As the Captain began to leave the ship he looked over his shoulder at Ivy. He stared at her, then at the name written on the side of the ship and gave her an evil smile.
“Well from the looks of things you must really be his mistress of the sea,” he laughed as he swung back over to this ship.
“What did he mean by that Thorn?” Ivy asked in confusion.
“Nothing Ivy, let’s get you back to the cabin, before I have a different kind of mutiny on my ship. My crew has been too long without being in port and you are a distraction they do not need to see. Also, I do not want to kill any of my men for looking at you dressed like you are.”
Ivy blushed as she grabbed the shirt and held it tighter to her body. She ran back down to his cabin, just as quickly as she had run up to the deck. Rushing into the cabin she found Thorn’s coat lying across the trunk. She wrapped it around her body to shield it from everyone, including Thorn.
Chapter 11
Thorn followed her at a much slower pace, running into Sammy on his way back down.
“I’m sorry Captain, she tricked me. You know I’m a softie when it comes to the tears.”
“Don’t let it happen again Sammy. We are going to be in danger of Captain Shears and probably many others, before this is all through. We shall protect her, even from herself. Get up to the deck and sail us home to Margate as fast as you can.”
“Aye Captain, we should be able to put her into port in a couple of days.”
As Thorn strolled into the cabin he noticed that Ivy had wrapped his woolen coat around her body as a shield. Did she really think that was going to stop him from touching her? She had a lot to learn about him if she was going to be his wife, but they had plenty of time for that in the coming years. It was going to be a joy to teach her.
“Why did you just let him go? Did you find out anything on Charles?” Ivy asked.
“I couldn’t keep him Ivy; he would have given instructions to his men to attack us if he didn’t return. I wasn’t going to risk the lives of my men for him.”
“What about Charles?”
“Charles is still alive.”
“Where is he then?”
“I don’t know and neither does Shears. Since he did not boast of his kill, then Charles is alive and in hiding. That is why he returned to that boat to get you, to use you as leverage.”
“Leverage for what?”
“To draw out Charles, finish him off and after he was done with Charles then he would have had his way with you and finished you off too. He would leave no witnesses to his destruction. You were to remain in this cabin and not to be seen.”
“I had to find out about Charles.”
“All you did was give Captain Shears your whereabouts. Now he will constantly trail us and try to find an opportunity to capture you again. The next time that I tell you to stay put, you will follow my directions.”
“You do not own me Marcus Thornhill. I will go wherever I please.”
“When we return, you will become my wife and then I will own you. Then you will go nowhere without my permission.”
“I will not marry you Thorn.”
“Oh, you will Ivy darling and there will be no way out of it.”
“That is what you think.” Ivy told Thorn.
So, it was going to be this way with her. She was going to fight him on the subject of marriage. She needed a keeper considering all the dangerous situations she kept putting herself in. When she ran into the middle of that sword fight his heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. His sword barely missed slicing through her. Not to mention finding her on that lifeboat, he felt like his whole world had ended, until he saw her shallow breathing and knew that she was still alive. He has spent too many years fighting this attraction from her and now he was done fighting it. Ivy was going to be his for eternity and now was the right time to try and convince her that she was going to be his.
Thorn walked up to Ivy and started peeling his coarse coat of her soft skin. Sliding it off her shoulders, letting it pool down around their feet. Then he started working on unbuttoning the buttons of his shirt. But Ivy was not going to have any of it.
“What do you think you are doing?” Ivy asked Thorn as she swatted at his hands.
“I think you know my dear, if not let me show you,” Thorn replied, lowering his head, he ran his tongue across Ivy’s lips slipping inside to kiss her deeply.
Ivy tried to close her lips to resist Thorn’s kiss, but her emotions were unable to fight him off. She moaned softly as she parted her lips to allow his tongue to slide inside. When his tongue swept inside her mouth softly stroking against her tongue, Ivy gripped his arms holding on to him tightly. She felt her legs give out and then Thorn was lifting her into his arms and carrying her over to the desk. He sat her down on the desk amongst his papers. He continued kissing her as his fingers made quick work of finishing the unbuttoning of his shirt.
