One Night to Remember (3 page)

“But you see, it is my life to spend how I choose.”

Thomas didn’t see. Not one bit. Miss Scott couldn’t have been more than twenty five years old. How could a woman as stunning as she, with her whole life ahead of her, risk it all for a measly place setting and a handful of bills?

As silence stretched between them, Thomas felt a low throb in his gut. One that warned he was digging too deep. Although he wouldn’t admit it aloud, least of all to Miss Scott, there was honor behind her words and nobility behind her thievery.

How had his view of her changed so quickly?

“You’re not going to let me leave, are you?” she said quietly.

He stood upright and dropped his gaze to the floor. It was as cold and hard as his heart. “I don’t know yet.”

“Then what are you planning to do with me?”

When his gaze met hers, he caught sight of something more. A glimmer in her eyes. A playfulness that wasn’t there before.

“I told you I haven’t decided yet.” Thomas strode to the basin that was nestled into a mahogany hutch behind him. He poured water onto his hands patted his cheeks. Damn, it was hot in here. Stifling even.

He didn’t hear Miss Scott approach. But he felt her fingers traipse up his back. “That’s not what I meant.”

He met her eyes in the oval mirror above the sink. Her gaze was dark with desire, all traces of playfulness gone.

“If you think teasing me like this will get you out of those cuffs you are sorely mistaken.”

She nudged him in the shoulder with her bound wrists, spinning him around to face her. “If you think I’m teasing you to be released from these cuffs,” she said, “then you do not think me a lady at all. I have simply seen something I want…is it wrong of me to go after it?”

Bloody hell.

Thomas swallowed hard and leaned back against the hutch. His views toward Miss Scott may have changed, but he still had a job to do. A task to see to completion. The Master at Arms would have to be notified of the theft. Lady Grace would surely have reported her purse missing by now…how would he explain having the clutch in his possession with the money missing?

“How about this,” Miss Scott said, biting her bottom lip in the most playfully erotic way. “Let us pretend I am a lady—an upstanding citizen from Boston—sailing first class on the Titanic. And let us say you work on this fine ship. Should we have met in the corridor under different circumstances, face to face, eye to eye, would you have given me your hand and introduced yourself?”

“Aye.” Little did Miss Scott know, Thomas had fully intended to introduce himself after dinner. Had Thomas been at liberty to escort first class ladies on deck, he would have asked her to accompany him on a walk around the promenade. “How could I have let you pass me by?”

“If I had smiled and said that you were the most handsome man I’d seen in all my days, what would you have done?”

His heart pounded hard, thumping through his ears. “Miss Scott, I hardly think—”

“Elizabeth,” she corrected. “If you were bold, you’d call me Elizabeth.”

“If I were bold, yes.” A war raged in Thomas’s middle. He wanted to dive into her mouth and ghost his hands over her body. He wanted to sink into her, and take what she was offering. But he was bound by duty. He was a seaman responsible to the shipping company. Excuse after excuse assailed his mind. What a coward he was. “If I was bold, Miss Elizabeth, there are a lot of things I’d be doing.”

“Well then…” She licked her lips, settling the pink tip of her tongue in the corner. “Let us pretend that you are bold and I am more than taken by you. Let us pretend that we are secluded within the four walls of this stateroom and whatever happens within these walls stays here.” She paused and Thomas could’ve sworn her breath hitched. “What would you do to me then?”

His control snapped clean like a twig. “This.”

He tunneled his fingers through her hair, caught the back of her neck, and dragged her lips to his. She moaned into his mouth, her lips going pliant as he tilted her head to the side to deepen the kiss. Her tongue brushed along his, tasting, teasing. The expertise of her mouth lured him in. Invited him deeper. Tied his insides into one big knot.

She whimpered as she leaned against him, giving him all her weight. And as her teeth hooked his bottom lip, Thomas’s stomach dropped to his boots. Miss Scott—Elizabeth—knew exactly what she wanted and went after it.

She was bold, determined, and knew exactly how to seduce a man who knew what he wanted but didn’t yet have the courage to take it.

