She feared she knew that answer.
But she pushed it aside and ground against him, squeezing tight as he thrust again, again, harder and faster each time. His mouth found hers and there was nothing but sensation as he pounded into her, one hand cupping her backside, the other holding her head, taking her with his tongue and his cock at the same time.
She pushed her hand between their tightly pressed bodies, brushing her fingers against the wet length of him when he withdrew once more. He jolted faster at the sensation, his teeth scraping her lower lip with just enough pressure that she gasped.
She moved her hand against her clitoris, riding her fingers and his cock all at once. The pleasure mounted, edging even higher this time as she gripped against him. When she came she buried her mouth into his shoulder, crying out his name.
Well, she tried to call out his name. His first name, but all she could manage was a broken, “Cam—Cam—Cam!” as her body flexed out of control.
He cried out with her and then withdrew, the heat of him splashing against her skin, leaving his mark on her even if it would be wiped away far too soon.
She collapsed back, dragging him beside her. His arms came around her, their panting breaths echoing together in the warmth and peace of that room. Peace. What a concept. One she’d not had much in her life and yet she recognized it somehow, lying in this man’s arms, his breath stirring her hair whenever he pressed a gentle kiss to her temple.
Only there couldn’t be peace. Even if her life allowed it, her current situation didn’t. Her thoughts and focus had to be on Nora. This was a brief respite, nothing more.
“If my sister didn’t go to my mother…” she whispered.
She felt him stiffen and then he eased up on an elbow to look down into her face. “You said she stopped writing some time ago. Do you know her friends?”
She shook her head. “No. I didn’t want what I am…was…to taint her, so I didn’t visit. I never met any girls she might be close to at the school. The ones who might be helping her, or know more about who might have taken her.”
“Then it sounds like our next step is to go to the school. How far is it?”
She sat up. “Ripley?—”
He touched her face. “I liked it when you called me Cam. When you’re naked in a bed beside me, I want you to call me that.”
How could a man be so hard, with his slightly bent nose, with the scar across his eyebrow, with the stern line of his mouth and the harsh ridge of his jaw…and yet be so gentle at the same time?
“Cam,” she tried, testing it and finding she liked it, too. Liked having that special name for him like he did for her when he sometimes called her Janie. She fought to retain focus on the matters at hand. “I said it to you in the garden—I can’t put you into this mess any more than you have been.”
“You aren’t putting me anywhere,” he insisted. “I’m not a man to be put.”
“No, I suppose not,” she agreed. “But?—”
“I’m going with you,” he interrupted. “And I’m finished arguing about it.”
Now his face really was hard, a reflection of his apparently immovable statement. And though she knew she ought to fight him more, force the issue, the idea of him being by her side as she searched, by her side if she found out the terrible things that haunted her, that was a relief. She had never needed anyone in her life, but she needed him right now.
“Fine,” she said. “She has been going to the Knightly Seminary for Young Women. It’s in the country about two days north of London.”
“So we’ll need to go back through the city either way,” he said. “Good. That will give you a chance to gather some things for the road and let me arrange for a more permanent travel situation.”
“Yes, that makes sense,” she said. “I hadn’t even thought of it.”
“See?” he said with a sad smile. “You do need me after all.”
“I never questioned that I needed you, Ripley. Cam.” She touched his face and then let her fingers glide down. He shivered, but caught her hand and lifted it to his lips.
“Do you want to go downstairs and eat? Or rest alone?”
She shook her head. “No. No, what I want is right here.”
He held her gaze steady and then pulled her in for another kiss, shifting onto his back and tugging her over him. She let all other thoughts drift away, lost herself in him, knowing that at some point that decision would come back to haunt her.
CHAPTER 8
Ripley had never returned to his own room the previous night. Staying in Jane’s bed, sharing food with her by the fire as she wore nothing but his shirt, waking up with her in his arms…it was like every dream come true.
