The Raider

by Jude Deveraux

  She stopped because Alex pushed her down in the bed.

  “Go to your room,” he said angrily. “I told you that I want to sleep. Alone. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes,” she said, as much puzzled by his anger as anything. “I wasn’t planning to remind you of the past. I mean, remind you of when you could still—”

  Alex had his back to her and didn’t turn around. “Just go, Jessica. Just go,” he said hoarsely.

  Frowning, she went to her own room and snuggled down under the covers. She was asleep instantly, but something woke her. She sat up. “Alex?” she said, when she heard a noise.

  “It’s me,” said a deep, accented voice that she’d come to know well.

  The Raider was all over her at once, pulling at her clothes, burying his hands in her hair, kissing her face and neck. He was a starving animal, wanting her, needing her.

  For a moment, Jessica clutched at him, as eager for him as he was for her.

  But then, when he had her gown half off, she remembered who she was.

  “No, no, no,” she chanted, pushing at him. “I’m married now. Get away from me.”

  “Jessie,” he whispered, yearning in his voice. “I came to give you your wedding night.”

  She pushed at him with all her strength. “You didn’t participate in the ceremony and you can’t participate now. I told you that. Didn’t you believe me? Now get out of here before you wake Alex.”

  “He’s snoring too loudly to hear anything. Jessie, please.”

  “Get out of here!” she said much too loudly, but she knew she was close to giving in to him. “I’ll scream until everyone hears me. They catch you, it’ll be your neck.”

  “Jessie, you can’t mean this. That fool Montgomery is never going to sleep with you. Do you mean to spend your life alone in this bed?”

  “If I must. But I’ll certainly not spend it cuckolding my husband. If you’re not out of here in thirty seconds, I’ll scream.”

  He stood to his full height, towering over her, his black clothes making him almost disappear in the shadows. “I want to see how you feel in a week or so. Will you be able to resist me after that muscleless husband of yours has ignored you night after night?”

  “I’ll resist you even if it turns into year after year.”

  He laughed at that and Jess realized how little conviction she’d been able to put in her voice. After a quick caress to her cheek, he slipped out the window and was gone. It was almost dawn before she stopped tossing about in the bed and went to sleep.

  * * *

  Alex was awakened by Nick’s big hand on his shoulder. “Your father just sent for me. He wants me to carry him into the common room, and your sister says he plans to visit you in your bedroom. He wants to see the newlyweds together.”

  Sleepily, Alex nodded, getting out of bed before Nick shut the door behind him. He stretched his nude body, his fingertips touching the ceiling, before getting a long nightshirt from a chest and putting it on. He chose his largest, gaudiest wig.

  He stopped as he remembered the harrowing experiences of the previous day. First, he’d almost kissed Jess, thereby giving everything away, but, thankfully, Nick had interrupted them. After the wedding, he’d been conscious only of the fact that now Jessica was to be his forever. He’d never experienced such a feeling of possession in his life. He wanted to take her away from the house; he wanted to veil her and keep her completely to himself. He didn’t want others to see or speak to her.

  He was afraid that if he got too near her, he just might abduct her, so he’d stayed away from her, not even letting himself stand close enough to smell the fragrance of her hair.

  But he’d had to stand there and watch while she danced with man after man. She was his wife but she wasn’t. He couldn’t hold her, couldn’t touch her, had to act tired and uncaring when he wanted to show her how truly energetic he felt.

  He’d breathed a sigh of relief when Eleanor took her away, but then his imagination nearly killed him as he thought of what they were doing. Jessica was being prepared for his bed.

  He had stayed for hours after Jessica had gone. Everyone else had gone to bed, but Alex had stayed alone in the common room. He had been afraid to have even one drink, one mug of ale, because he had known it might weaken his resolve. He’d told himself that what he was doing was for the good of America and worth his personal agony.

  But when he had walked into his bedroom and seen a sleepy-looking, gentle-eyed Jessica in his bed, he’d almost turned traitor. He had known he had to get her out quickly or he’d never be able to control himself.

