Oh, Christ, the temptation of it. Tugging against his training, his principles, his innate sense that to indulge so would somehow be morally wrong, even with the promise between them to wed. "James," he said eventually, struggling for words, body very still. "James, oh, lord, part of me would like that a great deal. Yet I would not dishonor what we hold between us for the sake of a few weeks."
To have come together as they did, as they had on the shore, had been unlooked for, a precious gift. To plot against principle to hide from society in the sordid shadows of a 'discreet' tavern went very much against the values he held dear, no matter the temptation.
And to appear at the Black Sheep with James, with the publican far too aware of their purposes...