Jamie wrapped his arms around her, gently edged her back towards his bed and eased her to sit down on to it with a kiss. Then stood back. She watched the muscles in his arms bunch as he bent to tug off his boots. Only when they were gone did he allow the breeches to drop.
Except this time, her eyes got to feast on the sight of him aroused, a far more impressive state than before and that had been impressive enough. Wordlessly, he took her hand and pulled her back upright, staring deeply into her eyes as he began to undo the back of her dress. When it fell off her shoulders, he slowly peeled the muslin down her body, then did the same with her corset and petticoat. As each layer came off, Cassie’s body came alive. Now, stood in only her chemise, he trailed his fingers over the aching tips of her breasts lovingly before he cast that garment to the growing puddle around her feet.
Both completely laid bare in every sense of the word, he opened his arms and she stepped into them, feeling for the first time the blissful sensation of his warm skin completely against hers. He kissed her again, deeply, and within seconds she was moaning into his mouth, her arms wrapped as tightly about his neck as she could to increase the contact of her breasts against his chest. Her belly against his hardness.
He picked her up like she was something precious and lay her reverently on his bed. ‘I have to kiss your freckles first. All of them.’ His mouth wandered over her body, licking and nipping every tiny blemish until she was writhing beneath him.
Unashamedly wanton, because he was not at all disgusted by it, she moaned her appreciation and those moans seemed to fire his passion further. Yet he still tortured her body mercilessly, kissing each of her breasts before sucking the puckered nipples into his mouth and making her cry out from the exquisite agony. By the time he came to lay alongside her, Cassie was desperate. ‘You still haven’t shown me the part of my body designed solely for pleasure.’ Wherever it was she needed his hands and mouth on it. Immediately.
His fingers trailed lazily up her thigh, causing her hips to buck. ‘I think you have an idea where it is, don’t you?’ And he was obviously enjoying her discomfort, a state wholly of his making. His hands were rubbing lazy circles on her abdomen. So close to where she wanted them and yet too far away. Her most secret area was screaming for his touch, but she was not brave enough to tell him. She hoped it was there so he would put her out of her misery.
‘Please, Jamie...show me!’
His fingers toyed with the soft curls at the apex of her thighs and Cassie unashamedly opened her legs to allow him to explore her. This was no sin if they were husband and wife, and in her heart they were already married. Jamie was propped up on one elbow, watching her face intently and clearly enjoying the sensual spell he held her under. ‘Let me see...’ One finger probed her sensitive flesh gently and then—
‘Oh, my!’ He caressed something wonderful and Cassie’s hips came off the mattress. With the tiniest amount of pressure and the smallest of movements he managed to create sheer ecstasy. With every stroke he watched her. With every stroke she lost herself.
It was bliss.
Heaven.
Yet it kept building and building and she kept wanting more and more until the need became almost painful. Her muscles tensed, her breathing became laboured and Jamie kissed her lips softly and nuzzled her neck.
‘Don’t fight it, Freckles. Relax. Let it happen.’
And it did. Something gave way inside her, hidden muscles pulsed and lights exploded behind her eyes. For an eternity all Cassie was capable of doing was feeling until she collapsed boneless on to the mattress, stunned. Too stunned to care that he was grinning at her so smugly, clearly feeling extremely pleased with himself for being the cause of her current state.
Yet as strange and wonderful as that state was, it still wasn’t enough. Her hand reached out to touch him, closed around his hardened flesh. ‘I want you, Jamie. Every bit of you.’
Those intense blue eyes instantly became almost black and he seemed to grow larger in her hand. ‘If we do this, we have to marry. Will you marry me, Cassie? Even though I’m broken?’
‘Yes. In a heartbeat.’ There was no point arguing with him. He believed he was broken and unworthy and she would make it her life’s work to prove to him that he wasn’t. He was perfect. ‘Although I think we might have to find another vicar to do the deed for us.’
He was laughing as he rolled on top of her, his lips nuzzling her neck, ears and then her mouth, and settled his body in the cradle of her thighs. ‘I suspect the Bishop of Nottingham might be sympathetic. Will you marry me as soon as possible? Because I cannot wait.’
Cassie couldn’t answer. He was doing wicked things to her with his lips and his tongue and her wonderfully wanton body was desperate for his. Everything about him was glorious, so she shamelessly ran her hands over the hard planes of his back, those broad shoulders she had always desired, his bottom, his face. Emotion clogged her throat when he began to inch inside her. Jamie was so gentle, moving with such aching slowness so as not to hurt her, despite the fact she lustily welcomed the intrusion. The discomfort was insignificant and fleeting. Then he filled her, his lovely blue eyes locked intently with hers, and she saw the love shining out of them and knew she was home. When he moved inside her, further pondering was impossible. Nothing else mattered or existed aside from the place where their bodies joined. She did not fight the passion as it built this time. There was no point. She gave herself to it completely, let it consume her, gloried in it until they both cried out together, clinging to each other for dear life. Exactly as they had been created to do.
