Zack’s lips hovered over hers. He had endured a long abstinence and he wanted nothing to hinder his union with his exquisite wife. She was soft and willing, and he was hard and ready.
A tremor went through Shona as his hand claimed the softness of her, touching her where only he had once dared. The eyes above her own glowed intently as his caresses grew purposefully bolder. She held her breath as the strange sensations leapt through her, setting her whole being on fire, and she writhed, unable to stop her dizzying world. She curled against him and she felt his lips against her hair, heard her name hoarsely whispered.
Lowering his head, he traced with tantalising slowness over her breasts, venturing across the swelling mound to the pale pink crest, causing Shona to shiver as a delicious excitement rippled through her.
‘You like that?’ he queried, lifting his mouth to tease hers.
‘You know I do.’ She sighed as he continued to ply her mouth with kisses, his knowledgeable hands questing and caressing her womanly softness, setting her on fire for him. She writhed beneath his touch, wondering how long she could bear such rapture without being completely swept away.
Zack held himself back, clamping down on his own frenzied need, letting the heat build in her until her soft whimpers and arching body told him she was throbbing for him.
Following the urging pressure of her husband’s hands, Shona relaxed back upon the pillows and welcomed him with opened limbs. His naked body covered hers and seemed to burn her with more than the fervour he exhibited. And then, down in the depths of her, as his narrow hips caressed hers in long, leisurely strokes that soothed the shock of his penetration, she could feel sparks beginning to flare in a core overflowing with womanly ardour.
The intensifying hunger within her became almost insatiable, driving her to a kind of wildness that made her dig her nails into his back. She was greedy, wanting to savour it all. Then she caught her breath in surprise as she felt the first pulsing waves of bliss begin to wash over her, a feverish warmth filling her, and she welcomed it into the cavern of her being.
Zack’s rock-hard body, glistening with sweat, relaxed against her and she held him close, aware of the thudding of his heart and his harsh, laboured breath fanning her face.
When he could think again, Zack shifted himself to the side of her and propped himself up on his elbow, supporting his head with his hand. He remembered her request to end their marriage and smiled down at her. Shona lay there, rumpled and pink-cheeked and thoroughly kissed, her glorious green eyes sleepy with fulfilled desire.
‘I imagine this means there won’t be an annulment after all.’
With a mischievous little smile playing on her lips and her eyes gleaming with twinkling humour, she lifted her hand and caressed his face. ‘I agree that an annulment is completely out of the question—and if you prove to be a good husband and continue to please me, I suppose that could also apply to a divorce.’
‘Never fear, my love.’ His smile was almost a leer. ‘I have a thing or two more to teach you in the way of pleasing me.’
‘I believe you,’ she said, her gaze wandering leisurely over the broad expanse of his chest. With her mind intent on making love, she had not looked at the finer details of his body, but now, to see him naked was rather startling. He was a most impressive specimen and, since she was his wife, she would have to get used to seeing him without the adornment of clothes. She smiled, deciding such a task would not be so difficult.
Zack sighed with contentment. Shona looked so very sultry and seductive, lying there in his arms, breathtakingly alluring, her lips curved in a sublime smile. Her soft perfume mingled with the warm smell of their bodies, sending his senses reeling. Taking her hand, he gently placed his lips on her moist palm before looking at her, his eyes smouldering.
‘Have you any idea how much I missed you when I left Santamaria?’
‘Did you? I’m glad to hear it,’ she said breathily, her dark-lashed eyes lustrous and warm. ‘I belong to you now.’
Shona’s skin had blushed to the colour of a soft pink rose—a flower well worth cultivating. The years ahead had suddenly taken on a rosier hue.
‘Absolutely. I knew it the first time I held you in my arms. You have belonged to me since I first set eyes on you on Santamaria. You belonged to me then—my body knew it even if my eyes didn’t see it. I want you and need you. I don’t want to lose you, Shona. I cannot, will not, let you go. I want what every man wants from his wife—for her to give him comfort and ease throughout the days, and nights, of their life together.’
