“You are beautiful, my princess,” he murmured, suddenly serious as he pushed again and then again until he had fully entered her. He waited for a moment then began smooth, rhythmic thrusts into her welcoming warmth.
She couldn’t answer. She had to be in heaven, she thought, concentrating on the wonderment of Jack as her muscles stretched to accommodate him. No one had ever told her making love would be like this. It was the sun and moon and stars rolled into one.
She caught his rhythm, moving with him and urging him on. His hands cupped her bottom pulling her tightly into him as he thrust harder and faster, his breath coming in great gasps. She arched again as her climax took hold, and clung to his shoulders, sobbing as waves of ecstasy flowed over her.
“Ah, Lara!” His shout echoed as he came seconds later, filling her with his seed. She held his shaking body, loving the feel of his sweat-slicked skin and the sound of his heart hammering against hers.
“I’m almost speechless,” she said as she slowly recovered in his arms.
He pulled her closer. “I’ve waited so long for you. I think we may have made six babies just then.”
She laughed with the pure joy of his lovemaking. “You are certainly a very physical man, Jack Lucas,” she replied.
“You’d better believe it. And now we have broken the ice, so to speak, I shall want you at least a dozen times a day.”
“Even though you don’t love me?” There. She’d said those dreaded words. She had to spoil everything. She hadn’t meant to—she couldn’t help herself.
“You don’t love me either, do you?” came the smooth response. He didn’t wait for her to reply but said, “This is a physical thing, Lara. It is the pleasure we gain from creating sensations for each other to enjoy.”
“Meaning, any woman could do?”
“Don’t analyze everything. We have lusted after one another from the moment we met. Physically, we are very compatible. We have just proved it, but I don’t intend to spend our honeymoon being quizzed by you over impossible emotions.”
Impossible emotions. So that’s what he called it. She had heard that many men were like Jack. As long as they could have sex when they wanted it, to hell with other emotions such as love, commitment, caring.
Jack touched her face and she turned her head and pressed a kiss into his palm. Perhaps he cared for her, she didn’t know. He was such an attractive man and she didn’t believe physically they would have problems. The fact that her parents had, in effect, arranged this marriage didn’t matter to her anymore. All that concerned her was that he could learn to love her as his wife and the mother of the children they would have.
Right now, she wanted this man again. She wanted him to recreate those wonderful sensations within her. Leaning toward him, she brushed her breasts across his chest. “Would you like me again?” she asked with a cheeky smile.
“You know I would, little devil.”
“I want you to teach me everything about sex, Jack. Everything.”
He placed his hands around her waist and lifted her so she sat astride him, looking down into his face. “You flatter me, sweetheart,” he said, maneuvering so he could enter her, causing her to gasp in surprise.
“Oh, Jack,” she murmured, widening her eyes as he pulled her hips tightly against him, at the same time thrusting into her, then lifted her from him to repeat the movement again and again as her strong, internal muscles tightened around him.
“Oh, Lara,” he mimicked, his thumbs rubbing her sensitive nipples.
She moved against him, taking control of the rhythm and of Jack and laughed in delight as he groaned under her teasing. When his passion took over, he left her breathless as with several fierce thrusts, he reached his climax. She flung her head back as she reveled in his pleasure.
~ * ~
Dear Diary,
We’re on our way to Australia in Jack’s plane. He is in the conference area making business calls, and I’m using this chance to catch up with you. I’m sorry I’ve missed a few days, but things have been pretty hectic.
My wedding is over and honestly, someone must have slipped me a Valium, because it passed in a complete haze. HMs are ecstatic, and Jack’s parents were very happy at the outcome as well. He has paid for them to have a second honeymoon in Europe.
The most important thing is that I’ve lost my virginity at last and how! It was the most wonderful experience of my life, and I can’t get enough of him. I’m constantly on fire for him and he must feel the same way as he can barely keep his hands off me.
The saddest thing is that from his point of view, it’s pure lust. From the beginning, he wanted me, while I know I love him. I could never let another man touch me and yet he could probably have sex with another woman and think nothing of it. I can’t bear to think about it.
We’re going to Port Margaret where he says we will have some meaningful talks. I don’t quite know what that will involve. I only wish he loved me and we could be like a normal couple.
“What are you writing?”
Lara hastily closed her journal as Jack stood in the aisle looking down at her. “It’s private.”
He shrugged and sat next to her. She was extraordinary, his beautiful wife. Quiet and shy one moment and the next, fiery and argumentative. He still couldn’t pick her true personality. What he did know, to his absolute delight, was how passionate she was. There was no shyness involved in that regard, and he had been intoxicated with her from when they had first made love that morning as the dawn had broken.
Worried that she might be sore with such sudden sexual activity, he had run a bath filling it with oils and bubbles he’d found in the huge marble bathroom. She had drifted back to sleep and he had picked her up and gently placed her in the warm, perfumed water. She had stretched languidly and then held out her arms to him.
“Come in, the water’s fine,” she had joked and he’d watched the bubbles clinging to her rounded breasts as she moved. He hadn’t needed to be asked twice as he joined her, and she was instantly in his arms.
