by Jill Jones
“Here, drink this. Slowly.” He handed her the glass, and as she put it to her mouth, he found it disturbingly erotic to see the deep ruby liquid touch her full red lips.
“‘Tis delicious,” she said, savoring the cabernet. “What is it?”
“Wine.”
“I have heard of wine, but we do na have it on the island. Just ale, brewed by the villagers.” She gave him a sad little smile that wrenched his heart, and he knew she was still torn about leaving.
Jack poured himself another whiskey, wondering what on earth he was going do with this beautiful, innocent woman. She seemed so eager to learn the ways of the world that had escaped her for so long, but she was still haunted by the fears she had lived with all her life. He sat opposite her. “Feeling better?”
She took another sip of the wine. “Aye. Thank ye. I am sorry I became so distraught. I did na mean…”
“Quit apologizing. That was a terrible thing for that kid to do.”
“She’s a terrible…what did you call her, a ‘kid’?”
Jack grinned. “A young boy or girl is a kid.”
“Like a goat?” Keely laughed, then added, “Erica is kind of like a goat.” Her expression grew serious. “She can na find me, can she, Jack?”
He shook his head. “No. You know yourself the islanders don’t go into the outside world, not for long anyway.”
Keely’s gaze grew distant. “‘Tis true. Not even Uncle Alyn stays away for long.” He saw a shudder creep over her.
They sat nursing their drinks in silence, and Jack considered again the fate that would have awaited her if she hadn’t come with him. Somehow, in spite of everything, he believed she was going to fare better in his world than she would have in hers.
When she finished her wine, he brought the box of pizza to the coffee table. She nibbled at it, but her appetite had obviously flown with the phone calls. She lay back against the pillows, and in a few moments, he saw that she was dozing. Jack stood up. His own fatigue was deadening. He didn’t want to awaken her, so he opted for a shower while she slept. He gathered clean clothing from his suitcase and made sure the cell phone stayed with him, even in the bathroom.
Jack stood beneath the shower far longer than he usually did, letting the warm water ease the tense muscles of his neck. He thought of Keely, so close and yet so out of reach.
Keely.
The woman-child. So sensuous it set his teeth on edge, yet so vulnerable…
He would have to watch himself while they co-habited this place. Everything about her called out to him—her smile, her hauntingly beautiful face, the rich dark hair that framed it and the quick wit behind it. He vowed to keep his distance, but he was only human, with healthy male appetites, and she was a tempting morsel, slumbering innocently only a few feet the other side of the bathroom wall.
He toweled dry and donned a pair of fresh shorts, then stepped from the steaming room just as Keely came down the hall toward him.
“Oh!” she cried out. “You startled me.”
The top two buttons on the pale yellow dress had come undone as she slept, revealing a tempting glimpse of the roundness of her breasts, and Jack felt himself harden in spite of his good intentions.
He should have gone to the bar.
Keely had awakened alone in the room, and for a moment thought Jack had left her. Panic struck her as she considered again how very alone she would be in this strange and frightening world without Jack.
And with that panic had come renewed fear when she remembered Erica’s threatening telephone calls.
Only when she heard the sound of water running in the bathroom did she realize that she was not, after all, alone.
She ought to feel reassured, she knew, but the idea of Jack bathing naked in the next room filled her with a different kind of apprehension, a concern that grew as a tremor of that mysterious attraction made its way from her heart to a place somewhere in the core of her very soul. Someplace hot, and dark, and hungry. She did not exactly understand these feelings, but she suspected they could get her in serious trouble.
Keely jumped from the couch, thinking to make her escape into the bedroom before he finished his shower, but just as she stepped down the hallway, he opened the door. The sight of him, shirtless, in pants that did not reach below his knees, his feet bare, made her mouth go dry.
“Hi,” he said, toweling his blond hair that shimmered even in the dim light. “Have a good nap?”
Knowing that Jack was nearby had assuaged her fear that had been rekindled by the phone calls, but at the moment, this man posed more of a real threat than any mythical dragon. She took a step backward. She was not afraid of him because she thought he was a killer. She knew better than that. It was not him, in fact, she was afraid of at all. She was afraid of herself and the inexplicable yearnings that rocked through her.
She swallowed hard as she watched his eyes roam the length of her, and her cheeks burned when she realized his gaze had come to rest where two tiny buttons had betrayed her just above her breasts. She felt suddenly naked and vulnerable before him. When his gaze returned to hers, she saw that he, too, was under the spell of those same kinds of mysterious feelings. He had the look of a man who wanted a woman, in the same way that woman wanted him.
Jack took her hand and drew her to him with gentle pressure. She did not resist but went into his arms eagerly and with open curiosity. Her inner hunger blazed as she felt her breasts crushed against the hardness of his chest. His lips met hers and parted them, stirring an even deeper fire, and in spite of her fear, she prayed that this time he would not end the kiss.
But he did, although he did not release her from his arms. “Keely.”
He said her name in a voice that was something between a whisper and a groan, and it sent another shiver through her, making her bold when she should be alarmed. She touched his lips with her forefinger. “Do na kiss me like that and then leave me, Jack.”
