“May I come around?”
This man who had seen her naked, licked every inch of her body, asked her permission. No wonder she loved him, he was unlike anyone she’d ever encountered.
“Yes,” she whispered. How could she refuse, even if she already knew how this would end, that she would leave his life and eventually he would see the value in her being gone. But it wasn’t over yet, was it? Wasn’t there some way to hold it separate from the inevitable?
He came around the screen. He was so impossibly tall, even more so from her angle below him in the tub. And he was beautiful. She stared at his face in the firelight, memorizing all the angles of him, all the marks from his violent past, all the little expressions that made him the man he was.
“I want you to know that I’ll do whatever you like, Jane. I told you that before. You never have to tie my hands.”
She understood what he meant and her heart swelled with even more of the love which felt so powerful now that she could no longer deny it.
His breath was shaky as he added, “But I’d like to have this time with you. Please.”
She gripped the edge of the tub at the “please”. It seemed they both wanted the same thing, as was often true. She knew what the loss would feel like, she wanted the moments they had left.
Slowly she stood up, water dripping down her body like a waterfall. She knew exactly what she looked like and how he would react was equally easy to guess. His pupils dilated, he licked his lips like he was looking at a feast and he was starving.
He held out a hand and she took it, steadying herself as she stepped from the tub. Then he pulled her forward and flattened her wet body against his chest. He didn’t seem to care that she was soaking him as he bent his head and claimed her mouth.
For that moment she was his. And she forced herself to forget everything else as he gathered her up and carried her to the bed where he would claim her over and over for the rest of the night.
CHAPTER 12
In truth, Ripley hadn’t expected Jane to discuss their painful conversation. It wasn’t in her nature to do so, and since she was already drowning in so many fears and responsibilities over her sister, he hadn’t pushed.
So they’d made love and eaten the food he’d brought up for her and then done it all again. It was as if what had been said at supper never happened.
And now he observed her across the carriage seat, watching her worry her hands in her lap as she stared out the window like she could find her sister faster if she caught the first glimpse of the seminary where Nora had been last seen. She hadn’t looked at him for the past three-quarters of an hour. She was putting up walls, balling up her pain in a place he couldn’t reach. It broke his heart.
“There it is,” she breathed.
He leaned forward to look. There was a big manor rising in the distance. It was impressive, that was for certain, with gabled windows and spires.
“I’ll want to speak to Miss Knightly, the headmistress,” she said. “The awful woman who wrote me the letter about Nora being missing.”
The color was gone from her cheeks and he took her hand. She glanced at him. “I’ll be there,” he said.
She worried her lip and he was brought back to a moment the previous night when he’d done the same, nipping her there while she rippled around his cock in orgasm.
“May I…would you mind if I repeat the lie you told the innkeeper yesterday?”
He swallowed hard. “You mean that you’re my wife?”
She nodded. “Miss Knightly may not know exactly what I am…was. She never would have allowed my sister to attend her seminary if she had, but she’s always judged me regardless. She might be easier if she sees me in the respectability of a marriage.”
He tried not to let his heart race at the idea of her as his wife, just as he’d struggled to do the previous day, and merely said, “I understand. Mrs. Ripley you’ll be and I’ll do all I can to smooth the interaction.”
“Thank you,” she gasped out, her relief obvious. Her hand fluttered as if she wished to take his, but she kept it in her lap and they were silent as the carriage stopped on the large circular drive before the school. He stepped out first and guided her from the carriage. She stared up into his face and she was so pale that all he wanted to do was sweep her up and rush her off to safety.
Only he couldn’t. So he merely tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow and said, “We will find her, Jane.”
And he hoped that promise wouldn’t be another lie that would break her heart and soul.
Jane picked at a loose thread on her sleeve as she and Ripley sat in a small parlor where they’d been placed after asking to see Miss Knightly. She could hear the soft voices of young women talking and giggling in the hallways. She could see more of them outside on the grounds. She shook her head. Would she even recognize Nora if she saw her out there? After all, she hadn’t seen her sister for years. She wasn’t a little girl anymore.
The door to the parlor opened and Miss Knightly entered the room. She was a tall woman with sleek black hair pulled back tightly in a bun. She had a severe face, all hard angles and lines that commanded respect.
“I was not expecting you,” the woman said with no preamble as Jane staggered to her feet. Ripley did the same, though with much more ease. “It is a breach of good manners, Miss Kendall.”