As Elizabeth masterfully swirled her tongue along his, Thomas tasted hints of vanilla and smoky wine. He feasted on her mouth, matching her stroke for stroke. She tasted like wild abandon. Like sailing turbulent seas with nothing but a prayer and a broken compass. She was golden opportunity wrapped with a shiny red bow of promise.

When he boarded the ship in Southampton, he was ready to fulfill his duty. He was not ready for the likes of Miss Elizabeth Scott.

Pulling back, he said, “Let me release you,” and looked to her bound wrists. The last thing Thomas wanted was for Elizabeth to feel like she was a prisoner in his bed. She didn’t have to do anything she didn’t want to do.

“No, I think not.” Elizabeth licked a slow line across the crease of his lips. “But you’d be wise to lock that door.”

He’d completely forgotten! He shared his stateroom with two other seamen. If they came barging in at the wrong moment, this
fling
—or whatever it was—could land him in the brig. Lucky for him, they were on duty until eleven thirty. Although Thomas had worked his shift earlier in the afternoon, he was scheduled to relieve their position on the bridge. If he didn’t get there in time, they’d know something was up…

He checked his watch. Ten twenty.

Thomas’s insides balled into a fist when he realized he wouldn’t be able to take his time. They’d have to hurry a bit so she wouldn’t be discovered leaving the stateroom.

Is that what he’d do when they were finished? Thomas wondered. Let her walk out? Would he really let her go free, knowing full well that she’d steal again given the chance?

He dared say he would…with or without the encounter they were about to have.

By the time he’d locked the door, Elizabeth was standing near the rich oak bed, her hands crossed in front of her. Glowing gold hair fanned across her shoulders in a naturally sexy, disheveled way and her cheeks had taken on a rosy blush. Her lips were flushed and a bit swollen and if Thomas wasn’t mistaken, curving a bit at the corners.

From one look, one glimpse of Elizabeth standing beside his bed, Thomas wondered how he’d ever look at another woman the same. She would spoil him for all others, he was sure. This woman with the hands of a thief, a heart of gold, and the body of a goddess…

Though he’d only lived a short thirty years on this earth, Thomas was certain there was no other woman who could match Elizabeth’s beauty, inside or out.

CHAPTER FOUR

Elizabeth didn’t know what to make of Thomas McGuire or the rumblings inside her when they touched.

Before boarding the Titanic, Elizabeth had lived her life as a bit of a daredevil, taking on adventures others thought too risky. She’d been searching for something worth fighting for. Something that would boil the blood in her veins and rile up her defenses. Since stepping foot on board, she’d stolen from a handful of first class passengers and thought not much of it.

Never—not once—had a single spark of exhilaration ever fired in her middle. Not like this.

From one smoldering touch, Thomas sent heat flashing to Elizabeth’s center and flurries of excitement to her core. When his lips pressed against hers, she felt…
alive
. More so than she ever had before.

“What now?” he asked, once he’d turned from the door. His face was pale, nearly matching the whiteness of his dress shirt. He looked anxious, but it suited him well. His square jaw was clenched, ticking by his temple. And his lips were pressed tight.

He was a challenge. A tightly wound ball of nerves that Elizabeth couldn’t wait to unravel.

“Now you kiss me,” she said, and held her breath.

He covered the length of the room quickly, his strong hands cupping her neck as he pulled her against him. She arched back, letting the pleasure of his kiss overtake her.

Beneath the prim and proper suit, hidden under layers of stifling responsibility, was a man that made Elizabeth’s heart beat fast. She could feel power surging beneath the surface of his rigid persona.

If only she could unleash it…

He kissed her hard and urgent, sealing them together from mouth to chest to hip. Flickers of heat licked through her body as he held her firm and drew her close. His tongue dove deep in her mouth, weakening her knees and clouding her mind. She kissed him back, hungry to fuel the fire he’d started in her middle.

While he planted one hand on the small of her back and angled her into him, the other found her breast.

“Yes?” he breathed against her mouth, his fingers dancing around the lace top of her corset.

She nodded fast, struggling to find the air to speak. “Yes.”

Moving with more control than Elizabeth thought possible, Thomas guided her onto the bed and situated himself beside her. Palming her stomach, he laid her back and lifted her arms over her head, then ever so slowly, pulled down the top of her dress.

She ached for his mouth to smear kisses across her skin. Yearned for the sensations to continue spiraling down her body.

