by Howe, Cheryl
One exception came to mind, but in that case, he hadn’t actually consummated the relationship. He could not have done that to the little señorita who’d helped him escape from prison, even if he had had the strength, which he had not. It infuriated him that any man would use Felicity so callously. After he found Marley’s killer, he knew who was next on his list.
She kept her head bowed and spoke to their joined hands. “That’s the real reason I forced the captain of the Queen Elizabeth to take me to Barbados. My brother’s marrying, and I can never do that.”
“You can marry. There is no reason you can’t. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to curb that sharp tongue of yours until you get to know a man.”
“No, Drew. The church was pressuring me to marry when I left. I hoped my age would make them leave me alone. I’d be an outcast when my new husband found out my secret.” She pulled her hand away and dropped it in her lap.
“No decent man would do that.” He wanted to touch her, comfort her the only way he knew how, but that wasn’t what she needed from him right now.
“You don’t know what they do. They are very strict.”
He shifted. Though the idea of another man possessing Felicity irritated him, for her sake he felt compelled to make suggestions he found unappealing. “Find a man who isn’t a Puritan.”
“Most men expect their wives to be virgins and younger than twenty-nine. I gave up the idea of having a husband years ago.” Her heavy sigh wounded him more than he thought possible.
Even in the dark, Drew could see how much her confession hurt her, but what could he say? He wasn’t looking for a wife and probably never would be. His romantic entanglements never became this complex. Another man would claim her without hesitation if he glimpsed the passionate woman behind her stiff demeanor. Selfish as he was, he found that thought unbearably disturbing. Instead of offering comforting words he didn’t have, he lifted Felicity’s chin and pressed his lips lightly against hers.
She accepted the chaste kiss, but sat back, ending it before it began. “This is pointless. It’s my father I’m concerned about.” After a moment of silence, she said, “You won’t tell him my secret, will you?”
He bolted from his relaxed position. “Christ, no. He’d have me hanged.”
She giggled. He hadn’t realized she was capable of it. “I suppose I can trust you on that count. The whole thing wouldn’t cast you in a good light if you told, would it?”
“No. Not much of the truth does.” He leaned back against the table.
“Why do you always paint yourself as such a wicked character?” She angled her head, studying him. “Look at what you did for Solomon and his son.”
“Now I’m not so bad? A minute ago I was a charlatan, a man who went back on his word to a beautiful woman.” He couldn’t tell if Felicity blushed, but he suspected she did.
“Don’t waste your compliments on me. You don’t have to pretend I’m pretty. I know I’m not most men’s ideal. I’m too tall and too…what did you say earlier? Sharp-tongued.”
“I’ll be glad to take that back or, rather, change it to sharp-witted. I suppose some men are intimidated by a woman who can out-think them.” No doubt her misconceptions about her value came from the same page of the Puritan doctrine that shamed her about her incredible sexuality. If he couldn’t marry her, he could wipe away any doubts about her mistaken assumptions forever. “And I didn’t say you were pretty. I said you were beautiful.” Speaking from his heart left Drew’s throat dry. Felicity’s searching gaze touched him physically. She was a magnet pulling all the secrets from his soul. He had sins too weighty to be drawn out, so he gave what he could.
“Felicity, I swear to you, I will do everything in my power to secure Ben’s release. If I take the ship back to Barbados right now, it will only make matters worse. Please try and see that.”
The longest minutes of his life passed while she considered his plea. He felt like the boy who’d cried wolf too many times. Now that he desperately wanted to be believed, he worried his years of duplicity had left him completely uncredible. Perhaps it had been so long since he was sincere, he no longer sounded authentic when he tried.
Finally, Felicity sighed. “I guess I don’t have much of a choice.”
That was not the answer he’d been hoping for. He needed her trust. “Dare I agree? You’ll prove me wrong. You’ve shown me you’ll create a choice when none is available. I’m asking for your trust and support in this.” There. He’d said the word, now it was her turn to decide his fate.