“I’ve never done it in a bath,” she whispered, stroking the bubbles across his chest.
“Well, of course you haven’t,” he replied, hardening with desire as she floated against him.
“Do you still want me a dozen times a day?” She pressed her lips against his.
“Well, this will be number three today and it’s not even seven o’clock in the morning,” he murmured, his hands moving over her slick, wet body. “Seriously, Lara. You could become very sore.”
“We’ll have a rest…after this,” she said. He’d been unable to resist her, and hadn’t wanted to, as he pulled her on to his lap.
“Did you finish all your calls,” she asked politely as he brought his mind back to the present with difficulty.
“Pretty well. But next week there’s an important meeting in Sydney, which I’ll need to attend.”
“I’ll come with you, if you like.”
She slipped her hand into his, and he studied his gold ring on her slender finger. He wanted her with him. He wanted her with him every moment.
“I have an apartment in Sydney overlooking the Harbor Bridge. I think you’ll like it.” His throat tightened with unknown emotion. Was this what it was like to be in love? To want to share everything with your wife? Why hadn’t he experienced this with his ex? Probably that was why their marriage hadn’t lasted. They’d never really loved each other. But what did it matter when Lara didn’t love him? Sure, she was enjoying this new sexy adventure but it would wear thin. She had already mentioned ending their relationship. Barely married and she had talked of separation. That had hurt him. He would never let her go and allow another man to have her. Never.
“I know so little about you, Jack.” She interlaced her fingers with his. “I don’t know about your work, or your family and friends. I don’t know what you have planned for our future.”
He turned to her and to his dismay, her eyes filled with tears. She bent her head but h
e’d seen her weakness and it tore him apart to see her agony.
And it was his fault.
He brushed away a wayward tear from her cheek with his thumb and then cradled her against him, gently kissing her forehead. “It’s not the right place to talk about such matters here where we might be overheard. As I said, when we get home to Port Margaret, we’re going to talk and plan our future to suit us both.”
It sounded reasonable and logical the way he’d phrased it. They did need to sort things out. He hoped to hell he could persuade her she could be happy with him.
“We’ll be in Australia in about nine hours. How about we go to bed?” He buried his lips into her sweet-smelling hair.
She looked up, and he knew his desire for her was written in his eyes. He couldn’t, and didn’t want to disguise it. She was everything he had ever wanted in a woman.
“I’d like that,” she replied. “I guess I must be pregnant by now but it’s a very enjoyable way of making sure.”
She reached for her bag and made her way along the aisle to the bedroom at the back of the plane. Jack followed, his thoughts spinning around in his head. These odd, throwaway lines of hers didn’t seem to fit. This wasn’t the real Lara. Or was he totally misunderstanding the situation with her waiting to have his baby to fulfill her part of their contract, so she could leave him?
~ * ~
“It’s a beautiful home, Jack.” She looked out of the huge windows that ran the length of the house which was set high above the bay in Port Margaret.
“I like it. It’s a bit smaller than your palace, but still…”
She decided to ignore that remark. “The sea is very rough today. Is it an autumn storm coming in?” She jumped as a great gust of wind rattled against the panes of glass. Jack stood behind her, and she leaned back enjoying the protective feel of his arms around her.
“It’s forecast to be stormy today and fine tomorrow. I don’t have a fleet of boats out at present, so I’m not too concerned.”
“Have you been out in weather like this?” She turned to look up at him, noticing his eyes narrow as they swept the horizon.
“Yes, many times. Before I returned to Challoner, I went out for a week and worked a session with the tuna cowboys.”
She turned back to the window, covering his hands with hers where they encircled her waist. “I don’t know what that means.”
“We work under water in diving suits driving big catches of tuna into huge holding pens, and then the ship gradually tows them several hundred miles into shore, where they go into fish farms. The trouble is, sometimes sharks follow the tuna in and break the nets so we have to drive them away and mend the nets. If we lose the catch, then we also lose around two million dollars. It’s dangerous but pretty exciting.”
Lara shuddered and his arms tightened around her. She continued to stare at the pounding sea as she said, “You could have been killed.”
“Then you wouldn’t have needed to marry me.” Jack laughed as he twirled her around to face him and then hesitated as he registered her distressed expression. He said more gently, “It’s part of what I do, Lara. Who I am. I’m a fisherman first and a businessman second.”
Her eyes sparked into his as she grasped the lapels of his jacket. “No. You’re my husband first and the father of the baby we will have. How can you be as uncaring as to what might happen to you?”
“Don’t try and change me, Lara. I will always take care of you and if you have a baby, I will love and take care of our child.” He appeared puzzled by her outburst.
“I want you to love me, Jack. You said you would love our child. I want to be loved too.”
His brilliant eyes studied her as he analyzed what she’d said. She waited, her heart in her mouth. At last she had the courage to bring this into the open. She mustn’t fail now. She had to know.
“I care for you, Lara.”
She pushed him away. “That’s not good enough. I want more.”
“What if I can’t give you more?”
