"So much makes sense now," she whispered to herself.
His gaze flicked in her direction. "Does it? I'm glad."
When the other men had gone, Nathan gestured for her to take a chair at the table that was now set with white linen, china, and silver. "We won't always stand on this much ceremony; things break too easily at sea. But, navigating the Solent, the waters above the Isle of Wight, takes time and care. It should be steady going for a few hours."
Adrienne watched as he poured champagne for them. She badly wanted to ask where the clothes had come from but sensed that it would be a mistake. When Nathan handed her a goblet across the table, his eyes fell on her bosom, and she knew a moment of pleasure that did not need to be shared with the gown's previous owner. What did the past matter, after all? The ghosts were gone, and she was here with him now. Even the most dedicated rakes could reform....
"The food smells wonderful!" she exclaimed. "It seems days since I last ate."
"Have a taste. This morning is all about meeting basic needs." There was a hint of wickedness in his smile.
"Do those needs include my desire to be set free?"
"No." Nathan pointed to her plate. "Eat now, talk later."
Compelled to obey, Adrienne turned her attention to a fairly good beef chop with gravy, warm biscuits, stewed peas and lettuce, and a generous serving of potatoes. At intervals, she felt thirsty, and the cold champagne tasted delicious. When both of them began to feel sated, Nathan refilled their glasses and leaned back in his chair.
"I think my cook has grown lax in my absence. If this is the best he can do on the first day of our voyage, what will the fare taste like a month from now?"
Her eyes widened above the rim of her goblet. "A month! See here, I do not want to be trapped on this ship for a month! I'll go mad!"
"Perhaps not when you reach your destination. It's worth the long voyage." There was a subtly persuasive note in his voice. "Believe me, it's not that I want you, but I don't have any choice."
Dessert was a bowl of sublimely ripe sliced peaches drizzled with cream. Adrienne spooned one into her mouth and made a small sound of appreciation. She adored the prospect of sailing across the ocean with a lot of men to an exotic destination. What could be more romantic, especially compared to the two alternatives of Harms Castle and her family home in France? And, although she could hardly admit it to herself, Adrienne was captivated by Nathan.
Of course, all her secrets had to be kept from him. Their eyes met across the table. "Perhaps you ought to start at the beginning and explain everything, such as your real identity and your bargain with my father!"
"My name is Nathan Raveneau, just as you heard today. I was born in Connecticut, in America, but my father is French. He was a privateer captain during America's War for Independence, and later built ships and traded with China and the West Indies. I dreamed of having a ship of my own since childhood."
The champagne made her feel reckless. "Raveneau... Why does that name sound familiar to me?"
"Perhaps because our parents are old friends. When I was a lad and my father was still trading, we used to sail to Europe as a family. I clearly remember your mother, Lisette Hahn, coming on board in Philadelphia, in 1793." It warmed him to see the pleased astonishment in her eyes. "She may have been the first female I appreciated, if you take my meaning. We took her to England to find your father, Nicholai, and they were married not long after that. And my family still socializes with your uncle and aunt, Alec and Caro Beauvisage. Those ties are more easily maintained since they all live in America."
"You're American, and yet you have a British accent—" It was hard to reconcile this new Nathan with the image she'd nurtured for so long, of Nathan Essex, a working-class man who'd probably been raised in a modest row house in London, or on the docks in Liverpool, or perhaps on a small farm.
"My family has always kept a home in London, and I went to boarding school in England when I was older. That's the accent that has stuck with me, it seems." Smiling then, he broke into a flat New England voice. "But, you see, I can still sound American when I want to!"
A long minute passed before she replied, "It's as if my entire point of view is suddenly tilted, and I can't gain my balance. To think that you knew my mother before I was born! Nothing about you fits anymore!"
"Or does it fit for the first time?"
"Perhaps." Musing over the past weeks and Nathan's bold masquerade, Adrienne remembered all the insults she'd hurled at him. It was amazing that he hadn't walked away. "I've been awfully uncivil to you at times—but then you were very bad to tell me so many lies about yourself. That was wicked."
