"Don’t stop. Touch me again. It feels good." His voice was deeper now.
Tentatively she touched his chest again, this time allowing her fingers to linger on the hardened nipple. Growing bolder, she ran a hand down his ribs, then along the smooth, flat plane of his stomach and felt his flesh quiver. I caused that, she thought with wonder. This strong, commanding figure quivers at my simple touch. The thought excited her, causing her to grow even bolder. As her hand moved lower, she heard him moan, a low, guttural sound. Then his lips covered hers in a demanding kiss as he pulled her firmly against him.
His hands and lips moved over her body, drawing out feelings she had never known existed. While his hands traced the slender curve of her waist, the soft roundness of her hips, his lips explored, and teased, and suckled, until she thought she would explode with need. All thought, all feeling, centered on this man, his taste, his touch.
She was no longer afraid. Needs surfaced, pushing aside all fear. Her head was thrown back, her body arched for his touch. When he poised above her and covered her mouth with his, she gripped his shoulders, drawing him to her. Determined to hold his own needs at bay, he entered her as tenderly as possible. He began kissing her. Kissing her everywhere. Her hands clutched fiercely. Her lips sought, avid, hungry. Her strength matched his, urging him on. Her heart soared as they moved together, drawing and giving strength. And Chase forgot to worry about hurting her. If she hadn’t melted into him so willingly, he would have had to take her. Or beg. It had become that simple. That complicated. He needed her. Needed her with a desperation bordering on insanity. He forgot about everything except the woman in his arms who was no longer shy, but had become bold in her loving, who was no longer fragile, but incredibly strong. It no longer mattered who led and who followed. Flesh to flesh, heartbeat to heartbeat, they gave and took and gave.
A cry broke from her lips, and he felt the shudders that wracked her body. And then he cried out her name, or thought he did, as he followed her over the crest of intense pleasure, then sagged against her, still cradling her in his arms.
The cheek against his was damp with sheen. He pressed his lips to a moist tangle of her hair and struggled to control his breathing. When he levered himself on his elbows to look down at her, she drew him back to her, unwilling to let him go.
"Do you know how long I’ve wanted to hold you like this?" he whispered against her temple.
"Mmmm." She didn’t want to speak yet. It was too much effort.
"Since I first saw you on that riverboat, in that ridiculous bonnet."
"It wasn’t ridiculous." She pushed him away.
He plunged his hands into her hair and kissed the tip of her nose before covering her lips. "No. It wasn’t. It was outrageous."
"You were outrageous. Asking me to cheat for you." Remembering, she turned her head to one side, avoiding his eyes.
He laughed and rolled away from her, then drew her firmly into the curve of his arm. "And you were so scandalized."
She snuggled close. "Yes. And a little afraid."
"Of me?"
She sighed, a long, drawn-out sigh from deep inside her. "Of me, I think. You made me think about things a lady should never think of."
"Ah." He grinned, that mysterious, rogue smile she’d come to love, and she pulled his face down to hers. Boldly she twined her fingers in his hair and kissed him thoroughly.
"Chase?"
He grinned at the modest way she suddenly lowered her lashes, veiling her eyes.
"Hummm?"
"Is it always like this?"
"Loving?"
She tensed, fearing his reply, and nodded her head. He loved the way her cheeks colored.
"Not always. There has to be a certain magic between people."
Magic. That’s what it was. From the moment they first met, it had been there. Sitting up, she stared down at him, while her hair swirled about her, tickling his skin. Touching her hands to his chest, she began a gentle exploration of his body. As she watched his eyes, they seemed to grow darker with desire. Her smile became mysterious with sudden knowledge. She could make him bum for her as she burned for him. She had the power to make him lose control.
Chase lay very still, loving the feel of her fingertips on his skin. Through half-lowered lids, he studied the elegant column of her throat, her high, firm breasts, her tiny waist. She was so perfectly formed. As she moved, her long hair swept over one shoulder. Catching a strand, he pulled her head slowly downward. Her fingers moved lower, to trail his hip. His breath caught in his throat. Was it possible to want her again so desperately?
As she brought her mouth to his, she whispered, "I want to feel the magic."
Then she moved over him, and once again he lost himself in the wonders of the woman who had so bewitched him.
* * *
She awoke slowly, loving the feel of Chase there in her bed. Loving the feel of his arms around her. How could she have slept so long alone? Alone. Lonely. Wasn’t that what she had been for most of her life? She kept her eyes tightly closed, seeing him through her senses. He’d left his fingerprints on her. She would know him anywhere, just by the feel of him, the texture of his flesh, the musky, manly scent of him. So this was what it felt like to love. To want to give yourself until the other became you, and you became him—absorbed him until bits and pieces of you and him were all mixed up, and you blended into something richer, fuller. Us. No longer I and he. Us.
Throughout the long night they had loved, slept fitfully, then loved again. She would never have enough of him. He had been tender, rough, considerate, selfish. And she had been the same. There was a hunger for him unlike anything she had ever known.
Her lashes fluttered, then lifted. He was watching her, feeling his heart stop. Would she regret, retreat? For a moment he thought he would die waiting for her reaction.
