Carried Away
Page 29
She understood love that caused wars and a love so powerful that a small human mind had no way to stop from needing to experience it.
Never did she think that a man and a woman could create this kind of magic. And she couldn’t imagine the freedom of being able to love like this whenever she wanted for the rest of her life.
“I love you,” he whispered, then said it again and again with each motion of his body.
He made love to her in long strokes and with such power but tenderness, watching for her needs and talking to her so she knew that he was feeling the same things, that she was making him wonder at how anything could be so good.
His face was flushed with desire and excitement from all they were feeling.
When he finally gave in to his pleasure and pushed deeply into her, he moaned her name as he filled her with warmth and power and warm life.
She had no idea how long they lay there, damp and not moving and as if they had taken everything from each other and there was nothing left to give or to take.
It seemed like hours later, but it had only been minutes and she started to get a cramp in her calf, then she moved too quickly.
“Oh . . . God!” She squirmed under him. “My leg!”
“What?” He arched up and looked down at her. “What the hell’s wrong?”
“Cramp! Cramp!” was all she could say as she tried to bend down with him on top of her.
He rolled off her. “Where?”
“Leg!” was all she could say.
Then he was kneading her calf muscle, which knotted so painfully she wanted to holler.
After a minute he made her flex her foot a few times even though she groused that it hurt and soon she was okay. She turned back to look at him.
A second later they both were laughing and rolling around her bed.
“It’s all your fault,” she said, laughing. “You had my legs everywhere.”
“You weren’t complaining, George. You kept moaning for more.”
“I did not!”
“Aye. You did, ‘More . . . more . . . Eachann,’” he said in a falsetto voice, his eyes closed while he shook his thick head and mimicked her.
She just lay there, not saying anything. She let him have his fun and acted as if it didn’t bother her. He stopped laughing and looked at her as if he had realized he wasn’t going to get a rise out of her. She just smiled and rubbed her hand over his chest affectionately for a few seconds.
When she had milked the moment for all it was worth, she slowly reached out and touched him, drew her finger along him and watched his reaction.
His laughter stopped, and suddenly he was the one who was holding his breath.
It only took her a few more minutes to discover something new, a power she had over him that was intriguing and made her understand that she had a hold over him, the same kind of hold that he had over her.
And here she had been fighting against him so valiantly because she was afraid of how she felt, afraid that she was losing her sense and her control, that if she gave in to Eachann she would lose herself to his man and the passions he created in her that she couldn’t stop no matter how hard she tried.
There was a freedom in her discovery. And for the first time she realized that love wasn’t something that controlled you and took over who you were and what you were. She sat up and pushed him back.
She spent the next hour doing to him every single thing he had done to her until she got her revenge and he was the one who was begging, “More . . . more . . . ”
And hours later when she lay curled in his arm and the moon had gone down, she listened to his breathing and felt the depth of his sleep.
She never had been a gracious loser and she discovered she was even a more gloating winner, because she laughed and murmured, “And they call women the weaker sex.”
Chapter 58
You can marry more money in a minute than you can make in a lifetime.
—Anonymous
Less than a week later, Eachann and Georgina were married in a simple white clapboard church that sat on a barren stretch of coastline just outside the small town of Rockland.
Had any of her old crowd seen her, they’d have never thought this was the same Georgina Bayard. She wore a pale green silk dress. No Worth gown. There weren’t five hundred guests. Only the groom’s small family.
No one would have believed it was the same Georgina Bayard that stood in that simple church with the crisp winter afternoon sunlight falling through the clear glass church windows.
Kirsty and Graham stood on either side of their father and walked him down the short aisle to where his bride was waiting for them. At this wedding it was the children who had someone to give away.
When the ceremony was over, they walked down a stark pine floor instead of a white satin carpet. There were no diamond rings set in precious platinum. No champagne or caviar. There was no pageantry. No grandeur. Just love and laughter and happiness.
An hour later Georgina stood in the crisp winter air as the coaster cut through the sea, heading for the island and home. She held up her hand with the plain gold band Eachann had given her. Eachann came up behind her, linked his arms around her waist, and whispered in her ear. “Did you want diamonds, George?”
She shook her head and looked up at him. “All I want is you.”
He kissed her and the children came over and danced around them as if they were a maypole while Calum and Amy laughed and did some kissing of their own.
Georgina looked at her husband and said, “Since I couldn’t marry for money, I married for love.”
Kirsty looked up at Georgina. “But Father has a whole lot of money.”
“Yes, dear,” Georgina said. “I’m certain to you he does. Lots and lots of pennies.” Then she laughed.
“Not pennies,” Graham said. “Dollars.”
She looked up at Eachann.
He grinned down at her and handed her an envelope. “It’s your wedding present.”
She opened it and just stood there. Inside was the deed to her estate. She looked up at him. “You bought my home back for me?”
“Aye.”
“Oh, Eachann. This must have cost you everything. It’s too much. It’s very thoughtful, but we’ll sell it. You can’t spend all your money on this. It’s not practical.”
Everyone was watching her with such funny looks that she looked back at Eachann in confusion.
“Slide the wedding ring off, George.”
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
She took off the ring.
“Now look inside.”
She turned the ring. To G from E and there were some numbers engraved on the inside. She frowned up at him. “Two, three, seven, one, four? That’s not the date. What is it?”
“A bank account number.”
“A bank account? Oh, that’s sweet.” She put the ring back on. “Just how much money is in it?”
“I don’t know.” He scratched his head and turned to Calum. “How much is in the bank?”
“Together? Both accounts? Or just yours?”
“Just mine.”
Calum stood there thinking a second, then looked from Eachann to Georgina. “Over two million dollars.”
She stared at Eachann in utter silence. Then, for the second time in her life, Georgina Bayard MacLachlan fainted.
(Continue reading for more about the author)
About Jill Barnett
Jill Barnett sold her first book to Simon and Schuster in 1988 and has gone on to write 19 novels and short stories. There are over 7 million of her books in print, and her work has been published worldwide in 21 languages, audio and large print editions, and has earned her a place on such national bestseller lists as the New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Barnes and Noble and Waldenbooks—who presented Jill with the National Waldenbook Award. She lives with her family in the Pacific Northwest.
Jill Barnett, Carried Away