she began. “You’re willing to believe me now, but you didn’t before? And now I find you’ve been holding out on me.” Her voice rose. “And you accused me of lying, of hiding the truth.”

“You were lying to me,” he said patiently. And then one hand touched her mouth, stilling her protest. “Let me change that. You weren’t being entirely honest, let’s say.” He spoke quietly and slowly, knowing that his movements from this point onward hinged on her reply. “If I tell you what you need to know, will you help me?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“We always have a choice, Lily. I told you that before. Remember?”

“That was about going home again,” she reminded him. “This is something altogether different. What if your plans cause me to break the law? Is there a law against posing as someone’s wife?” She looked so honestly befuddled Morgan was tempted to laugh. He took pity on her innocence.

“I don’t think they can put you in jail for posing as my wife. But they sure as hell can toss you in prison for trying to kill some dandy up in New York.”

“Well, maybe I deserve it. I meant to kill him. I thought he was dead.” she said.

He shook his head. “Oh, Lily. If you could only hear yourself. The man is after you, sweetheart. He’s going to hunt you down. And then he’s going to gnaw on your bones.”

She shivered again, but her chin jutted forward as her eyes narrowed a warning. “He’ll have to catch me first.”

“He’ll catch you all right,” he told her agreeably. “Unless you listen to me.”

“Any guarantees, Morgan?” she asked.

He shook his head. “None. Except that I’ll take care of you to the best of my ability. I won’t ask any more from you than I’m willing to give you.”

She shook her head. “Like what? What are you talking about? What are you going to ask of me?”

He spoke slowly, with a degree of patience he hadn’t known he possessed. “I’m asking you to pose as my wife, Lily. I’m asking you to help me with a job I’m in the midst of. And I’m asking you to trust me.” He eyed her cautiously. “Can you do all of that?”

She looked at him as if he were holding the only life preserver available and she was the sorry creature about to go under for the third time. And then with a deep sigh, she gave her answer. “I can trust you, I think. And I’ll help you with the job you’re in the midst of.

“But I won’t pose as your wife.”

He hung his head, a smile lurking at the corner of his lips. “You won’t pose as my wife? Is that what you said?”

She nodded firmly. “If I didn’t trust you already, Morgan, I wouldn’t be in this room with you. As to the job you’re doing, it can’t be much more dangerous than me running for my life from whoever’s after me.”

He had his doubts about that theory, but decided to hear her out. “So? That doesn’t tell me why you turned me down on the wife part.”

“I listened to one man promise me he’d marry me. Then he dragged me the length of the country, only to admit he’d fed me a string of lies, and I’d fallen for them, hook, line and sinker. The next time I run off with a man, he’ll marry me first, or I won’t go.”

“You want me to marry you?” He was proud of his even tone. The woman couldn’t know how hard his heart was pumping at her declaration. With all her shenanigans, he’d have her in the palm of his hand. He could settle with her once the job was done.

She nodded firmly. “I really don’t want a husband, Morgan, but you’ll do, since I don’t have anyone else lined up for the position. But with one stipulation. Someday when everything is all cleared up, when you’ve finished with me, I want you to take me home. I want my family to think I’ve pulled myself out of the gutter, and having you on my arm just might accomplish that.”

The girl didn’t know what she was getting into, and he wasn’t about to set her straight. He cleared his throat and lifted her from her seat on the edge of his bed. “A couple of things here, Lily. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve never been in the gutter, so we won’t talk about that again. I’ll need to hear the whole story one of these days, but not right now.

“In the second place, I’ll marry you. But know one thing, Lily. You’ll be a real wife to me.” He caught her chin in his palm, and lifted her face, watching as his words penetrated her mind. “You’ve got it right, lady. You’ll be in my bed, and I won’t be put off on that point.”

“You want to do that with me?” she asked quietly.

He could no longer contain his amusement with her naive assumptions. The grin escaped, and with it a soft chuckle. “Doing that isn’t an unpleasant thing for two adults to do together, sweetheart.” His thumb rubbed her jawline reflectively as he watched a flush rise to cover her face. “Trust me on this, Lily. I won’t ever hurt you, and I won’t leap on you like a damn bull just because we speak those words in front of a parson.”

She bit nervously at her upper lip and he rubbed at it with that same thumb. “Don’t do that. Just listen to me.”

“I’ve heard what you have to say, Morgan. And I’m agreeing. I’ll go with you, and I’ll sleep in your bed. But I’ll never be convinced that you can accomplish the thing we’re talking about without me being the one—”

“Enough,” he said softly. “We’ll get to all of that later. For now, let’s make some plans. But first—” He released her chin from his grasp and bent his head to touch her lips with his. He couldn’t resist, and to his astonishment he wasn’t about to try.

“Is this part of the other thing?” she asked dubiously.

He shook his head. “No, this is just called sealing a pact between partners.” And then before she could move away, he brushed against her mouth again, his lips soft and persuasive against hers. Carefully, tenderly, he caressed her, his hands curving around her face, then sliding down to rest against her back, his fingers tracing the slender curves of waist and hips. Then, bringing his palms to rest against her rib cage, he deepened the kiss, touching and tasting the fullness of her lips with his tongue.

She inhaled as he left her mouth still wanting, his caresses moving to explore her throat, and from there to seek out the soft flesh that tempted him. There, beneath her ear, and again to where her blood pumped down the side of her throat. And finally to where her breasts curved above the lace at her neckline. He spent a multitude of kisses on the firmness he found there, finding her unspoken response to be more seductive than he could have imagined.

“Morgan?” It was a gasp of reaction he’d waited for and he lifted his head to smile at her.

“It’s only a kiss, Lily. Only a kiss.”

She blinked and he set her aside, willing to wait until the time was right. Lily would be his. That lush body, the curls that spilled over her shoulders, the tempting lips that held a trembling smile—all would be his. And soon.

“You have that confused look about you, Lily.” May watched her from heavy-lidded eyes and Lily sensed a hidden meaning in the woman’s words. “Like you’re trying to figure out which way to jump.”

“Jump? I’m not sure what you’re talking about, May.”

“About whatever it is Morgan has planned for you. He’s no dummy. He’ll use you for his own purposes, honey. Watch your step.”

“You don’t trust him?” Lily asked, fingering the sheet music Charlie had offered for her perusal.

“The question is, do you?” May took one of Lily’s spiral curls on the tip of her index finger and stretched it out to its full length, then released it, smiling as it resumed its original place. “He’s taken with you, that’s a given. But the man has secrets, girl, and you might be on the verge of a disaster.” She tilted her head and considered Lily for a moment.

“I saw a drawing that caught my eye, Lily. It was on a poster, dockside. When I looked again to be certain of my suspicions, it was gone.”

A feeling of dread blossomed within her as Lily stared in disbelief. “You saw it? You recognized me?”