by Emma Castle
Eden bit her lip and held his gaze. “I love you too, Thorne.” He leaned down to touch his forehead to hers and sighed. The light was dying around them, but not within them.
“We should go inside,” Thorne whispered. “You are cold.”
Eden chuckled even as she shivered. “Hold on a sec. I just want to enjoy this whole Mr. Darcy in the lake thing for a minute longer.”
“Misterdarcy?” Thorne asked, confused.
Eden giggled and patted his soaking wet chest, fingering one of the buttons of his blue shirt. “Never mind.”
“Let’s go.” He scooped her up into the cradle of his arms.
Eden gasped as he effortlessly carried her out of the lake. When they reached the house, Isabelle was there waiting, holding a pair of towels.
“Are you both all right?” she asked.
Thorne gently set Eden on her feet, and they accepted the towels. “Yes.”
“Why don’t you go shower, and I’ll have the cook send dinner up to your room.”
“Thank you, Aunt Izzy,” Thorne said.
The woman froze. Her lips trembled. “You . . . You said you didn’t remember.”
Thorne held his aunt’s shocked stare. “I do now. You gave me The Jungle Alphabet book. That was you.”
Isabelle covered her mouth with her hands. “You do remember.”
Thorne, uncaring that he was soaking wet, pulled his aunt into his arms.
“Don’t cry,” he murmured. “Please, Aunt Izzy.” He held her, and it was like the last piece of something missing inside him had settled back into place.
“Heavens, look at me, weeping like a watering pot.” She pushed at him. “And you are cold and wet. Go on upstairs. Wash that lake water off and get some rest. I’ll have dinner sent up soon.”
Thorne kissed his aunt’s forehead before Eden led him upstairs to their room. She was quiet, too quiet, which bothered him. Her towel was wrapped tight around her, and she watched him with wide eyes as he closed the door.
“Eden?” He spoke her name with as much love as he could.
“This is just . . . It’s so much, Thorne. Was I right in bringing you home? Would you have been happier if you had stayed in the jungle?” She wiped at the tears that were now trailing down her cheeks. “I came into your life, and now, what have I done? I stole you away from your home. From Keza and Akika . . . even Tembo.”
Thorne cupped her shoulders and smiled. “Tembo will remember me, but he does not need me. This is also true for Keza and Akika.”
“But you need them. You’re a part of the jungle. I can’t help but think you belong there. I know your aunt and uncle are so happy to see you again, but I feel like I’ve turned everyone’s world upside down.”
Thorne put his hand under her chin and lifted it up so she had to look at him.
“I am a child of two worlds, with two lives. You returned that second life to me, Eden. Do not cry.” He lowered his head to hers, his mouth gentle as he caressed her trembling lips.
Her towel fell to the floor, and Thorne led her back with him into the bathroom. He paused in his kisses long enough to turn on the hot water in the shower before he turned his focus back to her.
“Take off your clothes,” he commanded. His sweet mate slowly peeled off her clothes, but not all of them. A smaller layer of light-pink fabric remained underneath.
“All of it. I need to take you,” he growled in a hungry command.
As he stripped out of his own clothes, he pulled a very naked and beautiful Eden into the shower with him. The steam cocooned them in a private world, while hot water cascaded over them.
Eden’s soft curves pressed into him, making him near mindless with lust. His pulse was a rapid staccato underneath his skin as he looked into Eden’s eyes, which held a thousand silent questions within them. Thorne’s blood surged as he took her mouth, dominating her lips, showing her that he was in charge.
The pull between them was so strong he could feel it locking them together. He turned her in his arms, facing her away from him. She placed her palms on the shower wall, her bottom thrust toward him. He swept his hands over her wet skin, cupping the swells of her breasts and the curves of her ass. She was gorgeous, and she belonged to him.