He pulled away from their kiss as he peeled apart the shirt from her body. Sliding the shirt off her body, he gazed upon her. Thorn ran his fingers down over her shoulders, along her arms and back up again. Then he glided them across her collar bone, slipping them down lower to her breasts. Brushing his thumbs gently across her nipples, he watched as they tightened into firm buds from his touch. His hands palmed her breasts as his fingers stroked her nipples. He heard Ivy moan, glancing upwards from her body into her eyes, he saw them turning to a darker green with desire.
“You are so beautiful Ivy; I could stare at you like this for hours.”
Ivy blushed unable to speak. Marcus’s hands were doing things to her body that made her feel so warm like she could melt into a puddle on his desk. She didn’t know what to do; she just knew that she wanted Marcus to continue to touch her and never stop.
“Oh Marcus,” Ivy moaned.
Marcus leaned in and took a nipple into his mouth, softly sucking it between his lips. His tongue swirled around and around the nipple making it harden tighter against his lips. He felt Ivy run her fingers through this hair and pull his head in closer to her breasts. He gently placed soft kisses across to the other nipple, softly kissing it, and then licking around the nipple before he sucked it deeper into his mouth. Ivy arched her back into his mouth pressing his face in closer to her chest. As he made love to her breasts he slid his hand lower across her belly, then down to her heated core. He could feel the heat coming off her in waves.
He slid his hands between her thighs opening them wider as, sliding his body in between them. His fingers tracing a path up her thighs moving to the center of her heat. His fingers barely touched her skin, gliding up and down her thighs. He continued this teasing game for a few more times touching her heat then back to her thighs. He was building up her need, so that she would come undone for him.
When she bucked up against his fingers he knew that she was losing control. He slid his finger deeply inside her, her wetness soaking his finger. He sucked on her nipples harder as his finger moved inside her faster. He could feel the pressure building up inside her; she was pulsing against his finger. When her nails dug into the muscles of his arms, he knew his Ivy was almost ready to explode. He pulled his finger out of her and moved his mouth up to her lips, taking her mouth in a soul-searching kiss.
He wrapped his hands into her hair pulling her closer to deepen the kiss. Ivy pressed her body closer to Marcus’s, needing his touch, his kiss; she needed him to help ease her ache. She wanted so much more from him, that she didn’t even understand, but she knew that he did. She wanted to be one with him again.
“Please Marcus, I need you.”
“I know Ivy; I need you just as badly. But I want something even more badly. I have wanted to do something to you ever since I’ve seen you sitting at my desk in nothing but my shirt.”
He laid Ivy back on his desk spread out for his delight. Spreading her legs open wide, he lowered his head down to her heat. He heard Ivy gasp his name and try to pull away. But he held her thighs apart as he softly st
roked his tongue up and down over her wetness. He pressed his tongue against her center, brushing his tongue back and forth, tasting her sweetness.
Ivy was mortified at what Marcus was doing to her, it wasn’t proper. But at the first stroke of his tongue Ivy’s senses were electrified. The things that Marcus were doing to her felt like heaven. His tongue was stroking her at the center of her core, making her feel things that she has never felt before. Her body pressed up into his mouth and Ivy reached down and feathered her fingers through Marcus’s hair. She felt Marcus lift her legs up to his shoulders as he continued to make love to her with his mouth.
Marcus knew the exact moment that Ivy was enjoying the pleasure he was giving her with his tongue. Her body pressed into his mouth and her center became wetter. His tongue stroked her core faster and faster, and then he slid his fingers inside her deeply. He could feel the pressure building up inside her as his fingers stroked in a rhythm with his tongue. Marcus slid his mouth over her clit and softly sucked as the pressure built. He could feel Ivy was ready to go over the edge, so he sucked harder his tongue licking between his sucks. He felt Ivy buck against his mouth as he sent her over the edge. His mouth kissed her wetness one last time as he slid up her body kissing his way to her lips.
