The Caress of a Commander
Page 34
Henry arched an eyebrow. “They’re more than welcome,” he murmured, rather glad he’d have the opportunity to meet another Slater. They were having a rather positive effect on his life. “Perhaps he’ll like to fish, too.”
“Do you suppose Barbara will have another baby?” Hannah wondered.
“She’ll have to,” Henry whispered. “He’ll need an heir.”
Hannah’s hand rested against her belly, her smile broadening. “I do hope she has one soon.”
Henry had to suppress the urge to laugh. “At the rate they’re going, I expect a babe in nine months,” he murmured. “In fact, I’d be willing to put money on it.”
Hannah gave him a quelling glance. “You always make the easy bets,” she accused.
“I’m not much of a gambler,” he countered before he planted a kiss on her forehead.
“And yet you win every time,” Hannah replied with a grin as she took their son from him and rested him on her shoulder.
Henry sighed before allowing a grin of his own. “I do, don’t I?” He paused a moment. “What’s for dinner tonight?”
Hannah rolled her eyes, wondering how he could already have forgotten, but then a late afternoon tumble did seem to leave him a bit discombobulated sometimes. “Whatever you caught when you went fishing this afternoon,” she whispered.
He grinned. “Trout! My favorite,” he claimed, his usual response when told what they were having for dinner. “And what did you get me for my birthday? I spotted a rather large box in the carriage. Was it for me?”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “It is, but it’s supposed to be a surprise,” she replied with a pout.
“But it’s a tool?” he half-questioned.
Sighing, Hannah nodded. “Of course, it’s a tool,” she replied. “Aren’t they all?” One thing about being married to an inventor meant it was easy to find gifts he appreciated.
Henry kissed her thoroughly before taking the now wide awake Randolph from her arms. “We’re off to play horsey,” he said as he headed for the door.
Hannah thought about reminding him he wore no clothes and certainly no boots, but when she saw that their house guests were still in the gardens below, she decided she would let him discover it on his own.
The nurse discovered it before Henry, however.
It took every bit of control she had not to burst into a fit of giggles when she heard the nurse screeching.
Excerpt
Read on for an excerpt from Linda Rae Sande’s
Book 3 in “The Brothers of the Aristocracy” series
The Epiphany of an Explorer
July 1818
Harry studied the nautilus shell he had brought up with him from the sea bottom, wondering at the curve of the spiral that seemed to form its backbone. What little of the interior he could see appeared a pearly pink, the color fading as it reached the edge. The exterior, rough with years of other sea creatures having attached themselves to its surface, looked as if it might have at one time been a light brown sprinkled with lighter dots. Remembering a comment from Lord Brougham about being able to hear the ocean should he put the shell up near his ear, he did so. “Beautiful,” he murmured, wondering what phenomena could explain how anything could be heard from inside a chambered shell.
When the sound suddenly changed—a whooshing followed by a loud splash and an inhalation of breath, Harry jerked the shell away from his ear. Only a few feet in front of him, a young lady—or perhaps she was a mermaid—stood regarding him as she pulled her long, drenched hair to one side and squeezed the water from it with long, slender fingers. Since she was still knee-deep in the water, it was impossible to tell if she stood on a pair of feet or on a flipper tail. The part of her body that appeared above the water’s edge was mostly naked, her sun-kissed flesh turning to goose bumps as seawater sluiced from her body. The scrap of fabric that covered her breasts, and as Harry slowly realized, the rest of the torso of her body, clung to her curves and allowed the silhouette of her erect nipples to show in relief.
Harry blinked, thinking she was merely an apparition at first. It had been some time since he had eaten anything, after all. He was simply famished and seeing things. But he had felt water droplets on his skin from when she emerged from the water, she appeared quite solid in form and, well, he rather doubted an apparition could cause the arousal he was suddenly feeling in his breeches.
“Do you always gawk like that?”
The voice was definitely feminine. Definitely alluring. And quite possibly that of a siren.
Having read Homer’s epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey, Harry was well aware of what a siren was capable of doing. Luring a man to her and then to his death beneath the ocean’s waves.
He realized he might actually be willing to drown should she send him into the water.
Harry shook his head. Sirens were merely mythological characters, he reasoned. She couldn’t be a siren. And that fact that she was standing implied she had two feet—he rather doubted a flipper tail could support her, which meant she had to be a human woman.
