“I love you,” he swore. “Always have, always will...”
God only knew—how long had she waited to hear those words? How much grief had she suffered and caused for them? Her eyes were liquid with tears as she gazed up into his face. At last she was unafraid to face the truth, unafraid to give her love, and her heart swelled with joy unlike any she’d ever known. “And I,” she whispered fiercely, “have always, always, loved you, too!”
He lifted a brow. “Always?”
She wrapped her arms about his neck and drew his face down to hers. “I love you, Christian... and yes,” she murmured, “always.”
“And?” He kissed her throat with promise.
For a moment Jessie couldn’t speak, didn’t understand what it was he was asking, and then she did at last, and sighed contentedly. “Yes, my lord, I can see myself as mistress here.”
“Gators and all?”
Jessie shuddered. “Nay,” she said with a wan smile and a trace of good humor, “those, you must send away!”
He grinned. “And if I cannot?”
She sighed. “Well, then... I suppose I shall have to learn to live with them, after all!”
“Ah,” he said waggishly, “then you do love me!” His smile deepened and he chuckled with unbridled pleasure as he lowered her to the bed.
EPILOGUE
“Jessamine!”
Jessie laughed as she bolted across the bedroom. Her slender body thoroughly enshrouded within the sheets from their bed, she ignored her husband’s lighthearted rebuke. He feigned a charge, but she dodged him easily enough, despite the fact that she tripped over the tail of her blanket. She had the distinct suspicion her husband was merely allowing her to escape him, for he might have overtaken her any number of times already. He dove suddenly, tackling the floor instead of her legs, and Jessie scrambled towards the bed, laughing, tripping over her white train and landing unceremoniously upon the bed.
She stood at once, shifting her weight from foot to foot as though to leap away, but Christian merely sat upon the floor, watching her, his eyes twinkling and his sensual lips curving with unconcealed pleasure. “Jessie, love, ‘tis been months now... There is nothing you would hide from me that I’ve not already seen. Come,” he coaxed, his voice turning husky. “Spare my bones the chase.”
“Nay,” she said with an impish smile, “you mistake me, for I’ve no wish to hide a’tall.”
To prove her point, she suddenly dropped the sheets from her body. They slid slowly down the length of her, and she sighed at the way her husband watched so hungrily. “’Tis simply that I would have you listen to me... now... before neither of us can think clearly any longer.”
He chuckled at her brazenness. “And so you would torture me that I might listen to you?” Jessie nodded, and he laughed outright. “How very cruel of you, you little vixen. Very well, I’m completely at your mercy. Still... I think I should make you a sweet little bargain, if you would.” He rose, approached the bed cautiously, and perched upon the edge. When she remained, looking interested, he reached out to stroke her bare calf with his fingers.
Jessie’s heartbeat quickened as he caressed her; his fingers moved slowly up her thigh. Trying not to forget herself with the pleasure his touch promised, she said breathlessly, “The bargain, husband?”
He flashed her a roguish grin and lifted a devilish brow. “Sit here upon my lap, so that I might pleasure you while you speak your mind.”
She seemed skeptical, so he snatched her into his arms, and cradled her within his lap. His fingers skimmed her belly as he whispered into her ear, “Now, speak to me, if you would... if you can...”
“You take unfair advantage! I cannot think when you touch me so!”
He flashed her a satisfied smile. “If I torture you, my lovely wife, then I torture myself all the more, for I want nothing more this instant than to lay you back upon this bed of ours and love you madly. Are you certain you wish to talk?” He raised his brows in question.
Jessie smiled coyly. “Alas,” she replied, sighing dramatically, “but we must, you see.” She hesitated a moment, and announced, “I wish you to speak with Jean Paul today.”
“God’s bloody teeth! Not this again!” He made to drop her.
“Nay! But he’s your father!” she protested at once, and he lifted her up. “I shall never understand the two of you—both of you aware the other knows, but neither willing to admit the truth of the matter! Really! I simply cannot comprehend such mulishness!”
“Can you not?” he asked with a crinkle at the corners of his eyes. He sighed then. “Aye, I shall speak to him, in due time. And ’tis you who is the stubborn one, I fear, for bringing this up yet again.” He winked at her to soften his rebuke, and murmured, smacking her thigh, “Even so,mon amour, je t’aime.”
Jessie waved a hand at him crossly, scarcely missing the tip of his nose. “And I love you! But there’s no more time! I’d have my children know their grandsire for who he is, and not merely as your captain. You must tell him!” She cocked her head at him then, narrowing her eyes. “Do you take my meaning?”
He froze. “Are you?” She nodded. “Now?”
She smiled. “I cannot believe you’ve failed to notice!”
