Stephen laughed. “Always forward. I like that in a woman.”
She blushed but smiled. “Thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment.”
He shifted his feet, no longer able to meet her eyes and she hoped she’d not embarrassed one of her oldest childhood friends. The thought made her laugh. “Hurry lads. We’ve not got all night.”
“Well,” she said, “I’ll leave you to your endeavors. At the next full moon, our business arrangement is complete.”
“As agreed. And it’s been a pleasure doing business with ye.”
“I’m not sure if it’s been a pleasure, but it’s certainly been financially gaining.” May smiled. “When I’m in the village next I’ll check in on your mama.”
“Thank you. You’ll send word if she’s unwell?”
“Of course.” She turned for home, and walked the steep climb to the top. The breeze pushed at her back and an odd sense shivered down her spine that she was no longer alone. May looked about but couldn’t see anyone. With the moon so bright they would have to be hiding very well.
Shaking off the chill, she went back inside then to her father’s den and left the envelope in his top drawer like she always had, every month for the last two years. And with one more payment her brothers future would be secure. Of course, he’ll never be rich and will have to work hard to keep the estate running, but at least he will be starting his life debt free and with a little blunt put aside for safe keeping.
* * *
May slept late the following morning, but the smell of hot chocolate brought her out of her delightful dream of William and his deliciously naughty mouth. Tired from the night before, she had allowed herself to sleep in longer than normal. Stifling a yawn, May rolled over and gazed out over the ocean that was visible from her bed. From here, she could make out the distant emerald sea that sparked in the sunlight. A pang of sadness clutched at her heart. She would miss her home and everyone in it. She would miss this view.
Not to mention after being with William, she would miss him as well. In a month they would no longer be together, but away and living their respective lives. Not that she really knew what he did other than captain a ship and look after his estates from his office on the high seas.
May sighed. She shouldn’t have allowed herself to experience anything with the gentleman. The moment his lips touched hers, she knew it would only make her time in the convent all the more painful to bear.
And that time she would have to endure until she died. It was a sobering thought and one she ought to think more on, before rushing off to procure a religious habit.
She slipped from the bed and dressed quickly. The need to see him again made her fingers fumble with her gown. Without waiting for her maid, May threw her hair up with an assortment of pins and left the room.
She found him hitting the billiard balls around the game table, the deep frown line between his eyes making him look fiercer than she’d ever seen him before. Her step faltered. Should she interrupt his game? Deciding she should, May said, “Good morning, William.” She smiled as he looked up at her. Nerves skittered through her stomach when his frown did not dissipate. If anything, it intensified. “Are you well?”
“Well enough.” He paused, using the billiard stick to lean against. “How was your night?”
May inwardly frowned, not liking his curt tone. “Adequate I suppose. How was yours?”
William’s eyes narrowed, and May had a sinking feeling as to why she thought she wasn’t alone the night before.
“The same. I took a little walk.”
May smiled to hide her unease. “I should imagine it was quite cold out.” She gestured outside and to the storm clouds that were starting to build up. It would be raining by tonight.
He shrugged, leaning back over the billiard table to take another shot. “Chilling, more like.”
“Well, I shall leave you to your game.” Taking a fortifying breath, she concluded William wasn’t in the mood for company. “Have a good day,” she said, heading to her father’s study, not comfortable with how dejected she felt over his indifference to her. She found her father bent over his ledger, his lips moving as he silently tallied up the figures before him. “Papa, did you find the envelope I left for you last night?”
He looked up and gestured for her to shut the door. “I did. Thank you my dear. But I’ve also had William in here like a bear, growling about your nightly walks. I think he may believe you have a beau waiting for you. He was acting most strangely. Almost like a jealous husband.”
Warmth spread up her neck and threatened to consume her cheeks. “I’m sure he was only concerned for my welfare. Don’t read into his actions any further than that, Papa.” May sighed in relief knowing why William was angry with her. An odd sense of pleasure formed in her chest that the gentleman was jealous over whomever he thought she was meeting. Thankfully, her smuggling secret was still that. A secret. “I just left Lord William in the billiards room. He was quite curt and I thought he may have found out about our arrangement with Stephen.”
“No, I don’t believe he knows and best that he doesn’t. He’s a peer of the realm. It wouldn’t be wise for the high in the instep Londoners to know of our arrangement, especially since we’ve only one more shipment to secure before we’re finished with it.”
“That was my thinking.” May stood and walked to the window and caught a glimpse of her brother darting down toward the beach where she’d first met William. “I’m glad our smuggling will be completed by the time I leave for the convent. These funds should give Matthew brighter prospects and without me hindering him, he may be able to look to the future with some joy.”
Her father’s chair scraped across the wooden floor before he came to stand beside her. “You’re not still thinking of becoming a nun. Come May. You are not contrite, meek or mild. Please reconsider your decision.”