His eyes searched hers. “I won’t leave you,” he replied at last, his words full of promise. “I won’t. But I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Your kiss did na hurt me.”
A thrill shuddered through her as he pulled her close to him again. “Oh, God, how I want you, Keely. I shouldn’t, but I do. You are the most beautiful, incredible woman I have ever known.”
Keely felt exactly the same. “Ye said ye would teach me things, Jack,” she murmured. “Teach me of this wanting.”
Before she knew what he was doing, Jack swept her into his arms, and she locked her own around his neck. She nestled her cheek against the golden hair that curled on his chest as he carried her into the bedroom. He turned down the bed and laid her gently back against the soft pillows.
“You’re sure?” he asked again, easing onto the bed beside her.
Allowing all her natural feelings to guide her, Keely moved to give him more room on the bed while raising her lips to his. “Teach me,” she said, more urgently.
She heard Jack emit a small groan before he claimed her lips again in a kiss even more passionate than before. He kissed her along the delicate line of her cheekbone, beneath her ear, down her throat, his kisses scorching her wherever his lips touched her skin. Keely caught her breath when he began to unfasten the rest of the long line of buttons that marched down the front of the dress, and she was certain she might faint the moment Jack’s hands pulled the soft yellow material away from her breasts. He caressed them gently through the silken fabric of her underclothes, first one, then the other, his touch causing each nipple to rise and harden, silently begging for more. They got more when he freed them from the lacy underwear he had bought for her, baring both breasts to his appetite, and he suckled there, inflaming her with his sensual indulgence.
She could take her breath only in shallow gasps from the pleasure of it. Surely it could not get any sweeter, she thought, just as she felt him remove her dress completely. She found no breath at all when he began explore places on her body that only she had touched
since becoming a woman. He eased her panties downwards until she lay naked next to him. He ran his hand slowly upward along one leg until it came to rest against the dark curls at the place she considered most private.
He kissed her mouth again and shifted his weight to encircle her with one arm, enabling that hand to caress her exposed breast. The other remained where it was, touching her, exploring her in tantalizing intimacy, enticing hot moisture from the depths of her being with each stroke that penetrated ever more deeply. Keely could not have escaped if she wanted to. Her body was on fire and had taken control, and she was helpless but to follow its demands.
Just when she thought she could bear his touch no longer, he withdrew it and eased himself onto one elbow. His gaze raked her body, caressing her as he took in every inch.
“My God, but you’re beautiful,” he whispered, worshipping her skin from neck to thigh and back again with the lightest of touches, raising chill bumps along the way.
By the low lamplight, his own skin appeared a burnished gold. His chest was wide, his shoulders broad, his arms well-muscled. He could protect her against the world, Keely thought. And suddenly wanted to gaze upon all of him, as he was her. “Jack?” She ran her hand along the waist of the short pants he was wearing.
He got the message. Pausing in his ministrations for only a moment, he stood by the bedside and shed the clothing, and with a short intake of breath, Keely lowered her gaze and looked for the first time upon a man.
He did not move, but allowed her to see him even as his own eyes feasted upon her. He was naked and unashamed. As was she. It felt natural, as it should between a man and a woman who wanted one another in this manner, Keely thought.
She did not know what lay ahead for her or Jack, but she knew in her heart that she would always cherish these moments of tender exploration. It was nothing like what she had been told. Nothing like anything she had ever imagined. It was not a frightening experience to be dreaded, as her mother had claimed. As she gazed upon Jack, she was filled instead with a love that surged through her so strongly she almost wept.
He knelt above her on the bed, and instinctively she opened to him. He entered her slowly, respecting that she had known no man before him. She winced at the prick of pain when he pierced her maidenhead, but instantly afterwards, her body cried out for the fullness of him. It craved some unknown satisfaction and would not be silenced until it found release. Keely encircled him with her legs and drove him into her with a fierceness that in turn dissolved his own restraint.
The sweet pleasures of their earlier intimacy became insignificant in the wave of passion that swept Keely into near unconsciousness. She heard herself cry out as at last Jack touched a place deep within where surely her soul must reside, for she felt as if she were shattered into a thousand stars and flung to the nether reaches of Heaven.
Chapter Nineteen
Jack had known this would happen. When he had discovered the hotel had no available rooms and come to grips with the fact they would be sharing close quarters, he’d promised himself that he would keep his hands off, no matter what. But he’d known at that moment he was lying. His intentions had been good, but they were worthless.
He lay quietly next to her, listening to her even breathing, guessing she had fallen asleep after what had been for him the most incredible sex in his life. No. It was more than incredible sex. This was like nothing he’d ever experienced with a woman.
Perhaps it was because she was such an innocent, although Jack had never considered himself to be a virgin-hunter. But he couldn’t deny that her guileless curiosity had been arousing.
Or perhaps it had been her surprisingly erotic response. He knew she was sexually inexperienced, but she had reacted to his touch with such a natural, raw passion that Jack had found it hard to hold back his own release.
But there was more to it even than that. Jack thought back to his earlier suspicions that he had fallen just a little bit in love with Keely Cochrane.
