by Jo Goodman
Once they were in Jericho's bedchamber, however, Rae would not let him take off the bracelet until she had satisfied herself that they were indeed alone. Leading him about this time by the wrist, she checked under the bed, in the mahogany wardrobe, and in the dressing room. When her search yielded nothing, she drew Jericho along all the darkly paneled walls, running her hands over the polished woodwork until she was satisfied there were no secret doors or sliding panels that could subject their privacy to an intrusion. Her fingers slid along the intricately carved marble mantelpiece and found no movable objects or hidden springs. There were three paintings in the room, and she looked behind each one and tapped the elaborately scrolled frames.
"What has this been in aid of?" asked Jericho as he helped her replace the last painting.
"I feared that Newbrough had planned to spy on us. It is in his style. Yet I cannot see how it could be accomplished in this room. I believe it is safe to talk."
Jericho slipped off the bracelet and gave it to Rae. She put it on her own wrist and felt in control of herself for the first time since Jericho had taken her from the wood. Rae stood in front of the fireplace and picked up the poker, stirring the fire. Every movement was accompanied by the gentle peal of the tiny bells.
"I doubt I shall ever like the sound of bells again," she said lightly. Directly behind her she could feel Jericho's solid presence. It seemed there was more heat at her back than in front of her. She ached to feel his loving warmth closer to her and willed him to put his hands on her shoulders and draw her near.
Jericho's hands remained at his side as the courage to take Rae in his arms failed him. He tried to match her light tone and failed. "I have no liking for them, either."
"I almost made it to Hemmings." She turned to one side, her smile wistful.
"I hope you are not discouraged. It was a good attempt. If Nigel and Newbrough had not suspected your direction you would be there now, safe with Drew's friends. I regret I was not able to give you more time."
"You kept me from Newbrough's hands. I cannot thank you enough for that." It occurred to her that they were treating each other with the mannered politeness of strangers. Rae put aside the poker and brushed past Jericho, seating herself on the blood-red ottoman that was placed beside one of the large wing chairs. She idly smoothed the folds of her black skirt until the contrast of the bright silver links of the chain caught her attention, and then her hands were still. "What was Nigel's purpose in allowing you to win this evening?"
"I suspect he wanted to have done with the notes and play for larger stakes. He does not understand that I know he made errors calculated to permit me to win. The duke believes I will underestimate his ability when I play for Stanhope. In his place I would have used a similar strategy, especially when you made it clear you would no longer help. Remember, I am good with the cards myself. He would have been hard pressed to have won all my notes, even if the stakes were raised beyond the ten-pound and hundred-pound limit. But tomorrow it will be all or nothing. When the game begins again he will be in earnest. He may have some trouble convincing Newbrough he still means to secure Stanhope for him, but Nigel has a way of getting others to fall in with his plans. My cousin is probably half-convinced by now that it was his idea to proceed in this fashion."
"I understand why Nigel has a modicum of respect for you. I had not realized how you were possessed of such similarly clever minds."
"That is not a compliment. I have no wish to be thought of in the same way you think of Nigel Lynne, though I know I have brought it upon my own head."
Rae's head jerked upward, startled by the quiet edge of bitterness in his voice. "I don't think of you as I think of the duke," she denied. "You are not cast from the same mold as Nigel! He is domineering, driven by an obsession to make others subject to his will. He would stop at nothing to achieve his ends!"
"And I would? Can it be my fondest hope has been realized and you have forgotten your treatment at my hands? No, don't answer. I know you have not forgotten. Tonight, using that collar and chain for an excuse, I found the courage to kiss you and saw with my own eyes how you shuddered and clutched yourself to prevent being ill!" He turned away from her and slammed his fist on the mantelpiece.
Rae watched a delicate porcelain figurine sway under the force of the blow, then topple from the mantel's edge. A serene smile shaped the curves of her lips as Jericho bent, one hand sweeping out like a stroke of brilliant lightning, to catch the exquisite piece and cradle it in his palm before he replaced it on the mantel.