‘Me, too,’ Shona murmured. Snuggling close to his side, she pressed a kiss to his chest, wanting to kiss all of him. ‘What’s this?’ she exclaimed all of a sudden, pausing and staring at the pale narrow scar on his side while his hand caressed her back.
‘Nothing,’ he said. ‘Just a wound some pirate inflicted on me when he tried to kill me.’
She looked at him in alarm. ‘Was he very fierce?’
‘Very.’
‘Why did he want to kill you?’
‘For profit. He tried to steal my ship.’ He grinned. ‘Don’t worry, my love. It was all a long time ago and I escaped with my ship and my life intact.’
‘And the pirate?’
‘He wasn’t so lucky,’ he murmured, bending his head and nibbling her earlobe.
When his fingers traced the curve of her waist, she sighed, awed that a hand which dealt death so skilfully with a sword could be so infinitely tender. Her wandering fingers suddenly stopped. ‘Zack,’ she said, slightly perturbed.
‘Yes, my sweet?’ he answered, his deep voice gone slightly hoarse with renewed desire. It seemed her questing fingers were having a curious effect on him.
‘There’s another scar on the other side—much larger than the other.’
‘There is?’ The scent of her was quite amazing.
‘Was this inflicted by the same pirate?’
‘No. That was another reprobate.’
‘Do people make a habit of trying to kill you?’
‘Only when I annoy them.’
She pressed herself against him and gave a sensuous sigh, enjoying the way he nibbled her ear. ‘Do you have any more scars I don’t know about?’
‘Keep looking,’ he murmured in her ear.
Looping her arms about his neck, she pulled his head down to hers. ‘You really are wicked, Captain Fitzgerald,’ she whispered.
‘Not beyond redemption, I hope.’
‘I do hope not,’ she murmured, breathing heavily.
‘I’m happy to know your opinion of me is improving,’ Zack said, laughing low in his throat.
‘Aye, milord, but is it not time for us to go?’
‘Not yet.’ He reached for her once more, revelling in the satiny smoothness of her flesh and burying his face against her throat. ‘I would savour once more the delights that you have brought within my grasp. I have waited too long for this. I will not let it end so quickly.’
Caught up in her intoxicating taste, again they made love. When he would have gathered her against him once more, Shona rolled to the edge of the bed and bounced to her feet, with light, lilting laughter floating from her lips. ‘You, my lord, are insatiable.’
Zack sighed regretfully and relaxed back on the pillows. ‘If you don’t wish to experience another display of my ardour, you’d best put on your clothes.’ He nodded towards a door across the room, his eyes gleaming with humour. ‘I’m sure you would like to make use of my bathing chamber. I think you’ll find everything you need in there. When you are dressed I’ll return you to your Aunt Augusta—but I promise you, Shona, that I shall have you installed in my home within days.’
Turning her back on him and tripping across the carpet to sample the delights of his bathing chamber, Shona didn’t doubt that for a moment—she no
longer had any objections.
Zack looked up from fastening his shirt when Shona emerged from his bathing chamber. Her slender body was completely engulfed in his thick plum-coloured robe. Her bare white toes peeped from beneath the hem and the shoulder seams fell to her elbow. Earlier, Zack had thought she couldn’t possibly look more desirable than she had when she had been naked, but he’d been wrong. Wrapped in an oversize robe, with her face flushed and her thick gold hair falling about her shoulders, she had the dewy freshness of a flower at dawn.
‘How do you feel?’ Zack enquired as she padded across the carpet to plant a kiss on his mouth.
‘The same way I look,’ she murmured, the oversize robe slipping off her right shoulder, leaving it bare. ‘I’d better get dressed—although you’re going to have to help me.’
‘It will be my pleasure,’ he said.
The warmth in his deep voice and the bold admiration in his eyes did astonishing things to Shona’s heartbeat, a reaction that was so strong that her cheeks grew hot. She pulled away from him and gave him a playful smile. ‘Perhaps it isn’t such a good idea after all.’