Angling her head to one side, the woman took a step toward him, her knees showing above the water as she did so, which meant she most definitely had feet. Harry was about to tear his eyes from hers and look down into the water to be sure when she spoke again.
“You really shouldn’t stare like that,” she admonished him, although she did nothing to cover herself. Obviously not modest, or perhaps having determined it was too late to cover herself—Harry had seen everything and was still seeing everything—she didn’t even raise an arm to cover her breasts. Instead, she bent down. Her hand disappeared beneath the water only to reappear holding a piece of pottery. Although it had several pieces missing, it was easy to tell what its original shape had been. Covered with a layer of barnacles, though, it was impossible to tell what its original color and finish might have been.
Harry blinked again, unable to come up with a suitable response. He had never been so tongue-tied in his entire life!
The woman’s eyes suddenly widened. “Oh!” she said as her free hand went to her bosom, which only caused his cock to harden. Given the way he was crouched on the sandy beach, he found himself rather uncomfortable but not about to stand up and make his situation more apparent. “You must not understand English,” she said with a sigh.
Frowning, Harry shook his head. “It’s actually my native language,” he replied, finally finding his voice. He had to clear his throat, though, when he realized it sounded a bit higher than normal. “I am British, in fact,” he added, his voice thankfully sounding more like his own just then.
The hand that had been on the woman’s chest moved to her hip and she regarded him with a roll of her eyes. “I should think a Brit would know better than to stare at a woman. You’d think you were seeing a ghost or—”
“Venus, actually,” Harry interrupted. “Although, I rather doubt she was as beautiful as you.”
It was the woman’s turn to blink. And then to blush when she comprehended his words. “Why, thank you, Mister—?”
“Tennison,” he replied, not about to mention his title. Faith! The woman probably thought him a thick imbecile for staring at her as he was still doing. But, damn! He had never seen a nearly naked woman in the light of day before. His favorite courtesan at Norwick’s high-end brothel had usually been half-wrapped in a snake while illuminated by the light from a candle lamp. The challenge for any man wishing to bed her was to first remove the snake from her body, a task which Harry accomplished on many occasions. Not wanting another man to have her so easily after he took his leave of her bed, he would simply return the snake to its favorite place along her body.
He felt a stab of disappointment when he remembered it had been several years since the two of them had engaged in sexual intercourse. Once Lord Norwick had inherited the earldom and was forced to divest himself of The Elegant Courtesan and his gaming hell, most of the girls who had worked for him had married or become exclusive mistre
sses. Harry never discovered the fate of Debra. Or her boa constrictor.
Now, the beauty who stood before him didn’t look a bit British. Her skin wasn’t the pale porcelain of most English misses. Her entire body was tanned from the sun, her auburn hair streaked with sun-bleached strands and her nose sporting a sprinkle of freckles. Harry found the combination so enticing, he wondered what he might have to do to bed her. “You’re welcome, Miss...?”
The woman’s attention was suddenly on something else, her treasure from the sea forgotten as she lifted a hand to her shield her eyes from the sun’s glare.
Without another word, she disappeared into the water, leaving Lord Everly wondering if perhaps he’d had a bit too much sun.
Also by Linda Rae Sande
The Daughters of the Aristocracy
The Kiss of a Viscount
The Grace of a Duke
The Seduction of an Earl
The Sons of the Aristocracy
Tuesday Nights
The Widowed Countess
My Fair Groom
The Sisters of the Aristocracy
The Story of a Baron
The Passion of a Marquess
The Desire of a Lady
The Brothers of the Aristocracy
The Love of a Rake
The Caress of a Commander
The Epiphany of an Explorer
The Widows of the Aristocracy
The Gossip of an Earl
The Enigma of a Widow
The Cousins of the Aristocracy
The Promise of a Gentleman
The Pride of a Gentleman
About the Author
A self-described nerd and lover of science, Linda Rae spent many years as a published technical writer specializing in 3D graphics workstations, software and 3D animation (her movie credits include SHREK and SHREK 2). An interest in genealogy led to years of research on the Regency era and a desire to write fiction based in that time.
A fan of action-adventure movies, she can frequently be found at the local cinema. Although she no longer has any tropical fish, she does follow the San Jose Sharks. She makes her home in Cody, Wyoming.
For more information:
@lindaraesa
LindaRaeSandeAuthor
www.lindaraesande.com