His laughter shook her. “You know that’s not what I meant. And I’ll wager all that heated passion worked on you as well.”
It had, but he’d never know it. Yet he was determined to know it.
His voice turned seductively husky, “Are you feeling nauseous?”
“Not the least little—”
“You do know how to reduce self-confidence to a low ebb, dearest girl.”
She slid down the front of him when her legs were released, but her feet never quite touched the floor with his one arm still about her back. She hadn’t noticed entering the cabin they shared, but she heard the door close with a resounding click. Her heartbeat sounded louder.
“And I’ll be the first to admit that I seem to have totally lost my finesse when it comes to dealing with you,” he continued as his other arm came around her, both shifting now, one moving lower until his hand cupped her buttocks, pressing her into his hips, while the other moved up, the fingers gliding under her hair, along her scalp, until her head was firmly in his grip. She saw his sensual smile, the heat in his eyes, felt his breath on her lips when he added, “Allow me to see if I can find it again.”
“James, no…”
But his mouth was already slanting across hers, and he’d already ensured there’d be no escape from it. Leisurely, with infinite care, he bestowed on her the finesse of a lifetime, kisses meant to entice, to mesmerize, to tap every sensual impulse she possessed. Her arms were already encircling his neck when his tongue seduced her lips to pan, entered, and took her swiftly to that realm of not-caring-what-he-did. Beneath the tender onslaught, she felt the urgency. Hers or his? She didn’t know. She was in the center of an erotic storm that consumed awareness of everything except the man and what he was doing to her.
God, the taste of him, the feel of him, the hard heat surrounding her, flaying her senses with exquisite pleasure. She’d forgotten…No, she’d just doubted the reality, that anything could so overwhelm her with feeling that she would lose herself completely to it…to him.
“My God, woman, you make me tremble.”
She heard the wonder in his voice, felt the vibration in his body…or was it her own limbs shaking, about to shatter?
She was holding on to him now for dear life, so it was an easy matter for him to lift her legs and wrap them around his hips. The intimate contact, the friction as he walked her to his bed, released a heat wave in her loins that had her groaning into his mouth as he continued to ravage her with his tongue.
They fell on the bed together, a bit clumsily, but Georgina didn’t notice that James’s finesse had once again deserted him beneath a need that far surpassed hers, and hers had escalated beyond anything she’d previously experienced with this man. In short order they were ripping each other’s clothes off, literally, and not even aware that they’d reverted to primitive instinct.
And then he was inside her, deeply buried, and her whole body seemed to sigh in relieved welcome. This lasted all of a moment before there was a stab of alarm when his arms hooked under her knees, something he’d never done before, raising them so high, she was given a feeling of total defenselessness. But the alarm was so brief it was instantly forgotten, for the position embedded him so deeply inside her, she felt touched to her very core. And the starburst of fire exploded in that moment, sending out waves of tingling awareness from her center to every extremity, but surrounding him, throbbing against him, every shuddering spasm of pleasure felt by him.
She’d screamed, but didn’t know it. She’d left bleeding half moons on his shoulders, but didn’t know it. She’d just given him her soul once again. Neither of them knew it.
When Georgina reached a point of knowing anything, it was that she was weighted with sweet languor…and her lips were being softly nibbled on, which led her to believe James hadn’t shared that magnificent experience with her.
“Didn’t you—?”
“’Course I did.”
“Oh.”
But in her mind she said another “Oh,” with much more surprise. So soon? Did she want to lose herself like that again? Dare she? But the urge was almost overpowering to do some nibbling of her own, and that gave her the only answer she wanted at the moment.
Chapter Thirty-nine
“Marriage used to be for gain, don’t you know, or to unite great families…which would never have applied to us in any case, would it, love? But these days it’s back to primitive basics, society’s sanction of lust. In that, we’re quite compatible, I’d say.”
Those words kept coming back to Georgina in the two weeks that followed her fateful surrender to James Malory’s finesse, reminding her that she shouldn’t have tried to read more into the return of his desire for her. All she’d asked him was what he intended to do about their marriage, if he meant to honor it or get out of it. She wouldn’t call his answer an answer. And she hadn’t needed to be told that all they shared was mutual lust as far as he was concerned.
And yet, there was so much tenderness in that lust; so often when she lay in his arms she felt cherished…almost loved. And that more than anything else kept her tongue still each time she thought to ask again about the future. Of course, getting straight answers out of James was next to impossible anymore. If his replies weren’t derogatory, which annoyed her into shutting up, then they were evasive. And she had learned very quickly that if she tried to bring up what had happened in Connecticut, or even came close to mentioning her brothers, she’d get singed by the fire-breathing dragon again.
So they existed much as they had before, as lovers and companions, with one exception. Touchy subjects were forbidden. It was almost like having an unspoken truce; at least Georgina looked at it that way. And if she wanted to savor and enjoy this time with James, and she did want that at least, then she had to bury her pride and anxieties for a while. When they arrived at their destination it would be soon enough to find out where she stood, if James meant to keep her or send her home.
And it was such a short while. Without having to fight the westerly winds, theMaiden Annemade such good time, she was sailing up the Thames almost three weeks to the day after she’d left the American coast behind.
Georgina had known right from that first night that she was going to be visiting England again, since James had discussed their course with Connie while she was still tucked to his hip. She didn’t even have to wonder long why he wasn’t returning to Jamaica to finish his business there. That was one of the forbidden subjects, so she didn’t bother to ask him, but Connie could be questioned on impersonal matters, and he’d informed her that James had fortunately found an agent to dispose of his property in the islands while he was waiting for his crew to be rounded up. At least she didn’t have that to be held against her, too, though she had to wonder if she’d ever know what had really brought James Malory to Connecticut in such a vengeful state of mind.
Once again Georgina had packed James’s trunks for him in preparation for departure, this time including her few articles of borrowed clothing. But this time when she came on deck, she found Artie and Henry stationed on either side of the gangplank, both men making no pretense about keeping an eye on her.
She found that amusing. Had she been able to speak of it, she could have told James that he’d never find a Skylark vessel in London harbor. So, he could have been assured that she had nowhere to run off to, if he didn’t care to lose her just yet. But he knew that she had no money with her, so setting watchdogs on her was really absurd. She did have her jade ring back, given to her for a wedding ring since James happened to be wearing it on a chain around his neck at the time, but she wasn’t going to consider parting with it again.
