by Kitty Margo
When he returned, Lynna was nibbling on a square of buttered cornbread and reaching for the nearly empty bottle to refill her glass. Joshua was taken aback by her apparent thirst for wine. Was the lady a lush? Some women would be falling out of their seats after consuming a bottle of wine. Lynna wasn’t falling out of her seat, but, of a certainty, she was pouring more port into her plate than she was her glass. Joshua grabbed the bottle as she took a bite of apple cobbler, licked her lips, and gazed up at him.
“Port is sreally very good, Captain Jordan. I was never allowed to have it at the Chateau, Father said ladies should not par…part…partake of spirits.”
“Now you tell me,” Joshua moaned, shaking his head at his ignorance. Some protector he was. The girl was drunk before they had even left the docks.
“But it does make my head feel...frunny.” She hiccupped loudly and daintily covered her mouth with a lace handkerchief. “I need fresh… air.” She gazed with longing toward the open window as she stood and cautiously made an unsuccessful step toward it.
Joshua reached out his arms to catch her just as she fell into them, causing her gown to gape open and reveal things he did not need to see at the moment. “Here, Lynna, allow me to fasten your stays. It seems I have been remiss in my duties.” He inhaled a deep, steadying breath, stood erect, and once again reached for her back. No, he could not do it. He knew better than to touch her! “Lynna, please have a seat until I return. There is one other female passenger on the ship that should be able to help you dress. I will fetch her.”
“Non, I want you, not a stranger helping me dress.” She waved an unsteady finger at him. “My father ass…ass…assured me that you would see to all my needs. I am to thrust no one else!”
She made a good point. He could do this. Casually, opening his hands to see the task completed, his thumb accidentally caressed the softness of her back. Her skin was silky to the touch. Smooth as glass. What would be the harm in allowing his palms to caress for the briefest of moments the velvety softness? At present, he could not think of a single harmful consequence that might result from his actions. He placed his hands upon her back and closed his eyes, savoring the heady feeling of having her skin beneath his palms. As the rest of his body immediately responded to what his hands were feeling, he was quick to realize what a grievous error in judgment it had been to touch her. Would he be able to remove his hands, which now moved of their own accord toward the gentle rise and fall of her breasts?
She should turn around any moment and land a resounding slap to his cheek. And he would welcome the pain. Better still, he prayed she would draw up her enticing knee and deliver a fierce jab to his privates. Anything to clear his befuddled head and put a halt to his roaming hands before it was too late.
Unfortunately the thought of slapping or kneeing Joshua never entered Lynna's spinning mind. In fact, she did not benefit from a clear, rational thought at all. Her head was swimming through a murky lake while still attached to her shoulders. Her eyes saw two Captains in the room with her. And she would swear on a stack of bibles that if she did not soon remove her cumbersome clothes she would surely perish from heat stroke. She gasped when she felt his huge, calloused hands on her unclad, untouched skin, and in her inebriated state, his touch felt glorious, absolutely sublime. So sublime in fact, that her entire body seemed to melt. Not just where he touched. The very skin where his hands rested felt singed by flames.
Every nerve in her body seemed to be centered under the palm of his hand. And those hands were moving around her sides…slowly…much too slowly. Her breasts ached, no throbbed, with each and every beat of her heart, pulsing against the thin material of her chemise, her nipples pleading and straining against the fabric. For what? What were these unknown feelings running rampant through her bewildered body?
She had never experienced such feelings as these at the Chateau. Not once! Was it the wine? Is that why her father never allowed her to drink it? Could this ship be enchanted? Was she under the influence of a magical spell? Was the Captain a wizard perhaps? She knew about sorcery and bewitchment from the books she had read and Gertrude quite frequently consulted Tarot cards when her father was not around to witness the Celtic spread. Why the elderly woman even possessed a voodoo doll, which she would viciously push pins into nightly while she chanted some unknown tongue, made to a likeness of the woman who had pilfered Gertrude's betrothed away.
