Rescued By the Captain

by Laura A. Barnes

  “You leave Katherine to me honey. I will keep her occupied elsewhere while you ride out to Thorn. I owe you this.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Years ago, I told Thorn to leave you be. I felt that you were too young for him and he had too many wild oats still to sow. I didn’t want you waiting for word from him that might never come. You were young and needed to enjoy all the things that he had already enjoyed. I know now that I was wrong to separate you two. You two could have enjoyed these last few years together instead of apart. It was wrong of me to make you two wait for the right time. Because in life there is no right time; only the time there is to enjoy. I know that boy loves you with all his heart, what I don’t know is why he is still trying to hold that love back from you. Your mission is to ride out after him and find out. I will have Peter saddle Mercury for you. You go change into something warm; it might be a few hours before you can return. Once you reach Thorn I will give instructions for Peter to return to the stables.”

  Ivy listened to what Hamilton was telling her and now knew why Thorn had left her all those years ago. She understood why he did it. Hamilton was just looking out for her like a father would. She could see how Hamilton regretted what he had done and was trying to make amends. Going over to him, she grabbed his hands holding them between hers.

  “Thank you Father.”

  Hamilton laughed in relief and pulled Ivy into his arms for a hug. “Now put on a cloak to cover your hair. We don’t want anybody realizing it is you leaving the grounds. Now hurry before it gets dark and Katherine finds you before you can leave.”

  Ivy stepped up on her tip toes and kissed his cheek and ran from the room. She ran into her room and changed her clothes quickly. Brushing her hair back, she tied it with a green ribbon. She pulled out her dark black cloak and wrapped herself up it in and left her room. As she started to make her way down the stairs she heard Katherine asking Mabel if she had seen Ivy. They began to search the rooms for her asking anybody if they had seen her lately. Ivy heard Hamilton come into the foyer, telling Katherine that he had seen her out in the gardens and that she had wanted to be alone. He told her to let her be for a while and started whispering to Katherine. Ivy heard Katherine giggle at Hamilton and knew that the coast was clear.

  Ivy made her way outside to the stables. Peter had Mercury saddled and ready to go for her. He helped her mount the horse, then settled in behind her with his own horse and they kicked their horses into a sprint after Thorn. Ivy sped her horse up wanting to reach Thorn before nightfall. Before they reached the cave, Ivy slowed her horse down. She motioned for Peter to help her down. Peter helped Ivy from her horse and they walked the horses the remaining way. Ivy did not want to alert Thorn of their presence until Peter was way on his way back to the house. If Thorn saw Peter, he would demand that Peter take Ivy back with him. She tied Mercury up next to Pirate and whispered in their ears to keep quiet.

  “Thank you Peter for your help. You can return now.” Ivy whispered.

  “Please be careful my lady.”

  “I will.”

  Ivy watched as Peter walked his horse back away, then climb up in the saddle and ride away. She wandered to the cave and looked inside. Thorn was nowhere to be seen. She looked down into the cove and saw him walking in the sand. He walked along, stopping every now and then and picking up rocks. He would throw the rocks out into the sea watching as they skipped along the surface. He looked lost. Ivy wanted to go down to him and wrap him in her arms to help him find his way. It was if he scented her presence for he looked up into the cave and their eyes met.

  Chapter 20

  Marcus looked up and saw his thoughts appear at the entrance of the cave. Her hair had come loose and was billowing in the wind that was coming off the sea. She pulled her hair back from her face as she watched him; waiting for his reaction to her appearance. He paused in his steps as he gazed at her. She was everything to him and more. He could no more live without her than he could not draw another breath into his body. Taking off at a run, he climbed the cliff to the cave in a hurry to reach her. When he reached the entrance, he brushed her hair back from her face and swept her into his arms. Lowering his head, he kissed her deeply, drawing the very breath out of her into himself. He carried her over to the blanket and lowered her down; her body sliding down along his.

