Read Online Secrets of Seduction by Nicole Jordan - Free Book Online Page B

against the headboard, Hawkhurst absently drew the covers over his lower body to shield his nudity. “I cannot just ignore what happened.” He swore again. “I don’t usually go around raping virgins.”
    Embarrassed laughter escaped her throat. “I would imagine not.”
    His gaze turned deadly. “You find this amusing?”
    “No, not at all. But it was hardly rape. I seem to remember begging you at one point.”
    “That doesn’t justify my actions. I
should
be shot.”
    She had practically seduced him, and he was taking the blame? Skye couldn’t let him feel guilty for what was primarily her fault. “You are not to blame, my lord. You were only comforting me as I asked.”
    “That is no excuse.”
    “I tell you, I wanted it to happen.”
    His gaze pinned her again. “Did you purposely lure me to your bed by feigning your nightmares?”
    “No, of course not.”
    “I didn’t think so. Your cries were too real to be pretense.”
    “They were very real. And I could have stopped you if I’d chosen to.”
    “Why didn’t you?”
    “Because I was overcome by passion.”
    That was undeniably true. She hadn’t consciously set out to seduce him. She’d simply been so overwhelmed with desire that she had willingly surrendered her maidenhead.
    Skye took a deep breath, deciding to try and reason with him. “Lord Hawkhurst, the damage is done. You needn’t flagellate yourself over it.”
    His silence spoke volumes, since he looked as frustrated as the devil.
    “You are making too much of what really is a minor matter,” Skye insisted.
    “A
minor
matter?” He looked ready to explode at her observation. “Don’t pretend you have no comprehension of the position this puts us in,” he ground out.
    Her brow furrowed. “What position?”
    Gazing up at the ceiling, he made a visible effort at control. “We will have to marry. It is the only honorable course.”
    Skye stared back at him blankly. “Marry?”
    “I take responsibility for my mistakes.”
    “I don’t want to be your mistake.”
    “But you are.”
    She could scarcely believe her ears. He was actually proposing to marry her, albeit with grave reluctance. “You don’t wish to wed me, my lord,” she reminded him. “You came all the way to England to claim a certain bride, remember? You are supposed to begin courting Sir Gawain Olwen’s niece soon.”
    “That is beside the point.”
    She pursed her lips. “Have you married every woman you had affairs with?”
    The question seemed to catch him off guard. “Obviously not.”
    “Why should it be different with me?”
    “You know exactly why. Because you are not just any woman.”
    “We should not be forced to wed simply because we made love. We can pretend it never happened.”
    “Impossible. You could be pregnant with my child. Have you thought of that?”
    Skye’s gaze arrested. No, she hadn’t thought of that. Aunt Isabella had told her about how to prevent a man’s seed from taking root inside her body, but that had been the furthest thing from her mind last night.
    “There is no help for it,” Hawkhurst stated darkly. “If there’s a child, we will have no choice but to wed.”
    Skye opened her mouth to object, then shut it again. If word got out that she had spent the night in the earl’s bed and refused to wed him, she would likely be ruined. Certainly she would be if she bore a child out of wedlock, a transgression that would stain his honor as well. She could weather a scandal, of course; in fact, scandals were practically expected in her family. But she would never sentence a child to a life of illegitimacy. Not when she knew the stigma her cousin Jack had endured, being the bastard son of a European prince.
    Yet she didn’t want to trap Lord Hawkhurst in marriage because she was with child. If she were to attempt such a calculating scheme, he would always hold it against her. No, she wanted him to love her first.
    Perhaps that was a valid argument she could use, Skye