Linna : Historical Romance (The Brocade Collection, Book 5) (22 page)

Then she sat back.

Her breasts had never felt so swollen and raw, her nipples straining impatiently against the silk; her scalp tingled with the rivulet of shivers, while her legs twitched spasmodically. She watched a slow smile cross his face, before he reached out the tip of his tongue and licked at the moisture she’d just put on his lips. Then he opened his eyes, taking his time as if he were bracing himself for what he’d find.

Gray-green surrounded the brown at the center, although she could swear it was nearer black
. Linna absorbed the shock wave as it crashed into the pit of her stomach and sucked in one breath after another before remembering to let them back out. She’d never seen such raw need in her life. She wondered if that’s what was on her face, too.

“It’s a good thing I’m needed topside,” he said, as if the words were torn from him
. “Or I’m not so certain I’d be keeping to our bargain.”

“I
—.”

“Don’t say a word
. Not one.”

“But
—.”

“And don’t do that again unless you’re ready for the consequences
. Damn good and ready.”  He didn’t wait for her gasp before spinning to shove the door open. He was gone before it slammed back into position.

Linna threw herself onto the coverlet, hugged the towel to her eyes, and only thought about weeping
. Her body wasn’t interested in crying. It was alive, over-heated, and bothersome in the extreme. She shoved herself from the bed, pulled the silk over her head, and used the towel’s dampness to soothe her skin. Her nerve endings were raw with want. Her back was tight with it. The juncture of her thighs was on fire, and nothing was working. Damn him! Double damn him! She tossed back her head, feeling the ends of her freshly-washed hair tickling her own backside, and even that felt carnal and wanton and lushly provocative. She knew what she needed, and she knew who she needed. What she didn’t know was what to do about it.

Linna bent over, wrapped her arms about her own body and howled with how inadequate it all was.

And that was the view Simons got when he pulled the door open to hand her a breakfast tray.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“Do you know what I want?”  Gray-green eyes blended into blackness
.

“Yes,” she whispered, panting with the stupid use of breath, when she needed all of it to continue living
.

“
And you’re going to give it to me.”  He wasn’t actually asking it.

Say no, Linna
! “Yes,” she whispered again.

“That’s good
. That’s very good.” 

The tip of his tongue darted out to wet his lips
. Linna started shivering the moment she saw it. The man had too many weapons at his disposal for her to fight.

“Do you want to know why?” he asked.

“Yes.”  The word came in a panted breath, just as the others had been. Linna watched his eyebrows raise, bringing the crease across his forehead into existence. She had to command her hand not to reach for the ever-present lock of sable-dark hair that fell over it.

“Because I would have taken it otherwise.”

She gasped, burning her lungs and making the edge of the banquet-sized table shift and sway, until it turned into the edge of the cot she lay on.

Linna lifted her head from the pallet in the little cabin with a mixture of surprise and dismay
. Oh no. No. Now she was dreaming of him...of that?

The sun was past its zenith and Linna stretched
. She hadn’t meant to sleep quite this long, but it had felt good. She felt rested. She also felt stiff and sore, and she was thirsty. She wondered if she had water leftover since Simons probably wouldn’t be seeing to her needs. Not after the display he’d seen this morning. That had to be what was causing her distress and embarrassment. It certainly couldn’t be the dream.

Stop lying to yourself, Linna
.

Even now, with the door held by the leather thong and dressed in a prim and proper traveling ensemble of a brown tweed skirt, a brown vest of the same material, and a large-sleeved blouse that buttoned clear from her lower abdomen to the base of her chin, she still felt every inch of her aroused state against every single thread.

She groaned and slid to the edge of the bunk, in order to reach the floor. She knew it was arousal. She was getting very good at recognizing the signs. She didn’t need to have Simons point it out.

She looked toward the door
,  scrunched her face, and knew she was blushing again. Damn the little man anyway. He was a horrible little toad! And he’d seen the emotion she’d been hiding. He hadn’t liked it one bit. Not one.

“Perhaps you should learn what to do with
your man when you have him, Mistress Larket,” he’d told her, in a tight, little voice that matched the indignation evident in his every pore.

“Put the tray down and go.”  She’d covered herself as quickly as possible, using the bedding
as a wrap.   

