Swept Away

by Phoebe Conn

  “I understand.” As always, the mention of Alex filled Eden with longing for the dear man. She did not want to think about Alex that day, however; she just wanted to enjoy the beauty of Jamaica with Raven and talk about happy things. When she glanced toward him, she found him regarding her with the tender expression she had glimpsed only a time or two while they were making love. When she smiled, he seemed embarrassed that she had caught him staring at her and hurriedly grabbed another piece of chicken.

  Eden looked away then, focusing her attention on the shimmering waterfall while the truth of what she had seen rocked her clear to the marrow. In an unguarded moment, Raven’s expression had been filled with the love he had never expressed in words. She remembered telling her father that she might one day come to love her second husband, but she had never dreamed Raven already loved her. When he knew that she still loved Alex, how could his love for her bring him anything but pain? Overwhelmed by the sorrow of that thought, she sighed sadly.

  “I’m sorry,” Raven said. “I didn’t mean to remind you of Alex.”

  “It’s all right. I enjoy hearing about your life here. I was just wishing that we could go rafting.”

  “You want to go rafting?”

  Eden laughed. “Of course. It sounds like a lot of fun. I’m sure Julian would forbid it now, but would you take me after the baby’s born?”

  “Can you swim?”

  “Probably better than you,” Eden announced proudly.

  It was Raven who laughed this time, “All right, we’ll do it as soon as you feel up to it.”

  Eden continued to wear a mischievous smile as they finished eating. When Raven offered her a cookie, she took one bite then set it aside. “It’s really too pretty a day not to enjoy it fully, don’t you think?”

  Confused, Raven frowned slightly. “I’d say that we’re already doing that.”

  Eden had been seated across from him, but now moved to his side and reached for the top button on his shirt. “You have more imagination than that, Raven Blade.”

  Despite his doubts about her, Raven responded with his first impulse and pulled the blonde beauty down across his lap, where he covered her face with kisses before savoring her ginger-flavored lips. He gloried in the affection Eden gave so freely and for the moment ceased to care what the future might bring.

  They made love several times that afternoon, their passion as natural as the verdant beauty that surrounded them. It was not until the sun began to set that they regretfully forced themselves to leave, and even then, neither truly wished to depart. On the journey home, Eden wore a lingering smile. She knew it would be too dark to search for the lavender bottle in the shrubbery beneath her bedroom windows when they reached the house, but she intended to look for it first thing in the morning. Raven’s birthday was not that far away, and she could think of only one present she wanted to give him: a night of love he would always remember.

  When they returned to the house, Eden was surprised to find Julian waiting to see her. She again assured him that she felt well, but after the way she and Raven had spent the afternoon she found it almost impossible to keep a straight face while she answered the reserved man’s questions. Because of the lateness of the hour, Raven invited him to remain for supper and to spend the night. The physician said little during the evening meal then, pleading appointments the next morning, retired early. That they would not have to entertain Julian when they much preferred to amuse themselves did not trouble his amorous hosts in the least.

  When she had greeted Julian at the door, Yadira had behaved with the same aloof professionalism she had always shown. She had given him no opportunity to speak with her privately, nor had she provided even a hint that she recalled the last night he had spent in the house. When he retired to his room, the anxious physician paced for one hour and then two, hoping with each minute that passed that Yadira would come to his door. When finally he was too excited by the prospect of seeing her again to wait a moment longer, he stole down the back stairs and rapped lightly on her door.

  Yadira’s long glossy hair covered her breasts, but otherwise she was nude when she opened her door. She found Julian’s obvious consternation at her lack of apparel highly amusing and reached out to draw him into her room. Her quarters were dimly lit, and filled with the heady fragrance of the incense she burned each evening.

  When he reached out to clutch her breasts, she backed away. “No, you must undress first.”

  “Oh please,” Julian moaned. His fevered gaze swept over her exquisite figure with a hunger he could not disguise. “I don’t think I can wait that long.”

  As Yadira turned away, she called over her shoulder. “I can teach you many things, doctor, but if you have no better control than a schoolboy, it will be very difficult for you to learn.” With her usual grace, she lay back on her bed, and propped herself on her elbows. After a shake of her head, her inky tresses fell back to reveal the lush fullness of her breasts. When Julian nearly drooled at that sight, she laughed at him.

  “Undress,” she insisted.

  Julian had trouble removing his tie, and then his hands shook so badly he could not get the buttons on his shirt undone. All the while he struggled with his clothes, Yadira continued to tease him. Her suggestive comments were humiliating, and yet he wanted her so badly he would have listened to any abuse. When he had finally thrown off the last of his clothing, he rushed toward the bed, but again the dark-eyed beauty stopped him.

  “You must please me first, doctor,” Yadira ordered in a husky whisper. “I want to feel your mouth on me, the hot wetness of your tongue. Not until you have pleasured me will I let you have what you want.”

  Julian thought Yadira a wanton whore, but he would have satisfied any conditions she put on their affair. As before, she demanded more of him than any woman ever had, but it did not even occur to him to say no. He satisfied her every whim rather than risk losing the exotic rapture of her favors. When she again made him return to his room carrying his clothes, he was too busy planning when next he could visit to worry that they might be seen.