Softly she said, "There is the difference between you and Nigel, if you would but open your eyes to it. You saved that piece from the consequence of your violence; you will always take to your heart those in need of protection, though you may deny it even as you draw your last breath. I could not love you so well if you had not at least tried to save the figurine." She rose from the ottoman and stood beside Jericho, touching his forearm with her hand to bring him round to face her. "You mistook what you saw earlier this evening. It was not revulsion that made me shudder, but pleasure." She drew his hand to her abdomen and held it there. "And I was not clutching my stomach, but communicating with my babe, as mothers are wont to do."
Jericho blinked. "A child?" His hand flattened as he sought proof of her words and found it in the unfamiliarly rounded contours beneath her skirt.
Rae held her breath, biting her lip as she anxiously examined Jericho's face. "I hate it when I cannot tell what you are thinking. Will you please say something? Do something? Should I have not told you? Are you—"
He smiled then, that youthful grin that held joy in its wide curve, and pulled Rae into his arms, holding her in an embrace that was as fierce as it was loving. "Is it all right to hold you?"
"I will only object when you put me away from you." Her arms wrapped around his waist and her cheek pressed against the silken threads of his brocade jacket. "I want a finish to the painful things we have said—"
"And done."
"And done," she repeated reluctantly, "to each other. I want you to know I love you, even when I swore it was otherwise there must have been part of me that would not let go. I do not know if I feel this way because I lack all sense or because I am stubborn and refuse to give up what was so fine between us. I do know that I want to be with you."
"Is it the child that makes you speak so?"
"I should do you grievous injury for that remark." Rae bent back at the waist so she could look up at him. "The answer is no," she said. "When I first realized I was carrying your child, I was going to return to you and settle for a loveless marriage of convenience. I imagined you with your mistresses, me with my lovers, sharing our lives with our child and merely tolerating each other. Then your first night here you risked everything to come to my room, and I began to understand I was foolish for being willing to settle for so little. Just as I began to hope you turned cold again, watchful, as if you could not bear to see me."
"You were sick when I touched you. Remember? If I was aloof it was because I was afraid you could not tolerate my presence."
"There is something you should know about that night. Although you were holding me it was not your presence I was feeling, but Nigel's."
Jericho frowned. "That is not precisely a comfort."
"It was not meant to be. If I were trying to comfort I would fabricate some reason that would excuse us both. What I am trying to do is begin an understanding. I told you truthfully that I could forgive more easily than I could forget. That has not changed, except that I place less importance on the one time you were hurtful and recall with fondness all those moments you caught me as deftly as you did that figurine."
It occurred to Jericho that he had been correct in thinking he did not deserve anyone like Rahab, but he knew better than to voice his doubts. If she did not realize it already, he promised himself he would do nothing to give her cause to think it. He pressed her head to his chest and his fingers tangled in the warm silk of her hair. He held h
er just so for the longest time, cradling her as gently as if she were porcelain, while savoring the fact that she was not. His hand touched her throat and the bells jangled softly. He groaned, "I had forgotten."
"Make me forget. Please, Jericho, make me forget."
"Are you certain, Red? I don't—"
She shut him up by placing two fingers over his lips. After a moment's hesitation his tongue slipped out to touch the soft pads. Her fingers slipped to his chin, stroking the hard line of his jaw. There was just a hint of stubble along his cheek and she liked the contrast against the back of her hand. She reached higher, tracing the arch of his dark brow with her thumb. His lashes brushed her, fielding her skin. He made no overt move, but his eyes were watchful, scanning her face carefully to assess her mood. She smiled inwardly at his reticence. His willingness to offer her control was endearing.
Standing on tiptoe, Rahab gave Jericho a kiss that delivered little and promised much. Just when he would have deepened it she drew back, not out of fear, but to tease his patience.
"Never think I shall fall willy-nilly into your arms, m'lord. You must woo me with clever phrases and loving nonsense."