  He had meant to make up to her for his rudeness when he’d come to her as the Raider, but the little she-cat was damned hardheaded. She’d thrown him out without too much misery on her part.

  So here he was now, facing another agony. His father wanted to see the newlyweds in Alex’s room. Of course he wanted to see them in bed together. Alex grimaced as he adjusted his wig. His father wanted to make sure his weak-spined son had done his duty by his wife. Alex jammed his fist through the sleeve of the nightshirt. Sayer wouldn’t visit Adam or Kit to see what they had done with their brides. Not his best sons.

  Angrily, he opened the door to Jessica’s room.

  The sight of her head, just barely visible above the covers, made him forget his father and his country.

  Jess turned over and looked up at him. “Alex, what…what are you doing in here?”

  The fear in her voice dampened his ardor considerably. He slouched and made his voice whine. “Nick just told me my father is going to visit the newlyweds in their bedchamber. My father wants grandchildren of his own and I’d not like to make him think there was no possibility of them. Would you join me in my bed?” With that he spun about on his bare heel and went back to his own room.

  Jessica lay in the bed, blinking after him. For a moment, she’d thought he’d known about the Raider’s visit last night. She was relieved to see that he knew nothing.

  She lay still and thought of Alex standing over her. He always looked so much better when he wasn’t wearing one of those absurd coats of his. In fact, watching him walk in that long gown, she couldn’t see his fat legs or his big belly. Odd, but she’d never noticed before what broad shoulders he had.

  She jumped out of bed, started toward his room, then on impulse looked at herself in the mirror. She picked up her comb to smooth her hair but then didn’t. Her hair was billowed out about her head and right now her eyes looked bright with anticipation.

  She went into Alex’s room.

  He was lying there, his belly making a mound under the covers, and looking up at her. She’d never before noticed what thick eyelashes he had.

  She smiled at him. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?” she asked with a lowered voice.

  Alex seemed to hesitate before he pulled back the covers and she climbed in beside him. He stayed on his side of the bed, as far away from her as possible.

  She moved around in the bed some. “Alex, I think your bed is much more comfortable than mine.” She turned toward him, but he was lying as stiff as a ship’s mast, his eyes on the ceiling.

  “I guess we should pretend to be the loving couple.” She moved her body next to his, but if anything, Alex grew stiffer. She raised on one elbow. “Alex, you aren’t a bad-looking man at all.” She put her finger to his cheek. “Remember the time you held the pistols on Pitman and saved our house from being burned? You were very brave that night.”

  Alex kept his arms to his sides and didn’t look at her.

  She moved near him so her body was pressed against his. “Alex,” she said softly, running her finger along his chin, “you’ve been awfully good to me and my family. You know, it’s amazing, but in this light you look almost as handsome as your brothers.”

  He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “I knew that would get some reaction from you,” she laughed and then listened as she heard voices outside the door. Alex didn’t move.

&
nbsp; “Here,” she cried, “put your arm around me. At least pretend that we’re married.”

  Woodenly, Alex obeyed her. Jess curved herself into his body, putting her knee across his stomach. She snuggled against him and thought how solid he felt, how big his shoulders were, how hard his thighs and soft his stomach. She sighed contentedly.

  When the knock came on the door, she didn’t hear it and when Alex answered it, his voice cracked.

  Nick entered the room carrying the emaciated Sayer. Alex’s father had aged many years in the short time since his accident.

  “Father,” Alex said, his voice sounding strained. He tried to sit up but found Jessica clinging to him like a barnacle.

  She opened her eyes only enough to smile at Sayer.

  “Jess!” Alex hissed.

  Sayer waved his hand. “Let her sleep. I didn’t mean to disturb you. I had no idea you’d still be in bed,” he lied. “Nicholas, take me in to breakfast.”

  Nick carried the old man out of the room, giving Alex a wink before he shut the door.