Laughing softly, he pulled her into his arms and planted a kiss on her bare shoulder. ‘I promise I shall behave. You will have no reason for complaint.’
* * *
Shona did not move out of Aunt Augusta’s house as their time of courtship and getting to know each other began. Because Zack wanted her to enjoy the position of prestige in society she was entitled to—and because he enjoyed showing her off in the setting where she sparkled like the jewels he lavished on her—during the days that followed they attended a variety of social events.
These were blissful days. They passed as a lovely dream of laughter and loving, and hours of unbridled passion in the master bedchamber in what was to be their new town house. Shona quickly discovered that the day Zack had introduced her to the joys to be had in his bed had been but a small preview of the wild beauty and primitive splendour.
There were times when he could not hold her close enough or long enough. And then there were moments when he would turn to her in hunger and need, when she would listen to his husky voice grow thick with desire while he touched and caressed her in particular ways and without embarrassment she would return the favour, and when she did, his powerful muscles jumped beneath her touch. There were also times when he would change her into a creature she did not know, when he drew from her a stormy passion she had never known she was capable of, then shared it with her. And then there were times when he bathed her senses in pleasure, lingering over her endlessly, lavishing her senses with every exquisite sensation, prolonging their release, until Shona was pleading with him to end the torment. She gave herself to him completely—body, heart and soul.
Life became a rainbow of delights. She was aglow with happiness and loved the attention and care her husband lavished on her. Not since the death of her father had she known the joy of being adored and cherished for what she really was and the quiet, inner peace she felt was sheer bliss.
One afternoon when they left Zack’s room following a particularly passionate interlude, Shona felt his hand tighten on hers and sensed instinctively that he was looking at her with that strange expression of tenderness on his handsome face. Raising his hand, she brought it up to her cheek and, turning her head, lightly kissed his fingers.
Zack bent his head and kissed her lips, wanting to tell her again what he felt, to explain that he’d never known there were feelings like this, but the emotions were still too raw and he was still in a daze.
They were halfway down the stairs when the doorbell rang and Jessen admitted a man and a woman into the hall.
‘Good Lord!’ Zack said softly, coming to a halt.
‘Who is it?’ Shona asked, still weak from the passion they’d shared.
‘My brother, Harry, and his wife, Miranda.’ He glanced at Shona, who looked completely alarmed, and whispered, ‘Don’t worry. They will like you once they recover from their surprise that you are my wife.’ He knew there was nothing for it but to put a brave face on. ‘Harry! What’s this?’ he said, proceeding down the stairs to greet his brother. ‘Visitors already. I haven’t even moved in.’
‘I know. We’ve just arrived in town and thought we’d take a look at my brother’s palatial residence.’
‘Hardly palatial,’ Zack contradicted.
‘But very grand,’ the petite brunette said, marching forward to press a kiss on her brother-in-law’s cheek. ‘In fact, it is much too grand for a man to live here all...’ her bright blue eyes riveted on Shona and her voice trailed off lamely ‘...alone.’ She regarded Shona with veiled puzzlement. ‘But—where are your manners? Are you not going to introduce us, Zack?’
Cursing a perverse turn of fate for making a wonderful situation into a difficult one, for he suspected what they were thinking—that they had walked in on him entertaining an unchaperoned female in his home, which meant that her reputation was in serious question, or that she was some courtesan with whom he had been dallying and it would be an unforgivable breach of decency to introduce her to his sister-in-law. Shona’s presence might also imply that her willingness to come to the house alone with him might misleadingly suggest a degree of sexual freedom that could obviously lead to trouble and must be quashed immediately.
Rather than descend to that, he put his hand beneath Shona’s elbow, partly for support and partly to urge her forward. Giving her a reassuring smile, he took a moment to answer, clearing his throat first before saying, ‘May I present Shona McKenzie-Fitzgerald—my wife. Shona, I would like to introduce my brother, Harry, and his wife, Miranda—Viscount and Viscountess Fitzgerald.’