He caged her from behind, pressing his front to her back, his hands on either side of hers on the shower wall as he kissed her neck and nipped her sensitive skin. She gasped and arched against him. He moved his hand down her body between her thighs, parting her slick folds, stroking a fingertip into her wetness.
“Please, Thorne, take me,” Eden whispered. “Take me like you did by the waterfall.”
He didn’t reply with words. Instead, he gripped her hips and pulled them toward him, then guided himself into her body, finding sweet oblivion as he sank into her.
She gasped his name as he withdrew and thrust back in. This position gave him a sense of control that he enjoyed. To take his mate like this brought the animal in him roaring to the surface. He didn’t hurt her, but he knew he could be hard and rough in certain ways that would have Eden lighting up like a star with mind-blowing pleasure.
He took his time riding her, and when her legs began to shake, he increased his pace, taking her harder, faster. Their ragged breaths echoed all around them. He fought his own release until she gasped and went limp first. Only then did his pulsing body race to catch up with her, and he released himself inside her. It left him gasping as he held her back against him.
Thorne cradled her to him, nuzzling her neck as she propped herself up against the shower wall with one hand for support.
“Holy shit . . . holy shit . . . holy shit . . .” Eden’s breath escaped shakily as she turned to face him. “You have wrecked me for all other men.”
He smiled at her. “I’m your only man.”
She laughed softly and cuddled close to him beneath the hot spray from the shower. “That you are.”
Thorne held his breath for a long moment, then spoke the words that had grown too strong to stay caged inside him. He’d said it before in the lake, but not quite so openly, so clearly as he wanted to say it now.
“I love you.”
Eden turned in his arms, her lips parted as though to speak, but he kissed her before she could answer him. He spoke without words. He spoke the language of his body and soul, and he hoped that it was a language powerful enough to win her heart.
16
The Haywood family and Eden had been busy the week following Thorne’s return. The DNA results had come back positive, and the official paperwork to reinstate Thorne as a living person had been filed in the courts. Eden and Isabelle had worked carefully on a special news interview with the BBC where Eden told her story of the jungle massacre and the plight of the gorillas, and she’d teased the interviewer and the audience with Thorne’s story, not quite divulging all the details about her miraculous rescuer.
The news about Thorne had traveled fast. Within a day of her interview, camera crews and paparazzi had been buzzing about the Somerset estate gates like bees about a hive. Now a full week later, the print article in National Park magazine and the online edition were launching within the next half hour, and Eden was a nervous wreck. So much was riding on this, and Eden knew it could possibly take months, maybe even longer, for the man they wanted to find to make a move so they could catch him. There was also every chance the man would simply disappear—remove all traces of his connections to Africa and the cave and never look back. But Cameron wasn’t convinced of that. He said a man wouldn’t simply walk away from that kind of wealth.
Eden sat anxiously at the breakfast table with Cameron, even though it was close to noon. Thorne and Isabelle were out riding horses, which they had taken to doing each day right after breakfast. They were usually gone a few hours, since the Somerset estate was large. They had to ride deep into the estate and away from the gates to avoid too many photos from the press outside. Eden’s gaze strayed to the windows that overlooked the pasture beyond, but she saw no sign o
f Thorne or Isabelle. She tapped her foot and bit her lip as she looked back to Cameron.
“Everything is going to be fine, Ms. Matthews. The article you wrote was perfect. Give it time. We know this is a bit of a waiting game. The fellow we’re after will be smart, after all, to have been hidden all this time. He won’t just walk up to our gates and announce he’s looking for you or Thorne. What we need to focus on now is helping Thorne integrate back into society and the good we can do with the international attention this situation has brought us. This is our chance to help the jungle and the life inside it.”
“Yes, I know you’re right. I just can’t help but worry,” she confessed quietly. “What if this does more harm than good? You didn’t see the bodies. Whoever this is we’re dealing with, if he gets desperate, who knows what he might do to cover his tracks, or to steal whatever he can before the net closes on his operation.”