“Do not ask this of me, Papa. My choice is made. I love Matthew and will do anything to secure his position as Viscount Levinstone when the time comes. I know it’s hard for you to understand, but please try. My mind is quite set on the matter.” She turned and left the room. It was no surprise to her she didn’t fit the mould that would make up a nun, but marriage no longer held the lure it once had. Her first disastrous Season had put paid to that fantasy. And yes she may be enjoying the company of William, but she was nothing but a passing fancy to him, certainly not someone he would marry. He’d certainly not hinted at wanting her for a bride… And disappointing as that was, like most gentlemen she came to know while in the capital, money was required when entering the marriage state, and that was one asset May lacked most of all.
* * *
Much to her annoyance, William kept his distance from her for the next few days. His cold, and at times rude, manner—as if she was an errant child who didn’t know what was best for her—irked to the point of her endurance. Had he just asked her where she’d gone she would have soon put his mind to rest that it wasn’t to meet another gentleman. He may not have received the entire truth, but that was better than thinking the worst of her.
After everything they’d done together surely he wouldn’t think she’d look to have fulfillment elsewhere. He may have brought out a side of her character that even she didn’t know existed, but she wasn’t a doxy. Anger churned in her gut after his chilling attitude at dinner. Well, enough was enough. It was time William owned what she was sure he felt toward her, and if May had to seduce the fellow to make him see his true feelings, then that is what she would do.
May paced in her room and waited to hear her father’s bedroom door close before making her way to the guest wing and William’s suite.
Once her father retired for the night, May crept along the passage floor, making sure to miss the floorboards that were want to squeak. Without knocking, she entered William’s room. He lay on the bed, bare of everything except his breeches. His chest was all muscle, his stomach flexed as he sat up and her attention locked on it. She swallowed when she noticed the bu
lge at the front of his pants. He was beyond spectacular. “Good evening, William.”
He didn’t move, just watched her, his eyes growing dark with need, but his severe expression, still one that sent her nerves to jangle. Knowing his distance from her was due to jealousy made each step closer to the bed much easier than she thought. Had she not been so sure of his feelings, she would never have been able to be so bold.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
She tipped her head to the side and studied him. His gaze took in her bodiced chemise, his hands fisting against the sheets. “You shouldn’t be here?” she repeated, mocking his words for what they were, a lie. “I thought it was time you took your pleasure as well, my lord.”
His eyes flared and his swallow was almost audible. “You should leave before you cannot.”
May lifted her chemise and pulled it over her head, letting it flutter to the ground. She knelt on the bed near his feet. “I know exactly what I’m doing and I’ve never been so sure of anything before in my life.”
For the first time since she’d entered the room, he looked away. Dread lodged in her stomach like a rock that perhaps he’d tired of her after all, and that perhaps she’d been wrong in reading his coldness as jealousy. The thought was mortifying. “Do you not want me?” There, she’d asked what she feared most to voice. That he did indeed wish her to leave and never come back.
“Two nights past, who did you go out to meet? I saw you walk out into the night toward the beach. Why?” His voice was hard and the frown she’d grown to dislike was back between his eyes.
“You followed me?” May leaned back and fortified herself for the lie she had to tell. “I’ve lived here all my life. Why shall I not go for a stroll when I wish?”
“You went for a stroll. In the middle of the night and in November, mind you, and you wish me to believe that?” He shook his head, disbelief clouding his tone.
She did want him to believe it as it was partially true. “Papa knows of my whereabouts. You can ask him if you wish.” May moved a little closer to the bed, wondering what else she could say to make him at ease. “I have not shared my body with another if that is what you’re implying.”
The muscles in his jaw flexed and she knew without question, he was angry with her. Maybe even jealous over the thought another man may find her attractive, not that any of them ever had. The woman in her purred with satisfaction that she’d made this virile, beautiful man long for her in such a way he didn’t want to share her with anyone else.
William lay back on the pillows and placed his hands behind his head. His muscles bulged with the action and she bit back a sigh of pleasure. He was so handsome, the annoyance in his gaze slowly being replaced with desire. May crawled onto the bed in the most seductive way she knew how, and tried to look as if she knew what she was doing. Her gown gaped at the front, and William’s attention snapped to her chemise. She fought embarrassment and instead tried to embrace life and the opportunity he’d afforded her since visiting them in Cornwall.
“I don’t know what to think anymore,” he said, simply. His voice was husky and breathless as if he’d run a mile along the beach. The sound of it sent a thrill to her core and heat threaded through her body.
“I do,” she answered, straddling his hips, relaxing at little when he clasped her waist holding her atop him. “I think we should be together, William. Completely.”
He ground himself against her and her body tightened in expectation. “From the first moment you lifted your defiant chin, I wanted you.” He chuckled. “I still cannot fathom how it is you’re not married?”
May shrugged. “No one ever asked,” she said, pushing away the pang of sadness her statement brought forth. Not wanting such a hard truth to leave her melancholy, May set out to seduce William instead. It was by far a more enjoyable notion then dwelling on her disastrous London Season. She clasped his jaw and kissed him, tasting the lingering flavor of brandy on his lips. “And I wanted you too, William, so very much.” Moving across his hardness, she noted that his gaze turned molten at the action, and an overwhelming sense of wickedness took flight.
