Their mouths met in wild union. He couldn’t get enough of the taste of her. He sucked her tongue into his mouth, and she made a choked sound of approval. Then another moan when he curved his hands over her breasts, rolling the pointed nipples between his fingers through the frail barrier of her dress.
“By God, I need to kiss your breasts,” he grated, hating how the high neck of her dress kept him from touching her skin. “Why the devil did you wear this damned stupid rag?”
She gave a cracked laugh. “Because this damned stupid rag hides what you did to me last time you touched me.”
His hands tightened on the lush flesh. “I’ll burn it.”
“No, you most certainly won’t,” she said on a shocked laugh, even as he pushed her until her back collided with the wall between the two sets of French doors. If any blasted fool did decide to brave the rain and venture into the garden, he and Morwenna would remain out of sight.
A gasp of excitement escaped Morwenna as she hit the wall, then another longer gasp when he shoved up her frothy skirts, found the slit in her drawers and stroked between her legs. He met sleek heat, blatant evidence of female desire. He brushed his thumb across the center of her pleasure and basked in how she shivered with uncontrollable response. A rush of liquid warmth greeted his daring caresses, promised a fervent welcome when he thrust inside.
He kissed her again, all seeking and passion. His memory of making love to his bride was of sweetness and innocence awakening into fiery sensuality. But this woman met him as an equal, demanded her share in what sizzled between them.
When she tangled avid hands in his hair to bring his head down for more kisses, he was overcome with awed delight. It was his turn to shiver when she lowered those insistent hands to the fastenings of his trousers.
“Don’t rip them,” he muttered as she hauled on the buttons. “If you do, Silas will never let me hear the end of it.”
She gave another choked huff of laughter, but he noticed she became more careful. Too careful by far.
“Damn it, you’re driving me mad,” he muttered, scraping his teeth along her neck until she trembled like a flower in the wind.
He’d wanted her last night. But this was more powerful. He’d never been as desperate for a woman, for anything. And her clumsy attempts to free him threatened to incinerate the last shreds of his control.
He brushed her hands aside and in a couple of rough movements, freed his cock. She gave another choked sound of appreciation, and her impatient fingers curled around him. The sensation of her hand pumping him made him shake and groan. He bumped his hips forward, as she raised one leg to curl it around his hips.
“That’s my girl,” he grunted and caught her buttocks, hoisting her up to position her ready for him. The rich scent of her need teased his nostrils and made his head spin.
The world had shrunk to black velvet heat. There was neither past nor future. Just this woman and her sumptuous passion.
“Oh, Robert...”
The sigh of surrender brought an end to restraint. On a long groan, he sank deep inside her.
”Yes,” he hissed in reverence, as she clenched around him in immediate, astounding female climax. She was quaking and gasping, her breath hot against the side of his face as she struggled to inhale through shuddering ecstasy.
He held on—barely—as the ripples of her pleasure gradually subsided. Then he thrust once, twice, and gave himself up to her in a gush of endless love and need.
Even when it was over, the remnants of that mighty release left him shaking. Panting, he released his bruising grip on her hips and shuddered anew as her legs slipped to the ground, breaking the union of their bodies.
In gratitude too extreme for words, he buried his head in her shoulder where he’d wrenched her dress aside. The sultry scent of satisfied female flooded his senses and calmed the mad rush of his heart. She stroked his hair and made a soft sound of contentment.
“By God, you deserved better than that,” he muttered.
He felt as much as heard her choked laugh. “I doubt I’d survive anything that was better than that.”
Their titanic encounter had held no tenderness. It had been all hunger and demand. Twice he’d taken her like a man starving to death. And he couldn’t swear that he’d be any more restrained in future. He wanted her too much. But this gentle massaging of his skull made him feel like melting into a puddle at her feet.
“Nonetheless I should have been kinder.”
“Next time.”
“Goddammit, I can’t keep my hands off you.”
“I know.” Her smugness soothed the lingering turbulence in his soul.
Finally, he dredged the shameful confession out. “I hated telling them about what happened to me.”
“I know you did. I’m sorry.” She paused, and when she spoke next, humor warmed her tone. “But, my love, if you’re going to feel an uncontrollable urge to swive your wife every time you describe what you’ve been through, I’m going to be awfully busy.”
My love? Did she mean it? She hadn’t yet declared her affection, and while what they’d just done proved that she wanted him, he needed more than her desire.
But he was achingly conscious that he’d been here less than a day. They were still finding their way back to each other. It was too early to insist on vows and promises. Good Lord, last night, she’d been frightened of him.
“I want you so much. All the time. It’s like a fever in my blood.”
“I want you, too.” Before he could respond to that, she went on. “Aren’t you going to the Admiralty today?”
Blast, he’d managed to forget the world outside this room, and he didn’t welcome the reminder. “Yes,” he mumbled, pressing closer.
He wasn’t yet ready to face his responsibilities. Home only made sense when he had his hands on Morwenna, so he was in no rush to return to the everyday. She felt like the one real thing in the midst of swirling chaos. God forgive him, in this place that should be familiar, but felt as strange as landing on the moon, even his family were like beings of another species.
