It was a few moments longer before the gleam of highly polished black lacquer heralded the approach of the St. John town coach. Maria hoped that the distance to be traveled was not one that would need the sturdier travel carriage.

Simon’s equipage drew up behind hers, and with laudable haste they were all in hot pursuit.

Colin vaulted down from his travel coach with relief, his long legs cramped from the many hours spent traveling from London to the small posting inn just past Reading. He stood in the courtyard a moment and surveyed his moonlit surroundings. Jacques alighted behind him, and together they entered the inn to secure their lodging for the night.

The dim interior was quiet. Only a few patrons remained in the main room; the rest had retired. The necessary arrangements were quickly dealt with, and shortly, Colin found himself in a small, sparsely furnished room that was clean and comfortable.

As soon as he was alone, melancholy descended in a cold, weighty mantle. He was a day’s ride away from Amelia, with the morrow bringing even more distance between them. Frustrated by the progression of events, he prayed sleep would offer him a brief respite, but after years of dreaming of Amelia, he did not hold out much hope.

He was reaching to close the curtains when the door opened behind him. Gripping the hilt of the dagger hidden in his coat, he canted his torso to make himself a smaller target.

“Montoya.”

Amelia’s sweetly feminine voice caused him to freeze in midturn. He had hoped to be followed, but not by her. Now the danger that stalked him shadowed her as well.

“I had to see you,” she murmured. “Your carriage passed me in the street, and I could not allow you to go.”

Only years of training and living by his wits leashed his surprise, preventing him from ruining everything by facing her. Instead he closed the drapes, dimming the gentle light of the moon before turning toward her. If he was fortunate, the banked fire in the grate would keep his face mostly in shadow, lessening the possibility of recognition.

Mentally prepared only for her reaction to him, Colin was completely vulnerable to his own reaction to her. The sight of her by the door-and near a bed-hit him like a blow, freeing a possessive, primitive growl from his tightened throat. She shivered at the sound, her lips parting with quickened breaths.

His hands clenched into fists at his sides. Did she know what she did to him?

She stood proud and undaunted before the door, a beribboned hat tied at a jaunty angle, her slender body encased in a gown of shimmering satin and delicate white lace. The innocent cut of the dress made the years fall away, made him hard as a rock and hot to claim her. He loved her deeply and completely with lingering traces of his boyish adoration, but he also lusted for her with every drop of the wild Gypsy blood in his veins.

“Tell me you did not travel alone,” he bit out, hating to think of such beauty unattended. She was a treasure to be secured and valued. The thought of her on the journey without a guard, unwittingly in jeopardy, tied him in knots.

“I am protected.” Her eyes glittered in the muted light, and she queried in a whisper, “Are you angry with me?”

“No,” he said hoarsely, his heart thudding with rhythmic violence in his chest.

“The mask…” She inhaled audibly. “Most men look especially dashing in evening attire. You-”

“Amelia-”

“-move me always. Whatever you wear, wherever we are.”

His eyes closed as her praise rippled through him. He took an involuntary step toward her, then jerked to a halt. The room was suddenly too small and airless; the need to divest them both of every stitch of cloth was nearly overwhelming. His craving for her grew more ferocious, clawing and biting in its desire to be appeased.

“Are you happy to see me?” she asked in a small voice.

Colin shook his head, his eyes opening because he couldn’t bear not to see her. “It kills me.”

Tenderness swept over her finely wrought features and called to something deep inside him.

“It is the yearning I sense in you that lures me.” She stepped closer, and he lifted a hand to halt her progress before she came too near. “As long as you want me, I will want you in return.”

“I would have ceased wanting you long ago,” he rasped, “if such a thing were possible.”

Her head tilted to the side as she considered him. “You lie.”

Unable to resist, he smiled at that. She was audacious still.

“You enjoy wanting me,” she said, with purely female satisfaction.

“I would enjoy having you more,” he purred.

When her gaze shot to the bed, his cock swelled to full arousal. Her tongue darted out to lick her lower lip, and a rough, edgy sound rumbled from his chest.

“Come with me,” she entreated, her gaze returning to his. “Meet my family. My sister and her husband can assist you. Whatever plagues you, they can help to resolve.”