"Let's call a truce then." He speared a juicy slice of peach with his fork and ate it, chewing slowly. "Hmm?"
"How can we do that? You've kidnapped me!"
"Odd. You don't appear to be feeling particularly abused at the moment." It was growing more difficult with each sip of champagne not to stare at her lips, for they looked even riper than the peaches she ate with such enjoyment. An adorable dribble of cream clung to her chin, while a smaller droplet had fallen to the bare swell of her breast. Nathan felt an unsettling twinge in his groin.
"Explain your bargain with my father," she demanded. "And you must tell the truth!"
"I was at White's Club, just a few hours after my run-in with you in Oxford Street over that dashed fan!" There was laughter in his eyes. "It seems a long time ago, doesn't it?"
"A lot has happened." Adrienne felt her eyes mist. "You were odious, you know. Unpardonably rude."
"Perhaps, but you were worse! No, no, let's not argue. To return to that night at White's Club: I was feeling out of sorts, and so was your father. He told me about his recalcitrant daughter, and I told him about the spoiled chit who had caused a colossal spectacle over a fan—"
Adrienne opened her mouth to protest, but the hot flush creeping up her cheeks said what words could not.
"Ah, you see the irony of the situation. We didn't know then that we were speaking of the same person!"
"Me," she supplied softly.
"Exactly!" Warming to his tale, Nathan sipped champagne and stretched out his legs. "Your father and I supped together. I mentioned my home on the island of Barbados, where an enemy seeks to make my life as difficult as possible. It developed that your father owns land there that adjoins the property of that villain. I need that land to catch him at his crimes, but I haven't had the money to buy it. Your father and I found a way, then, to help each other."
Her quick mind began fitting the pieces together before he could elaborate. "You promised to look after me in return for his land! But Walter Frakes-Hogg is dead and you have removed me from Harms Castle, which I still consider to be an alarmist maneuver on your part In any case, why don't you take me back to Papa now and simply claim your reward?"
Nathan deftly toyed with the fluted goblet, staring at the champagne's golden bubbles for a long minute. "Our agreement was that I would protect you and keep you, ah... chaste until your twenty-first birthday on August first. According to my calendar, it is barely June." He couldn't bring himself to look up at her, bracing instead for the storm he knew would erupt.
"You are lying!" Cold fury drained the blood from her face, leaving only a pink nose as evidence that Adrienne had drunk too much champagne. She ran at Nathan, throwing herself onto his lap and grabbing the front of his shirt. "My father would never do such a thing to me! Take back your lies!"
Calmly he met her eyes, gripping her wrists at the same time. "I am not lying, and your father wasn't a villain to be concerned for your welfare. Perhaps you're really angry at yourself, for all the rash things you've done to cause him to worry that much? You know I have spoken the truth, for he traveled all the way to London to try to persuade his headstrong daughter to come back to France with him. He loves you, and feared that you might do something foolish while too young to know better—something like climbing into my bed that night at Harms Castle and demanding that I make lo
ve to you."
She softened slightly against him and saw the involuntary desire in Nathan's eyes. So, that was why he had resisted so fiercely that night! He'd been afraid of losing the bargain with her father, of losing the land he coveted more than love or honor. "You are a beast"
"So you've said. Get off me now, chit. I'm tired and I want to go to sleep." The sight of her in that gown was driving him mad.
Adrienne rose and watched as he assembled their dishes and put the tray outside the door. Then Captain Raveneau walked over to the big, inviting bed, sat down on the edge, and gestured to her.
"Be a good girl and take off my boots." He extended a leg.
She could still smell him on her cheek, and faintly on the warm curve of her breasts. It was a terrible thing to lust after a man so much. Approaching with studied reluctance, Adrienne pretended to pout as she pulled off first one boot and then the other. The sunlight glinted on his hair. "Surely you do not intend that we should share this bed?"