She dropped her gaze from his, clearly showing her hesitation. “Will you promise to keep me abreast of your plans? I don’t like being kept in the dark like a child.”
He’d already altered his life too much for her. Maybe if he’d not tried to present himself as halfway civilized, he wouldn’t be asked to behave like a suckling pup now. “I’ll keep you informed. But don’t jump to conclusions if I’m not down here every hour on the hour updating you on our progress. I am running a ship, you know.”
He got up to light the candles ensconced in glass globes on either side of the bed. He still grappled with the reason he agreed with her every time he intended to say no. The glow of the flickering light sparkled in Felicity’s eyes. When she looked at him that way, he no longer cared who had given in to whom. He returned to take her hands in his, gently prompting her to stand. “Trust me, then?”
She tilted her head to meet his gaze. “Yes.”
“But you said that before. Why should I believe you?”
“You know a secret I’ve told no other. Doesn’t that prove something?” Her lips parted slightly, as if she wanted a kiss.
He recognized the invitation but held back. “One other person knows. I don’t imagine you favor him with your trust—or anything else, for that matter.” Drew stopped short of asking her if she had loved the scoundrel, almost breaking his own rules. Matters of the heart were to be avoided at all costs during seduction. After pressing his lips against Felicity’s knuckles, he turned her hands over and kissed the center of each palm. “But let’s never speak of it again, sweeting.”
He guided her into the pool of light cast by the globes and reached for the pins holding back her hair. Instead, he found a wooden handle protruding from the tight coil. One simple tug unfurled her wild mane. When he realized he held a tool for splicing ropes, he lifted a questioning gaze. The piece had come from above deck.
“Hugh left it. I needed something to hold up my hair.”
He tossed the wooden fid over his shoulder, already lost in the midst of Felicity’s tangled locks.
“May I kiss you?”
“Please.” Her eyes fluttered shut, brushing her slightly flushed cheeks with her lashes. As he watched her mouth, she licked her parted lips in further invitation.
Her yielding tempted him beyond belief, but he forced himself to savor the treat. He allowed his halfhearted struggle for control to be swept away by the tide of desire. The pull of her yanked him under, and nothing else mattered. Lust flooded his lungs and limbs with the burn of dense saltwater.
Before he finished, he planned to worship every inch of her, obliterating thoughts of any other lover. With soft kisses, he teased each corner of her mouth, then moved to gently suck her lower lip. A squeak of pleasure escaped from the back of her throat.
He trailed his mouth down her neck until his lips pressed against the throbbing of her pulse. The brush of his tongue quickened the rhythm. Blood pooled in his groin, making him demandingly hard sooner than he wanted. His pulse pounded a warning and he forced himself to set her at arm’s length. “I want to undress you.”
Briefly, her green-brown eyes wavered between shyness and anticipation. Then a slow smile crept to her wet lips and she appeared to find her courage.
“Do as you like with me, sweeting.”
She echoed his usual endearment boldly, as if he were something she would like to eat, and raised her arms in invitation. If he wanted to keep his composu
re, he dared not think the innuendo intentional. He slipped behind her to attack her laces with shaky fingers. While he eased her dress past her shoulders, he couldn’t resist kissing the skin he revealed. He was truly lost and intended to take her with him.
“Open your eyes,” he whispered huskily.
***
A nude woman with half-hooded eyes stared back at Felicity from the mirror. Her wet and swollen lips parted with her desperate gulps for breath. Pink nipples strained against the paleness of her rounded breasts. Lord, she had never even seen herself unclothed before. The sight shocked her. She lowered her gaze and stared at her toes. But curiosity tempted her to sneak a second glance.
Slender ankles widened into long legs, then curved hips. Her rounded tummy dipped into a slight waist. But her full breasts captured her attention, especially with Drew’s rough hands slipping beneath them. Long brownish blonde waves fell over his arms and teased the swell of her bottom. She watched Drew nuzzle the curve of her shoulder and forgot to breathe.