  As he broke the kiss he leaned his forehead against hers and breathed deeply. Marcus pulled Ivy deep into his arms holding her tightly but gently against him. He was afraid to let her go, afraid that he was imaging her in his arms, afraid that the kiss wasn’t real. Afraid that she was here to tell him how she felt about Maxwell, he wasn’t ready to let her go. He wanted one last time with her to be his. He needed her like never before. He was going to be a selfish bastard and take her one more time. Then he was going to let her go. Marcus knew that it is not fair to her, but he was past caring at this point.

  Ivy looked up at the anguish passing across Marcus’s face and wanted to comfort him. She reached up with her hand and rested it along his cheek. He turned his head and placed a gentle kiss into her palm.

  “Marcus?”

  Marcus pressed his fingers against her lips and shook his head no at her. He didn’t want there to be any words between them. He just wanted her. Wanted to taste her, touch her, and make love to her. He wanted to leave his mark on her to feel for the rest of her life. Wanted to make sure that she never forgot him and how he made her feel; even though she loved another.

  He slid her cloak off her shoulders and let it drop to the cave floor. Marcus made quick work of the buttons on the back of her dress and slid it off her body. Ivy laid before him in her chemise. It was made of a delicate lace, so delicate that it hardly covered her body. It was transparent. He could make out her nipples pressing against the lace. They were hard for him. He slid his thumbs across them feeling the tight pebbles harden. He rubbed his thumb back and forth across the lace and heard Ivy moan. Marcus looked up and saw how Ivy’s eyes darkened with desire as he touched her.

  He continued to watch her reaction as he slid the straps down her shoulders; sliding the shift off her body. Sliding his palms down to her breasts, brushing her nipples as he slid her breasts into his hands. He softly squeezed them as he gently pinched her nipples. After he heard Ivy’s quick intake of breath, he lowered his lips and took her nipple into his mouth. His tongue stroked her nipple back and forth as his teeth grazed the tip. Ivy swayed into his arms as he bent her back a little so he could make love to her breasts. He teased them with his tongue and lips; making her fingers slide through his hair as she pulled his head down closer. Her fingers tightened as she grasped at his hair.

  Marcus moved his lips down lower. Placing soft kisses along her stomach and moving lower. He kissed down to the garter holding her tights to her lovely long legs. He kissed the inside of her thigh, his tongue slowly stroking up higher along her thigh, then back down again. Moving to other thigh, he repeated his action, but this time he paused at the heat of her body. He could feel the heat coming off her and the smell of her ready for him. Softly he blew a whisper of breath at her core.

  She tightened her grip on his shoulders and he heard her moan his name. He could see a drop of dew nestled in her curls and knew that she was wet for him; ready to take her and make her his. He was not going to rush any of this; he was going to make her melt for him. Wanting to make every minute last for as long as he could. He wanted to savor her and this moment to make it last a lifetime in memories for him to live off; because there would be no other for him. Ivy was his heart and soul and he would never give it away to another woman in his lifetime.

  Marcus ran his hand down her leg and lifted it over his shoulder, opening her up for him to see, touch and taste. The open air along her thigh made her shiver in his arms. Was it the air or the anticipation of what was to come? He hoped that it was the anticipation of what was to come. Running his fingers over her garter, he slid her tights down her leg, his lips kissing a long trail
of kisses in their wake. He began the path of kisses back up her legs again until he reached the top of her leg, his tongue slid along the crease at the edge of her womanhood. His tongue stroked back and forth, teasing her, making her body ache for his mouth on her wetness. He lowered her leg off his shoulder and heard her moan in frustration. He smiled as he knew that she was becoming frustrated at his teasing. But she never said a word; she understood that he didn’t want to talk. Maybe she wanted this goodbye just as much as he did; because this was going to be a goodbye. He could not hold her to him when she loved another. Knowing that he was going to have to let her go, he couldn’t contain her to him. He was not going to let her get caught in his thorns. She needed to grow wild and free. He was not going to cut her down to be snared by him.