He’d ignored her request
. “You wouldn’t be standing, begging for it, if you’d given it to him. Stupid girl.”

She’d tossed her head and faced him
. “Maybe that’s the way he likes to leave me, Simons,” she’d pouted prettily at him and watched him gulp. “It makes the reunion that much more...savage. That’s a good word,
n’es pas
?”

The look of impotent fury on his face had been worth it, and she’d rid herself of him at the same time
. It had actually been an auspicious moment, even if it was still enough to make her cower in embarrassment.

Well, her interaction with Simons had been hours ago, the tweed was too hot a fabric for sitting all day in an airless cabin, and she hadn’t had anything to eat since
then. All because Cord was loose somewhere on the ship, and she wasn’t strong enough for another encounter. She hadn’t known loving somebody was so hard to hide!

Linna looked at the door, then stuck her tongue out at it and watched as it tried to open
. Before she could reach it and get the hemp thong off, it burst. Linna pulled her tongue back in at the sight of her husband. He was carrying a delicious-smelling pot in one hand and a bucket in the other. Linna stepped back until the cot edge stopped her.

“That was stupid,” Cord muttered, setting down his pail
. “Now we have no privacy.”

“We won’t need it much longer
. I’m ready to depart, as you can see.”

“We’re not docked yet
. We still have to get through the shoals. It’s tricky, especially at low tide. We have to wait. Here, take your sup.”

She took the pot from him, tried to find a place for it, and then just held it.

“You should put your bed up before I get here. I might get ideas.”

He angled himself past her and lifted the cot-thing back into its slot
. Linna kept her back against the opposite wall and watched him.

“I don’t know about what,” she answered evenly.

He turned his head and raked a glance from her head to her toes and back again. Despite her every effort, Linna felt the reaction as if he’d actually touched her. The pot trembled, showing all of it, too.

“
I would say it’s the same thing you dressed to avoid.” 

Linna lifted her arms, holding the pot betwe
en them. Cord looked down at it before returning to her face. “Chicken and dumplings. Simons is a good cook. Damn good. Don’t throw it. Here.”

He bent sideways and pulled her trunk out to give her a perch
. Linna sat before her legs gave out.

“So...when are we leaving?”

“In the morning. Maybe later. Why? You in a hurry?”

“I
—.” 
I can’t spend another night in this little cubicle with you!

He waited for her to finish and when she didn’t, he went to the door to re-tie the strap together over the peg
. Linna dropped her eyes to her sup. There was a spoon hooked into the pot lid. She used it to open the steaming repast.

“Is that a no or a yes?” he asked the door.

“There isn’t much here,” she answered, looking at the remnants of two dumplings and perhaps a cup of stew.

“As little as you eat
? I’ll be surprised if you manage that.”

“What about
—? Just what do you think you’re doing?”

Cord didn’t unbutton his shirt
. He lifted his arms and yanked it over his head. Linna was amazed her voice came out at all. He stopped the motion of pulling it off his arms and looked her over.

“Sponge bath
. You don’t have to watch. I look forward to a real one, don’t you?”

“You aren’t going...to bathe...in here
? Are you?”  Her voice stumbled. If she’d made the mistake of tasting her sup, she’d have choked on it.

She deserved the look of contempt he threw her
. She knew it as well as he did. “I’ve bathed here before. You should know. You handled it. And I didn’t hear any weren’t complaining.”

“You...were ill then.”

“Right. Eat your sup, Linna.”

“You expect me to eat while you
—you—.”

“While I bathe
? Yeah. Exactly that. Does everything have to be a fight with you?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“Why? There’s much more pleasant ways to spend time. Like eating. I already told you it was good. Try tasting it. You’ll see. You don’t have to fight.”

“Yes I do.”

“Why?”

Because I love you
!
She did, too. Even with what he was and who he was. Even if her love wasn’t returned. That part was the worst. It’s why she’d been crying. The realization stunned her. Linna blinked rapidly and swallowed and was rewarded as her eyes cleared.        

“I can’t hear you,” he answered, as if she’d spoken aloud.

“I don’t...want you,” she whispered.