  On November tenth, Eden asked Arabella to prepare all of Raven’s special favorites for dinner, but this time the lively blonde gathered the orchids to decorate the table herself. She donned her ice blue gown that evening, but rather than wearing the diamond and ruby ring Alex had given her on her right hand as she usually did, she wore only Raven’s diamond wedding ring. She was always beautifully groomed, but that night she took extra time with her hair and was very pleased with the result.

  She was now in her fourth month of pregnancy. Her breasts had a new fullness but her stomach had only a slight swell, and she thought her figure as alluring as ever. As she and Raven talked easily during dinner, she could tell from his admiring glances and charming comments that the evening was going to be a wonderful success.

  Raven had not expected a present from Eden. In the month they had been home from Kingston, there had been scarcely a moment when she had been out of his sight so he knew she could not possibly have bought or made one. But when she told him she had something special to give him later that night, he could not help but become not only curious, but excited as well. He had been unable to banish his fears that they might have horrible conflicts in the future, but Eden had not once mentioned Alex’s will, and he had no desire to bring up the subject again himself. Especially not on his birthday, when Eden made him feel more like a king than an earl.

  Eden had found the delicate lavender bottle unbroken. It had fallen among the orchids that grew beside the house and, cradled by their softness, would have been there indefinitely had she not come looking for it. She had given a great deal of thought to how she wanted to use the magical oil, and the possibility Raven might react angrily to the first taste of the heavenly liquid had not escaped her. That what she intended to do contained an element of risk served only to make her more determined to carry it off well, however.

  When they went upstairs to Raven’s room, Eden kissed h
im lightly and then drew away. “There’s something I want to do tonight simply for the joy of it. There’s no other reason, so you mustn’t accuse me of having any other purpose.”

  Greatly intrigued, Raven readily agreed. “What’s my part in this?”

  “Slip off your clothes, get into your bed, and I’ll join you in a few minutes.” Eden blew him a kiss as she started for her room. She was too enchanted with her idea to reconsider it now, especially when Raven was in an equally playful mood.

  She undressed, donned her most exquisitely beautiful nightgown, and brushed out her elaborate hairstyle. She then sat down on the edge of her bed and counted to one hundred slowly to make certain Raven would already be in bed before she returned to his room. When she was satisfied she had allowed sufficient time for his anticipation to build, Eden opened the bottle of exotic oil and applied a liberal amount to her lips. It would take only one kiss to know if the evening would go as she had planned. Concealing the bottle in the folds of her gown, she made no effort to hide her smile as she returned to her husband’s room.

  Raven broke into a wide grin as Eden sat down on the edge of his bed. He could not imagine what she was up to, but she looked so pleased with herself, he knew he would surely enjoy it too. When she leaned over to kiss him, he slipped his arm around her waist and hugged her tight. He had always loved the way she kissed, and enjoying it to the fullest, he did not at first recognize the source of her delicious taste. When he finally did, he was so badly jarred he shoved her away.

  Eden had expected Raven to be shocked, and hastened to reassure him. “Yes, I know. I’m the very last woman that you would ever expect to bring this delicious oil to your bed.” She set the lavender bottle on his nightstand to give him a few seconds to absorb the fact that she had. “That each of us has used it with another doesn’t matter. I want us to create some beautiful memories of our own tonight. Will you help me?”

  Had she asked him to set himself on fire in so tempting a fashion, Raven would have readily agreed. “What did Yadira say when you asked her for more?”

  Eden removed the bottle’s elegant stopper and shook out a few drops to rub on Raven’s lips. “I didn’t. This is the same bottle you threw out the window.”

  That the lovely Lady Clairbourne must have had to crawl through the bushes on her hands and knees to find it amused Raven no end. “Come here,” he ordered with a wicked grin. “If it’s memories you want, I’ll give you a night you’ll never forget.”

  “Is that a promise?” Eden whispered just before her lips met his. Raven had no time to respond in words, but she felt his answer all the same. His lips were soft, his caress gentle, and his imaginative use of the sweet-tasting oil endlessly exciting but she did not allow him to distract her from her goal. Alex had provided her first lessons in loving, but she had also learned a great deal from Raven. With each touch of her hands and lips, she sought to give her dashing young husband the most exquisite of pleasures and she could tell by his satisfied moans that she was succeeding.

  By midnight, their bodies glistened with a light film of oil and neither could have spoken a coherent sentence. Their thoughts were a blur of loving dreams, and their senses awash with the passion that flowed so easily between them. It was too soon for Eden to speak of love, but the affection she had long felt for Raven deepened immeasurably that night.

  As for Raven, the evening was too perfect to risk spoiling it with declarations of love he feared Eden would only be embarrassed to hear. There would be time enough later, he told himself. If not in the spring, then in the summer, or again next fall when they celebrated his birthday. When Eden had given him such a marvelous night, he hoped the next year would pass quickly so he could ask her for the same present when he turned twenty-eight and every year thereafter.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  December 1863

  Eden had to cover her mouth with both hands to stifle her giggles until their three visitors had left the house. Equally amused, Raven drew her into his arms and muffled his own deep chuckles in her tawny curls. Despite his assumption that his neighbors would continue to be standoffish, the news of Alex’s death coupled with that of his marriage had inspired so much curiosity they had had frequent callers.

