With This Kiss

front of her chest again.
    He shook his head.
    “What?”
    “Drop your arms, darling.”
    She frowned at him. “I won’t. In fact, you shouldn’t have looked behind the bathing screen. I’m certain that’s not what married couples do.”
    “Who knows what married couples do? We’re both new at this.”
    “And not even married,” she said, remembering that.
    “We will marry tomorrow morning. I’m guessing your mother will send a special license by messenger this afternoon.”
    She laughed. He was right.
    “I’ve known the duchess almost as long as you have,” he remarked. Then: “Drop your arms, Grace.” His voice was quiet, but his eyes burned into hers. There was a moment between them that weighed the years she had known him, the trust she had in him, her love.
    She dropped her arms. And then, just to make him happy, she arched her back the slightest amount because her nipples… well, she knew he could see them.
    She saw his throat ripple, and that was a victory of sorts. But he held up the black cloth again. “I’m not throwing this away, because last night was a revelation.”
    A flush swept up her cheeks. It was true that after he blindfolded her, she seemed to lose all dignity, all claim to being a lady.
    Colin stepped forward and dropped a kiss on her nose. “You are the most beautiful woman in the world, Grace.”
    She bit her lip. His head bent and he brushed a kiss across her lips. His eyes closed, and thick lashes lay on his cheekbones.
    “I am not,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. “I am nice-looking rather than beautiful, and I don’t like fibs.” She gave him a kiss to make up.
    He opened his eyes and looked down at her face. “Can you read my eyes?”
    “I think so,” she said cautiously. She had certainly spent enough years watching his face.
    “I love you. I want to marry you. I think you are the most beautiful woman in the world.” His eyes were the color of the ocean at twilight: deep and tranquil, yet shining with a luminescence lent by the last rays of the sun.
    “Oh,” she said, rather foolishly. “I see.”
    “We both see,” he whispered, rubbing her nose with his. “Your love kept me alive, all those years at sea.”
    She buried her head against his shoulder and held on tight. “Don’t say that. I hate to think that you were in danger.”
    “I think my heart would have withered entirely, but for your letters. Will you come to Arbor House with me?”
    She nodded, her cheek rubbing against his warm chest.
    “We’ll leave immediately. After eating.”
    “No.”
    “Why?”
    Grace pulled away and walked a few steps, to the edge of the screen. Then she turned and looked over her shoulder. Who would have thought she had such a coquette inside her? Not she. But she didn’t like the idea that Colin thought she was brave only when her eyes were bandaged.
    His jaw looked tight. He wasn’t a man who liked to be countered. Which meant it should be on her daily list of activities.
    “Colin,” she said, rather amused to find that her voice was throaty and soft.
    “Yes?” He raised an eyebrow at her.
    “Do you remember how you ordered me to lower my arms?”
    “Yes.” His voice deepened.
    She let her hips swing as she walked from the bathing alcove. The gown helped, rippling against her skin.
    Then she turned around and pointed at the bed. “On the bed.”
    “What? ” His voice was quiet but with a dangerous undertone. Captain Barry was clearly not accustomed to being given a direct command, except perhaps from an admiral.
    The bashful side of her was anxious, but Grace ignored her own burning cheeks. “I order you to lie down on the bed.”
    There was a moment of dangerous silence in the bedchamber. But she raised her chin and met his eyes. She didn’t want to be forced to obey a man, even a man whom she loved as much as Colin. He was used to captaining a ship, and she understood that he had been the leader onboard. But not on shore.
    Instead of obeying her, he walked over, tipped up her chin, and stared down into her eyes. To her extreme annoyance, he was smiling. “Grace,” he said quietly, “are you making a point?”
    She just stopped herself from chewing her lip. “Perhaps… Yes.”
    “You don’t like being told what to do, any more than I do?”
    She nodded. “You were a captain, Colin. But I am not a member of your crew. We’re to be married . I don’t want to be ordered about as if I were no better than a