  He reached up and pulled her closer to him. As she lowered her body down next to him, Marcus ran his hands over her body. Not wanting to lose a moment in touching her, kissing her, loving her. When she reached his level, she ran her hands down to his shirt and pulled it up over his head. Marcus caught his breath as her hands touched him. Her touched would undue him every time. When she pressed her lips against his chest, he wanted to press her to the cave floor and take her right at that moment. He didn’t think it was possible but he grew even harder. He had craved her touch these last few weeks more than he had realized.

  Ivy needed to touch Marcus so badly. She missed his touch and she missed touching him. He was making love to her like a desperate man. Like it was going to be the last time he was ever going to make love to her. Ivy didn’t understand why, but she was too far gone in her desire for him to question it. There would be time later to understand. She craved his touch and kisses far past the point of understanding anything. Sliding her fingers across his hard, smooth chest, her fingers dipped and swayed across his muscles. She could feel his need as his body tightened under her touch. She needed to taste him, so she slid her lips across his chest. Her lips began to dip and nip across his muscles. She could taste the sea on his body, running her tongue up his neck tasting the salt of the sea that had splashed on him. Ivy worked her way to his lips. Her tongue slid across his lips, licking hungrily. When he parted his lips for her, Ivy slid her tongue inside his mouth tasting him. She could feel Marcus holding back from taking control of the kiss. She knew he was holding onto a thin control by letting her play. She could feel the tightness of his body against hers ready to explode.

  Ivy wanted to press the limits to more of his control. She wanted him to explode and love her like he did on his ship. As she kissed him deeper, her tongue stroking his, her hand lowered to the front of his trousers. She slid her hand across his hardness, teasing him as he had teased her. Her body was aching below for his kiss and touch but he denied her the need of him. She figured what was good for her was equally good for him. Her hand continued to tease him; lightly brushing back and forth across the placket of his trousers. She could feel him growing bigger from her light touch and felt the moan coming from deep in this chest through their kiss.

  Ivy broke off the kiss and glanced down to the front of his trousers, so that she could see what her touch did to him. Her fingers trembled as she worked to undo the buttons of his trousers, slowly unbuttoning them. When she had them all unbuttoned, she slid them down over his buttocks. She watched as his cock sprang out of his pants into her hands. Ivy moved her fingers over his cock touching the hard steel. Marcus felt smooth to her touch, but hard as she gripped him around her fingers. She heard Marcus groan as if he was in pain. When Ivy raised her eyes to his, she saw the storm darken in his eyes to a midnight blue. The storm wasn’t one of pain but of a desire Ivy had never seen before. This was unlike any desire that they had shared before. This was one of a man and a woman in the storm of a passion that they could not deny. Ivy was overcome with this storm and needed to show Marcus that he could no longer deny the passion that they were meant to have; now and forever.

  Ivy lowered her head and took Marcus into her mouth. She slid her mouth down over him, slowly tasting him. Her lips came back up just as slow, her lips pulling at him. She slowly slid up to the tip of his cock, her tongue slowly swirling around. Bringing him in between her lips, she began to softly suck on the tip. Ivy felt Marcus’s hands running though her hair, holding her head in his lap. She slid her mouth down his cock, her tongue softly stroking, as she took him in deeper into her mouth. She heard Marcus groaning her name louder as she took him in and out of her mouth. Her mouth was making love to him like he had made love to her before. She wanted to give him the same pleasure that he gave her. She wanted him to lose control. She needed him to lose control. She could feel him harden in her mouth as she made love to him.

  Marcus knew that this was wrong. He should not be letting Ivy do this to him. She had given her heart to another man and this was another selfish act for him. But he could no more deny her touch and kiss on him then he could deny his love for her. He did not have the will to stop her. He needed and craved her love like a ship stuck in a storm craved the sun and soft gentle wind. That is what Ivy did to him. She made him feel like a ship fighting to stay upright in a storm. But when she kissed and touched him she was his sun and her touch was the soft gentle wind. He felt like he was ready to explode but he did not want it to be this way. When he lost full control, he wanted to be inside her body and holding her in his arms as they both lose control together.