  “I don’t mean to laugh at them,” Eden began, “but when the Sidneys learned I was from Virginia rather than England they did not even try to hide their disappointment. They made it almost painfully obvious that they thought you should have wed their daughter instead of me. The poor girl was so embarrassed she flinched every time her mother spoke.”

  “And with good reason,” Raven added. “I had almost forgotten what the London season was like, but a wealthy bachelor is even more highly prized here than there. Thank God I’m no longer in that category.”

  Because he had left the bachelor ranks for reasons she did not care to discuss, Eden chose not to pursue that comment. “I think we’re simply far more sophisticated than any of your neighbors and that’s what makes carrying on a conversation so difficult. I am sorry we’ve not found anyone who shares our interests, though, as I’d like for us to have some good friends.”

  “I’m certain we’ll have plenty of friends in time,” Raven assured her, but he was relieved beyond measure that, for the present, he would continue to have Eden all to himself.

  It was not until the middle of December that details of the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Chattanooga reached them. Raven debated the wisdom of revealing the devastating loss to his bride, then realized he would be foolish not to and allow her to harbor false hopes for the Confederacy.

  Eden read the report of the War’s progress in the Kingston paper and then looked up at Raven with tear-filled eyes. She knew the railroad center at Chattanooga had been vital to the Confederacy. With its loss, Tennessee was now firmly under Union control and the South no longer had any strength west of the Alleghenies. The Union needed only to subdue the four seaboard states: Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to win the War.

  “I don’t want to hear that this loss was inevitable. Please spare me one of your lectures,” the distraught blonde pleaded sadly.

  There had been a time when Raven had striven to make Eden see the futility of the War, but now that she did, he found absolutely no pleasure in seeing her distress. He sat down beside her, pulled her into his arms, and cradled her head on his shoulder.

  “Now that I’ve met your father and his men, it’s difficult to analyze the War as though it were only a military exercise. You must have thought me insufferably rude.”

  That a man with Raven’s pride would make such a statement astonished Eden, and she moved back slightly so she could study his expression. “You were entitled to your opinions, and you were never rude in the way you expressed them.”

  Raven could see Eden was struggling to be diplomatic. “What about arrogant then? Is that a better term?”

  “Well, if you want me to be completely honest, yes, there have been times when you’ve been arrogant.”

  “Wouldn’t you like to include overbearing and tyrannical too?”

  Eden licked her lips thoughtfully. “You can be overbearing, but you’re never tyrannical, Raven. That’s an exaggeration.”

  While she had scarcely paid him a string of compliments, Raven began to laugh. The newspaper slid from her lap as she slipped her arms around his waist, and as their lips met, he was glad that he had at least temporarily distracted her from the sorrow of the War.

  As Yadira passed the drawing room, she glanced in and wondered how long it would take before the newlyweds’ enchantment with each other wavered. She was certainly sick of them always holding hands, or hugging and kissing the moment they thought they were alone. Disgusted with them both, she decided to make the choices for dinner without consulting Eden and left to give Arabella her selections.

  For Eden’s Christmas present, Raven wrapped the diamond earrings and necklace that had been in Alex’s family for several generations. He was pleased
that he could give her the exquisite jewelry until he awoke in the middle of the night two days before Christmas and could not recall whether or not Eleanora was wearing the elegant jewels in the portrait that hung in the drawing room. Unable to wait until morning to look, he took care not to disturb Eden as he left his bed. He donned his robe, and hurried downstairs to make certain he was not about to give Eden the same gift Alex had once given Eleanora.

  To his immense relief, he found that, rather than the diamonds, Alex’s first wife was wearing a dainty emerald pendant and matching earrings in her painting. He did not recall ever seeing Eleanora wearing the jewels he wished to give Eden, but the possibility she might have worn them for her portrait had given him a bad start. What disturbed him now was not Eleanora’s selection of jewelry, but the candle that had been left burning beneath Alex’s portrait.

  As always, he and Eden had gone upstairs together that evening, so he knew she had not been the one to light it. No, it had to have been Yadira. Alex had been a fine man, but Raven did not think it proper to place lighted candles beneath his portrait as though he had achieved sainthood. He not only blew out the candle, but carried the brass holder to Yadira’s room and left it on the small table beside her door. He knew her to be a clever woman, and trusted that she would discontinue its use without him having to give her a direct order to cease the practice.

  Raven had just turned toward the back stairs when he heard Julian’s voice coming from the housekeeper’s room. The physician stopped by at least once a week to see Eden, but Raven had not suspected the frequency of Julian’s visits was due to anything more than solicitous concern for his wife. He had not been serious when he had mentioned Julian to Yadira, but at that hour of the night he did not need to overhear the details of their conversation to know the man was not providing medical attention.