The Dangerous Love of a Rogue

by Jane Lark

  He folded her dress carefully and laid it on his coat. Then while she stripped off her long gloves, stockings and shoes, he stripped off his shirt; watching her hungrily, in silence, his eyes travelling over her body as she shivered.

  “You do not even realise how beautiful you are, even now, do you?” He threw his shirt onto the ground and kicked off his shoes. “I love your skin, it’s flawless.” He took off his stockings, then slipped the buttons of his flap free. “Head to toe, perfect.”

  Her body shone luminous in the silver moonlight, except for the cleft of dark hair between her thighs.

  He’d thought she would have tried to cover her body, but she did not. She merely let him look as he finished stripping.

  “I cannot swim,”

  He smiled. “I’ll hold you.” Urgency thumped in every vein as he moved towards her.

  “My hair,” she whispered, her fingers lifting to the ornate decoration, which twinkled with sparkling pearls, like those about her neck.

  “Come here. I shall take out the pins, and you can plait it.”

  When she turned her back to him, her bottom brushed his hip. Desire pulsed in his blood. But he ignored the urge to lay her down and began plucking pins from her hair.

  Her body shivered a little as he worked. He was shivery with need too.

  He placed a cupped hand full of pearl-headed pins into a pocket of his coat.

  “Will they be safe here?”

  “We shall not swim very far out, and I am sure none of the servants will come down here at night.”

  She had undone her necklace. She slipped it off and passed it to him.

  Once he’d taken it, her fingers began weaving her long dark hair into a braid.

  He slipped the necklace into his other pocket.

  “Are you ready?” He said when he stood, holding out a hand to her.

  “Yes.” He pulled her close and kissed her. His other hand gripping the back of her head.

  Then he let her go. I shall dive in, and then when you jump I shall catch you.

  Andrew slipped like an arrow into the water, fracturing the shining jet as he entered. A dozen ripples stirred, trembling across the surface as he disappeared beneath it.

  He reappeared a few yards from the bank, shaking the water from his hair. A devil-may-care grin on his lips.

  “Jump in!” He beckoned. “Be brave, darling, I’ll catch you and I’ll hold you up.”

  The dark water shimmered around him, painted with silver lights.

  She had never swum, her brothers had, with her father, but she had never…

  “Come on!”

  If she was to trust him now, then she should trust him in everything.

  She leapt into the water. It consumed her in a cold grip, and her legs became tangled among the weeds. She took a breath, but her mouth flooded with water.

  Her arms flailed, her heart pounding.

  Then a solid band caught below her breasts, pulling her up.

  She coughed, choking, her arms swiping out.

  “Relax, I have you.”

  She tipped her head back onto his shoulder, breathing hard and then coughing as she sucked in the cool night air. Her fingers shook as she gripped his arm, which braced her middle. She could feel his legs kicking at the water beneath her.

  “Don’t let me go,” her fingernails clawed into his skin.

  “I would not would I, Mary, darling. I do not want to lose you. Let’s swim out a little bit shall we. Lift your legs, just let them trail, I will swim for both of us.”

  With that she felt his body brushing beneath hers, his chest against her back as his legs moved under hers.

  “Let your body float, Mary, and trust me.” She lay her head back against his shoulder and let her body rise. The water lapped and played with her breasts, caressing her skin as he swam backwards, further out into the lake.

  Her grip on his arm eased, but then it began to slip away. She grasped it.

  “I won’t let you go, I’ll hold your arms, stretch them out and let your body lay on top of the water. Relax, let every muscle slacken, as if you are falling asleep on a bed of water.”

  Mary looked up at the stars, and felt her body rise as his hold slipped to her arms. His fingers gripping her skin. Her feet bobbed up on the water, and her stomach touched the surface too. The lap of the water was a gentle caress.

  “There, stay just so, I am going to let you go, you’ll not sink if you stay relaxed. I shall be here, just behind you.”

