by Lucy Monroe
“That feels wonderful. Don’t you dare stop!”
He laughed, the sound strained. “Bloody hell, Thea, you aren’t like any other woman I have ever known.”
Cold fingers of dread crawled up her spine. What did he mean? “Do I disgust you with my forwardness?”
He pulled away from her until their eyes met. Gripping her chin, he forced her to maintain eye contact. “You delight me.”
“But you have ignored me for days.”
A harsh laugh escaped him. “I have tried to save you from myself.”
“You’re worried about my reputation, aren’t you?” She knew it.
“Aren’t you?”
She shrugged. “Not really. But, it occurs to me that you may feel that you have compromised me one way and another.”
He looked down at her exposed breast and the dark, masculine fingers resting against it and then back up at her face. She felt her cheeks heat.
“It may have escaped your notice, but I have compromised you.”
She shook her head as far as his restraining hand would allow. “Oh no, you haven’t. No one need know about this.”
“I know about it.”
“Well, yes, but no one else need be the wiser.”
“Everyone on the bloody ship already thinks I’m sharing your bed.”
“This is about that conversation I overheard between you and Lady Boyle isn’t it?”
“What conversation?”
“The one where she told you that you had to marry me to save my reputation.”
He frowned at her. “I thought you were asleep.”
She shrugged. “Well, I wasn’t. The thing is, Drake, I don’t care about my reputation, so you don’t need to worry about ruining it.”
“You cannot attend the Season if no one will receive you.” He spoke as if to a dull-witted child.
“I know that.”
“Then your reputation is of utmost importance.”
She was finished discussing the paltry subject. If he was determined not to understand, she wasn’t going to force the issue. She wanted to experience more of what he made her feel.
Running her fingers down his neck, she tried to look alluring. “Kiss me again.”
It must have worked because he groaned and did just that. He also moved his hand on her breast, squeezing her in the most delicious way and she sighed with pleasure. She wanted this more than she wanted a Season, more than she had ever wanted anything in her life.
He made her feel things, and not just physical things. When she was with him, she did not feel alone as she had since her mother’s death. When he touched her, she felt connected to him in a way she had not known, but knew now that her heart had longed for.
Drake made her feel like a woman without making her feel weak. He made her feel beautiful and desirable. How could she not want his touch?
She started unbuttoning his shirt and noticed for the first time that he wore no neckcloth. She got his shirt open and skimmed her fingers over his bare chest, noticing a sprinkling of dark hair across his chest. It felt courser than the hair on his head and she skimmed lower to explore this new discovery.
He made an inarticulate sound and grabbed her wrist. “No.”
“I want to touch you.”
Rather than argue, he flipped her on her back and came down on top of her. Locking his lower body against hers, he effectively prevented her questing fingers from going lower. She would have protested, but the delicious sensations she experienced as the hardness of his body rocked against her most intimate place swamped her senses. She arched her back to increase the sensations and he plunged his tongue more deeply into her mouth.
He matched the rocking motions of his hips with thrusts from his tongue. Feelings spiraled within her. She rubbed her bared breasts against the hair on his chest and nearly fainted from the sensation it evoked. How had she lived three and twenty years without ever feeling remotely like this?
The tension inside her grew and grew, while the pleasure increased to unbearable proportions with everything coalesced inside her. Her body seemed to contract and expand all at once with the most amazing sensations going off inside her.
She may have shouted. She could not tell with his mouth devouring hers. Her entire body went stiff down to her pinky toes as the pleasure gripped her. Then her muscles all relaxed at once and she went completely limp beneath him. He slowed the rhythm of his rocking hips until he was eventually still. His mouth withdrew from hers and rained kisses along her cheek, jaw line and down her neck.
“I am surprised that wives ever allow their husbands to leave the bedroom as this is undoubtedly one of the few benefits of marriage,” she whispered, incapable of speaking in a normal tone after what she had just been through.
He shouted with laughter and Melly snored loudly, mumbling something in her sleep. They turned to look at the sleeping maid then back at each other.
“I forgot she was there.” Drake’s voice held astonishment.
“I did, too.”
He jumped off of her as if burned, leaving her more bereft than she thought possible. “We could have… I almost…”
She cocked her head to one side. “What?”
His glare was at complete odds with the passion they had so recently shared. “Damn it, woman. I almost made love to you in the same room as your sleeping maid.”
She was confused. “Wasn’t that making love?”
He stared at her, his brown gaze disbelieving. “How can you be so bloody innocent?”
She felt as if he’d insulted her, but didn’t know how. Surely innocence was not a fault. “I assure you, had I met a man like you before I wouldn’t be.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t.”
“Why?”
“I would have been obliged to kill him.”
He spoke with too much conviction to be jesting. Something inside her warmed at the thought that he wanted no one else to touch her. Close on the warmth came fear. Is this how her father had been with her mother? Possessive?
