Moreau offered Vivian his wine. She laughed at something he said. Then he reached out and tugged on one of her blond curls, brushing the top of her shoulder in the process.
Jack’s vision went red. He strode over to them and gave Moreau a shove, pushing him back several feet.
“Don’t touch her. Don’t ever touch her,” he growled in a low voice.
“Jack!” Vivian exclaimed.
Moreau stepped up to him. “What business is it of yours, Captain?”
“Gentlemen!” Vivian stepped right between them, saving the skinny bastard from a beating. She put one hand on each of their chests and gave a small push. “Let’s not make a scene, shall we?” She gave him a stern look.
Moreau recovered first. “Yes, I apologize, Miss Jamieson. If you will excuse me.”
Conversation in the room had stopped. Damn it, he had made a scene. “I am sorry too,” Jack said tightly. He turned and left through the open French doors behind her, intent on letting the night air cool off his temper.
****
Jack strode across the lawn. Vivian grinned. That had been perfect. She tucked the small envelope she had liberated from Moreau’s jacket into her beaded reticule.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Vivian waited until after midnight before she put her dressing gown over her night shift and padded softly down to Jack’s room. She turned the knob and slipped inside, closing the door gently behind her. Jack slumped in a large wingback chair by the fireplace, a drink in his hand. He looked up in surprise at the click of the door closing.
“That was brilliant earlier.” Vivian said. “Starting a fight with Moreau was a perfect distraction.” She crossed the room.
He shook his head. “It wasn’t a plan for distraction. I saw him touch you, and my head just exploded.” She froze mid-stride. He looked up at her with haunted eyes. “You were flirting with him. It drove me mad.”
She closed the distance between them. “Oh, Jack, I only flirted to distract him so I could steal the list.” She lay a hand against his cheek. “How could you think I would want anyone else but you?” Could he still not see how much she cared for him?
He reached up, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her down onto his lap. He captured her mouth in a searing kiss she eagerly returned.
“Vivi, I was going to wait until we tracked down your father and I could speak with him. I planned to be patient and woo you slowly. I wanted to be done with all this intrigue before I even attempted to win your heart. But I must know now, tonight, if in the end you will consider being mine?” He gently cradled her face with his hands.
Her breath caught in her throat at the intensity of his gaze.
“Vivian, you have opened up my heart. I hadn’t even realized how much I had been shutting out until I fell in love with you. Will you marry me? Will you be mine?”
Her heart almost burst with joy. “Jack, you haven’t had to win anything, you fool. You’ve had my heart for more than a year now. I don’t know that anyone else could understand me and accept the real me as you do. Yes, of course. Yes.” She leaned in and kissed him with all the love she had been too uncertain to show him before.
****
Jack wrapped his arms around her and kissed her reverently. He had again risked putting his heart out there for the stomping. Though this time he could trust this woman not to trample it. Amazement that this beautiful creature loved him swelled in his heart, filling in all the lonely places.
Their kiss soon turned hot and needy. His hands gripped at her derriere, shifting her, so she sat straddling him, his cock pressing hard against her core. She wiggled, causing him to moan aloud.
“Jack, please don’t send me away tonight. Don’t make me leave. I need you.”
Send her away? “I don’t think I could even if I thought I should. I don’t think I can ever let you go,” he murmured against her mouth. Desperate to undress her, he shoved the dressing gown off her shoulders. It landed on the floor in a puddle of blue satin.
He cupped her breasts through the soft silk of her night shift, rubbing the fabric across her nipples and causing her to squirm against him again. If this kept up, he would spend in his pants like a schoolboy. Tonight, he wanted to bring her pleasure. So, he marshaled his self-control. He stood, taking Vivian with him, his hands under her backside. He crossed over to the bed.
He lay her on the bed, careful to not crush her. He bent in to kiss the slope of her elegant neck. He licked her earlobe and took it into his mouth, giving it a little suck. Her mew of pleasure reverberated straight down to his cock. He gave the earlobe one more nip with his teeth before traveling back down her throat to place kisses along her collarbone.
Taking his time, he explored the golden skin that so often taunted him during the daylight hours. His lips reached the neckline of her nightgown, a barrier to the sweetness below. He tugged at the hem of her night shift, pulling it up, up, and then in one fluid motion, he drew the shift over her head, revealing the naked glory of her body.
“You are so beautiful, my love. So perfect.” He ran a hand lightly down the length of her body. Trailing his fingers from her shoulder past the curve of one creamy breast, across the valley of her taut stomach, along one hip, and down the length of one flawless leg. She stretched like a cat in the sunshine, grinning up at him. No virginal shame over being naked. He found only desire glowing in her eyes.
“You, sir, are wearing too many clothes. It’s not fair for me to be bare while you are still fully dressed.”