“Would you like me to come with you? I could remain in the carriage.” Still she stroked his hair. Every touch seemed to whisper, “Welcome home.”
“I’ll be hours, I suspect.”
“I can wait.” Then in a lower voice, “And I’ll have something nice to look forward to on the way back. You’ll be ready for me again, once you’ve had to explain yourself to the Admiralty.”
He raised his head, curiosity getting the better of his urge to sink into her and never come up for another breath. “You really don’t mind?”
Wide dark blue eyes, shadowed with lingering passion, met his. “That you turn to me to ease your troubles? Of course I don’t mind.”
His lips twisted in self-derision. “Some women might feel that I’m not showing proper respect.”
That somber gaze didn’t shift from his face. “Don’t you respect me, Robert?”
“I honor you with every second of my life,” he said, his voice gruff with sincerity.
Astonishment lit her eyes, although surely she must already know that was true.
“Oh, my dear,” she said in a broken rush and rose on her toes to kiss his lips. Odd that this kiss, totally devoid of passion, should lay waste to every defense in a way those extravagantly passionate kisses hadn’t.
He cleared his throat to shift an inconvenient lump and made himself straighten, although his hands remained at her waist. He couldn’t bear not to touch her.
“Now, my wife...” His voice sounded impressively steady, although he had to work like the devil to keep it that way. “It’s time to tell me about Kerenza.”
Chapter Seven
* * *
Morwenna straightened her yellow dress, although she suspected anyone who saw her must guess just what she’d been doing in the breakfast room. She took Robert’s hand. Odd to think that last night, she’d been afraid to touch him. Now it seemed as natural as breathing. Mo
re natural, in fact, than it had when they’d been together after their marriage. Then she’d been so young and uncertain. Not uncertain of her love, but uncertain that she was a worthy wife to such a superior creature as Robert Nash, naval hero, London gentleman, and brother to a lord.
Now none of those worldly things mattered. What mattered was that she loved him, and he’d suffered so much, and her presence calmed the devils she saw in his eyes when he thought she wasn’t watching.
“Come with me.”
He followed with alacrity. “Are you taking me upstairs to have your wicked way with me?”
She regarded him in surprise. Not at the suggestion. Despite that shuddering encounter that left her weak-kneed and breathless, hunger still hummed about him. If she set out to seduce him, she knew he’d cooperate.
No, she was surprised because what he said almost sounded like the teasing, laughing man she’d married. He wasn’t smiling, but the fraught air was absent. While not exactly at ease, he no longer seemed likely to shatter into a million pieces at the first provocation.
“You have to go to the Admiralty. And I need to tell you about Kerenza.” She crossed to unlock the door, feeling the pull on well-used muscles with every step. “But when you have time, I’m at your disposal.”
“Morwenna?” He sounded dazed. His steps slowed, and his hand tightened on hers.
She turned her head and cast him a searching look. “You’re not the only one who has missed conjugal relations, Robert.”
A spark lit his black eyes, and he pulled his hand free. There was a different quality in his curiosity as he studied her. “You’ve changed.”
Her lips flattened. “Of course I have. I’m older. I’ve had a child. Not to mention that I spent an eternity alone and grieving for you.”
He took her hand again. The ease of the gesture proved anew that he emerged from the frozen wastes where his soul had wandered for so long. “I wasn’t sure at first, you know.”
“That I’d grieved for you?”
“Yes.”
She looked at him aghast. “Oh, Robert...”
He directed a burning stare at her. “Do you love Garson?”
“You know I don’t.”
“Then why did you agree to marry him?”
Morwenna blinked back stinging tears. She wasn’t sure she was up to handling this inquisition so soon after succumbing to that stupendous climax. All her emotions ranged far too close to the surface, and she feared saying something to bring the bleakness back to his eyes. She recalled the frightening blankness in his face as he braced himself to tell the family what had happened to him in South America. She never wanted to see that expression again.
She sucked in a breath and made herself answer. “Because it had been five wretched, empty years without you. Because Kerenza needs a father. Because while I might have felt like I died with you, I didn’t, and I’m only twenty-six. Because he’s a good man. Since you’ve been gone, I’ve lived in isolation, apart from when your family dragged me out into the open. But this season, when Sally Cowan suggested a second round of Dashing Widows, I decided it was time to be brave and rejoin the world. For Kerenza’s sake, more than my own.”
She braced for him to express his disappointment in her lack of steadfastness. But after a weighty pause, he nodded. “I understand.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.” That spark, a distant echo of his old laughter, flickered in his eyes. “Which doesn’t mean I won’t knock Garson’s block off, if he dares so much as a blink in your direction.”
She smiled. It might be childish, but she liked to hear that Robert felt possessive about her. Because the fact was that she felt possessive about him.
“Were there...were there women?” she asked, as they stepped into a hall tactfully devoid of all other Nashes.
“No.”
They started to climb the stairs. “I can accept if there were.”
He arched his eyebrows. “Can you?”
No. “If I must.”