“See? Beautiful,” he murmured.
She couldn’t look away, though a voice struggled up from somewhere to tell her she should. Drew’s fingers closed around one nipple and sent a jolt of fire straight to her sex. A rush of wet heat flooded her, and she dropped her gaze to see if the evidence of her desire glistened on her thighs. His followed.
She leaned her head on Drew’s shoulder and closed her eyes before her knees buckled.
Apparently, Drew was in no mood to give quarter. “Lean on me, but watch. I want you to see me touching you.”
Through heavy eyelids, she obeyed. He moved one hand down to caress her belly, while he kneaded her breast with the other. The contrast of his tanned hands gliding across her pale flesh transfixed her gaze on his deliberate movements.
When his fingers grazed her hipbone, she shut her eyes.
“Drew,” she whispered, turning her head into the folds of his shirt.
His hands stilled. After a moment, she opened her eyes and peeked again. She met Drew’s bright gaze in the mirror. His stare physically touched her with the same intensity his hands caressed her body. Booted feet braced on each side of her bare ones. He was still fully dressed, but through his snug black breeches, she could feel the taut muscles in his thighs. The heat of his unyielding erection burned her fevered skin. His gaze melded with hers before he continued.
“Better,” he murmured in between pressing kisses along her shoulder. His fingers entwined in the dark curls at the apex of her legs, then slid farther down. Gingerly, he probed her swollen flesh. His index finger grazed the place where her passion pulsed. Her knees grew weak and she began to tremble.
The gentle pressure turned to dizzying circles as Drew found a rhythm that forced her to moan.
“Drew,” she pleaded again.
“Part your legs for me, sweeting.”
“I can’t,” she answered. She was in serious danger of losing her balance and her sanity. “I’ll fall.”
He abandoned the nipple he’d been teasing to wrap his arm around her waist.
“Go ahead. I’ve got you.”
She leaned into his solid body. Timidly she stepped her legs farther apart. The things she’d done in the shelter of a bed partially dressed were a different matter standing stark naked in front of a mirror. His finger slipped inside her. This time, Drew was the one who moaned.
His invasion deepened, then retreated, increasing the sweet torture with each movement as she watched, fascinated, learning.
It was too much. “Drew, take off your clothes.”
“Not yet.” His sudden withdrawal left her aching and empty.
When he carried her to the bed, she happily assumed he’d changed his mind. After laying her down so her legs dangled off the edge, he dropped to his knees, draping her limbs over his shoulders.
She struggled to sit up. “What are you doing?”
He smiled wickedly. “Let me kiss you where no one has kissed you before.” She watched as his grin drooped slightly. “Or had he?”
A tentative shake of her head returned the possessive gleam to his blue-green eyes. Compelled by the insistence in his gaze and the desire to please him, she lay back, shaking and a little panicked. He rewarded her cooperation with a kiss on the inside of her thigh that sent a tingling jolt to the pit of her belly. When his lips touched her, Felicity shuddered and forgot all her objections. And when he caressed her with his tongue, she would have threatened his life if he stopped.
The room swirled in a dizzying array of colors. She arched her back off the bed to meet his tongue, tilting her hips, writhing to get closer to the unbearable pleasure. He lifted her buttocks off the bed, kneading her with his strong hands. She struggled to raise her head before she lost all touch of where or who she was.
In the mirror’s reflection, Drew’s dark, tousled head pressed between her pale thighs. Her own eyes were heavy and glazed, staring back at her with wanton abandon. The picture was her undoing. She collapsed as the tight coil deep inside her began to unravel. Her moans sounded like screams in her own ears. She convulsed to the tips of her toes.
After she caught her breath, Drew kissed her lightly in the center of her stomach before he stood.
She reached out to him, too limp to do anything else at the moment. “Don’t go.”
He yanked his white cambric shirt furiously over his head. A ripping sound didn’t stop his enthusiasm in removing it. “At this moment, I couldn’t be dragged from your side, sweeting.”