  Her heart thumped, but she could feel him close, as the water stirred when he kicked it, and moved it with his arms.

  She floated, alone on the dark lake, watching the stars above. For a moment it was wonderful, but then her feet began to sink, and she forgot how to be weightless and turned to grab his arm.

  He was right behind her…

  She laughed.

  “Put your arms about my neck and I will swim.”

  Kicking her legs clumsily in the water, she set her arms about his shoulders loosely. To ride on his back.

  “Ready.”

  “Yes.” He began to swim, his legs and arms moving like a frog. They cut through the water, easily. His body sleek and strong beneath her.

  The moonlight played with the ripples they created.

  The park seemed even more beautiful in the darkness. Like a secret place. She let her body float, flowing through the water.

  He turned suddenly, spinning in her arms, so he faced her, and his body floated up under hers so his chest pressed to hers, and his legs moved beneath hers to keep them afloat.

  “This or waltzing?” One palm lay on her naked back while the other swept through the water.

  “This. You.” She felt like a Goddess of the night.

  “Do you want to try and swim?”

  “No,”

  “Wrong answer, Mary, darling. Of course you do, you are just afraid. I will hold your hands, put your legs out straight and kick them.”

  She did as he bid her, while he eased her grip from his shoulders and swum back, an arms-length away, holding her hands.

  “Just kick your feet.”

  She did and they splashed on the surface.

  “Keep them beneath the surface, it will propel you better.”

  She did so, feeling her body cut through the water, forcing him to swim backwards, his legs kicking out froglike beneath the surface.

  “I am going to let go of your hands, slide them forward and then push the water back with your palms.”

  Panic caught in her throat as he let her go, but she did as he said, and her body moved without sinking, she kept kicking and moving her arms as he swam before her, slowly, speaking words of encouragement.

  “You said you could not swim, but you can, Mary.”

  “Like you can make my family love you.”

  He shook his head, smiling. We will swim in the river when we have our own property. “Come.” He slipped back beneath her, facing her, and she clung about his neck.

  “Happy?”

  She kept kicking her legs. “More than happy. I love you.” This was the life she had dreamed of with him.

  “And I love you. Are you ready to get out?”

  Her gaze ran along the shore. “How will we get out?” There were no shallow places.

  “The boating jetty.” His body floated beneath hers, brushing chest to chest, hip to hip and thigh to thigh.

  “The boating jetty? Did you plan this?”

  He smiled, his roguish, rakehell smile. “I’ll admit to having noted the places where the lake cannot be seen from the front of the house after Pembroke said he’d watched us when we sat down here. Then while you spent afternoons resting and I walked about the park I noticed the best places to get in and out. But the opportunity to indulge never came… until now.

  “You are wicked.”

  “And you love me for it.”

  “Yes, I do.” She pressed a kiss on his cheek.

  “Come on, let’s get out.” The
strength of his kicks increased.

  The jetty stretched out into the water. Reaching from the shore.

  “You climb out first, press your palms down on the wood and I will push you up.”

  While he gripped the jetty with one hand his other pushed her bottom as she lifted herself up. She tumbled on to the jetty laughing.

  His palms pressed down on the wood, the muscles in his arms bunching, as he rose from the water. It streamed across his skin, moonlight highlighting the ridges and hollows.

  She was a lucky woman to have a man like this.

  When he was on the jetty, he stood and held his hand out to help her up. Mary took it. He pulled her to standing, then they walked back along the jetty, her hand in his and her breathing rapid, but not from the exertion… She knew what would come now, and she ached for it to happen.

  When they reached the trees, behind which, their clothes were hidden, he gripped her nape and brought her lips to his. The pressure was strong and warm. Then his tongue slipped between her lips and danced with hers as his erection pressed against her stomach.

  His hands slid down to her buttocks, and hers ran over his damp skin.

  “I wanted to be patient, to be slow, Mary, but I cannot. I love you too much.” His grip lifted her and she wrapped her thighs about his hips.