* * *
If his brother or Letty had any inkling of what he and Cassie had spent the entire afternoon and most of the night doing, thankfully they said nothing. Even though Cassie’s cheeks was reddened from the rasp of his morning whiskers and her lips were plumper and pinker than usual from his kisses. Nor did they make mention of the soppy way he and Cassie kept smiling at each other over the breakfast table. In fact, it was a positively civilised meal. Far too civilised, filled with a great many pointed and knowing looks, and that amused him. Jamie knew the pair of them had to be burning with curiosity and Letty at least would have a million questions. Purposefully, he held back from telling them that he and Cassie were engaged for no other reason than that he knew it would irritate them. Letty was gripping her teacup with such force, he feared for the porcelain.
Chivers appeared out of nowhere and addressed his brother. ‘A messenger has arrived with a letter for a Mrs Cassandra James.’ Letty grabbed it and tore it open before anyone else had a chance. To vex everyone no doubt because her thirst for gossip was so far unquenched, she read it silently to herself, then smiled before folding it again. Both Jamie and her husband knew how the game was played and ignored her. Poor Cassie was beside herself.
‘Is it from the publisher? Does he like the book? Does he hate the book? What does he say?’
Jamie hoped she would always babble when she was nervous, he enjoyed it immensely. It was one of the many things he loved about her.
‘Please, Letty! What does it say?’
Letty sipped her tea, then blotted her mouth daintily with a napkin before finally caving and taking pity on her. ‘It says he absolutely loves Orange Blossom and the Great Apple Debacle, as I always knew he would, and that he is keen to purchase any new stories by this wonderfully talented new author. He’s going to publish it, Cassie. Do you have a new story?’
‘We have been working on a story about a dragon.’
‘Called Brimstone,’ added Jamie as it had just occurred to him, ‘He kidnaps the silly but intrepid Miss Freckles and locks her in a tower.’
Cassie was smiling. ‘And Captain Galahad, Orange Blossom and Stanley come to rescue her.’
‘Does it end with another wedding?’ his meddling sister-in-law asked pointedly, ‘With a guard of honour complete with a
n arch of crossed carrots?’
‘Of course not.’ Cassie’s hand came to rest affectionately on the back of his. ‘It will end perfectly. The silly but intrepid Miss Freckles and the brave and long-suffering Captain Galahad will ride off into the sunset together. Until the next adventure.’
Letty sighed and patted her protruding stomach. ‘The perfect happily ever after. Cassandra James will soon be a household name.’
It occurred to Jamie then that things had changed. ‘What your father thinks no longer matters. You are free from his rules. You do not have to hide behind a pen name now, Cassie. Perhaps it is time for Cassandra Reeves to step out of the shadows and shine.’
‘The book was a joint effort and I rather like Cassandra James. As Letty pointed out, it is a marriage of sorts.’ She blushed at her unsubtle hint for him to tell his family the good news because he had toyed with them for long enough.
Jack appeared perplexed. ‘I fail to see why both of your names shouldn’t be on the cover. Miss Cassandra Reeves and Captain James Warriner has a ring to it.’
‘I’m no longer a captain.’ It was time he was honest with everyone, including himself. ‘My soldiering days are over, thank goodness, and I am resigning my commission. Even if a miracle occurs and this blasted leg heals, I am an artist now. An illustrator. And I like Cassandra James, too. The names merge perfectly together...almost as if they were meant to be.’ Which of course they were. For always. ‘I was wondering, if you two have nothing better to do, then perhaps you would like to accompany us to Nottingham?’
This invitation earned a scowl from his brother. ‘Nottingham! No, thank you. I loathe the place and I am certainly not dragging Letty all that way when she is so heavy with child!’
‘That’s a shame,’ Jamie said, sipping his own tea nonchalantly. ‘You will miss our wedding and I was going to ask you to be the best man.’
Epilogue
‘Jamie!’
The voice was loud and he was being shaken. Quite violently.
‘Jamie!’
‘What the blazes?’ His eyes flew open and it was dark. Very dark. He was in a strange bed. In a strange room. His chest constricted with panic.
Then he realised there was some moonlight. A lamp was burning low nearby. He was in the inn. In Nottingham. Simultaneously, he realised there was a very lovely, very dishevelled-looking naked woman knelt on the mattress beside him.
Cassie.
Her new silk stockings were hanging limply on the bedpost where he had tossed them after peeling them reverently from her legs last night. Heaven only knew where the saucy pink garters he had also bought her had gone, although he suspected they were somewhere in the tangled mess of his and her clothing scattering the floor. The moonlight glinted off her wedding ring and the lamplight picked out the copper fire in her hair.