"Haven't we already had this conversation?" He yawned and began to remove his snug pantaloons. "I think we know each other well enough to dispense with the usual niceties, don't you? At this point, wouldn't modesty be misplaced? However, if you feel that strongly about it, you may lie on the carpet...."
Adrienne was blushing furiously. She turned her back until he'd disrobed completely, and she sensed that he'd gotten between the soft sheets. "I suppose that there is room enough for both of us."
"Quite." He lay on his back and arched his brown arms over his head. The sheet fell midway down his chest.
"May I wear your shirt as a nightgown? The woman who left these other garments behind doesn't seem to have owned any."
A naughty smile curved his mouth, but he didn't open his eyes. "Whatever pleases you."
Her own smile was wider. I'll remember those words! Adrienne thought as she struggled with the fastenings on her gown and prepared to join him. If she could have designed her own fantasy, it could not have been better than reality.
Even the ridiculous bargain Nathan and her father had struck to keep her virtuous was just the sort of challenge she loved best. After sliding the shirt over her head, Adrienne climbed into bed beside Nathan Raveneau and wondered what would happen next.
Chapter 15
In the depths of twilight, Adrienne opened her eyes and tried to remember where she was. The movement of the ship, the creak of the masts, and the voices of seamen on the deck above righted her memory.
She was turned on her side in the mahogany bed, looking out over the shadowed cabin. Her hair, scented with lilac, spilled over her shoulder and then across the white sheets. A down-filled pillow cradled Adrienne's cheek; the shirt she'd worn to bed was hitched up to her waist, and the bedclothes felt like silk on her bare limbs. Waves of deep contentment washed over her.
And then, as if even in sleep he sensed her thoughts, Nathan rolled toward her. He nuzzled her neck and slipped an arm around her waist.
She was hungry for the taste of his mouth, hungry to touch him and to feel his masculine hands on her body. But... how? Was this all she would be allowed: an occasional, tantalizing brush with him while he slept? All the moments of growing closeness Adrienne had shared with Nathan at Harms Castle came flooding back. As he snuggled against her, naked, she remembered the time she'd fallen from the library ladder into his arms, and his kiss the evening they'd nearly made love in the moonlit garden, and the night she had slipped into his bed after drinking too much claret.
Perhaps even more meaningful were the words and deeds that had helped to strengthen the bonds between them. Each interlude of shared understanding was a rose pressed in her memory. Even their arguments were stirring; the sparks they made added to the distinctive flavor of their relationship.
"Mmmm." Nathan's sound was born of bliss, and of deep sleep. "El-o-ise..."
Adrienne froze, sensing that Eloise was more than a dream. Had she shared this bunk with Nathan? Did the beautiful clothes belong to her? How much had he loved her?
Now, heart pounding, eyes stinging with tears of jealousy and fresh resolve, Adrienne moved her body closer to Nathan's. She waited, expecting him to roll away. Moments passed. It seemed that the beating of her heart echoed in every corner of her being, telling her that the past was gone, and she was here with him now. Holding her breath, she turned onto her back and searched for his face.
Nathan was awake now; alert, looking into her soul. His eyes were an expression of everything Adrienne felt inside. Both of them knew what the other wanted without speaking a word. His mouth covered hers, hot and sensual, and his strong arms embraced Adrienne's slim form. She was almost gasping with suppressed desires.
Holding fast to his shoulders, she opened her mouth and was thrilled to feel his tongue circle her own. Nathan made a low, primitive sound, touching every corner of her mouth, then teasing her full lips with the edges of his teeth.
He was on fire; engorged, it seemed, for every time he'd held back and denied himself. Every fiber of his being thrummed with desire for this one woman: Adrienne. There would be no going back, and yet it hardly seemed real. Perhaps later he would awaken, sated to the point of bliss, and find that it had all been the safest of dreams.
"I want you."
Had he spoken? God, how sweet she was, so soft and responsive. Even her uncertainty was arousing. Somehow, as Nathan felt her try to kiss him back, he realized that he must make the effort of his lifetime to hold back once more, to make this an experience Adrienne would treasure.