It wasn’t a little bit, he feared. It was head-over-heels crazy in love. With a woman who only yesterday learned what a pizza was.
Swell.
How could he be such a damned fool? It wasn’t possible to fall in love so quickly. Was it? Surely it was just his celibate libido in need of exercise. That did not strike him as a particularly noble excuse for what he’d just done. Neither did he think it was true.
He raised himself again on one elbow and looked down at the woman beside him. She looked like some fairy tale princess with her hair spread in profusion on the pillow, stark black curls against creamy white satin. She was, indeed Sleeping Beauty.
Jack tried to remember what had happened to Sleeping Beauty after the prince had awakened her with a kiss, but he couldn’t recall the story. It had been a long time since he’d heard his last fairy tale. But he guessed that when she awoke, this princess might regret his kiss.
He regretted it, in spite of his feelings for her and the incredible intensity of the experience. He regretted it because it complicated everything. Before, he had been merely Keely’s protector. Her friend. Someone who was going to deliver her into the hands of others who would help her make a new life, and then be on his way.
Now…
Damn it all.
Now, Jack could no more envision taking Keely to the doorstep of some social service agency and just leaving her there than he could fly to the moon.
But what the hell would he do with her? Ask her to go with him back to California? Talk about another world…
What an egotistical bastard I am, he thought, rolling away from her and sitting up on the bed. Just because he’d let his sexual appetites get out of hand, and in spite of her open desire to learn about sexuality, what made him think she would want anything other than what they had already discussed? She needed more help than he could give her. She needed some education, job skills. She needed a place to call home.
Right now, he could give her none of the above.
The only home he had to offer her at the moment was this hotel room, and unless he got on the ball and solved Genevieve’s murder, he might not even have that. He doubted that Keely would want to cohabit in a jail cell.
And all he could teach her were things like how to order out for pizza, and…
His mind stumbled over her earlier soft supplication, “Teach me, Jack,” and what it had led to. He gave a quiet, unhappy laugh. He hadn’t taught her a thing. She was a natural, passionate woman who knew instinctively what to do when it came to making love. The very thought stirred him again.
Keely shifted on the bed, and Jack realized she might be cold. Gently so as not to awaken her, he lifted the satin comforter over her, and when he smoothed her hair away from her face, he caught sight of the small red mark on her neck.
The kiss of the Dragon.
A permanent scar that would never let her forget where she came from. Would she ever be able to conquer the fear that had been ingrained in her on Keinadraig?
Jack wondered how the Dragoners had gotten away with such primitive practices for so long. They’d obviously done a good job of hiding away in the mists of faraway Cornwall.
But not for much longer, Jack thought with grim satisfaction. Tomorrow, he and Keely would visit Sandringham, and hopefully Scotland Yard would investigate for themselves and discover the truth of what went on in Keinadraig. Jack intended to fill the inspector in on what he’d uncovered there, including the islanders’ bizarre little practice of branding children. Perhaps if nothing else came of all this, some of the uncouth medieval practices and superstitions could be done away with, and future generations would no longer be brought up in fear.
Keely’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked at him anxiously. “Jack? Ye are not leaving, are ye?”
It had been Jack’s intention to pick up his clothes, turn off the light, and return to his self-assigned bed on the sofa before Keely woke up. It was a little like closing the proverbial barn door, but tonight they had both succumbed to
a passion that by the light of day they would probably both regret. It had seemed a way to put some needed distance between them.
But from the look on her face, Keely neither needed nor wanted distance. Feeling his body harden in anticipation, he gave up trying to pretend he his intentions were altruistic.
“I won’t leave if you don’t want me to.”
Her face relaxed into a wide, gentle smile. “I do na want ye to.”
To assuage his guilt, Jack felt compelled to offer some sort of apology for taking advantage of her innocence. “Look, Keely, I’m sorry…,” he began,
Her face fell immediately, and Jack knew an apology was the last thing she wanted. And damn it all, he was not sorry. He had wanted that to happen. And from all bodily indications, he wanted it to happen again. Before he could argue himself out of it, he turned out the light and slipped beneath the covers and drew her close to him. “I take that back,” he whispered. “I’m not sorry at all.”
The feel of her naked skin next to his was nearly enough to send him over the edge again. She snuggled against him, nuzzling his neck.
“Jack?”
“Yes?”
“Thank ye.”
“For what?”
He heard a girlish giggle in the darkness.
“For teaching me so well.”
The following morning, Keely awoke to find herself alone amidst a tumble of bedclothes in a palatial room…somewhere. It took a moment for her to remember where she was. And what had happened in this room, on this bed, the night before.
She raised up from the pillows like a shot. Where was Jack?
With a sigh of despair, she saw the door to the bedroom was closed. Had he left her after all? Had he not really wanted that to happen and only shared those intimate moments with her because she had begged him? As those fears clutched her heart, humiliation burned her cheeks. If that was the case, then she was nothing but a wanton. And she had no one to blame but herself. She had wanted to discover the mysteries of that physical yearning for him, and he had complied. What man would not?