“Go on. Use your hand. Guide me in,” he whispered.
“I don’t want to cause you any pain.”
“You won’t…” His strong fingers clutched at her waist.
She reached between them. The wet heat of her body radiated over the hardness of his. She held tight to him and moved the head of his penis to her opening. Forgetting to breathe, she eased herself carefully down onto him. Widening to accept his fullness, feeling the stretch made her tremble. She closed her eyes and gasped at the pleasure bursting through her limbs. The sense of being in control was both erotic and dizzying. Her thighs shook.
“Feel me.”
Anna took each inch in a slow, agonizing press, every ridge and pulse. Her slick flesh quivered around him. Soon she panted as her own need rivaled his.
“Anna…” Jaxon ground out her name as he surged upward, burying himself deep. Filling her.
The rush of sensation made her cry out. Lights burst behind her eyes.
Jaxon clutched at her thigh. “Move upon me.” He rolled his hips showing her how to rock against him. The feeling intensified the press of him inside her. “Yes, just like that. Slow.”
Annalise eased into the rhythm. Tipping her body, she sighed at the delicious shift of pressure sending luscious tremors through her limbs. Her thighs pressed against his hips. Annalise melted into the smooth flow of her movements as the intensity continued to build within her. “Like this?”
“Bloody hell, yes.” He dropped his head back onto the pillows, grabbed at her hip, and pressed deeper still. His hand swept up to cup her breast. He whispered, “Touch yourself. Like I stroke you. Do you remember our last time? I found you wet…and naked. I took you on my desk. Do you remember? You cried out my name.”
“Yes…yes, I remember.” Her breath came in short pants.
“Do it now.”
He watched as her fingers reached down to press into her tender flesh, slipping over her swollen skin, feeling the slickness and heat at their joining, seeking that one spot he teased before to send her spiraling into oblivion.
She felt wanton and uninhibited. She was in control. It made her feel powerful and intensely feminine. Finding that magic place, she moaned with the intoxicating release.
“Yes…” Jaxon writhed beneath her. Anna arched, filling his hand as he kneaded her breast. She became bolder in her movements, unable to keep them slow. She rode him faster and faster. Each thrust from Jaxon lifting her higher. The bed began to squeak as brass rubbed against brass. Lost in her passion, she was beyond caring.
Annalise arched her back once more and pressed tighter over him as his fingers joined hers to stroke and fondle her sensitive flesh with strong, firm sweeps to send her soaring beyond the sky. She screamed as an intense orgasm overtook her. “Jaxon.”
He roared in a surge beneath her as he joined her in a powerful release that left him wide-eyed and gasping for breath.
Anna continued to shudder. Her hair clung to her back. Sweat shone on their skin. A droplet left a silvery path between her breasts as her lungs pulled in great gulps of air.
He tugged her toward him so she ended up lying across him, their bodies still joined. She shifted her weight to one side and tried to catch her breath. Tiny tremors continued to race along her limbs.
Jaxon strengthened his hold on her and groaned deep in his chest, “Bloody hell.”
“Did I hurt you?” She struggled to catch her breath.
“Good God, no.”
When she tried to lift herself off him, he tightened his hold.
“Don’t move.” He kissed her shoulder as a low moan purred from him. “If I should die this moment…”
“I’ve never felt anything like that. I’ve become so brazen when I’m with you. It can’t be proper. Is it wrong to lose control of myself like that?”
He continued to brush her shoulder with his lips. “No. Of course not.”
She rose up. “This morning I rested by a beautiful waterfall, and all I could think about was you. Being with you, touching you. Is it right that I dream of your hands on me and how your kisses make me tremble?”
“It is perfectly all right.” He eased her back to lie upon his shoulder. “How did I manage to find a wife like you?”
“I was stuck between two barrels of ballast with some rats.”
He chuckled beneath her cheek.
“Did you imagine it would be like this?”