As he gently kissed her on her lips he pulled out his hardness and gently slid inside her. Ivy eyes opened and she gasped as he filled her deeply. Marcus began to move in long slow strokes watching the desire in Ivy’s eyes as he moved inside her. She wrapped her legs around his hips as he slid as deep inside her as he could go. Then he paused and slowly moved his hips in a circle against her core, feeling her tighten around him. Ivy reached up and gripped his shoulders pressing her body against him. Marcus could feel her nipples press tight against his chest, he growled her name and begin to quicken the pace.
Ivy needed him so much. She began to kiss his neck, shoulders, chest as Marcus was moving inside her at such a slow, intense pace. She wanted more, she needed more. She pressed herself tightly against his body. Her hands were moving all over him, wanting to touch him everywhere. She wanted to drive Marcus as crazy as he was making her. When she started to touch and kiss him she heard him growl and felt him moving inside her quicker. She began to move her body with Marcus’s, tightening her hold on him. She felt the ache intensify itself inside her again and needed to find release with Marcus. Her fingers dug into his back and she moaned out his name as she felt the pressure building to its heights, seeking its release.
“Marcus,” Ivy moaned.
“Ivy,” Marcus yelled as he joined Ivy in her release, his seed entering her body in completion.
Marcus felt Ivy sag against him, her arms wrapped around his neck as she placed soft kisses against him. He pulled her closer and held her tightly.
“I will never be able to get any work done on this desk ever again,” Marcus teased, as he tipped Ivy’s face up to his for a kiss.
He kissed her softly as he gathered her in his arms and carried her to the bed. He slid onto the bed holding her in his lap. Pulling the covers over them, he settled back against the pillows.
“It serves you right, for taking advantage of me like that.”
“I wasn’t taking advantage I was trying to persuade you darling.”
“Either way, the answer is still no.”
“I think the answer will end up being yes, but I see I still have much more work to do to change your mind.”
“Marcus…”
“I don’t want to argue now Ivy, I just want to hold you,” Marcus told Ivy as he pressed her head on his chest.
Ivy not wanting to argue either, laid her head against his chest, kissing it softly from time to time as her fingers traced over the scars on his chest and arms. She didn’t want to ask how he got these, because it would show Marcus how much she cared. But she did wonder and worry how he had gotten them. Was his life ever in immediate danger and how did he get out of it. Ivy wondered many things of how the last seven years of his life went. Since she wasn’t going to ask him about his scars, she decided to kiss them and hoped that would pacify her; in her curiosity of them.
Marcus could feel Ivy tracing his scars. He wanted to tell her about them, how he fought the battles that scared his body. But he knew she wasn’t ready yet to hear of the danger he had been in and he wasn’t ready yet to tell her. Because there was still more danger to come and he didn’t want to frighten her. When she started kissing his scars he could feel himself harden and was amazed at the feelings she entranced within him. They had just finished making love and he was already again ready to love her. He felt her drifting off to sleep as she placed soft kisses across his body. He pulled her in closer and wrapped her tighter within the blanket.
He was never going to get enough of her. His feelings for her just seemed to grow stronger and stronger. He was now beginning to understand why his father wanted him to leave her alone all those years ago. She was too young then to be able to deal with these kinds of emotions, in some ways she still was too young. He knew that was part of the reason she was refusing to marry him. He knew he had to take this slower, so he needed to get himself under control.
He owed his father an apology when he returned to Thornhill Manor. His father was only trying to protect them. Ivy was too young to deal with Marcus being away at war, she needed to experience her youth and all that it entailed. She deserved a chance at the London Season with all the balls, picnics, and outings. She didn’t need to be shut off from that and worrying at home if he was going to come home to her alive or not.