The shirt stuck at Drew’s wrist, where he seemed to have forgotten to undo the ties. A rippling of his muscles and another tear of cloth freed him from the tangled mess. He discarded his boots and breeches just as quickly.
He rose to his full height. His long, lean body glistened with a sheen of perspiration.
“Wait. I want to look at you.” She wanted to forever capture the image in her mind or else she might someday believe their encounter only a vivid dream.
“I can’t wait.” He covered her body with his own, drinking deeply from her mouth like a man dying of thirst.
The taste of herself on his lips sent a forbidden rush of excitement coursing through Felicity. She touched him everywhere she could, her hands roaming and anxious. His skin felt like silken fire. She explored every cut and bulge of his sinewy back, arms and buttocks. A feral noise escaped from his throat and he put a sudden stop to her exploration by wrapping his arms around her and in one smooth movement, rolled over onto his back.
Instinctively, she sat up with her legs straddling his hips. Oh, but she liked this. She braced her hands on his chest, tilting her hips against the rigid heat pressing into her moist center.
“I’m at your mercy,” he said in a strained voice. His eyes looked drugged. He stared at her a moment longer before he gave in to the weight of his eyelids.
His reaction banished her awkwardness at the strange position and made her bold. She raised herself on her knees and guided the joining for which they both longed. Her wet opening, slick from a combination of her own lust and his kisses, welcomed the invasion. His moan in response told her that he experienced the first rush of pleasure with the same intensity she did. The moment she settled fully against him, he clutched her hips and led her to a pace she didn’t mind following. Their bodies ground in a maddening rhythm until she felt the familiar tightening. The sensation urged her faster and harder. He stilled his movements, letting her wild abandon have its rein. In moments, she pulsed around him, gripping him with her release.
Before the last spasm had wracked her body, he was moving again. His fingers dug into her hips with painful force, but she didn’t cry out. She stared in fascination at his undoing. When she held him in her body, there was nothing he could hide from her. She braced herself on his chest as he drove into her, watching him for the signs that he had relinquished every last bit of control. He thrust deeply, then tensed, a strangled moan on his lips as she felt his release deep inside.
After his rapid
breathing grew more normal, he opened his eyes and grinned at her. She caressed his face, thinking he looked vulnerable and boyish. His heart appeared in his eyes, or perhaps it was only her imagining what she wanted to see.
He pulled her into his arms and snuggled her against his chest, kissing the top of her head. “You are beautiful, love. Don’t ever doubt it again.”
Felicity closed her eyes, letting herself believe his casual endearment genuine. In the morning she could awaken to reality. Or, if she was lucky, she could make this moment last until El Diablo was captured and her father freed. After that, Drew would fade into a distant memory like all girlish fantasies. She buried her face against his shoulder to hide the sudden wetness clinging to her eyelashes.
Chapter Thirteen
“ ‘For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit,’ ” said Solomon, stumbling over all the words with more than two letters.
“Excuse me?” Felicity shook off her hazy daydream.
He stared hard at the leather-bound book resting on the table and repeated the sentence cautiously.
With a sigh of relief, she leaned over and read the passage herself. He’d recited from the King James Bible, not made a personal observation. She let her high spirits distract her from pondering the truth in the statement or the source from which it came.
“Wonderful! You weren’t honest with me, Solomon. You couldn’t have possibly come this far by just picking things up.”
“Actually, Miss Kendall, the captain tried to teach me to read and write when we were much younger. I was too proud to learn then. Perhaps I remember some of his instruction, though Drew was never much of a scholar.”
“I can’t say I’m surprised.” Felicity laughed. She knew she must be blushing. She did so every time Drew was near or his name was mentioned. Glancing in the large gilded mirror would show how much of her happiness reflected in her face, but she dared not look in its direction. To recall the things they’d done in front of that mirror in the last few days would make her cheeks match the shade of her rose-hued dress. Drew had shown her ways of making love she hadn’t imagined existed.