Yet, even now there was a marked difference. Drake did not say he would kill her, or even hate her. He said that he would kill the man.
She sighed. It was all very confusing. Much more so than contracts and ledgers, even ledgers that did not balance.
He walked over to the chest and pulled out a nightrail, his big, very male, body out of place at such a task. Returning to her, he laid it on the bed and then started tugging at the ripped gown she wore.
She slapped his hand away. “What are you doing?”
“Unless you want your maid to know exactly how you spent the night, you had better put on a new sleeping gown.”
“I can dress myself.”
His roguish smile surprised her. “I know, but I will like helping.”
“Oh.” This passion business had much more to it than she had originally thought. “Very well.”
She put her arms out, to make it easier for him to pull the gown off. He laughed.
She frowned up at him, feeling at a disadvantage. “What?”
“You look like a small child about to be dressed.”
She was about to be dressed. How was she supposed to look?
He pulled her gown off and stilled. She looked up and sucked in her breath at the look of heat in his eyes.
“Perhaps you should finish the task,” he rasped, stepping away from the bed with the white lawn of her ripped gown foaming over his muscular forearm.
She shrugged into the new gown and wiggled until it decently covered her and then turned her gaze back to Drake.
He looked pained and out of sorts.
Perhaps she hadn’t pleased him as much as he had pleased her. How was a lady supposed to find such a thing out? Sucking her bottom lip between her teeth, she thought how best to phrase her inquiry. Bluntness usually worked admirably.
“Um, Drake—“
“Surely after the intimacy we have just shared you could call me by my first name,” he sai
d, interrupting her.
What difference did it make what she called him? She had more pressing things on her mind. “You may be right, but that’s not important right now.”
“And what is important?” he asked, his tone sardonic.
“Did I please you?” She bit her lower lip, waiting for this answer.
His dark molasses eyes warmed. “Ah, Thea...” He reached out and touched her cheek. “You pleased me more than I can say, but if you are asking whether or not I found completion, the answer is no.”
“Oh.” How was she supposed to interpret that response? She drew her knees up to her chest. “I’d like to complete you.” She wanted him to feel the same overwhelming sense of rightness she did at that moment.
“I want that very much too, but now is not the time.” He leaned down and kissed her softly, first on her forehead and then tilting her face up with his forefinger under her chin he pressed a gentle salute to her mouth. Good night, Thea.”
“Good night.”
She watched him walk out of the room, her body still pulsing from what he had made her feel. “You won’t ignore me again, will you?”
He spoke without turning around. “No.”
She smiled. “Good.”
He left, closing the door behind him. It wasn’t until she heard the key turning in the lock that she realized he had taken it with him. She jumped up and ran to the door. She shook it.
She put her mouth near the doorjamb. “Pierson?” she whispered. Then more loudly, “Drake, come back here.”
The only answer was the sound of receding footfalls.
Sacré bleu. The dratted man had locked her in.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lady Upworth has friends traveling to the West Indies. Mr. and Mrs. Merewether. He has to leave England for his health and has decided to open a shipping office in the Islands. Lady Upworth has made arrangements for Thea and I to travel with them. Melly, that paragon among maids, has agreed to accompany us. I have put off the inevitable long enough. I tried to wait one more Season with the hope of seeing my son when Langley brought him to Town, but Lady Upworth has informed me that Jared is to be left in at Langley Hall this Season. His nurse thinks it is best.
April 3, 1799 Journal of Anna Selwyn, Countess of Langley
Drake smiled as he remembered the sound of Thea’s furious voice calling to him through the locked door.
He’d returned in the morning and unlocked it before her maid had woken. No one would be the wiser about their activities the night before...except him. He hadn’t liked locking her in her cabin, but short of standing outside the door all night long, he’d been unsure how to ensure her safety.
She was too reckless by half. She didn’t even know well enough to avoid the passion that sizzled between them whenever they touched.
She was such an innocent, although after last night, not quite so. Memories of how she had shivered in his arms made his body grow taut and hard. They were only three days from port. He could keep a rein on his need until then. Once they were there, he would make arrangements for a wedding by special license. He would not use her and discard her as his father had done to his mother.
Thea would undoubtedly argue at first, but after the events of the previous evening, even she had to realize they must be married. He knew she liked her independence, but she would grow accustomed to marriage. After all, it did have some benefits.
He reached Thea’s door and knocked, expecting Melly to answer. Instead, Thea opened the door. She looked beautiful in a bright yellow gown. Her hair was dressed loosely and he had the impression that a few well placed tugs and it would all come tumbling down in one silken mass.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she snapped.
“Like what?”
“Like you want to touch me.”
“Why not?”
“I’m angry with you. Do not tell me you did not expect such a reaction.”
He sighed. “About last night.”
“Yes.”
“I will apologize if you wish it.” She had been so free the night before, but some womanly self-preservation must have finally asserted itself.