“You don’t have to. Even if I was interested, and I wasn’t, I was kept in solitary confinement. And there were no women on the whaler.”
At least she needn’t pretend to tolerate the thought of him seeking comfort elsewhere. Although given what he’d been through, he’d desperately needed a woman’s tender touch to lighten his suffering. “Then no wonder you have such a powerful appetite.”
They’d reached the landing. Before she could turn toward her room, he swung her around and kissed her so fiercely that he stole her breath.
The kiss was over in one blazing instant. A thrill rippled through her, and her heart pounded madly against her ribs. Dazzled, giddy, she stared up at him. His black eyes glittered dangerously, and the slash across his face stood out white against his skin.
She placed her hands on his chest to confirm that he really was with her. It still seemed like his return was a dream, even now when relentless hands gripped her hips and his tongue had just been inside her mouth.
“I have a powerful appetite, all right.” His voice was almost savage. “A powerful appetite for you, Morwenna.”
“Oh,” she said, as a warm bubble of happiness rose to fill her chest and squash the possibility of further response. Instead, she took his hand and led him into the room where last night he had seemed such a stranger.
She hadn’t yet solved all his mysteries, but she began to feel that he wasn’t a stranger anymore. One thing was certain. The man she loved had come back to her.
Once they were safely inside, she shut the door and rose on her toes to press a kiss to his lips. This kiss was more thorough, and it left her head swimming and her knees weak. She curled her hand over his shoulder to keep her balance.
“I feel like I need to get to know you all over again,” he said slowly.
Something in his tone pierced her rising excitement. “Are you sorry I’m not as you remember?”
His hand cupped the side of her face, and for the first time since he’d come back, tenderness rather than desire was paramount in his expression. “You are as I remember you—beautiful and fascinating. But you’ve changed, too. In so many intriguing ways. I look forward to discovering the differences.”
That bubble of happiness expanded, threatened to break free and fill the entire world. Last night, it had been miracle enough that he was alive. But their growing closeness was a gift beyond her dearest dreams.
“Me, too.”
He kissed her again, softly. “Tell me about Kerenza. I’m agog to hear of my daughter.” He drew Morwenna to sit beside him on the brocade sofa near the blazing fire. “You didn’t say you’d conceived.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t know until a couple of months after you’d gone. I wrote, but I knew you hadn’t got the news because the letters weren’t amongst the effects we received back from the ship.”
Morwenna stopped to push back a wave of painful emotion. He might have returned to her, but the shadow of losing him lingered. Speaking of this swept her back to the black days when she’d wished herself dead and with Robert, despite the child growing in her womb.
“Those letters must be lost in the Admiralty somewhere.”
“Perhaps you should ask when you’re there.” She started to rise, remembering that he had other commitments beyond those he owed to her. “Should we do this later, once you’ve made your report?”
“That can wait. This is more important.” He pulled her down beside him and curled his arm around her shoulders. She leaned back, drawing strength from his touch. “I should tell you that I’m going to resign my captaincy.”
She stiffened and sat up to stare at him in consternation. “The navy was your life.”
“Not anymore. I’ve come home now, and I intend to stay. Can you bear the thought of a husband under your feet instead of away at sea?”
Bear it? She wanted it more than words could say. “Of course I can. And Kerenza will be in alt to have her papa living with us.”
“I
hope so.” Then in a low, sad voice, “I’ve already missed so much.”
Tears pricked her eyes. Bitter, acid tears like those she’d barely contained when listening in wordless horror to what he’d told the family. It was less than a full day since he’d come back, and she already felt like she’d lived through a lifetime of overwhelming emotion.
Now this opportunity to tell him about their child was painful and joyful in equal measure. She’d never imagined Robert would have a chance to know the mercurial, affectionate, scarily intelligent little being created from their love.
To hide how overcome she was, Morwenna rose and crossed to her dressing table. Last night, instinct had warned her not to drown him in emotion. He looked more human now, and less like a ghost. But she feared the slightest mishandling might put his fragile recovery at risk.
She lifted the leather case that sat open near her hairbrushes, so she saw its contents last thing at night and first thing in the morning. Another leather case stood on the facing side. Another leather case she looked at morning and night.
Only a day ago, she’d made herself put the second case away in a drawer as a gesture toward her new life. This morning, as hope and thankfulness flooded her heart, she’d replaced it in its familiar spot.
She hoped Robert didn’t notice how she fumbled. Her eyes were so full of tears, it was difficult to see what she did. How she grieved to think of everything he’d missed while he’d been alone and wretched and in pain.
With a shaking hand, she held out the first case, open to reveal the two miniatures inside. “This is Kerenza.”
Chapter Eight
* * *
“A picture of our daughter?” Robert’s hands shook as badly as Morwenna’s when he accepted the gold-tooled Morocco case that held two miniatures painted on ivory plaques.
“I have these with me always. This year, because I’ve been in London so much, they’ve been a great comfort. She’s happy with her cousins at Woodley Park, and I love that they’ve become like brothers and sisters to her, but I can’t help missing her. And of course, she’s got adoring uncles and aunts.”
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