She smiled, and his heart contracted, then began beating again. He would live after all. She didn’t hate him for taking her, taking her virtue, taking her innocence. In their place, he had given her love. Undying love.
If he could, Chase would spirit her away on a sturdy boat, through the murky, tree-choked bayous, like the pirates of old, and keep her safe. Safe from the madness that was sweeping this very civilized city. Safe. It was like a litany in his mind since he’d first come to know her. to keep her safe. If only he could. But he had obligations. He was pledged to seeing them through. And until then, he wasn’t free to make a commitment to the one person who now owned his heart.
He pushed the worrisome thoughts aside. For now, they were together. It would have to be enough—for now.
He studied the small, decidedly feminine hand that rested over his heart. How long had he dreamed of her hand touching him like this?
Still drowsy, she nuzzled his shoulder, sending a series of thrills along his spine. Desire surfaced instantly.
Glancing up at the rays of sunlight peeking through the part in the drapes, Annalisa asked, "Do we have to get up?"
"You don’t sound too happy with the idea."
She snuggled closer, loving the way she fit so perfectly into the curve of his arm, her leg wrapped around his. "I’d rather stay here with you."
He smiled and dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. "I wouldn’t let you go even if you tried." He chuckled and dragged his lips across her cheek to her ear. "I’ll try my best to make you—comfortable."
The deep timbre of his voice sent little pinpricks of pleasure along her spine. Taking a handful of her hair, he lifted it from her shoulder to nibble her neck. She sighed, and knew how a cat felt when it purred.
"I can’t get enough of you," he said against her mouth. "I’ll never get enough of you." Touching her always made him want more. Yet each time he learned more of her, he wanted all.
He took her fully into the kiss and felt her instant response. No one had ever excited him this way. No one had ever stirred him to such passion.
He blazed a trail of kisses along her shoulder, her collarbone, h
er breast, pausing to nibble and suckle until her breathing became unsteady. Before she could stop him he moved lower, to drop kisses on her stomach, her thigh, her knee.
"That day at the river, I wanted to do this," he murmured, lifting her foot to his lips.
Annalisa recalled the shock she’d felt when he had kissed her wounded foot. Even now, his simple touch was sending tremors snaking along her spine.
"I wanted to kiss you here," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her sensitive instep. She trembled. "And here." He touched his lips to her ankle, then began probing the inside of her knee with his lips.
"Chase, that tickles."
Her giggles turned to a gasp as he brought his lips to the inside of her thigh. And then his mouth moved a little higher, and she was caught in a whirlwind of sensations that left her dazed and breathless. His mouth, his tongue, were doing things to her body that left her helpless to do more than tremble and writhe. Sensation after sensation rocked her. Each crest of feeling took her higher, then still higher, until she was spiraling out of control. When he felt her shuddering response, he levered himself over her.
"Chase." She gasped, feeling dazed. Footsteps sounded outside the door. It suddenly occurred to her that it was the middle of the morning, and the others were up and about. "What if the maid knocks with our breakfast?"
His clever hands were searching her body, finding all the sensitive places he had discovered throughout the long night of loving. He heard her gasp again and covered her mouth with his to swallow her little cry.
"This is breakfast." His tongue found hers, and he tasted the musky sweetness that was uniquely hers.
"Chase." All thoughts vanished. His name died on her lips as he took her, slowly, languidly, feeling her reach the crest with him again.
And then there was no longer any need for words, as they once again lost themselves in each other.
Chapter Twenty-five
Late afternoon sunlight filtered through the bedroom windows. A fresh breeze off the Mississippi billowed the curtains. A tray of half-eaten dinner rested on a small table. While Chase leaned his head back in the tub, Annalisa lathered his hair. The only sound in the room was his soft sighs of pleasure.
Annalisa was wearing a silk wrap tied at her waist. Fresh from the bath, she still had her hair pinned up on top of her head. She smelled of lilac soap, and the familiar rosewater. Clean, sweet, seductive.
Each time she bent over Chase he reached out and pulled her close, burying his mouth in the cleft between her breasts.
"You’re getting my robe wet."
"You could take it off."
She laughed and dumped a dipper of water over his head. "The last time I did that you took me to bed."
Sputtering, he wiped soap from his eyes and grabbed her. "I didn’t hear you complain about it."
"Chase." Struggling, she tried to evade his grasp, but she was no match for his strength. Despite her protests, he hauled her over the edge of the tub and pulled her in on top of him.
She let out a string of oaths he thought only the dock workers on the wharf knew.
"Where in hell did you learn to swear like that?"
Wiping a dripping strand of hair from her eyes, she pushed against his chest, then gave up the struggle. The hem of her dressing gown trailed like a lily pad on the water behind her.
"I guess I learned all those words when I was a little girl growing up in this house. I didn’t even know they were bad until I went to the convent for an education. The good sisters were shocked by my street language."
"I’ll just bet they were." Chase untied the sash at her waist and began slipping the gown from her shoulders.
"I could swear in several languages and several more Creole dialects. When I realized the effect those words had on others, I saved them up for when I really wanted some attention."
