“Jack, I wasn’t in tears because of the brawl or because I had to use the gun. I was in tears because you almost died. I would have shot Dubois right through the heart if I didn’t think the bullet could have hurt you as well. His hand was as close as I dared. I was frightened to death my aim would be off, and I would shoot you by accident.”
She reached to cup the other side of his face, leaning her forehead against his. Now the time had come to tell her everything. He would lay out all his secrets. Then she could decide whether she really wanted to bind herself to him. Pulling back from her tender touch, he stood.
“Vivian, when your father pulled me from the sea ten years ago, I was shackled, clinging to that board because I couldn’t swim with irons on my feet. I had been locked in the brig when the ship was blown up. I had been on my way back to England, being sent home in disgrace. My crime? Being caught in bed with the admiral’s wife.
“When he discovered us, instead of going after me, he went after his wife, hitting her and trying to strangle her. I intervened, and we fought. I beat him within an inch of his life.” Vivian’s eyes widened in shock. “Two men had to pull me off him.”
He paced restlessly. “It was not my first offense. Stealing and selling naval property, conduct unbecoming an officer. I was on a mission to ruin myself.”
“But why?” she asked softly.
“I want to tell you I had some deep, dark hurt that propelled me, but I was young and angry at the world. I thought I could do whatever I wanted with no consequences. I was the Duke of Gilchrest’s son. The travesty is my father probably could have fixed it, got all the charges wiped away.” He faced her again. “Lucky for me, your father found me first.”
“Your mother gave me the best advice while I recuperated at their house. She told me I needed to decide what kind of man I wanted to be, that this was my chance to choose to be a better man. I will always be grateful for the fresh chance she offered me.”
“That sounds exactly like her.” Tears shimmered in her eyes.
He held out one hand, and she grasped it, letting him pull her into his arms. “I tell you all this because I want you to understand the road I took to become who I am today. I have worked hard to build my company, to serve my country honorably, and these past weeks, to win back the trust of my family. I think…I hope if I can just keep moving forward, with you by my side, I can leave behind some of worst of my past. Will you give me a fresh chance, Vivi?” He held his breath while he waited for her answer.
She placed her hand over his pounding heart.
“Do you know what I see when I look at you? I see a man who shoulders his responsibilities instead of shirking them. A man who builds his business honorably instead of stealing and plundering. A man who takes care of the people he loves. This is the man I love. I don’t want a man who is perfectly good and proper. All I need is someone who understands me and is willing to love me just the way I am.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, absorbing her words. When he opened them again, he felt free of the doubts which had plagued him. He stared into eyes that were as clear and bright as the Caribbean Sea. “Vivian, I will love you and be yours forever if that’s what you want,” he promised her.
“As my husband?”
“As your husband, as your slave, whatever you wish, my love.”
She leaned up on her toes, her breath warm against his ear. “What I wish is that you would make love to me, Jack.”
He may not deserve this woman, but she’d laid claim to his heart, and he was powerless to say no to her.
****
Jack scooped her against him, kissing her with all the passion and longing of a man who had been adrift and was finally home. As their lips fused, all the hurt and fear she’d felt over the past few days burned away. He picked her up, his hands cupping her backside. His lips made their way down the column of her throat as he walked over to the desk. When he set her down, she squeaked as a paperweight poked her through her skirts. Frowning, he easily lifted her with one arm, using the other to sweep the desk clear. Glass shattered as a vase of flowers met its end.
Vivian concentrated on untying his cravat so she could press her mouth to the delicious hollow between his neck and shoulder. He yanked one shoulder of her dress down and captured one of her breasts in his hand, playing a thumb over the tip. A jolt of desire careened straight down to her core. His other hand pushed her skirts up, his fingers trailing up her silk-stockinged leg.
“Vivian, I must have you now. I am aching to hold you, to be inside you.”
“Yes, yes,” she murmured breathlessly. She reached down and frantically opened the buttons of his falls. When she finally had the buttons all undone, she reached around to snake her hands across his backside. Shoving his pants down, she scraped her fingernails across the muscled flesh.
He pulled her roughly toward him, sliding her bottom to the edge of the desk, and sank his hard length into the hot center of her. Burying his face in her neck, he gave a groan of pure pleasure. She savored the feeling of being so intimately connected to him, body and soul. She spoke tenderly, but with absolute certainty.
“I love you, Jack, and I have no intention of ever letting you go.”
****
Leaning her back onto the desk, he kissed her ravenously while he slid in and out slowly, savoring every thrust. No longer any reason to rush; he was right where he was meant to be, wrapped in Vivian’s arms. Looking down at her beautiful face flushed with the heat of their lovemaking, he found her eyes shone with love. He marveled that this magnificent woman loved him.
As her orgasm hit, her intimate muscles clenched around him. Her neck arched back, and she called out his name as she crested. He leaned in to capture her lips in a searing kiss as he fell off the cliff right behind her. Then he kissed her tenderly, moving his lips across her cheek and pressing them to her temple.
“I love you, Vivian. I must have been crazy to consider, even for one minute, of giving you up.” He buried his face in her hair. He would hold and cherish this strong, courageous woman for the rest of his days. “I love you, my wild island girl.”
Epilogue
Vivian Langdon opened her eyes to bright Bahamian sunshine pouring through the open windows. She stretched and sat up, looking around at the empty bed. Where were her boys? Rising from the bed, she put on a simple day dress before walking barefoot down the cool, marble tiles of the hall. She glanced into the courtyard with its bubbling fountain but didn’t see them. Continuing down the far staircase, she ran her hand down the smooth, dark wood of the banister. She headed to the left, stepping through an archway into her husband’s study.