Without missing a beat, Jericho quoted wisely, "'Such a war of white and red within her cheeks! What stars do spangle heaven with such beauty, as those two eyes become that heavenly face?'"
Rahab's hands dropped to the front of Jericho's jacket. Laughing, eyes sparkling like the stars he compared them to, she fiddled with his buttons, then drew the jacket off his shoulders. "Enough. I had not given a thought as to how it would sound. Consider me wooed."
Jericho did not even feign hurt; he was too relieved. He finished shrugging out of his jacket and tossed it on the ottoman.
Rahab had no warning of his intentions as he scooped her up, raising her close to his chest and carrying her to the bed. Her arms circled his neck, and when he would have dropped her to the mattress she held him fast, kissing his mouth fully before she released her grip.
For a moment Jericho forgot what he was about; her kiss had rocked him back on his heels. He set her on her feet and eased her slowly onto the bed, then followed her, renewing the kiss until they were lying side by side, one of his arms circling her back and keeping her close.
Rahab tugged at Jericho's shirt until she could slip her hands under it and stroke his smoothly muscled chest. In a short time it was not enough for him and he sat up, hastily removed his neckcloth and shirt, and slid back beside her, slightly out of breath. The tiny bells gave sound to Rae's otherwise silent laughter.
"Do I seem a trifle eager?" he asked, carrying her palm to his heart.
"Mayhap a trifle. Do not refine upon it. I don't." Her head bent and her mouth found the faint pulse in his throat while her fingers teased his nipples, arousing them as he would hers. She felt his murmur of encouragement against her lips before she heard it. When she raised her head his mouth unerringly found her lips, tasting her with a sweet gentleness that left her completely in his thrall. That was why she was surprised when he rolled away from her after breaking the kiss.
"We don't have to make love," he said huskily. "Holding you now would be enough."
Rae knew he was giving her an opportunity to set the pace, retreat if it was her desire. But it was not her desire, though she answered in another manner. She slid out of bed and took the bracelet from her wrist. Turning her back on Jericho she pulled her blouse over her head, slipped out of her shoes and stockings, then unfastened her skirt. Jericho had a shadowed view of the long, seductive curve of her slender back as she rolled her shoulders to push the straps of her chemise over them. Before she turned she pinched out the candle flames on the night table, then wriggled out of her chemise.
The firelight accented Rae's wickedly sensuous smile as she faced him. Jericho glimpsed it once, then his eyes dropped, following the fragile line of her white throat that supported the hateful collar to her shoulders. Her small breasts were fuller than he recalled, and he ached to touch them with his hands, his mouth, to see if this change was real or part of his fevered imagination. His cerulean eyes dipped to the inward curve of her high waist and lower, to where his child lay protected in her womb. It seemed a startling thing to him that her body was nurturing another life, that her narrow hips already cradled their child.
Desire stirred him as Rae knelt on the edge of the bed, her long, slender legs curled beneath her. She bent forward slowly, so that her hair fell over her shoulders and cheeks and curtained both their faces as she brought her mouth to his. She kissed him with infinite gentleness at first and then deepened it to show that desire moved her, too.
"Hold me if you want, m'lord, but know that I intend to have my way with you," she whispered against his mouth.
There was a heady mixture of pleasure and pain in Jericho's groaning surrender. He sat up and helped Rae remove the remainder of his clothes, though the task took longer than usual, since she was intent upon making explorations of her own as his body was uncovered. In the end he had to take her by the shoulders and bear her down to the mattress before he lost all control.
Quite by accident the silver chain was trapped beneath Rae, and the links and bracelet pressed uncomfortably into her skin. "Wait," she said as she turned to free it. Pulling it forward, she took Jericho's hand and slid the ring on his wrist. "Now I've bound you to me."
Jericho marveled at the way she had turned the tables, for he hated the chain when it was meant to signify that she was only his chattel. He looked at the bracelet and then at her, his eyes alight with a memory. "In truth, I believe it was that fine spring day we spent on the Hudson that bound me to you. No woman had ever offered to dig worms for me."