Cameron’s cell phone suddenly buzzed, and he checked it as he sipped his tea, then lifted his gaze to hers. “I understand your worries, my dear. Have a little faith. You of all people should know that nothing creates change faster than a cause célèbre. I’m getting all sorts of texts and messages and alerts. Everyone wants to know about Thorne. They all want his story.”
He set his coffee down to read through a few of the messages. Eden held her breath when Cameron suddenly smiled.
“I believe it’s time for the next part of our plan. Thorne’s welcome party. Isabelle has made all the arrangements for tonight. All we need do is send out the guest list.”
“Will people really come to a party at the last minute like this?” Eden tried to focus on her toast. If she didn’t eat something, she would be nauseated all day.
“If there’s one thing I know, my dear, it’s British society. Everyone in my immediate social circle will be dying to attend tonight and see the living myth, especially since we haven’t allowed him to make any television appearances. All they have are a few blurry photos from the paparazzi and the documents we filed in court.” Cameron offered a smile. “It’s a temptation they won’t be able to resist, to come and see him for themselves. This will be one of Thorne’s hardest tests, to deal with society.”
Eden was concerned, but not just because she was worried that his exposure to the media would overwhelm him, or that they’d eat him alive looking for some angle to exploit. She was all too familiar with the darker side of journalism. That was something she could protect him from, so long as she was able to control who had access to him. She and Cameron had both agreed that TV interviews were not good for him, not yet.
She was worried about those hunting for the treasure cave in Uganda, those who were responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people. She imagined some super-powerful man in the shadows, an archvillain right out of a comic book, with a mustache he twirled while he bathed in a bathtub of stolen gold and ordered the deaths of anyone who stood in his way.
Okay . . . That was definitely not a realistic scenario, but Eden was convinced that whoever was behind this hadn’t given up on his hunt. And that meant that Thorne’s jungle was still in danger. And depending on how powerful or desperate this person was, Thorne himself was possibly in danger too.
Cameron set his phone aside and cleared his throat. “Ms. Matthews, I believe it’s time we had a talk about Thorne and his future.”
“Okay.” They’d already had a few of these talks, so she wasn’t sure what was left to say.
“Actually, what I meant was, we should have a talk about your place in it.”
Eden felt the toast she had just eaten surge back up her throat. It took everything inside her not to throw up.
“Oh. I see.” She’d been expecting something like this the moment Thorne had said Eden was his mate. She squared her shoulders, ready for a barrage of unpleasant and probing questions.
Cameron steepled his fingers and studied her, his face a mask of inscrutability. “Thorne told me yesterday that he loves you. Are you aware of his feelings?”
“Er . . . yes, I am.”
“And do you return such feelings, to the extent that you love him as well?”
“I . . . Lord Somerset, how I feel about him isn’t the real issue. Thorne feels things for me because I’m the first woman he has seen since he was a child. I imagine any woman he’d rescued would have earned his devotion and interest. But I don’t want to hurt him, so I haven’t . . .” God, she was rambling, and honestly she didn’t even know what she was trying to say. She drew in a steadying breath. “Something happened between us in the forest. I can’t explain it, and I know that this is all new to him, so he deserves the right to make a true choice about who he spends the rest of his life with. If that isn’t me . . . it will break my heart, but I won’t stand in his way. He has lost so much already—I could never hurt him.”
Cameron remained silent, and she felt compelled to continue. “I know he’ll be the Earl of Somerset someday and that you plan to renounce the title to him. I know that there are better women out there who would make a better countess. I only know that I do love him, but if he decides he wants someone else . . . I will respect that decision.”
Lowering his hands into his lap, Cameron leaned back in his chair.