  “I would take you against the tree but the bark would be abrasive on your skin, so we must use the grass as a bed.”

  He dropped to his knees. With her still clasped about his waist, and then he leant her back and lay her down carefully.

  The grass was cool, and the sweet scent of clover rose in the air.

  “Let us find heaven together.”

  He slid into her, pressing deep inside her soul as well as her body.

  “I love you.” He withdrew and pushed back in, the rhythm slow and firm. His lips pressed kisses across her face, on her cheek, her eyelids.

  Enchanting.

  Her fingernails clawed into his back. “Andrew.”

  His movements became swifter, and harsher.

  Pain and pleasure flooded her body.

  His movement changed to a little pulse.

  Then his hands gripped her thighs and pulled them wider apart, and his strokes became ruthless and desperate with hunger.

  “Mary,” he growled her name, over her lips. “I love you. Cry out for me. I want you undone – unravelled! Have no restraint…”

  “I love you too.” She said into his mouth, as the tide of desire rose, brimming at the top, lapping at her senses.

  The soles of her bare feet gripped at his thighs, as her fingertips clung to his shoulders.

  Her passion ran over, slipping across the edge, and washing away her grip on sanity.

  His pelvis struck hers with a force that rocked through her body and stirred her breasts, firing sparks of ecstasy into her nerves. He took control of her body – all that she was, his weight pressing down onto her repeatedly, as her bottom bounced on the crushed grass.

  “You are everything I have ever wanted…”

  Her thighs trembled as she sought to grip his hips, but he moved too fast.

  A delicious whorl danced a waltz through her senses as sighs and cries of pleasure filled the air around them.

  She fell again and he withdrew fully, then plummeted into her, breathing hard as his climax came too.

  Wet heat soaked about him, seeping into his soul. He held still, letting the feelings ripple through his veins. He had thought himself a dead man only hours ago, now he had gone to heaven, but he was still alive.

  When they ebbed away he met her gaze.

  She smiled.

  It touched his heart.

  He felt like a conquering king.

  He smiled too, withdrawing from her and rolling to his back. “Beautiful woman.”

  She rolled against his side. One arm and leg slipping across his body as her palm settled on his chest.

  He did not move for a while, listening to the music from the house.

  They could sleep here, but he supposed that was a bad idea. They would be far more likely to be found at dawn. When the grooms rose.

  His hand ran over her damp hair. “We must dress and go back.”

  “But I am still wet, the water will ruin my dress.”

  “Then wear my shirt. We can go in via the servants’ hall. Come along. Let me get you to the warm comfortable bed you deserve.”

  She rolled away as he rose. He held out his hand to her.

  “The servants’ hall will be full at this hour. They will be tidying up after dinner and preparing for the morning. I am not going through there half naked.”

  “Then go in through the front door and hope no one is in the hall. The choice is yours, sweetheart.”

  She sighed as he picked up his trousers and slipped them back on.

  “Mary those are your choices, walk through the servants’ hall and do not give a damn what they think, walk through the front hall, and hope no one is there, or get your pretty dress wet and ruin it… and as I now love that dress I would discourage that choice.” He gave her a wry smile, as her lips pouted.

  “You did not plan this very well.” She huffed and then bent and grabbed up his shirt.

  He laughed. “Yes well, you ought to know. I am no good at thinking beyond a certain point, Mary.”

  She slipped his shirt over her head. “You mean like stealing me and not thinking about how you shall fit within the family you had made an enemy of.”

  He laughed again. “Yes, that is a good example.” He gathered up the rest of their clothes careful not to let her hair pins or her necklace slip from the pockets of his coat. Then with their clothes tucked under one arm, his free hand gripped Mary’s.

  “Come. I suppose, in future, I ought to include you in my planning, and then you may point out the elements that I may forget.”

  She laughed. “That is a good idea.”

  His shirt fell to her mid-thigh, covering very little, and the white cotton caught the moonlight, making them standout as they walked up the slope, towards the house.