He tucked her hair behind her ear. “I never believed I’d live long enough. With the life I lead, I never expect to survive the next battle. How could I have imagined being lucky enough to wed such a passionate woman?” Jaxon slipped his hand behind her head and dipped his head to capture her lips again.
He tucked her closer to his side. The soft hair on his chest curled around her fingertips.
Her body still hummed with pleasure. It awoke her curiosity. “Are there other ways?”
“Other ways to please me?”
“To please us both.”
He chuckled. “Did you wish to learn them all today?”
The late-afternoon sun slipped behind lavender clouds that opened to wash the air and put a shine on everything outside their windows. She and Jaxon were content to lie in each other’s arms and let the rest of the day melt away.
Lazy and wonderfully sated Anna snuggled tight to his body. “So, have I changed your opinion of virgins?”
“No,” he murmured into her hair. “You’ve only confirmed what I suspected about you.”
“What is that?”
“You’re extraordinary.” He stroked her back.
“You have to say things like that.”
“I say it because it’s true.” He kissed her forehead.
“But there had to be some reason for your rule.”
“I had good reason.”
Annalise waited for him to continue. Silence filled the room. She pulled from his embrace and sat up. Tucking the sheet around her, she faced him. “Tell me.”
“You don’t want to hear this tale.”
“Yes, I do.”
He shook his head. “It isn’t a proper bedtime story.” He tried to tug her back to him.
“Tell me anyway. I want to know.”
Jaxon stared at her for a long minute, sighed, then stuffed another pillow behind his head, raising himself up. “I’ve never told anyone.” He rubbed a hand over his eyes.
“You can tell me.” She ran a comforting hand along his arm. “I won’t tell a soul.”
He gave her a long, hard stare and sighed. “I was a lad,” he began, “working as a groom. Cocky as hell.” He shook his head. “The master’s daughter took a liking to me. The two of us as green as new grass, but she was bolder than any girl I’d ever met. Headstrong. She hung about the stables for hours. Flirted with me. Teased me with a flip of her skirts. A loosened bodice. She kissed me one day as I was helping her down from her mount. Said I was forbidden fruit. She called me her secret obsession.
“Soon, we couldn’t keep our hands off one another. We snuck away to be together. Kissed until we couldn’t breathe.” Jaxon smirked. “She told me how unhappy she was. How she wanted me to save her from her golden cage. I fell in love with her. Would have died for her. As it turns out, I almost did.
“We crafted a fine plan, she and I. We were certain if I faced her father, professed my love, and explained everything, he’d have to let his only daughter marry a stable hand--the lowly bastard son of a scullery maid. We thought if we’d already lain together, the deed would be done, and he’d have to marry her to me or risk disgrace.”
Jaxon scrubbed at his jaw and looked out at the setting sun. “So, one night there was a large party. The house was full. Close to a hundred guests. We conspired to meet in one of the guest’s rooms while they were at their dinner.
“I had no more experience than watching the stallions rut in the spring. I was sure we’d be caught, but I’d been hard wood for days
. I was in too much of a state to know to take my time and ease into her gently. Best do it fast and finish before someone could discover us.
“I shoved into her. Hard. You would have thought my prick was a flaming sword. She screamed at me to stop. When I pulled out, blood soaked the bedclothes, covered me, and stained her thighs. She was sobbing. When she saw the blood, she started shrieking and brought half the house down upon us. When they began pounding down the door, she fainted in my arms. I thought I’d killed her.”
Jaxon continued to stare out the window. “They wanted to hang me for raping her. Dragged me before her father. When he saw it was me, I was hauled away and beaten like I’ve never taken a beating before and thrown like garbage into the Thames. They must have figured I was dead. I was sure I was. If it weren’t for Captain Hargrave pulling my sorry ass out of the water and signing me to his crew, I wouldn’t be here.”
“Didn’t the girl tell her father you didn’t rape her?”
Jaxon looked back at her. “When he saw who I was, it didn’t matter.”
Annalise frowned. “Because you were the stable boy?”