He would prefer to have this conversation in private. He edged into the room and surprisingly, she did not object.
She turned to face him, shutting the door behind her. “Indeed, I do. I’ll have your promise it will not happen again.”
“I cannot make that promise.”
She glared at him. “I must insist.”
His frustration finally erupted over his desire to be patient and understanding with the clearly skittish female. “Bloody hell, Thea, do you truly believe after what happened last night that I can promise not to touch you again? I’m flint to your tinder and vice versa. It would be a promise I couldn’t keep and I cannot in honor make it.”
She stared at him as if he’d gone mad. “What are you talking about? I did not ask for your promise not to touch me again. In fact, I clearly remember you promising not to ignore me in future.”
She would drive him daft. “What the hell are you prattling about? I thought you wanted me to apologize for last night.”
“I do.” She crossed her arms under her chest and shot blue fire at him from narrowed eyes. “I will not be locked in my room like a naughty child and I do not care if you are the owner of this ship.”
He started to laugh. He couldn’t help it. Nothing she said or did was predictable.
Her frown turned deadly. “Do not laugh at me, sir.”
He pulled her toward him and kissed her soundly on the mouth before setting her away again. “I will try not to, but Thea, you do please me. I will also strike a bargain with you. I won’t lock you in if you give me your word of honor that you will not attempt to lure your attacker and will not leave your cabin unless you are escorted.”
“Are you saying that if I don’t make this agreement, you will do so?” She sounded outraged.
He shrugged and let her draw her own conclusions.
“Oh, very well.” She wasn’t happy about giving in. “It was a sound plan.”
“It was not. Do I have your word of honor?”
She looked at him quizzically. “You would trust it?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Then you have it. Now, regarding the other matter.”
Wariness filled him. “Yes?”
“What did you learn from the first mate?”
Relieved that she was discussing her misfortune and not their passionate interlude, he relaxed. “Not a bloody thing.”
“If we don’t lure out the villain, we may never find him.”
“No.”
She bit her lip, her agitation palpable. “But Drake—“
“You gave your word.”
“And I will keep it, but there must be something to do.”
“The first mate is asking if anyone saw a seaman leave quarters last night around the time you were attacked.”
“Good, but is that enough?”
“It will have to do for now.” He would not allow her to be put at risk.
She looked at him with those startlingly blue eyes and he wondered what she was thinking. No doubt frustrated he could not do more to find her attacker.
“I should like very much to learn how to bring you the wonderful feelings you evoked in me last night.”
The effect of her words on his body was instantaneous. He wanted to toss her on her now neatly made bunk and muss both her and the covers. However, he wouldn’t, couldn’t do it to a woman who spoke like a mistress, but blushed like a virgin.
He extended his arm to her. “Although I find your interest in that area most gratifying, it will have to wait, my dear. My aunt is expecting us for a game of cards.”
Her face fell. “Not whist. I’m terrible at that game. And your aunt is a shark.”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Very well, but do not think you can fob me off so easily regarding the other matter. You have given me your word an
d your honor demands that you keep it.” She put her hand through the crook of his arm.
He wanted to laugh at the bossy bit of goods, demanding that he teach her more of passion. He managed to maintain a straight face, however. He had never had the urge to smile, much less laugh so much in his entire thirty years as he did in one hour of Thea’s company.
He laid his hand over hers and squeezed. “My honor is very important to me.”
She nodded. “Just so.”
******
The wind whipped Thea’s hair as she stood against the rail, looking out over the gray waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Shielding her eyes from the wind, more than any sun to speak of, she lifted her gaze to the sky and watched a lone seagull dip and soar in its flight.
“Are we really that close to port?”
Drake, who stood beside her at the rail, nodded. “We’ll reach Liverpool two days ahead of the contract.”
She smiled at the satisfaction in his voice. She turned away from the soaring bird and focused on Drake. “Have you had any luck in identifying the blackhearted sailor that tried to toss me into the ocean?”
The satisfaction faded from his expression.
She shouldn’t have said anything. He would have told her if he had and now she had ruined this perfectly marvelous moment alone with him. They got precious few of them. The closer The Golden Dragon got to port, the busier he became with ship business.
Thea could not blame him for the lack of opportunity to explore their attraction. He simply did not have the time. She sighed. It was not a comforting thought. Soon, they would go their separate ways and the likelihood of her seeing him again was very small. Drake had his business to run and she had her thief to find.
The thought of their imminent separation swept through her like a chilly wind until her heart was as cold as the skin of her arms had been before Drake insisted she wear his coat. She pulled the blue superfine closer about her and covertly sniffed his fragrance. She wanted a memory to take with her when she left, more than a stolen moment with her maid sleeping in the next bed. Something to warm her heart in the future when loneliness and her work were all that she had to cling to.
She had made arrangements. She just hoped he would not think her too bold.