Colin’s gut tightened. He should say no…He should avoid bringing any danger into her life…

But the possibility of having her now…No more waiting, no more hiding…

It was night, a bed was near, and they were alone. His deepest fantasy made reality.

He stepped toward her. “There is something I must tell you. Something you will find difficult to understand. Do you have time to hear me out?”

She lifted her gloved hand and extended it to him. “As much as you need.”

“What of those who came with you?”

“He is drinking below.” She smiled. “I lied, you see. I pointed out a different patron and said I suspected he was you. So Tim is occupied with watching him, while I inquired discreetly and found you. You have a unique form-so tall and broad. The maids noticed you when you came in.”

“What of your reputation, then? A young woman of obviously fine breeding making inquiries about a bachelor.”

“Once I learned where you were, I described my relief at finding my brother who is wearing dark green.”

Colin glanced down at his blue garments. Dear God, was it true? Could he have her?

She beamed with obvious pride in her cleverness.

“You have gone to a great deal of trouble to find me, Miss Benbridge.”

“Amelia,” she corrected. “And yes I have.”

He smiled. “Turn around, then, and face the door.”

Amelia frowned. “Why?”

“Because I need to approach you, and I am not certain how much of my face can be seen in this light.” When she hesitated, he said, “You pursue me. You want me. I will be yours, in every sense, but in return you must listen to me without question. Does that frighten you?”

She swallowed hard, her irises overtaken by dilated pupils. Then she shook her head.

“It excites you,” he murmured. Hot, potent lust intoxicated him, easing the relentless drive that set him on edge. He had always led the way with her. It was highly arousing to lead the way in their bedsport, as well. “Turn.”

Complying, she faced away from him, and Colin approached with a rapid stride, freed from the fear of untimely recognition. He pressed up against her, breathing in the scent of honeysuckle, placing his palms flat to the panels on either side of her head.

The vein in her throat fluttered with her increasing heartbeat, arresting his attention.

The sound of the bolt sliding home stiffened his frame and drew his gaze away.

How simple the action was, that of locking the door, but it aroused him as nothing ever had. She wanted him to take her, to strip her bare, to fuck her sweet little body until he was spent and conquered.

Though he knew it, he still wanted her to say the words aloud.

“There is no chance that you will depart this room as virginal as you entered it,” he murmured, his tongue stroking over her racing pulse.

In answer, she reached for the chair by the door and pushed back hard against him, creating a gap that allowed her to wedge the spindle back beneath the knob.

“Do you anticipate interruptions?” he asked, with laughter in his voice and heart. “Or do you simply wish to keep the world at bay?”

The thought of Amelia forsaking the world at large to be with him made his chest tight. She had promised to do so as a young girl. Would she recommit to that promise as a woman?

“You assume I wish to lock others out.” Her mouth curved in a woman’s smile. “Perhaps I wish to lock you in.”

Colin threw back his head and laughed at that, his arms banding her torso and squeezing her tightly. “Ah, love. How glad I am that you remain so spirited.”

“The threat of lovemaking is not sufficient to repress me,” she retorted.

No, but his identity might be. The thought was sobering. He inhaled sharply. “Amelia, I must share my face and past with you before we can proceed.”

The tension that gripped her was palpable. “Will it change how I feel about you?”

“Most definitely, yes.”

“Do not reveal anything.”

He blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“Right now, in this moment, I feel as if I could not breathe without you near.” Her voice was low and earnest. “I’ve no desire to be disillusioned. Not after these last years when nothing was vital to me. It seems almost as if I walked through life wearing a veil. Only when I am with you do I see the world in all its many colors.”

Pressing his cheek to hers, he whispered, “You should place greater worth upon your virginity. I cannot take you-”

She turned her head and pressed her lips to his. The sudden rush of sensation was dizzying. Then unbearably arousing. He felt her moving, but was unable to break the contact to discover why. His tongue stroked across her lips, licking the innocently sweet flavor that was innate to her. The taste was addicting, destroying him. He was helpless to resist it. When her bare fingertips wrapped around his wrist and lifted his hand to her breast, he knew there was no fighting her. He could not simply blurt out who he was. The revelation required more tact than that.