She watched a nerve jerk in his jaw before he answered
. “You know, I’ve been thinking about this game we’re playing. I’ve decided to change the rules.”

“What game?” she asked.

“You don’t want me. You don’t desire me. You don’t want to be with me. You wish I’d sleep elsewhere. Am I right so far?”

“Yes.” 

“And whatever I do, you’re not going to want me or desire me or want to be in my company, right?”

Linna gulped on her own reaction
. It would help if he weren’t standing there, taking up more than his share of the room, exhibiting bare chest, muscled shoulders, and his torso with the little line of hair gesturing downward toward parts that were hidden...

Stop it, Linna
! She forced her eyes to move to his face. She gave him her most level look but couldn’t hold it. The wall behind him was safer. She moved her view to that.

“Well?” he asked.

“Right,” she lied.   

“
Good. I’ll move on. Since I can’t touch you, any contact between us has to be at your instigation. Am I right again?”

“There won’t be any,” she answered and moved back to his face.

“Oh. Sounds like you got the rules. I’m not going to touch you. I’m not going to go near you. And you’ll do the same with me. Fair enough?”

“Perfect,” she responded.

“One of us is going to lose here. Do you want to hedge a bet before we begin?”

She opened her mouth to reply but nothing came
. The longer he’d spoken the harder all of it was to hide. Little rivulets of sensation were coursing right to her breasts, making her nipples painfully rigid against the material. She didn’t have to see it. She only hoped the brown tweed was covering it successfully since she’d worn it for that reason. His next words shattered that notion.

“All you have to do is say the word, Linna love.” 

His low whisper made even more shivers join in at the backs of her knees and Linna ground her teeth. “What word?”

“My release.”

“Never,” she answered.

He smiled, but his eyes didn’t
. They remained dark and unreadable. “Just making certain of my facts, Ma’am.”  He pulled the shirt from his lower arms and dropped it to the floor.

“I have better things to do than play your game.”

“I know you do. You’ve got your supper to eat.”

“Exactly,” she answered.

“So, get eating.”

“I’m going to pretend you don’t exist, Mister Larket.”  Linna swiveled on her trunk and faced the wall
. She forced herself to concentrate at fishing a bite of stew out and tasting it. Cord was right. Simons was a very good cook.

“Fair enough.”

She heard the whisper of cloth as it probably passed his legs, clinging to his muscled calves…or maybe he was having trouble getting his trousers down his thighs. He shouldn’t wear them so tight. He should have them made larger. No man had to wear his clothing molded to every nuance of him, every rock-hard bulge, every—

Stop it, Linna
! She forced herself to taste another bite. She eased the top button of her blouse open with a surreptitious hand. She told herself she had to. The motion of swallowing against the collar was threatening to choke her. She stopped at the third button down, smoothed the placket back into place over her bosom, and took another bite.

The sound of a splash made the bite stick to the roof of her mouth
. She had to tongue it back down. He could splash all he liked, she wasn’t going to look!

Linna forced herself to chew, to swallow
. Take another bite. Chew. Swallow. Then another bite. Another.

No splashing, in such a long time
? What was he up to now?

Linna cocked her head just a bit, making certain it was done without any perceptible motion and slid her eyes to him
. She released the breath when she saw he was still wore trousers. Linna looked back to her meal before she thought another thing. She was not disappointed that he was still dressed. She wasn’t! She was annoyed because he was so stupid. He had his head completely soaped, and the mess of it was making streams of suds run down his chest to leave dark, wet trails on his pants. She wondered how he was going to rinse that off and tipped her head to see.

He wasn’t having much trouble with it, after all
. He simply bent down and went head-first into the pail, making an even bigger mess on the shirt he’d tossed to the floor when he pulled back up.

He looked over at her, and Linna couldn’t even gasp her dismay at being caught, she couldn’t move
. He had water dripping everywhere, and he wasn’t blinking. Then he twisted his lips and winked at her.

“Oh!” 

That zapped her out of her paralysis. Linna turned away with such a vicious effort, her chin hit the corner of the washstand. Cord’s laughter rang out, adding to her distress, but he wasn’t going to know of it! She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. She refused to. Linna blinked rapidly at the tears that swelled until they were absorbed back where they came from.