He knows that his father thinks of Ivy like a daughter as does his mother. His mother was the one who even sponsored Ivy during all her seasons in the London court. It was through his mother that he heard how Ivy had blossomed into womanhood and how sought after she was. He heard all about her gentlemen suitors, her dances at balls, and her carriage rides in the park. Whenever he read a letter from his mother he always had to control his jealousy, because it should have been him that Ivy was dancing with, giving carriage rides to, and showing up with flowers to charm her.
When he received his last letter from his mother, he knew then that it was time to come home to Ivy. He had avoided her for far too long. His mother told him of a gentleman that was wooing Ivy and how close Ivy had grown to him. He and his mother both feared that Ivy was going to marry this other gentleman. His mother urged him to come home and to make Ivy his wife. So, he had decided to swallow his pride and to come home to make amends to Ivy and to make her his bride. Who knew that these circumstances would fall into his lap? He would woo her after the vows. The main thing now was for her safety and the only way to do that was to make her his bride as soon as it was possible.
Chapter 12
Ivy slowly came awake to find that was she alone in bed. She looked around the cabin and noticed that Marcus was gone. Rolling over to her side, she ran her hand over the pillow where Marcus had laid. Her hand dipped down where the indention of his head had rested. She pulled the pillow to her body and hugged it tightly.
“Oh, Marcus where do we go from here,” Ivy whispered to herself.
Ivy lay in his bed wondering how this was all going to turn out. She knew that she was going to have to marry him. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to; it was just not how she had always pictured it in her mind. She had dreamed all these years of Marcus returning home from the war and confessing to her of his undying love. Then he would court her, charm her, and marry her for the entire ton to see. Ivy knew that they gossiped about her waiting for him. They all said that even if he did come back, he wouldn’t want her; that she was too young and naïve for him. That Marcus would want a mature sophisticated woman, not a little girl. But Ivy never gave up hope that he would to return to her and only to her.
She never imagined in all her dreams though, the incredible passion that they would share. She never dreamed that just the touch of his hands on her would make her desire him too such amazing heights. When he kissed her all she could think
about was him and the feelings he ignited in her. As she laid there thinking about his touch and kisses it made Ivy wish that Marcus was still lying with her. She wanted to show him what his touch did to her, but most of all she wanted to drive Marcus to the same level of desire that she felt.
Ivy decided that she will marry him, but she wasn’t going to make it easy for him. Nor was she going to sit at home and wait for him. She was going to help him find her brother Charles. Then after they found Charles, she was going to make him love her. Deep down he must have some feeling of love for her, didn’t he? The passion couldn’t be so strong without any love, could it?
Ivy missed him. Not just all those years he was gone, but right now. She wanted to be in his presence, she wanted him to hold her and tell her that everything was going to sort itself out. She decided to go look for him. They wasted all these years, she didn’t want to waste a moment more.
Throwing back the covers, she climbed out of bed. As she moved to the washstand, her body felt tender. She realized their lovemaking made her use parts of her body, that she had never used before. Sliding her hand down her body where she ached, she smiled to herself. It was well worth it. Ivy looked over at the desk and felt her body blush as she remembered their lovemaking. The things that Marcus did to her and made her feel were so delicious. She realized that she wanted more and to learn more. Knowing that Marcus would show and teach her, Ivy hurried to get dressed.
Ivy sponged her body clean and went to Marcus’s trunk to pull out a clean shirt. As she was digging through the trunk her hand brushed across a book. Ivy pulled it out and realized that it was a book of poems that she had lost around the time Marcus left. She opened the first page and saw her name written across the page as she always did with her books. Flipping through the book, she noticed the pages that she had turned down at the corners of her favorite poems. The pages were worn and had been handled many times. Marcus must have read the book a lot. She came to the back cover of the book where a red rose lay resting against a poem that was handwritten in. The poem was written in Marcus’s handwriting inside the back cover. The title of the poem was:
Rescued By the Captain Page 7
