Blood Lust

by Jamie Salsibury

  Long moments passed. William said nothing. His heart was beating like a hammer in his chest. He stood rigid, almost afraid to move, staring at the girl who was no longer a girl because of him, at the woman he had married who wasn’t really his wife.

  He closed his eyes against the tempting sight she made lying there in his bed, her luscious body naked.

  “Come to bed, William.” Her eyes begged him not to refuse her again.

  Already hard, his body throbbed with heat. Blood rushed to the soft ridge of flesh pressing uncomfortably against the front of his tight fitting breeches. He had tried to block his desire for her every day since they had left the inn. There were times he had actually succeeded. This night was not among them.

  She ran a small hand of invitation over the vacant place beside her. “Neither of us can be sure what the future will bring. I need you to hold me, touch me, make me feel safe. Will you do that for me, William?”

  His breathing quickened, came in shorter, faster cadence. His hunger grew with every heartbeat, fired by the glow of her skin, the uptilt of her breasts. He watched, her nipples hardened into tight little peaks against the chill that invaded the room, or perhaps it was the knowledge that he wanted her so badly.

  His arousal strengthened, ached with every breath. He wanted to pull that tight little bud between his teeth, to suckle and tease until she writhed and begged him to take her. He wanted to rape that sweet mouth, to invade it with his tongue. He wanted to spread those shapely legs, to fill her with his hardness, to thrust into her until the lust he constantly fought was finally sated.

  “William. . .?”

  For God’s sake, he was only a man. He needed her too damn badly. With shaking hands, he reached toward the buttons on the front of his breeches, popped the first one loose and then the next, sat down and tugged off his boots.

  Perhaps he would pay for his lust. Odds were he was destined to burn in hell! What difference would one more sin make in a life that was shadowed by more than he could count.

  He whispered her name as he sat down naked on the bed beside her. “My God, Katherine, I want you so damned much!”

  A soft smile touched her lips. Her eyes moved from his face, spanned the width of his shoulders, moved across his chest. Her hand skimmed over the flat slab of muscle across his stomach, passed as her gaze traveled down to the jutting ridge of his sex.

  “You are so beautiful, so strong, William. So incredibly male. Even the scars cannot dim your beauty.”

  He found himself smiling at her sincerity. “I am suppose to say something to that?”

  She looked up at him from beneath her long lashes. “Do you think I am beautiful?”

  “I think you are incredible.” He kissed her then, taking her mouth gently at first, though what he wanted was to conquer, to claim, to possess the very essence of her. He wanted to fuse his body with hers, to make her so much a part of him that she would never forget him.

  She kissed him back far less gently, demanding he show her his strength, or perhaps merely sensing his mood as she so often seemed able to do. He groaned at the feel of her small tongue sliding into his mouth, and his control slipped badly.

  His hands roamed over her body, felt the smoothness of her skin, the sweet hills and valleys that marked her a woman. He kissed his way down to her breasts, took one into his mouth, tauted and caressed until she writhed beneath him. His hand found her softness. She was wet and hot. He stroked her deeply, felt her body beginning to tremble, felt her small hands gripping his shoulders.

  “William,” she whispered as he rose above her, parted her legs with his knee. “I need, I need. . .”

  “It’s all right love, I’ve got what you need.” he entered her in a single stroke, filling her completely, locking them both together. Their mating was swift and fierce, driven by long denied passion, or perhaps desperation. Afterward they lay entwined.

  He took her again just moments later, more slowly this time, almost gentle, savoring the closeness, knowing it was wrong and yet the pleasure was so fierce, the joy so over-whelming he did not care.

  He slept after that, the deepest, most trouble-free sleep he could remember. Tomorrow he would face the problems that remained, the worries about Katherine’s safety and his own, make whatever painful decisions he must make.

  Tonight there was only this one small woman and the kind of peace he hadn’t known in years. The last thing he remembered was the pleasure he felt at having her curled in his arms.

  Chapter Twenty

  It wasn’t yet daylight, but shades of gray crept over the horizon. Katherine had managed to sleep for a while, saved from their powerful lovemaking, but her mind could not rest.

  Thoughts of William haunted her, images of the scars on his back, visions of the torture he must have endured. Sadness filled her and she felt an ache for William that throbbed deep within her. An ache that would not stop.

  Until last night, she hadn’t known how deep she had come to love him. She had never really thought she would fall in love. She believed she would know only the feelings that came with an arranged marriage. She had hoped at best to find a indulgent, kind husband with whom she could live a peaceful life.

  She hadn’t known these sort of emotions existed, this yearning, wrenching, all consuming attachment for another. She would love this man forever. She knew that as surely as she knew he would leave her or worse that he would be killed.

  He didn’t want a child that he would have to abandon. The message could not have been more clear. It left an emptiness inside her.

  He cared for her, but not enough to stay. He would leave, no matter if he was proven innocent of his father’s murder and his title and estates restored to his name. Worse still, he would not take her with him.

  A lump rose in her throat. What they shared could not last. Sooner or later she would lose him. It hurt just to think about it.