  Alex was half sitting up, Jessica wrapped around him. There was sweat on his brow.

  “Alex,” she whispered and turned her face up toward his in a way that meant that she wanted to be kissed.

  He drew back from her. “Jessica, it seems to me that you’d be amenable to copulation. I believe it could happen. If you whisper vulgar words to me and—oh yes, tell me dirty stories, and dance, naked of course, the more suggestive the better, then in an hour or so, I might be able to perform. Of course you’ll have to get on top and be very, very quick. I tend to find procreation rather dull—and messy. But if you are determined to use my body, you may do so.”

  It took Jessica a moment to recover herself, then she began to laugh. “Oh, Alex, what an imagination you have.” She rolled away from him and got out of bed. “Someday, I’ll have to tell you about real men. Poor Sally Henderson.” She looked back as she heard a thud behind her. It almost looked as if Alex had fallen out of bed, as if he’d made a grab for something and missed.

  She started to help him up, but he looked up at her in fury. “Touch me and you’ll regret it.”

  She drew back. “Alex, you get the vapors more often than a woman,” she said before leaving the room.

  * * *

  “What have you been doing to Alexander?” Eleanor hissed an hour later.

  “Absolutely nothing. He is as untouched as when I found him,” Jess said, her mouth full of breakfast.

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d think he looks like he’s been crying.”

  “It couldn’t have been anything I did. Eleanor, where are the household accounts? I’d like to look at them.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  BY noon of the day after the marriage, the Montgomery household was well aware that they had a new mistress. Jessica treated the rambling old house as she would have a ship, and the overfed, underworked bondsmen and women as her crew. Ceilings and floors were washed, as well as everything in between. She set Nicholas to hauling barrels out of the cellar so she could take inventory of supplies as well as send the ratcatcher in to do his work.

  John Pitman boarded himself inside his office, Marianna decided to visit the sick people of Warbrooke, while Sayer had himself carried to the common room where he could help Jessica bellow orders. Everyone said he’d never looked happier.

  Alexander disappeared right after breakfast and by sundown he still hadn’t returned. By then most of the men of Warbrooke were telling themselves they were glad they’d not won Jessica’s hand. There was much sympathy for poor Alexander who was run from his own house so soon after their marriage.

  “If she’d spent a night with me, she wouldn’t have so much energy this mornin’,” was what one man after another said.

  They all chuckled smugly.

  * * *

  “Sit down!” Eleanor commanded her sister. “You’ve worn everyone—including me—out. It’s time to rest. Where’s your husband?”

  “Husband? Oh, Alex.”

  “Yes, Alex. Where is he?”

  “I have no idea.” As Jess looked out the window, she saw John Pitman walking down the hill toward town. “Where’s he going?”

  “To a meeting with the admiral. He’ll be back later.”

  “You mean he’ll be away through dinner?”

  “Jess!” Eleanor called, but Jessica was already on her way down the hall.

  “Could you bring me something to eat in Alex’s room?” Jess called over her shoulder.

  An hour later she looked up to see Alex opening the door of his bedroom. She was sitting cross-legged on his bed, the household ledgers that Pitman kept so closely guarded, all about. Also about her were scattered bread crumbs, half a piece of apple pie, a wedge of cheese, three plums and a mug of ale.

  “Hello, Alex. Where have you been?”

  Alex stood in the doorway staring at her. Her hair was disarrayed, her clothes were half unfastened, as if she’d started to undress and stopped in the middle of the process, and there were crumbs on her chin. She was beautiful—and he was all too aware that he couldn’t touch her.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked crossly.

  “Taking care of your house, what does it look like? Want something to eat?” She held out about half a pound of cheese. “Sit down and quit scowling. Take off your coat; take off your wig; take off your shoes. Make yourself comfortable.”

  “Because you run about in various states of undress, doesn’t mean I plan to,” he said primly, handing her a hand mirror.