Lynna could not quiet the ramblings in her head, nor fathom what was happening to her, yet there was an urgency about the feelings that was not to be denied. And she desperately yearned for more. She felt his hands fluttering at her sides and knew that where she really wanted them was on her aching breasts. Oh, just to feel his hands on her breasts would surely be tantamount to dying and floating off to heaven on a wispy bit of cloud.
She was at a loss to explain the craving, having never felt it before, yet it was intense. Seeing absolutely no harm in fulfilling the desire, she reached up, and placing her hands on top of Joshua's, tugged them to cup her throbbing breasts.
Oh!
The pleasure of his hands on her breasts!
She heard Joshua gasp and moan into her hair as she pressed back against him. She had never known such intense, all consuming rapture existed as the very moment that his hands closed around her breasts! And what were those strange, demanding sensations that seemed to be pulsing and vibrating through her lower anatomy?
Her head fell limply on Joshua’s shoulder as a soft moan of sheer, uninhibited ecstasy flowed from her parted lips, making her wish his hands would remain on her breasts at least until the morning sun peeked through the window. Then, she felt herself being spun around in his arms and his soft lips lowered to hers. Pleasure took on new heights as their lips met ever so sweetly in a kiss that she felt in the very pit of her stomach. One hand moved to her midsection, afraid that she would soon be beset by her monthly spell of painful cramps. What else could cause such fluttering in the space between her legs?
His hands slid over her flat stomach, causing every muscle in her body to tense with pleasure, then he slowly caressed her hips and buttocks before coming to rest on her heaving breasts. Oh, it was the most marvelous feeling to have his hands there, but then when they had wandered around her hips, she had wanted them to remain in that general area a little longer as well. She fervently wished he had more hands!
Joshua bent to slide her gown to the floor and Lynna watched, her scrambled brain in a state of flux, as he kissed his way up her legs, pausing to kiss the juncture where the two met. This was more than her senses could comprehend. She clutched his head between her hands and moved back to sit on the bed. She watched a slow smile spread across Joshua’s handsome features as he gently pushed her back on the bed. He then stood and, seemingly not in the least embarrassed or shy, removed his clothes. Lynna’s eyes traveled leisurely over the width of his broad shoulders, down across his muscular chest and flat stomach. And, oh! Good heavens! That was a sobering sight!
A startled wheeze escaped her when he was fully exposed to her widening eyes. She knew some of what happened between a man and woman behind closed doors, but she didn’t know if it was all true or just Gertrude spinning another one of her yarns. All Lynna knew for sure at that moment was an unquenchable desire and she could only imagine that that part of him would somehow be used to serve the purpose. However, she was also firmly convinced that in no way would her tiny body be able to accommodate …it. Good heavens! If only her head would stop spinning and she could decide which of the two Captains was the real one, perhaps she could decide what to do about this predicament.
She accidentally glanced down again and the sheer enormity of the thing horrified her. “But it… is so…” she stammered, at a loss for words. She was unable to finish the sentence as fear suddenly took a strong hold of her, and she felt like a cornered rabbit about to be devoured by a voracious fox.
She hiccupped loudly as Joshua lay down beside her, and caressing her face, whispered, “Do
not be frightened, my sweet. I will not do anything that you don’t wish me to.” She relaxed and smiled. Then Joshua brought his mouth down to hers to drink deeply from her lips and eased her gown from her shoulders. As he did, he stroked the inside of her lips with his tongue until her head fell back and her mouth opened to him.
Hot liquid fire coursed through Lynna's veins. What were these unique and startling sensations? Why did she wish to cry out at the loss of his lips as they left a burning trail down her throat and over the pulsing hollow between her breasts? Then his moist lips slid over her flushed skin to rest on the peak of her breast. In that moment she was sure, the heavens came down to earth for a short respite!
His tongue on the sensitive area sent flames fanning out in all directions. As his soft lips devoted undivided attention to her breast, her mind centered around the intensifying need that threatened at any second to explode. When the explosion finally came, she had to wonder what would happen to the charred remains of her insides?