  As the sun began to rise, Katherine vowed as she had before, that she would find a way to help him.

  Damien threw the morning paper down on the seat of the carriage. News of Jane’s murder was in big bold letters across the top of the page. Damien had known about it. It was the talk of the town. William had sent him a message, in a dispirited tone, as his own spirits were at the news.

  That, however, was yesterday. Today he sent word requesting an audience with Lord and Lady Habersham. Defeat was not in his nature. He had come up with a plan.

  “All right, Damien, let’s hear it.” Closing the door to the drawing room, William eyes him through the clear glass spectacles he was now wearing. “Your step is far too spry. What are you up to, my friend?” He looked weary. Dark circles encased his eyes like bruises.

  “Yes, my lord, please, if there is something you have learned, some news that might be useful.” Katherine was hopeful he had something.

  “I’m afraid I know nothing new. I truly wish I did. What I’ve come to propose is daring. There is a small amount of danger, but at this point. . .”

  William leaned forward. “If you’ve a plan that might clear my name, the danger is of little importance.”

  “I thought you would feel that way.”

  “What is it, my lord?” Katherine asked. “What can we do at this point?”

  Damien eyed his companions, took a deep breath and dove in. “The way I see it, we’ve got some information that is very good evidence against Benjamin. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to convict him. Jane’s testimony could have done that, but she is dead. That leaves only one person.”

  William removed the spectacles from his nose. “Benjamin? You think we can force him to tell the truth?”

  “That isn’t exactly what I had in mind. We might be able to trick him into admitting the murder. If a magistrate happened to be present at the time, combined with the evidence we already have, it would surely be enough.”

  The haunted look faded from William’s face. He grinned at his friend. “You’re a genius!”

  “Yes, but we knew th
at all along, didn’t we?”

  William laughed. It was a sound Damien hadn’t heard in a long, long time.

  “How do we do it? When and where?”

  “Patience, my friend. It’s going to take some planning and some time. We’ll have to move carefully. We must think through every possible detail. One wrong move and your life could be done.”

  Katherine went pale.

  William nodded. “We’ll start today,” he said, “hammer out a plan then try to find the faults in it. Like you said we don’t want to move until we’re certain the plan will work. On the other hand, everyone is breathing down Katherine’s neck to meet her mysterious new husband. She’s been holding them off by telling them I’m busy with business and often out of town. But if we don’t act soon, they’ll be arriving in droves at the door just to get a look at me.”

  Damien chuckled at the thought. “Then perhaps they shall or at least we will make them believe that they are about to.”

  “I’m sorry, my lord. I don’t understand. We can’t possibly let all those people see him. Even dressed as he is and looking somewhat different than he used to, someone is sure to recognize him.” Katherine’s hand had come to rest on William’s arm. Damien noticed his friend did not pull away.

  Damien smiled. “You promised them a ball to introduce your shy new husband. We can’t do that, but we can send the invitations.” He cocked his head at her. “Let me see, that date will be set for, shall we say two weeks hence? That should hold them at bay for long enough to carry out plans.”

  Katherine smiled. “You are really a genius, Damien.” She looked radiant today, womanly in a way he hadn’t seen her. He knew that look, the softly feminine look of a woman well loved.

  William had broken his promise, not to take her. If he had, it wasn’t something his friend had done lightly. It was obvious he desired her in every look he cast her way, but Damien was sure there was more. William cared for Katherine. Damien wondered just how deep his friend’s feelings were.

  And how badly Katherine would be hurt if William left without her, as he was so determined to do.

  An ember popped and sizzled against the hot metal grate. Outside the window, night had set in with a icy chill in the air. Katherine fidgeted with her embroidery in front of the fire in the drawing room. She rest it in her lap. The weather was damp and the wind whipped the branches of the trees, but inside the house wasn’t cold anymore, not since William arrived.

  There was coal enough to keep the fires burning. The candles that now lit the room were fine beeswax tapers and not the tallow ones she had been using these last desperate years.

  She wasn’t destitute any longer. William had returned her dowry, but he had not let her spend the money. He had provided well in the time he had been there, playing the part of her husband, at least in that respect.

  In other ways, he was still the same remote, determined man he had always been. He hadn’t slept with her again. Last night she had been waiting upstairs when he finished his late-night meeting with Damien, hours spent working out more of the details of their plan.

  She had dressed in a pink silk gown that had been part of the trousseau meant for her marriage to Benjamin. She stood silently at the doorway, praying he would accept her blatant invitation.

  William hadn’t approached her. He merely stood in the middle of his bedchamber and shook his head.

  “I am trying my damndest, Katherine. If we keep making love, sooner or later there is going to be a babe.” He paused, his eyes suddenly hard, piercing her with accusation. “Or perhaps that is exactly your intention. You think that if you are with child, then I will not leave. If that is your game, you are much mistaken. A child would hasten my departure, not deter it. I want nothing to do with a babe, mine or anyone else’s. I made that clear from the start.”