There was a stunned silence while Zack’s brother was regarding him with fascinated disbelief and his sister-in-law had gone perfectly still.
‘Wife?’ Harry echoed. ‘Good Lord, Zack! When did this happen?’
‘Shona and I were married on Santamaria—in the Caribbean.’
Harry Fitzgerald, a handsome, dark-haired man in his mid-thirties who bore a striking resemblance to Zack in his facial features and height, stepped forward and pressed a gallant kiss to the back of Shona’s hand and told her that he was ‘enchanted’ to meet her.
Shona felt her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. She glanced at his wife and to her amazement, a warm and heartfelt smile dawned on Miranda’s face before she turned to scold her brother-in-law. ‘Zack, how could you? What do you intend doing about Caroline and Victoria?’
Zack’s amusement faded abruptly. It was the moment he’d been dreading. Not that he had intentionally deceived Shona about his relationship with Caroline. Indeed, he’d already told her they had a connection, but the moment had not been appropriate to tell her about his daughter. Initially he’d been too angry at being duped into marriage to think she deserved an explanation. And he was enough of a gentleman to know the subject needed delicate handling. He could imagine the hurt look in Shona’s eyes when he told her the real reason for not wanting to marry her when she had proposed to him on Santamaria—that he intended to wed another woman in order to claim his daughter.
From the moment he’d decided not to have their marriage annulled he had watched her with fascinated interest as, with the gracious ease with which she conducted herself, she effortlessly charmed everyone she came into contact with. His lovely young wife was fresh and unspoiled and there was a natural sophistication about her that came from an active mind, a lively wit and a genuine interest in others. She was a woman full of surprises, full of promise, vivid beauty moulded into every flawlessly sculpted feature of her face. But her allure was more than that—it was in her laughter and her graceful movements. There was something deep within her that made her sparkle and glow like a flawless jewel. He wanted to lay the world at her feet, but all Shona seemed to want was him and that knowledge filled him with profound tenderness.
His eyes sought his wife’s. Her expression was quizzical, puzzled and expectant. How did he tell her about Victoria? And how did he do it in a way that would shield Caroline’s reputation and Victoria’s? Surprisingly, she raised an eyebrow and gave him a smile. Zack realised she was giving him a reprieve, that she was avoiding the issue of Caroline for the present.
* * *
Shona wanted desperately to know about Caroline Donnington—and who was Victoria?—for Zack to reassure her that there was nothing to substantiate her jealous imaginings, but for the time being she would hold back. She hesitated for a split second before she smiled. The appearance of these two had taken her by surprise. If she had been forewarned, if she’d had time to think about her reaction to Miranda’s thoughtless remark, she might have prepared and rehearsed a gracious set down. But she could not bring herself to be clumsily rude to this overwhelmingly lovely woman.
‘I’m very happy to make your acquaintance...’ Shona paused, not knowing how to address her.
Miranda’s body seemed to relax and her expression to soften. ‘Please call me Miranda—and welcome to the family. I’m already looking forward to getting to know you. You are my sister-in-law and I do hope it will make us friends.’ She cocked her head to one side. ‘You really are very pretty, Shona.’
‘Miranda!’ her husband admonished.
‘Well, she is quite lovely, Harry. And I don’t see why it isn’t good manners to say so.’
‘Thank you for the compliment,’ Shona said, her throat unexpectedly tightening with emotion. She had never expected to be welcomed so warmly. ‘And even if it isn’t proper to say so on such short acquaintance, I think you are very pretty, too.’
‘Have the children accompanied you to London?’ Zack enquired.
Miranda shook her head. ‘Harry and I had already arranged to come to town when your sisters arrived with their offspring. Our brood were quite put out at the mere thought of leaving their cousins and the fun to be had so we left them in the care of nannies and nurses.’
Mishap Marriage Page 18