  He pulled her up into his arms and kissed her with all the passion inside his body. Their lips fused into one as they tasted each other. Marcus laid Ivy back on the blanket that he had sat on earlier. He stood up and removed the rest of his clothing as he gazed down upon her body spread out before him. He lowered himself back down between her legs and removed her other stocking. When she lay naked before him he just stared and watched the beautiful blush come across her body, wrapping her in a pink hue. He ran his hands up her legs spreading them open wider for him. His thumb brushed across her core and he could feel the wetness between her folds. Ivy opened her legs even wider after he touched her. It was as if she craved his touch as much as he craved to touch her.

  He slid his fingers up and down in her wetness. His fingers dipped down inside her, she tightened around his fingers as they slid in and out of her. Ivy arched her back bringing her core up, so that his fingers could slide in deeper. He slid his fingers in as deep as he could while his thumb stroked her clit back and forth. The dewy wetness was helping it glide over her hard clit. He could feel her body becoming as tight as a string ready to break. Pulling his fingers away made her groan in frustration. He slid his fingers up to his mouth, sliding them between his lips, tasting and licking her sweetness from his fingers as he watched her.

  She raised her hips up off the cave floor wanting and needing his touch on her again. Marcus licked his lips and brought his fingers to her lips. She licked out and tasted herself on his fingers. When she flicked her tongue out to draw his thumb into her mouth to suck on it; Marcus groaned and pulled his thumb away. He lowered his head down to her core and brought his hands up underneath her buttocks and pulled her into his mouth as his mouth devoured her center. He drank from her like a man starved for thirst that only she could quench.

  He slid his tongue deep inside to taste every last drop that her body had for him. Ivy exploded as he licked, kissed, sucked at her. Marcus wouldn’t stop; he knew that Ivy had more for him. He wanted more from her. His tongue and fingers were everywhere, stroking nice and slow, quicker as her body tightened under his tongue. He worked his tongue up to her clit in slow strokes his tongue pressing harder as his strokes became slower. He could feel the pressure building in her again as his fingers dipped and swayed bringing her to her crest.

  Ivy let out a scream as she came apart under Marcus’s mouth. He could taste her explosion and the spasms of aftermath that her body released under his touch. He slowly kissed his way up her body as his fingers continued to keep her fire alight, he could feel heat continue to consume her as it did him. He could feel how her
body felt soft and relaxed under his, as it waited for them to become one with each other. His mouth stopped along the way at her breasts and he softly sucked them into his mouth and felt her nipples harden at the stroke of his tongue.

  His mouth continued his journey upward and settled on her lips. He drank at the sweetness of her lips as he slid himself inside her. So slowly that they could feel and remember every slow stroke that joined their bodies as one. He watched her eyes grow wider at the joining of their bodies and felt her hands glide over his body to hold onto him as he took them on a ride. He slid in and out of her body with long slow strokes. He felt her body begin to tighten again around his cock. Sliding into her faster and harder, he felt her come apart around him again. He began to slow again to build up her wave again; so that he could crash down into her again.

  Ivy felt her body crashing into Marcus’s. She held onto to him like an anchor. The waves of pleasure that racked her body consumed her. She brought his head down for a kiss, kissing him deeply and hungrily wanting all that he had to give her. She raised her hips to his and rode the waves of pleasure that their bodies were giving each other. She needed to touch him all over and her hands glided everywhere across his body. She felt the waves climbing higher in their bodies as they crested at the highest peak. Ivy felt Marcus pause as their bodies were about to go over. They starred deep into each other’s eyes for a moment of time as their bodies were suspended in air. Marcus slid himself deeper inside of her as they exploded into the waves crashing their bodies back down into the gentle sway of the sea.

  Marcus rolled over and brought Ivy into his arms, laying her across his chest. He stroked her hair in a calming way. Her body curled up into his as she rested her palm across his stomach. She gently stroked her fingers back and forth. Her fingers stopped stroking and Marcus knew that she had drifted off to sleep. He continued to stroke her hair as she slept. He had never even come close to feeling that kind of passion in his life before and knew that he never would again. He felt complete.