As his mouth found her breast, she moaned and laid her head back.

Yes
. This is exactly what she’d wanted and so much more.

His tongue swirled around her nipple, fast at first, hungry and desperate. Then his control snapped back into place like a steel trap. He licked her nipple slower. Slower still. Until he was licking the pink tip with long, thick draws.

He was liable to drive her mad.

Chills shot across her chest and radiated through her body, gathering at her center. Her legs squirmed beneath the light folds of her gown, anxious for his hand to find her wet and wanting.

As if he could sense her passion rising, Thomas caught her mouth and slid his tongue past her lips. Between the sweetness of his mouth and the spicy scent of his cologne, Elizabeth lost herself in him. The delicious weight of his body. The breath punching out of his lungs. His heart marching in time with hers.

She’d never felt more aware of another person in all her life.

Exploring her body with increased fervor, Thomas palmed her breasts. Clutched at the material covering her waist. And finally, when Elizabeth thought she couldn’t wait a second longer, Thomas ruffled up the bottom of her dress and slid his hand along the smooth length of her thigh.

Gooseflesh scampered across her skin, following the path of his fingers.

“You’re not wearing undergarments.” The baritone of his voice strained.

“No.” She trembled. “I find them restricting.”

Thomas’s body went rigid. Tight as a steel rod. Muscles bulged out of his shirt. His jaw ticked faster, accelerating the pulse that throbbed on his neck.

Maybe leaving her hands bound wasn’t such a good idea after all. She couldn’t touch him the way she wanted to. And good Lord in heaven, did she want to. She could soothe that pulse on his jaw. Rub her hand over the stubble of his chin. She could stroke him over his trousers and make him harden to stone in her hand.

He sucked in a short breath as his hand found her center, wet with desire. His gaze drifted to hers, heavy lidded and…painful. He groaned and slowly pushed a finger inside her. She bucked as his palm met the mound between her legs and gasped when he leaned over her, pressing his chest against hers.

With each stroke of his finger against her most sensitive flesh, his tongue slipped into her mouth, driving her on, urging her to arch against him. She kissed him hard. Opening up wide. Letting her legs fall open as tingling sensations crept in.

“I want more,” he said, nipping at her lower lip.

She arched her hips up in answer. “Then take more.”

“At your request, miss.”

He heeled off his boots and removed his pants. He worked quickly, settling at the foot of the bed before Elizabeth had time to assist with her gown. Pushing her dress over her waist, Thomas spread her legs, and using both hands, arched her knees up. Instead of meeting her hip to hip, Thomas dove down headfirst.

“What are you—” she began, and hissed when he put his mouth on her.

Shock nearly jerked Elizabeth off the bed. No one had ever kissed her that way before. It was devious. Wicked in nature.

She’d never felt anything more wonderful.

His mouth was hot and wet, his tongue a firefly that shimmered in and out of her. She went languid, her knees weak and shivering against his ears. As she cried out, her hands wrapping around his head, Thomas pulled back, glaring at her over a mound of flaming lace and chiffon.

“Your hands, Miss Scott.” He licked her once. A quick flick of his tongue that shot a lightning bolt of lust through her stomach. “Above your head.”

Breath hitching, heart racing, Elizabeth did as instructed, lying them on the pillow behind her.

His tongue plunged into her core, ripping the air from her lungs. Alternating swift licks with slow, lazy circles, Thomas drove Elizabeth wild. She thrashed against the sheets, a hollow ache buzzing in her middle. She needed the pressure of his body over hers again. She needed his hands on her body and his tongue in her mouth.

If he continued to tease her this way, the dull throb in her center would peak and soothe away before she had time to truly savor it. The sensations bubbling through her were foreign and glorious. He—they—couldn’t stop…not yet.

This time it was Elizabeth who wanted more.

“Please,” she said, moving her hips against his mouth. “Take me.”

No words were needed. The instant she opened her mouth, Thomas slid up her body and sheathed himself inside her in one smooth stroke. He held her gaze every inch of the way, drenching himself to the hilt, stretching her to the fullest. When Elizabeth thought he couldn’t push inside her any more—that he may’ve been too large to fit—their hips met, setting off an explosion inside her.