“Ms. Matthews, Isabelle and I are perhaps the two people in the world who understand your feelings the most. I never wanted this life.” He waved an arm around at the grand old house. “Jacob was the earl, and I didn’t want to have the pressure and responsibilities as he did. Isabelle and I didn’t crave the power or wealth. We crave happiness. We’ve had so little of it in the last twenty-two years, until now.” Cameron’s blue eyes softened, and faint lines crinkled the corners of his eyes. “Now, we are overcome with joy. We couldn’t have children of our own, and Thorne . . . He is like a long-lost son to us. I simply want to be sure that both you and Thorne have thought everything through. It is as you said—he knows nothing else save the life he lived in the jungle, and it’s possible he may yet change his mind on many things. But for whatever it’s worth in a modern age like this, you have my trust and my approval.”
Eden swallowed thickly, trying her best not to think about a day when Thorne might change his mind.
“I pray he is like his father. Jacob loved only once and greatly, with all his heart.” Cameron patted her hand. “We will trust and have faith that you and Thorne are destined for the same.”
Eden tried to smile, but her mind was clouding with worries over the future, not to mention the party tonight.
Thorne found her an hour later working on her computer. He came up behind her to grip her waist and kiss her ear. The aroma of him—male sweat, leather, and hay—was intoxicating.
“Were you at the stables?”
“Yes. I was enjoying the ride, so we stayed out longer than usual. You should have come.”
“Sorry, I was working.”
He leaned over and closed her laptop, preventing her from typing. “You work too much.” He trailed his fingertips down her throat as he kissed her neck, and she relaxed into his attentions with a contented sigh. He was getting really good at this. “I will distract you.” He began to pull her off the bed and toward the shower.
“I know you will.” She laughed as they stripped out of their clothes and stepped into the shower stall. Thorne was all seductive smiles and dominance as he captured her mouth and pinned her against the shower wall as the warm water ran over them. But Eden was feeling playful now that he was here, and she pushed against his chest, breaking them apart.
Concern darkened his eyes. “You do not want to—?”
“I do,” she said, cutting him off, “but I would like to do something to you and see if you like it.”
He raised an arched brow but stood back and let her go. She knelt before him, thankful for the soft rubber mat on the floor of the shower stall. His aroused cock was close to her face, and she took him in her hands. Thorne tensed, and she pushed him back against the wall.
“Eden, what are you—?”
“Hush.” She stroked his impressive length with her hands before she opened her mouth and flicked the tip of her tongue against the crown of his shaft.
He cursed low, and she grinned wickedly up at him. “Learned some new words, did you?”
“Yes.” He groaned and closed his eyes as she licked him again, this time down the length of his cock. He grew even harder as she stroked him again. She did this a few more times before she took him into her mouth. His naked, muscled body nearly leapt away from the wall, and his eyes flew open. He seemed to have no words for what she was doing and how it made him feel, just reactions.
“Remember how you went down on me? How you licked me? This is what a woman can do to a man. So enjoy.” She took him back into her mouth, and he clenched his hands into fists against his sides, showing he was desperate to control himself.
He was too long to fit more than halfway into her mouth, but Eden used her hand in conjunction and opened her throat wider for him. She used her tongue to stroke the underside of his shaft, and a few seconds later Thorne fisted a hand in her hair, pumping his hips madly against her. She nearly choked, and the sound slowed his frenzied pace, but Eden kept taking him in, and soon he exploded upon her tongue. His rough, strangled cry only made her own arousal that much stronger. Being with Thorne was always like the first time, but without any awkwardness. He made love openly, honestly, sometimes ferociously, yet also tenderly in turn. He gasped, trying to catch his breath as he pulled her to her feet and into his arms.
“You are incredible.” He said this often when they were together, an expression that had come to represent something special between them. “You make me feel things that . . .” He trailed off and grazed her lips with a soft but hungry look that she adored. A look that promised wild passion, explosive climaxes, and sweet intimacy afterward.
Thorne touched his lips to hers. A river of emotions swept over her, and before she could stop herself, words were escaping her lips like a murmuration of starlings sent into flight.