He continued his lustful assault, running his tongue along the tender underside of her breast, sending shivers of pure bliss coursing through her until she thought she would go mad from the sensual torture. When she could stand it no longer, she took his head between her hands and returned it to her swollen peak.
“Oh, Captain Jordan!” she whimpered, afraid of the magnitude of feelings that were fast overtaking her.
He removed his lips long enough to murmur, “Would you agree that under our present circumstances you may forgo the formalities and call me Joshua?”
She was unable to answer as the ache inside her intensified and she writhed on the bed in search of …what? Her legs fell open of their own accord, wanting, needing, and searching.
Joshua moved atop her as his swollen member pressed against her thigh. As he did this, Lynna could not suppress a horrified gasp. Even though her mind was terribly fuzzy, she realized that evidently Gertrude had been accurate on that point. But surely he could not mean to do that! Why, it was out of the question! Impossible! The mere thought was insane! She would be split asunder! “Non! Captain Jordan, you cannot possibly think to…”
“Why, my sweet?” Joshua soothed, crawling between her quivering thighs and successfully kissing away her cries. “I will not hurt you. You have my word.”
“How can it not hurt?” Was the dear man demented? Of course such torture would be unendurable. Why, she could not possibly be expected to survive such a flagrant act of brutality, she reasoned, even as her traitorous legs surrendered beneath him.
“Do not be afraid, Lynna,” he soothed, as his lips again found hers.
“Do you promise not to hurt me?” she whispered, gazing at him with large, questioning eyes. Lynna could not credit that she would even entertain the thought of agreeing to a notion as absurd as the one he was proposing. “Will you cease if it hurts?”
“Of course I will. All you need do is ask.”
She trusted him on that point. Her father had hired dozens of investigators and had been repeatedly assured that the Captain was most trustworthy. “Will the pain be intolerable?”
“It may hurt a bit at first, but afterwards, you will never feel pain again, only pleasure. That I can promise you, my sweet.”
If her father had faith in this man, so could she. “I trust you, Captain Jordan.” She smiled bravely, even as her muscles tensed into tight knots beneath him.
“Trust?” Joshua groaned, suddenly pulling away from her like her touch had burned him. “Why did you have to use that word? Your father trusted me and here I am, about to ravish his daughter. Of all the low, despicable, vile acts... I cannot believe I could sink so low…
Having little patience for his delayed chivalry, and desiring that Joshua continue what they were doing, Lynna reached over and stopped his tirade with her lips on his. “Please stop talking, Joshua.”
He obeyed her without question as his hands explored the smooth contours of her body and his lips again descended to hers. She returned his kiss with an ardor equivalent to his own. He stroked every silken inch of her body as his mouth placed feathery kisses where his hands had been until her muscles relaxed.
Lynna felt the heat of him between her legs and took a deep breath as he barely entered her. She could not suppress a moan as tiny ripples of pleasure fanned out from her loins and she began to move against the heat as her legs spread wider, wanting all that he had to offer. Everything. Somehow she instinctively knew there had to be more and she wanted it, desperately. Quickly. Clutching his hips, she pressed her body upward, her soft breasts crushing against the fur of his chest as he buried himself deep inside her and a scream tore from her lips.
“I’m sorry, my sweet! There will be no more pain, I promise!”
As he was apologizing, the pain in Lynna's body slowly subsided and gave way once again to desire. Her slim arms moved up to close around the muscles of his waist and draw him even deeper inside her smooth, tight warmth.
The ecstasy that swept over her in that moment, she was sure, would never be duplicated. As he began to move inside her, Lynna's body picked up the rhythm, rising to meet his every thrust, molding her body to fit perfectly to his. His hand on her buttocks squeezed her even closer still until she thought surely her next breath might be her last.
Then, it happened! Her insides melted like butter under the summer sun and the sweetest bliss surged through every part of her limp, lifeless body. She thought surely she must be leaving this earth and was being whisked off to another place and time! Then a sob escaped as powerful, deep contractions seemed to wrap her more tightly around Joshua and she breathed his name.