He growled. “Then you shall have your wish, my lady.” William flipped her onto her back and she laughed at the surprisingly quick action. His intense gaze never left hers as he ripped the buttons apart of his breeches and pushed the pants to his knees.
May lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist and he came down onto her slowly, his hand grazing along the skin of her thigh. She squirmed, wanting to feel him, needing him as much as she needed air. “Please hurry.”
His jutting penis pressed upon her heat sending spirals of desire coursing through her blood. May bit her lip as expectation and fear of the unknown wrestled within her.
“Look at me,” he demanded, placing a delicate kiss on her nose.
She did and could read the need that warred with his concern for her. “There is no going back after this. You realize that, do you not?”
That William, even at this point in their lovemaking would halt the inevitable and give her a choice, vanquished any lingering doubts she had. “Do you promise that my life will never be the same?” she said, gasping as he sheathed himself fully within her, making her whole.
* * *
William groaned for he’d certainly died and was in heaven. “I promise.” May looked up at him with awe, and he fought to gain control. The woman beneath him had him more rattled than he’d ever thought possible by the opposite sex. And none of it had anything to do with how perfectly he fit her, or that she was perfection personified.
May’s touch ran up the muscles on either side of his spine, urging him to move and so he did. Small strokes at first, allowing her the opportunity to get used to him and his ministrations. It didn’t take her long to gain her rhythm. Her long smooth legs wrapped about his waist, and she arched beneath him, a quick study to the art of sex. His body roared for release, to spill his life within her, and make her his for all time, but not yet. William wanted to hear her moans of pleasure, to have her shatter in his embrace.
His chest ached at the thought that in only a few short weeks, he would be leaving, that this beautiful, passionate woman would be entering the church and promising herself to a higher power. It was not to be borne.
She moaned and he smothered the sound with a kiss. She was a marvel and never had he met anyone so strong and capable as her. At every turn, she matched his desire and fired his blood to new heights. The slow strokes turned into frenzied thrusts. Her urging of him to continue, to never stop would’ve felled him had he been standing. “Oh, William. I never—”
Thought it would be like this? Neither did he. She was magic in his arms. Her mouth opened on a sigh, her eyes closed, the long lashes fanned against her perfect cheeks as her release pulsated around him. She was too beautiful, too lovely to ever give up without a fight.
He clasped her calf, hoisting her leg higher on his hip and thrust deep. Just as man was unable to hold back the tide, he was unable to hold back his release as it ripped through him. William reveled in the sound she made as tremor after tremor threaded throughout her core. Never had he heard such sweet music, and it was a tune he wanted an encore performance of.
They collapsed beside each other, their breathing rapid, and their skin cloaked in sweat.
May turned into his waiting arms and kissed his chest before laying her head in the crook of his arm. “Thank you. I’ll never forget this night for as long as I live.”
Male satisfaction made him grin although he was determined to remove the resolve he heard in her voice. There would be no settling for anything less than him if he had anything to do with her future. “I’m glad to hear it.” William pulled her close, wanting to hold onto this moment forever. “You know, now that I’ve had you, you’ll never get rid of me.”
He felt her smile against his chest. “That’s good. Because I don’t want to be rid of you just yet either. If that book you gave me is any indication, there are a
lot of other…positions to try.”
William looked down and met her laughing gaze. “What positions?”
“All sorts of positions.” Her finger circled his nipple and his cock flexed, ready and eager for more. “You’ll be a busy man, I believe, if we’re to experience the whole book.”
He growled and pulled her to straddle him. Right at this moment, he would do whatever May wished and it was no hardship to lay with her in his arms, make love to a woman who’d captured his heart and soul. “Where have you been hiding all my life?”
Her features sobered. The desire of a moment before was replaced with a sadness he wanted to eliminate from her world. “Here.” She shrugged. “But just too insignificant for anyone to notice.”
Well, he’d noticed, and he cared more than he ever thought possible after such a short time. “Not anymore you’re not.”
Chapter Six
May sat on the beach and kicked off her slippers. Her brother tiptoed in the shallow water before her, scrunching up his nose whenever the water lapped at his feet. This time of year it was beyond chilly, but having grown up here, they still liked to enjoy the water as much as they could all year round.
And today was beautiful, made even more so by how William had woken her this morning in his bed. In his arms she felt secure, worshipped and maybe even, a little bit loved? The word love reverberated about her skull like a tormenting church bell.
It didn’t help that when she tried to ignore what she felt whenever around him, the emotions wouldn’t abate. Perhaps she was already doomed and she should just accept what she felt for the man. She sighed. Falling for a gentleman, one who had no plans on staying and had not asked her to marry him was foolery indeed. Not to mention she had promised the mother superior she would see her before the New Year.
A pang of wretchedness swamped her. She’d not thought to meet a gentleman as loving and caring as William, especially not so close to her departure. And now that she’d sampled the delights that were possible between a man and woman, May was no longer so sure as to her choice.
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