“No, far worse than that. The Earl of Carlisle couldn’t have his bastard son’s filth on his innocent daughter. If anyone discovered Gwendolyn had been bedded by her brother…”
She gasped. “You couldn’t have known.”
“I had no idea. I still wouldn’t have if one of the fists he hired to beat me senseless hadn’t run his mouth. I honestly believed I’d killed her. Then to find out she was my half-sister. Fear turned to anger, anger to disgust.” The muscle in his jaw pulsed. “Years later I went back. I disguised myself. I needed to find out what happened to her. She was alive and well. Moved on as if nothing happened. She married a viscount and has two children by him. I doubt she even remembers my name.”
“But the earl does.”
“Aye, he does. With my recent rise in the king’s favor, he’s heard my name again. I’m still a threat, now more than ever. He sent Bonchette to kill me.”
Annalise’s mouth dropped open. “None of it was your fault. You were a child.”
“That doesn’t matter. I’m a child no more. Just my being alive could ruin him--and her. I’ve grown too popular. I’m welcome at court. If anyone were to find out who I am, he’d lose everything. And Bonchette was more than happy to inform me that he still has the power to try and crush me.”
Annalise laid a hand on his chest. The sheet slipped from her as she tried to kiss the bitter memories away. “You needn’t worry about him anymore. He can’t touch you. You wield the power now. You’re a lord.”
CHAPTER 27
Anna tended Jaxon during the next two weeks, and watched him grow stronger every day. His tenderness toward her filled her heart to overflowing.
She soaked up all she could learn about the island. Its beauty was awe inspiring, Anna loved spending hours in the gardens of the manor, studying the names of every new plant. The governor’s staff spoiled them.
After another scrumptious lunch of cold shrimp and mango, Anna thanked each servant from the cook to the footman.
Jaxon looked at her in surprise. “How is it you know all their names?”
“They learned our names; it is only respectful to learn theirs.” Annalise grew up blurring the lines between servant and household. She knew no other way.
Each afternoon, she spent some time on small lessons with Nell. The girl was quite bright. Anna was teaching her to read.
She also insisted Robbins remain with them. “You must stay. It’s obvious you’re sweet on Nell. Why bring the girl heartache by missing you.”
Robbins cast a quick glance at Jaxon, then shook his head. “I can’t be stayin’ here. The capt’n dismissed me.”
“Yes, he has, from your duties. I’m asking you to stay as a friend.”
The boy gaped at her as if she’d turned an odd shade of blue.
“You proved yourself as my trusted friend on the Scarlet Night, and I’ve grown quite fond of you. In fact, you remind me a bit of my brother. I lost him not too long ago, and your being here takes a bit of the sting from that loss. Please?”
“Your brother?”
“Yes. His name was Henry. I’d love to tell you about him.”
“Henry be my name, as well. ’Though I can’t recall the last time anyone called me by it. Probably me mum.”
“You’re name is Henry? Truly? Then it is fate, don’t you think?”
It was settled. Henry Robbins stayed, after he assured her he would behave in a more gentlemanly manner toward young Nell.
Annalise’s lack of clothing was alleviated with the bulging closet belonging to the governor’s daughter. She chose a few simple, relaxed gowns to wear but still ran barefoot a majority of the time. The governor’s daughter, it seemed, had huge feet, poor thing.
Anna’s pale skin was susceptible to the sun’s harsh rays, and she was careful not to overstay her time out of doors. Jaxon loved that the kiss of the sun wove gold streaks among the red of her hair and sprinkled a dusting of pale freckles across the bridge of her nose and cheeks.
Nights were devoted to the blossoming passion that astounded him with its growing intensity. One sultry night as the sky lit with ribbons of lightning and thunder rumbled, Anna was preparing for bed.
She let down her hair.
It had become one of his favorite times of their day. “I remembered something today.”
Anna picked up an ivory-handled brush and ran it over her curls. “What was that?”
He moved to stand behind her, sweeping the shimmering curtain of red aside. He ran his tongue along the curve of her ear. She trembled at the touch.