  Drew hoped no one looked out from the windows.

  When they reached the gravel drive, she stepped tentatively onto it, then squealed as it cut into her bare feet.

  “Wait.” Drew slipped on his shoes, “Here take these.” He passed her the pile of clothes, then swung her up into his arms.

  She squealed again. “If you are trying not to be seen, making all this noise is not the way to go about it, Mary, darling.”

  When they reached the smooth stone steps of the portico he let her feet fall and held her while she got her balance. Then he took their clothes back from her, gripped her hand and led her up the steps.

  He turned the door handle and the door gave inwards.

  Luckily there were no footmen in the hall. They would be in the drawing room ready to answer any of Pembroke’s or his guests’ needs. Voices and music still echoed about the house.

  Drew smiled at Mary, wondering if her family would really be scandalised or whether they would simply laugh.

  They hurried upstairs, her bare feet silent on the treads, and encountered no one.

  When they reached her rooms, inside and out of sight of anyone in the house, he pressed her back against the door and kissed her hard, their clothes slipping to the floor.

  Then he carried her to the bed.

  An hour later and Mary slept deeply beside him, tangled up in the sheets and tucked beneath his arm, a precious savoured thing.

  But sleep would not come to him. He no longer felt like the wolf having stolen a lamb, he felt like a lion with his lioness and he could not cease thinking of the infant nurtured in her womb.

  Once he’d asked her if she thought she’d stepped from her heaven into his hell, now it was the other way about, he’d walked from darkness into her light. She was his beacon, she would love and care for their child and she would be the heart of their loyal and loving family. Just as he had hoped and longed for, and not known
how to achieve.

  In future he would include her in his planning.

  Chapter 42

  “A carriage is approaching, Your Grace.”

  “How far away?”

  The family were breaking their fast. Drew glanced up at the clock, his heart thumping. Eleven.

  Would Kilbride be fool enough to come here? Drew stood.

  Pembroke glanced at him.

  Caro had not come down, she’d chosen to eat in her rooms. At least if it was Kilbride she would be nowhere near, and she would not have to endure any verbal abuse.

  His heart thumping Drew walked from the room. Mary’s chair scraped the floor as she rose.

  Others were rising too.

  He walked out towards the drive.

  A footman held the door.

  Pembroke caught Drew up as he reached the steps and Mary’s hand slipped into Drew’s.

  He clung to her, as Marlow and the other men also arrived to watch the progression of the carriage.

  Drew saw the shield emblazoned on the side. “Brooke!”

  He let go of Mary’s hand and jogged down the steps smiling as the carriage pulled onto the drive before the house, the gravel crunching beneath its wheels as several grooms ran forward to take the horses heads.

  The door opened and a footman raced to set down the step when Peter appeared, smiling. “Good-day, my friend. I told you I would see you here.”

  A smile rose up from within Drew, the sort of smile he had never known until he’d met Mary.

  As Peter descended, Drew saw Harry and Mark behind him.

  His heart thumping hard, he walked forward to embrace his friends, realising that he had always known love. He loved them.

  Harry and then Mark gripped his shoulders, making humorous comments about his situation, among the Pembrokes, in his ear.

  Drew laughed.

  He saw through their tactics, they’d arrived on mass to make it harder for Pembroke to turn them away.

  But when he looked back at Pembroke, the man merely smiled and nodded at Peter, then the others, “You are welcome here, as friends of Drew.”

  Looking at each other, the pride of lions turned away. But Mary hovered.

  “Would you mind if I walk through the Park with them, sweetheart.”

  She shook her head, then turned to follow her family.

  He was a fool, to have so maligned and fought her family. They’d never been against him, just for Mary. They’d always been on the same side really. He’d been wondering all through breakfast, when no one had said a word about last night, if it was normal for couples to disappear in this house. Certainly all the men were deeply attached to their wives, he had seen constant looks and gestures passing between couples, silent conversations like he and Mary had.