Page 53 of Impetuous

Sir Philip chuckled. “I thought you would like it.” He paused, gazing down at her face, now softened with pleasure. “I am glad that it pleases you.”

Cassandra could not keep from smiling back at him. His smile had a way of warming her through and through. She felt an urge to move closer to him. Instead, she drew herself up and stepped back. He was, she reminded herself, quite practiced in his charms. She could not let herself trust him.

“Well,” she said coolly, “with such a task, we had better get to work.”

“Of course.” Disappointment flashed across Philip’s face, but he quickly masked it. “Where shall we start?”

Cassandra glanced around the room. “I’m not sure. It is so massive.”

“I suggest the second level. The books that are more recent and more read are usually on this floor. The older things tend to be up the stairs.”

“All right.” Cassandra started purposefully up the twisting staircase, saying, “Why don’t I start at one end and you at the other? We can work our way toward the middle.”

Philip stopped at the top of the steps, watching her walk to the other end of the loft. This was not the way he had envisioned their working together. “Cassandra? Is something the matter?”

She turned back, her expression carefully bland. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“You are acting a little strange today.”

“In what way?”

“You know what way,” he retorted, frustrated by her cool responses. “As if you were angry with me, and I haven’t a clue what I might have done.”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware of it. I merely want to get on with our search. Don’t you?”

His eyes narrowed, but he did not dispute her words. “Yes,” he said shortly. “Of course I do. Let’s get started.”

He walked to the opposite side of the loft. Cassandra turned to her task, telling herself to forget about Philip’s presence on the other side of the room. She squatted down and began at the bottom shelf, moving along the row of books. Whenever she came upon a title that seemed even remotely something that could be a book about queens, she pulled it out and looked through it.

The work was dusty, physically tiring and soon boring. Cassandra, too, had imagined working side by side with Philip, talking about the books they found and whatever else struck them, laughing and enjoying the search as they had in the attics of Chesilworth. But there could be no laughter or sharing with him on the other side of the room; it was what she had intended when she suggested it. However, getting what she wanted left her feeling dissatisfied and lonely.

She reminded herself that what was important was finding the dowry, not spending time with Sir Philip, and she forged ahead. They worked steadily through the afternoon, keeping the door closed and not answering anyone’s knock. Sir Philip had a tray brought for lunch, which they ate at the large desk, their conversation stilted and uncomfortable. Cassandra could feel Philip’s confusion and frustration, and she wished that she could return to the ease that had marked their relationship earlier. But she could no longer feel comfortable with him. The thought of his illegitimate children kept intruding.

As soon as they finished eating, Cassandra suggested that they get back to work. It was physically tiring work, involving stooping, bending and squatting. Her feet and legs began to ache, but it was her shoulders and neck that really felt the strain. As tea time approached, her neck grew stiff, her shoulders cramping from holding her awkward position so long, head bent to the side. She straightened, letting out a tired sigh, and rolled her head, pressing against the hard knot at the base of her neck.

“Tired?” Philip asked from behind her as he reached out and began to knead her shoulders.

Cassandra jumped, startled to find him so near to her. She had not heard him approach. His touch was much too intimate, too; it aroused a fluttering sensation in her stomach. She knew she should tell him to stop, but at that moment his thumbs found the hardest spot of her stiffened muscles, and instead she let out a low groan of relief.

“Got it, huh?” He bore down a little harder, and the result was somewhere between ecstasy and pain.

Cassandra sagged, letting her head fall forward. He worked his way up the taut muscles of her neck, his thumbs massaging away the tension. Cassandra thought she might melt into a puddle on the floor. The release of the tension was delight enough, but there was another, insistent sensation, a tingling that sizzled straight down to her womb and had nothing to do with the muscles of her neck. Limply she let the feelings wash through her, aware of the heat filling her loins, her nipples prickling, the sudden moisture between her legs.

Philip bent and placed a gentle kiss on the side of her neck. It was the merest breath, a brush of sensation that sent passion gushing through Cassandra. She drew in her breath sharply, her legs suddenly trembling. She wanted him. She wanted to turn and move into his arms. She wanted to taste his mouth on hers, feel his hands on her body.

“Cassandra,” he murmured. “So sweet…”

His hands slid down from her shoulders, moving slowly along her arms, and her skin turned to fire beneath his touch. His hands glided back up, and he took her by the shoulders, turning her to his kiss.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“NO!” CASSANDRA WRENCHED herself away from Philip. She faced him, trembling, frightened by the torrent of emotions that he could so easily awaken in her. “I will not be another of your conquests!”

“My conquests!” He stared back at her in disbelief, his face still slack with desire. “What are you—”

“No!” Cassandra stepped back quickly from his outstretched hands. Whirling, she ran across the loft and down the staircase, her shoes ringing on the metal steps.

He did not follow her, for which she was grateful. If he had caught up with her and tried to persuade her with kisses and caresses, she did not know what she would have done. She was afraid it would have been something foolish. The fact of the matter was that she seemed to have no self-control around Philip. Her vaunted will vanished when he began to kiss her.