  She brushed the crumbs off her face. “All right, have it your way,” she said, looking back at a ledger. “Another one! Your brother-in-law cannot add. Nearly every column is misadded.”

  Alex sat on the end of the bed, as far from Jess as possible. “Here, let me see that.” It took Alex only minutes to figure out what Pitman was doing. “Jess, how many pairs of shoes have you bought for yourself since our engagement?”

  “None, of course. What do I need with new shoes? I have a pair of shoes. Only patched once.”

  Alex winced. “We’ll fix that tomorrow, but according to this, you’ve bought three pair of expensive satin shoes in the last week.”

  “Satin? What a waste they’d be. Step once onto the rocks and they’re gone.”

  “Didn’t you read these columns?”

  “I’m better at adding than I am at reading. Look at this, Alex. It says here that Eleanor bought the kids three pair of shoes each.” She looked up at him. “Why’s he lying?”

  “Because he presents these accounts to my father each week and my father authorizes his steward to release the money. And the totals are wrong as well?”

  “The actual totals are less than his figures. Not much but some. The money adds up after a couple of ledgers. It looks like your brother-in-law is embezzling money.” She shoved the ledgers off her lap and stood. “Alex, you’d better eat something.” She gathered all the food remnants and set them on a table by him. “If you’d like, I’ll get you something hot.”

  “No, thank you. Jess! What are you doing?”

  “Undressing. I’m going to bed.”

  “But you can’t do that.”

  “Alex, I promise not to roll over on you in my sleep. I don’t snore, I don’t grind my teeth and I don’t even take up very much room. And since I don’t plan to do any naked dances, you’ll not be expected to perform any husbandly duties. But I do plan to sleep in here with you tonight. I don’t want to be alone in that other room tonight.”

  “You can’t sleep with me, Jessica,” Alex said.

  “I don’t think your back is strong enough to carry me out of this room.”

  “What’s wrong with that room?”

  “I don’t like the window.” She moved ledgers and stacked them on the floor.

  Alex caught her hand as she started to push her dress down over her shoulders. “It’s the Raider, isn’t it? He comes through the window. You’re staying with me b
ecause you can’t resist him.”

  Jessica groaned. “Alex, I’m staying with you so I can get a full night’s sleep and also because I don’t like sleeping alone. Now, please get undressed. I’ll never be able to sleep with that coat flashing at me.”

  Alex sat there and watched as she removed her dress, but turned away when she started on the laces of her underwear.

  She put a cool hand to his forehead. “Alex, are you well? You’re sweating. It isn’t that fever returning, is it? Now go get undressed. I promise I won’t look.”

  It was a long, long night for Alex. He lay in bed, Jess curled up beside him and sleeping like a child, and he couldn’t allow himself to touch her. He felt every movement of her breasts against his side. Her nightgown rode up and her long, lean legs touched his. He’d gone into another room and put on a nightgown, leaving his wig on and returned to her. She was already asleep and as soon as he put his weight on the bed, she had groped for him, her hands seeking his body, and pulled him to her as if he were a child’s comfort toy.

  As she clung to him, he tried to reason out what he was doing. He couldn’t tell her he was the Raider. Look at how she was snooping into what Pitman considered his private territory. She’d never be content to let Alex continue raiding when he needed to and keep her pretty little nose out of it. Jessica would involve herself in every aspect of whatever the Raider was doing—and she’d get herself in trouble—or worse.

  Jess pulled her knee over Alex’s maleness and he reacted instantly. So much for dirty stories and naked dances, he thought.

  He didn’t sleep until just before dawn. He held her, looked at her in the darkness, caressed her hair, ran his hand down the length of her until he knew he’d have to stop while he still could. He started thinking of all the most awful things he’d ever seen in his years at sea. He tried anything he could to keep from thinking of the delicious bundle in his arms.

  An hour before dawn, exhausted after two sleepless nights, he fell asleep.

  At dawn, six of the seven Taggert children jumped onto his stomach. As usual, Samuel’s bottom half was juicily wet.