“Then our marriage will be over.” She flung her head back as she stared at him. “I love you, Jack Lucas. I love you, and I’ll accept nothing less in return.”
Twelve
“I don’t believe you.”
“What?” Her mouth opened in shock. She had just revealed the most significant, and painful revelation to this man. She had swallowed her pride to declare her love thinking it would break down this final barrier between them, and she was wrong.
So wrong.
“I don’t believe you love me,” Jack repeated.
“Why not? I deserve to know how you’ve reached that brilliant conclusion.”
She watched as he sat in one of the luxurious leather chairs. He looked calm and relaxed as he crossed his legs at the ankles and folded his arms over his chest.
“There are a couple of very obvious reasons actually, and I think you are aware of them already, if you would but admit it. First, as you know because of Carl you didn’t have much choice when I made the offer to bail him out and you were the most important part of the equation. Sure, you would have preferred Michael, but I’m wealthier and beat him to it.
“Second, why would you fall in love with someone like me? It doesn’t add up. You have been cosseted and protected all your life and even although you spent those years at university you have remained very conservative, I guess.” Jack hesitated as if seeking the right words to say. “Added to the complexities of your royal upbringing, your natural characteristics are those of shyness and vulnerability, which are good reasons that you are a lot more comfortable with your own kind. Then you say you love me, a man you barely know, and although I have the advantage of money, as far as your world is concerned, I am still a commoner—a mere fisherman.”
She silently counted to ten giving her time to bring her emotions under control. “If you think that, why was I so taken with you on the island? I literally begged you to make love to me.”
Rubbing a hand across his jaw, he gave a wry smile. “I’m not denying we have something going between us, which began on the island. It’s called physical attraction and we both excel at it. But I’m talking about a different kind of love. The sort of love that will last a lifetime. All I have heard you mention is separation and divorce. On our wedding day, you asked me to get on with it and make you pregnant so we could separate sooner. That doesn’t sound like a declaration of undying love to me.”
She frowned. He was right. She had said those terrible things but only because she thought he didn’t care. She’d been protecting her stupid pride. Now, she had no pride left. She wanted him to believe her.
“I loved you from the very start, Jack. You can say all the hurtful things in the world, but it’s true.”
He stood and moving to the window, stared out at the raging sea. “It doesn’t matter. I have bought a princess and made a good investment in her country. I don’t want to talk about whether you love me or not. We’re not going to separate or get a divorce. It’s immaterial.”
Lara blinked away the tears welling in her eyes. She wouldn’t let him see how his words had hurt her. She wouldn’t.
“I’d like to visit the island tomorrow.”
He raised a dark eyebrow. “Whatever for?”
“I don’t want to explain why. Please can we go, just for an hour?”
His expression was thoughtful as he studied her. He nodded his head. “Okay. As long as this storm has passed and the weather is suitable. We’ll go in my motor launch.”
“Not Jezebel?”
He smiled and her insides melted with love for him.
“No, not in Jezebel. Now, I’ll go and make a few business calls and catch up on some emails. The housekeeper has left some dinner in the fridge, if your royal highness doesn’t mind heating it up?”
Refusing to let the terse words between them spoil this special time, she crossed to his side and placing her arms around his neck, reached up to kiss him. “Jack Lucas’s wife doesn’t mind at all
,” she breathed and had the pleasure of seeing the passion flair in his eyes.
~ * ~
“It’s a bit choppy, but we should be all right. At least the sun’s out, which is more than can be said for yesterday.”
“I think it’s the most beautiful day ever,” Lara replied, leaning into Jack as he steered the launch toward the island. He placed his free arm around her, kissing her cheek.
She was particularly serene today, he thought, glancing at her delicate profile as she held her head up toward the autumn sunshine, her hair streaming behind her in a golden banner. She had made no further comments about their strange discussion yesterday when she’d insisted she loved him.
How he wished it was true. But, in so many ways, he knew his bride was still very naïve. Because he had woken this extraordinary sexual awareness within her, she had mistaken it for love. No sweetheart. It isn’t the kind of love I want from you. Perhaps it will come in time. I pray it will.
He glanced behind checking the security boat was following. He hadn’t told her but he’d been forced to make a lot of changes since making Lara his wife. His home was now sealed like a fortress, and he’d arranged for two security men to be on constant guard against intruders. Whether this was the media, who were still frantically trying to get photos and interviews, or more sinister strangers who might try and harm her in some way, he needed to make sure they were safe.
“Do you think the spiders will have come back and be hiding in the bed?” she asked with a cheeky grin as she touched his face, her fingers tracing the outline of his jaw. He caught her hand and pressed a kiss into the soft palm.
“You have a one-track mind, my Lara.” He smiled in response. “I think the cottage will be pretty grubby. If I’d known you wanted to go there, I would have arranged for my staff to go out and tidy it.”
“I don’t want it tidy,” she replied, resting her head on his shoulder. “I want it to be just as we left it.”
“In chaos, if I remember correctly.” Jack slowed the engine as they approached the tiny bay. “I can’t get any closer but the water’s only a few inches deep. I’ll carry you over,” he said, throwing a short rope ladder over the side.
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