"You did not act as if I had done you any favor," she reminded him tartly. "You were insufferable."
"I know."
Rae grew restless as he trailed kisses on her brow and cheeks with the same lazy intent she remembered so well from that hot day. His tongue touched the sensitive spot behind her ear, then slid along the exposed cord of her neck as her throat arched. His head moved lower, and when he licked her nipples she gasped at the powerful, fiery sensation. It was different from anything she had known before, but not unpleasant, though it verged very nearly on pain.
Jericho drew back when he felt a tremor pass through her. "Have I hurt you?" he asked anxiously.
Rae shook her head in denial. "No, not that. They're so tender. I hadn't thought how it would feel when you touch them. Please. Touch me again."
Gently, Jericho's tongue flicked across the swollen tips of her breasts, eliciting a tiny sound of pleasure from her throat. A hand cupped the underside of one breast and it seemed to harden, filling his palm. The chain scraped lightly across the other nipple and she shivered in reaction to the sensation. Her thighs parted as his legs tangled in hers, and her hips lifted in anticipation of the moment he would come to her.
He filled her slowly, watching her watching him. When he was in her deeply her lashes fluttered downward shyly, hiding the pleasure darkening her green eyes. "Let me see," he said. "I love to look at your eyes when I am inside you." Rae's lids lifted in response to the husky command in his voice and saw her desire mirrored in Jericho's own dark gaze and echoed in the beating of his heart. She was drawn to the face above her that for once hid nothing of his thoughts and feelings. There was no place for a mask between them now.
Nothing of the outside world intruded upon them as he made love to her. His movements were unhurried, but never denied his need. She twisted beneath him as his mouth touched her shoulders, her infinitely sensitive breasts, and then settled on her mouth, muffling the soft cries of her pleasure.
Her hands slid along his back and his taut buttocks as her legs curved around his. She held him as lovingly inside, welcoming his thrusts and contracting about him even as she wondered how long this seduction of their senses could last. Almost as soon as she thought it, sensation, hot and liquid, rippled through her. Jericho's mouth did not cover this satisfied cry, and it s
ounded louder in the room than the bells at her neck. Rahab clutched his shoulders, burying her face against the curve of his throat as Jericho's hips flashed in the involuntary movements preceding his own release. She arched hard to meet his final thrust, and then they both lay still, much struck by the completeness of their loving.
Afraid he would crush her, but reluctant to leave, Jericho pulled away by slow degrees and drew a long sigh from Rae. To keep from going too far, she turned on her hip and trapped him with one leg.
Chuckling softly, Jericho held up his chained wrist. "You doubt this is sufficient to keep me by your side?"
She smiled sleepily. "I am not taking any chances."
Jericho propped himself on one elbow and stroked the damp dark strands of hair from Rae's cheeks. "I will be relieved when this business is at an end tomorrow, or rather today. It's quite late."
Rae's brows drew together over her closed eyes. "How can you be certain it will end?"
"Because I have every intention of regaining my inheritance tomorrow. Have you given a thought to what my cousin will do when that happens?"
"He'll expose Nigel."
"And isn't that precisely what we have wanted to do?"
"Well, it's what I wanted to do. I believe you wanted to take more severe measures."
"It is not only a woman who may change her mind," he told her smartly. "If you would but recall, I saw the merits of your plan once the existence of the documents was more than a fancy of yours. What does it matter if the earl has them? He will achieve our ends for us."
"If you win Stanhope."
"When I win Stanhope."
Chapter 15
A small circle of sunlight touched Rae's cheek and she welcomed the warm kiss with a faint smile and a lazy stretch. The smile vanished when she felt the collar and chain restrain her movement. Turning on her side to face Jericho, she slipped the bracelet from his wrist so she could get out of the bed. That she was able to do so without waking him spoke to his complete exhaustion, and she realized for the first time the full extent of the strain these last weeks had been on him.