"Please," she whispered, "don't stop this time."
She couldn't help it. The need was so ravenous that she thought she might die if he changed his mind. Nathan's simplest touch was excruciating: his fingers in her hair, tracing the column of her neck, brushing her breasts through the fabric of the shirt that tangled round her. Her nipples puckered, tingling, and a hot, congested feeling spread downward to smolder between her legs.
Gently he opened the buttons on the shirt she wore so fetchingly, while Adrienne gazed at every detail of his face. She kissed chiseled cheekbones, expressive brow, proud nose, hard jaw, while Nathan smiled into her emerald eyes. Their union felt so natural that it banished his last doubts. There was something between them, and perhaps this was the way to put it to rest.
Her coltish legs twined around him so that their hips came in contact. Adrienne started with shock when she felt him, fully erect, brush against her belly and her gently parted nether lips. Her eyes suddenly were huge, and she was flooded with a mixture of apprehension and intensified passion.
"Never mind," he reassured gently, drawing back. "Relax." And then, as he opened the shirt, his eyes ran leisurely over Adrienne's beautifully rounded breasts, the hollow her tummy made beneath her rib cage, her gracefully arched hips, and the sweet auburn-hued V of curls that beckoned to him. "You're exquisite."
"You don't think—"
"I wouldn't change an inch of you, my darling."
She gloried in the endearment and in the irresistibly roguish smile he gave her before gathering her close and beginning to kiss her all over again. It was almost too much pleasure to bear.
As Nathan's mouth scorched her shoulder, she explored his body with her hands. His flesh was warm yet unyielding beneath the surface, and his muscles were sculpted exactly to her taste. Strong and defined, he had a wide, smooth chest in proportion to his lean hips and sleek flanks. Her touch was tentative, then daring as she ran her fingers lingeringly over the light mat of dark hair on his chest and said, "I love the way you are made—like a big cat."
He kissed her again, murmuring appreciation, and tugged the shirt from her arms. Now, with tightly leashed control, Nathan turned her this way and that, nibbling, tasting, caressing, drawing surprised moans from his lover. He pushed away her mane of hair and nipped at the back of her neck, then down her spine, stopping when she squirmed. His mouth ministered to her tender inner arms and midriff, then, with exquisite slowness, cupped one breast and circled th
e nipple with his tongue.
"Oh!" Adrienne cried. "It—I—"
"Shh." The pink crest was hard when he took it into his mouth, suckling rhythmically, gently kneading both swollen breasts, until her thighs opened again and she arched upward.
If he didn't succumb soon, Nathan feared he might burst. A self-deprecating smile touched his mouth. He let her wrap her arms around him but slid a hand lower to touch her. Adrienne flinched. She was moist and swollen, pulsing just as he was. Blood pounded in his temples. If he caressed her very long there, it might be more than she could bear, and God knew it was already too much for him.
"If I hurt you, speak up and I'll stop," Nathan said.
"No—no—" Thanks to his careful preparations, she was in a state of complete readiness and wanted nothing more than to mate with Nathan in the truest sense. She felt wonderfully protected in the strength of his embrace.
He entered her tentatively, and Adrienne drew breath. "Mmm," he breathed. When, he wondered, had he felt such torturous bliss? The entire universe seemed centered there, where her body tightened around his.
"Help me," she urged.
Nathan cupped her buttocks with his hands and slowly went in to the hilt. The barrier was slight. There was no going back, so he rocked her against him a little, thrusting as gently as he could. Their bodies were both damp, and there was a musky scent in the air.
Instinct took over for Adrienne. She clung to his back and pushed up to meet his thrusts, pleasure and pain mingling. At last Nathan bit his lip, groaned, and she felt him pulse inside her.
"I felt you," she said against his shoulder.
"Did you?" Smiling, he kissed her. Already the pangs of doubt were starting. The sun had set and he was grateful for the grayish shadows that helped conceal his expression from her. "You must be thirsty. Let's have another glass of champagne."
Silver Sea Page 20