  Most men wanted a child of their own, a son to carry on his father’s name. Why was it that William did not? Was it part of the dark secret he harbored? Katherine was certain it was.

  “It was not my intention to trap you, my lord. If your care of me is not enough to keep you here, then I would rather that you leave.”

  William stood silent.

  “It was that I simply desired you.” At least it was part of the truth. “You have taught me to enjoy the pleasure a man can give a woman. The last time we made love, you seemed to enjoy it as well. I thought that perhaps. . .”

  “You thought perhaps, what? That I would like to bed you again?” He crossed the room toward her, stopping so close she could see the heavy pulse beating down the side of his neck.

  His eyes raked her, hunger evident. “You are a fool, Katherine. You know how much I want you, that when I see you dressed as you are, it’s all I can do to keep from tearing off your garments and taking you right here.” His hand came up to her cheek, but he didn’t touch her, instead he let his hand fall away. “There is nothing I would rather do than bed you. I am asking you, as the friend you have become, to abide by the agreement we made.”

  A lump in her throat rose. He didn’t love her but he had accepted her as a friend. And he trusted her, she knew. For a man like him, friendship and trust did not come easy. Somehow she had earned both these things. The knowledge gave her an odd sort of comfort even as it forced an end to the desperate game she had been playing.

  She cupped his cheek, felt the late night beard. “I will not trouble you again, my lord.” She smiled sadly. “Sleep well, William.” Then she turned and walked away.

  Now she sat alone in front of the fire, she couldn’t help remembering, wondering at his secrets, wishing he trusted her enough to tell her what they were. Her brother’s footsteps drew her attention to the door.

  “Where is that handsome rogue you have married?” He walked into the drawing room, a leather bound book in his hand. “I thought I might entice him into a game of chess.”

  “He had a meeting with Damien.” Katherine reminded him, though he had asked that same question less than an hour ago. “He won’t be back for some time yet.”

  “Yes, that’s right, Damien. Sorry, I seemed to have forgot.”

  She smiled at him. “That’s all right Thomas.”

  “Seems there was something else, something else I was suppose to tell you.

  An uneasy feeling trickled through Katherine. “What was it?” She doubted he could remember, but perhaps if it were important enough something would jog his memory.

  All of a sudden, it came to him. “A message! I remember now. I put it in the study on the desk. I’ll go get it for you.”

  Katherine sat waiting, fingering the embroidery sitting in her lap.

  Thomas stuck his head through the door. “Damn! I forgot what I went after!”

  “A message, Thomas, a message. You were going to the study to retrieve it. Better yet, why don’t you wait here and I’ll go get it.”

  Before she could rise to go retrieve the note,, Thomas had left the room, mumbling under his breath. This time he returned with the note he had received from someone that morning. A sealed message addressed to Lord Habersham.

  Katherine studied it only for a moment, then tore it open with nervous hands. This wasn’t the time for formalities, the message might be urgent.

  And it appeared that was exactly what it was.

  Scanning the neatly folded paper, Katherine read the note, then read it again. The words on the page were scrolled with great care, as if the writer had ordered them penned, not written them himself. The sender wanted a meeting, the message said. He had heard of his lordship’s search of information regarding the murder of the late duke of Sussex. For a price, the information could be his. The message gave a meeting place and time and more importantly told his lordship to come alone.

  Katherine looked at the clock across the room. Dear God, it was already close to the hour of the meeting and William might not be home for hours. He was meeting with Damien but she wasn’t sure where. He was tired of being cooped up indoors and had mentioned that they migh
t go out for a late night supper.

  “What is it, Katherine?” Thomas’ voice interrupted her thoughts. “You are looking a little pale.”

  Katherine eyed the note in her hand. How had the sender discovered Lord Habersham’s interest? How had he known where to send the note? Perhaps the man Damien and William had hired had alerted him. Or perhaps he was acquainted with someone at the Lion’s Den.

  Whatever the case, it was obvious the man knew something. It could be information that was vitally important. If William didn’t arrive to collect it, the man might disappear and they would never find him again.

  “There is someone I must see, Thomas. If William should come home before my return, give him the message. The note will tell him where I have gone.” She pressed the paper into his hands. “Can you remember that, Thomas?”

  “Of course I can.”

  Odds were of course he would forget. She thought about summoning the butler, but the fewer people who knew of this the safer for William. Besides, she would take along the man hired to watch the house and would probably be back long before William returned.

  She glanced at the clock. Whirling toward the door, she called for the footman to summon her carriage, then grabbed her hooded cloak and went to find the man standing guard outside the house.

  Fifteen minutes later they were on their way along the crowded streets, pausing beneath the big painted signs suspended above them, making their way toward their destination. The alehouse wasn’t in the best part of town, far from it, but the man in the battered hat seated across from her was above average in height, sturdily built and appeared as though he could defend them if trouble arose.

  He stirred on the leather seat. “I don’t mean to speak out of turn, my lady, but it’s a bit late for a woman to be traveling about, especially in this part of town. I don’t think your husband would approve.”