As she continued to shake him with some force, her lovely breasts bounced and drew his eyes straight to them before he remembered she was distressed. ‘Cassie?’ This was not time for lust. He sat bolt upright, wrapped his arms around her, wishing he could recall where the devil he had put his pistols. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’ She was grinning and nudged him playfully.
‘Then why the devil did you wake me up like that!’ He was instantly furious. Didn’t she realise the danger she had just put herself in? Hadn’t he explained to her what he was capable of at night? Repeatedly. ‘And what the hell are you still doing in my bedchamber?’ He had taken two rooms at the Red Lion specifically to keep her safe. Two rooms at either end of the corridor just in case.
One for him and one for her.
‘You promised me faithfully you were leaving to go to your own bedchamber.’ At the time, he recalled hazily, his eyes had been drooping and his voice was thick with fatigue after they had made spectacular love for hours. Cassie had left him exhausted. ‘Damn it, woman, I could have killed you!’
‘But you didn’t. Just as I suspected. You are far too fond of me to hurt so much as a hair on my irritating, odd little head. Admit it. The thought never even crossed your mind.’
She had a point. He had experienced a flash of brief panic before he had been distracted by the sound of her voice. Seduced by the sight of her nakedness. His wife.
Just thinking the word made him smile before he remembered he was livid.
‘Next time you might not be so lucky. What would you have done if I had tried to strangle you?’
‘I would have grabbed your pistol which is conveniently located under my pillow and clocked you over the head with it.’
Now she was giggling and Jamie wanted to remain angry, really he did, except the giggling made her fabulous breasts jiggle more and he couldn’t seem to hold on to the anger for long enough to make it sound convincing.
‘You woke me up just to prove a point?’
‘Not entirely. Doing something simply to prove a point would be churlish and childish, wouldn’t it? I did have another reason, seeing that you’ve asked.’
‘Then spit it out, woman.’ A difficult sentence to say with venom when her fingers were tracing the outside of his lips and she was so close he could smell her perfume.
‘I want you again, Jamie. Do you mind?’
‘Mind?’ His lusty wife wanted him. Again. How splendid was that? ‘For pity’s sake, woman, have a care. You must be gentle with me—I am an invalid, you know.’ Although he never felt like one with her, especially when she was already looking at his chest as if it was smothered in the finest roast beef and she was starving.
‘You did promise to honour me with your body.’
‘I did. And you promised to sleep in your own room.’
She sat back on her heels and pouted prettily. ‘So you do mind?’
His arm shot out, grabbing her, and she tumbled giggling on to his chest. The blasted woman would be the death of him. ‘For future reference, you never need to ask me that question again, Wife.’
Because she was the woman he had always dreamed of. That elusive soulmate who enjoyed nature’s beauty as much as he did and who would want to sit with him while he happily painted, every day for the rest of his life. The woman his sensitive artist’s heart beat for. His future. His bright and brilliant and purposeful future.
‘You have made me the happiest man on earth, Miss Freckles, and if you want me, rest assured, I will never mind.’
And he never did.
* * * * *
If you enjoyed this story you won’t want to miss the first great read in Virginia Heath’s
THE WILD WARRINERS quartet
A WARRINER TO PROTECT HER
And look out for the next two stories,
coming soon!
Keep reading for an excerpt from FROM RUNAWAY TO PREGNANT BRIDE by Tatiana March.
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From Runaway to Pregnant Bride
by Tatiana March
Chapter One
Boston, Massachusetts, August 1889
Annabel Fairfax tore open the envelope the post office messenger had delivered and peeked at the document inside. A money order! A money order for two hundred dollars! Glancing around the shadowed hallway to make sure the servants were not spying on her, Annabel slipped the envelope into her skirt pocket and hurried upstairs to her bedroom.
Two hundred dollars meant freedom.
Four years ago, after their parents died in a boating accident and their greedy Cousin Gareth came to live with them, the three Fairfax sisters had become prisoners in their own home—Merlin’s Leap, a gray stone mansion perched on a rocky headland just north of Boston.
Charlotte, the eldest, was the heiress, and Cousin Gareth had attempted to force her into marriage. Three months ago, Charlotte had escaped and was now living under an assumed name in Gold Crossing, Arizona Territory.
With Charlotte out of his clutches, Gareth had contrived to have her declared dead and Miranda, the middle sister, had been named as the heiress. Rather than fight Gareth’s advances, Miranda also had chosen to flee from Merlin’s Leap, and was now on her way to join Charlotte in the Arizona Territory.
Cousin Gareth had set off in pursuit, leaving Annabel alone with the servants, and their laxness had allowed her to receive the money order. With Gareth gone, the household staff no longer bothered to intercept the mail, or to keep her locked up in the house, which had allowed Annabel to walk into the village and post a letter to Charlotte, alerting the eldest sister that she was officially dead and buried in a grave at Merlin’s Leap.
A Warriner to Rescue Her Page 23