Later, when Lynna found the energy to speak, she whispered, “Oh, Joshua, that was without doubt the most amazing experience of my entire life!” She raised up on her elbow and smiled a beaming smile that put forth more light than the flickering candle. “Can you perhaps make it happen again before the ship docks in America?”
“Definitely, my sweet. It will most assuredly happen again, numerous times, before the ship docks. In fact, if you are agreeable, it can happen again right now.”
Lynna cupped his chin in her hands and placed an inexperienced, yet superlative kiss on his inviting lips and then promptly passed out cold.
Chapter Three
Lynna's first day at sea dawned clear and bright with white fluffy clouds prancing across the sky. Dressed in a fashionable day dress of aqua silk, with a matching ribbon in her hair, she strolled the deck after a light breakfast of fruit and coffee. Leaning against the mahogany rail, she breathed deeply of the salty sea air.
“An enchanting young lady should never be without an escort.”
Startled, Lynna turned to find a rather handsome young dandy with a sunny smile watching her intently. He was about the same height as the Captain, but with a much slighter build and by no means as attractive. His auburn hair shone in the sunlight as his eyes traversed the entire length of her body.
“Merci, sir. But I am not without an escort. I fear I have simply misplaced him.”
They both laughed as the smiling stranger took the place beside her at the rail. He gave an overly dramatic sigh as he placed his hand over his heart and purred, “Alas, you are married, no doubt, and are sailing to your honeymoon destination. Were you not, I could be the happiest and most fortunate man on this earth.”
“Non, but I am not married.” She giggled, enjoying his lively banter. “The Captain is my escort and the purpose of this voyage is to visit relatives in America.” She had been instructed to tell no one that Georgia was her destination and had thankfully remembered it. “I have never crossed the ocean, you see.”
“Then perhaps you will allow me the pleasure of giving you a personal guided tour when we dock, before you are whisked off to destinations unknown,” he offered. “There is much to discover in my home town of Charleston.”
“Then you are an American, how nice. Oui, I would enjoy that.” Lynna smiled brightly, watching a playful dolphin leaping
and swimming alongside the ship. As she thrilled to the morning breeze ruffling her hair, she was attentive to the gentleman beside her, yet her eyes wandered the deck, searching for any sign of the Captain. She blushed to the roots of her hair remembering the vivid dream she’d had last night. It had all seemed so… real. But…it had to be a dream. It could not have really happened! Although, never before had her imaginings been quite so…colorful!
“I will look forward to it then.” He gazed out across the calm ocean and breathed a dramatic sigh. “It is a pleasant voyage thus far, but I pray we do not meet with any of the violent storms on our return voyage, such as the ones we encountered on the passage over.”
“Storms!” Lynna shrieked, placing her hand on his arm and for the moment forgetting all else. “Violent storms?” Only her father and Gertrude knew how deathly afraid she was of thunder and lightning. She would never forget the haunting memory of the booming thunder that filled the skies the night her beloved mother had disappeared forever. Her father, who always held her and sang to block out the noise of the terrifying storms, would no longer be with her to soothe her fears.
“I had not considered there would be storms at sea,” Lynna mumbled absently as worry creased her brow. Oh, how she feared storms! For some reason she had the foreboding feeling they would be far worse at sea. She could not allow herself to dwell on such thoughts or her first adventure would be ruined. “I am sorry, but I do not know your name, sir.”
The stranger bowed and gallantly extended his hand. “Malcolm Robinson, at your service.”
“Mr. Robinson!” Lynna cried, the vexation of storms firmly fixed in her mind. “Are there very many storms at sea?” Had she even contemplated the possibility, she might never have left home at all. Thoughts of towering waves crashing across the deck where she now stood almost paralyzed her with fear. She would much prefer to take her chances with the ever-present threat of kidnappers than to be completely at the mercy of jagged forks of lightning and the heart stopping thunderbolts that were sure to follow.