Lifting his gaze, he spoke to her reflection in the mirror. “I told you once it would be the responsibility of your husband to explain to you ‘the most intimate of kisses.’”
Annalise gripped the edge of the dressing table, and gave a small whimper as he sucked the lobe of her ear into his mouth. “I do recall you saying that, yes. Weren’t we in the midst of an argument?”
“We’re not in an argument now.” He nipped at the sweet flesh beneath her ear. “And I am your husband.”
Her eyes fluttered closed as she ran her fingers along his jaw. “Mmmmm. Both true.”
“I take my responsibilities as such seriously.” Jaxon slipped the brush from her hand, pulled her to her feet, and began removing her clothing bit by bit. Laying a kiss upon each inch of pale skin he uncovered, he murmured against her shoulder. “It is something best explained by actions, not words, I’m afraid.”
Annalise sighed with pleasure. By the time he was finished undressing her, she was trembling with need and tugging upon his clothing, but he stopped her hands. Scooping her into his arms, he laid her naked upon their bed.
Jaxon began kissing her toes while caressing her ankles, and blazed a path up each leg to fondle her knees. He laid a gentle trail along the scar that came from her time in the hold and found immense joy in nibbling his way along the tender flesh of her thighs. Slow strokes of his tongue moved still higher. Anna clutched at his shoulder and tugged at his hair. Her impatience only encouraged him to slow his actions.
The initial shock at his warm mouth upon her sex gave way to an explosive night of lovemaking Anna would never forget.
The next morning Annalise greeted him with an armload of candle ends and a face burning with embarrassment. “The entire household is talking about the noise last night. Between the thunder and…and the incessant squeaking of our bed, no one got a wink of sleep.”
Jaxon’s roar of laughter only heated her cheeks and earned him a bed full of candle stubs and orders to wax every brass joint of the “bloody” bed.
Annalise rejoiced in the fact that their marriage was now legal and binding. It had taken Cookie a few days to sober the pastor enough to get the man to sign the proper papers and bless the thick hammered-gold band Jaxon slipped upon her finger.
Anna
lise placed the lord’s ring on Jaxon’s left hand. “This ring has been blessed by generations and carries with it a great weight.”
“Are you sure about this, Annalise?”
“I am.” She lifted his hand and kissed it. “This ring joins me to you in every way.” Her gaze met his. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
“I am.” He lowered his mouth to hers.
Cookie grinned his approval, “’Tis more than official now.”
* * * *
One beautiful, crystal-clear morning, Annalise rose early, dressed and moved outside onto the small balcony connected to their bedchamber overlooking the gardens. It was her favorite spot in the manor and she visited there most every morning.
A small table topped with a thin slab of marble and two ornate chairs were the only furnishings. Large pots of ferns and flowers filled the corners. A flowing vine climbed the side and twisted its pale tendrils along the iron railings. She plucked one of its brilliant purple flowers to tuck behind an ear. Since her first day here, Jaxon liked flowers adorning her hair.
Standing against the rail, she lifted her face to the sky to drink in the sweetness of the constant breeze. The wind fluttered her skirt and teased her curls while she enjoyed the ever-changing beauty of the formal gardens below. It was truly lovely here. Perfect.
An odd thought flooded her heart. She was happy. Blissfully happy. It had been too long since she experienced such a simple thing as joy. When the fire destroyed all she loved, her entire sense of being was reduced to ashes and soot, and then being sent to Uncle Herbert and the horror that followed… Annalise hated feeling afraid. Waking each day not knowing what would befall her. Grieving all she’d lost and fearing for her life. There were days she didn’t know how she survived.
But this was a new day. A perfect day. The fear and grief seemed far away. Being with Jaxon changed everything. In his arms, she felt cherished and protected.
For the first time in near a year, she was at peace. Safe. Content. She wrapped her arms around herself to hold it tight within her. This was what it was like to be in love, and know in the deepest part of her heart and soul that she had found the man to one day love her in return. She was giddy with it.
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