"And I’ll wager you got it." He began nibbling at her earlobe while his hands began exploring beneath the water.
"I certainly did." She sighed and settled herself more comfortably in the tub big enough for only one. Even in this crowded space, Chase managed to make her forget her discomfort almost instantly. Lost in the pleasure of his touch, she pressed her lips to the hair at his chest. "I was ordered to the confessional regularly."
"Serves you right." He suddenly groaned. "I’d be sent there right now for the things I’m thinking."
He caught his breath as she rolled on top of him. Watching her eyes, he saw them darken from the color of pale champagne to rich tawny topaz. He waited impatiently as her lips lowered to his. Still she kept him waiting, while she traced the outline of his mouth with her tongue, then trailed a string of kisses along his jaw.
How was it possible, he wondered, to want so desperately? To love so completely? Her mouth found his, and he tasted the sweet, honeyed texture of her. The scent of her enveloped him, invading his senses, seeping into him until he could think of nothing but her. Each time they came together it was better than the time before. Each time, they learned more of each other.
There was such strength in his face. Rubbing her lips across one dark eyebrow, she pressed a kiss to the comer of his eye, then trailed her mouth to his ear, where she tugged on a lobe. Intelligence, humor—integrity. He was a man who would do battle for those he loved. Passion. A man of great passion. She loved the way he enjoyed good food, good whiskey. He loved life fiercely. As she brought her mouth to his, she could feel his control begin to slip and felt a thrill of pleasure at the knowledge that she could bring him to such desire.
"I never dreamed I could want someone so," she breathed against his mouth.
How long had he waited to hear those words? Her clever hands and mouth left him weak. He found himself staring into eyes that burned with an inner fire. A fire that kindled a blaze in him that only she could quench. How was it possible to want her again, and then again, with a growing need that ripped apart all his careful control? Abruptly he found his thoughts scrambled as she began to move. As always, their lovemaking took them to another world, a private place where no one, nothing could intrude.
She seemed to linger over his body, seeking out new pleasures with each touch. Steeped in feeling, he allowed her to set the pace, as she led him higher, then higher still. And then she felt his hands grip, as he moaned her name. He was no longer gentle, nor was she. Caught up in something wild and primitive, they moved, and clung, and crested over peak after peak.
Sated at last, they lay in each other’s arms, feeling the warm water swirl around their shoulders. He cradled her in his arms and wondered how he had ever managed to fill his life before he had met this strange, wonderful creature.
"Hattie Lee is going to be furious if I don’t get ready soon," Annalisa said lazily.
"She’s already sent three different maids to knock at our door. She’ll soon send another." He cupped water and trickled it over her shoulder.
Annalisa chuckled and brushed a kiss over his cheek. "That was just to satisfy her curiosity. By now, everyone in the house is talking about us."
"Are there any secrets among you?"
"None." She was plagued by a sudden doubt. "Did you hope to keep this from the others?"
Standing, he stepped from the tub onto the sheepskin rug, then offered a hand to her. Wrapping her in a bath towel, he nuzzled her lips. "I don’t mind if the whole world knows how I feel about you."
She felt relief tremble through her.
They dressed in companionable silence. While Annalisa sat at a dressing table and arranged her hair in a fashionable style, Chase walked up behind her to study her in the mirror. He looked dashing and handsome in the freshly pressed clothes a maid had conveniently left outside the door.
"I do love you, Annalisa. I want you to know that, even though I can’t make any commitment to you."
She hadn’t thought anything could penetrate the haze of happiness she felt. But at his words, she felt the first tiny stab of regret. How could she have forgotten so quickly what she was, what she
did here in this house? Hadn’t he once reminded her of her reputation in this town? "I understand, Chase." She lowered her lashes, veiling her pain. "I know what I am."
"What you are," he said sternly, grasping her roughly by the shoulders, "is the most beautiful, the most generous, the most fascinating, beguiling woman I’ve ever known. Any man would be proud to love you. But I can’t give you all of myself. Not yet. There are things about me I can’t tell you. At least, not yet."
Was there a wife? Was he a man with a wicked past? Did he have a prison sentence hanging over him? Those thoughts flashed so quickly through her mind she felt herself reeling.
His tone deepened with emotion. "For your own protection, I have to keep some things from you." The hands at her shoulders gentled as he bent to kiss her neck. "Just know that I love you. That, no matter what happens, I will always love you."
Her eyes widened as she watched him in the mirror. "What do you mean? What can happen? Are you in some sort of trouble?"
He shrugged. How could he explain without revealing too much? Without placing her in jeopardy as well? "You’ll have to trust me, Annalisa. Trust me, and believe in me, no matter what happens."
Annalisa bit her lip. Trust? She would trust this man with her life. With her most precious possession—her heart. But in truth, she had held something back from him as well. Maybe it was time for a little honesty of her own. In an almost apologetic tone she said, "I suppose I haven’t been quite fair with you either." Seeing the guarded look in his eyes she added quickly, "Don’t misunderstand, Chase. I love you. With all my heart, with all my being. But ..." She lowered her gaze. "... there is someone I admire greatly. I suppose you could call him my secret soulmate."
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