Silver Sea (19 page)

"So have I," Lady Clair admitted. She propped an elbow on the table and cupped her chin.

"Would you mind if I bid you all good night? It's been a very busy day." Adrienne pushed her chair back.

Following her to the door, Huntsford hovered, wondering what she was thinking. "You haven't forgotten our engagement on Tuesday? I hope you won't change your mind—"

"No... although I don't know what Mr. Essex will say. As long as he believes I am in danger, he doesn't like to let me out of his sight."

"Didn't I protect you today?" Huntsford was agitated, but tried to censor himself. Soon enough he'd put his plan into action, and then the tables should turn.

"Yes, you protected me splendidly." Smiling, Adrienne added, "I am grateful, and so very sleepy. Listen to the clock; it is midnight! Good night, Huntsford." With that, she slipped out the door. Carrying a chamberstick, she let the candle's sputtering flame guide her up the back staircase.

On the landing, a window was open to admit wafts of fragrant night air. The breeze extinguished Adrienne's candle but ignited the passions she'd kept in check all evening.

All her pulse points throbbed with anticipation. During the hours of cards with Huntsford and his friends, Adrienne had dreamed of what she would do later. And now, later had come. She'd been feeling wild all day, particularly since her scene with Nathan on the cathedral grounds, and the claret had emboldened her further.

Adrienne was tired of behaving herself, tired of reining in her passions. And, in her heart, she knew that Nathan felt the same. She'd seen the fire in his eyes that very afternoon, and his fingers had sent currents of heat through her body. Something had to give. Tonight.

* * *

Before he opened his eyes, Raveneau could smell jasmine, sweet and heavy on the warm air that lapped through the window opposite his bed.

He'd heard something, but perhaps it had come from outside. Years as the captain of his own ship had refined his ability to come awake immediately, with his senses alive.

What had it been? A dream? Nathan nearly let himself sink back into a cushion of sleep but managed first to open his eyes. Moonlight, silvery white and laced with garden scents, washed over his bed. Through the shimmery haze, Raveneau saw Adrienne.

Visionlike, she stood near enough to touch. Her hair was loose, the cognac-hued curls spilling over her pale shoulders, framing her exquisite face. She was wearing white lawn. Soft as gossamer, the gown was diaphanous. Nathan soundlessly drew breath at the sight of her body outlined against the moonlight, curving in a way that made his groin clench with need.

Adrienne hesitated, thinking. She had been about to steal into his bed, but now, clearly, he was awake and as moments passed, Nathan's eyes opened wider and he slowly rose on one elbow. It was a warm night; he was naked down to the white sheet that rippled across his belly and hid the rest of him.

Often she had wondered about his body, but it was more splendid than her virginal imaginings. He was dark against the bedclothes. The muscled contours of his shoulders, chest, and arms drew her eyes, and then mysterious feelings tightened inside Adrienne's body. Little hairs stood up on the back of her neck. Looking at his shadowed face, she found it hard to breathe, and the sight of Nathan's appealing mussed black hair caused her to stretch out a hand.

"What's wrong?" he said softly. "Are you in danger?"

She flushed. "No. I came—to be with you."

His voice turned rough. "You are mad."

"No." Kneeling on the edge of his bed, she slid her fingers into his shining hair. "Not mad."

"Go back to your own room. I am not a treat you can demand at will—like a hand-painted fan—"

Adrienne nearly laughed aloud at his audacity. Bending near his shoulder, she murmured, "If you imagine that you can deter me with insults, be warned that I am too smart for your tricks."

"No? They always worked before." He bit back a smile.

"It's time for the games to end, don't you think? I have the feelings of a woman, and I want them resolved."

"Oh. Good God." She smelled enchanting. When Adrienne trailed her hand through the crisp dark hair covering his chest, Nathan groaned. It had been long weeks since he'd been with any woman, and more and more he hungered for this impossible minx. "Adrienne..."

"Oh." Inexplicably, tears crowded her throat. "Yes!" She slid into his open arms and found that lying against Nathan's male body was bliss in itself. He felt unyielding yet warm and welcoming. It seemed that she belonged there, and both of them knew it. "Nathan, ever since that night in the garden—"

"Damn. I know." The words burned his throat. If she made him talk, he'd have to think, and that wouldn't do. "Shh." He caressed the lines of her back and bottom through the lawn nightgown. Adrienne, incurably impetuous, crawled higher, wound her arms round his neck,
and
began to kiss him. It was a bold experiment. With her tongue touching his and her breasts crushed against his chest, Nathan felt as if he were drowning in a sea of passion. He found the hem of her gown and pulled upward. She moaned.

Trouble, trouble, a voice warned Nathan from deep inside. Physical need had a louder voice, however.

"Oh, oh, you taste delicious," Adrienne managed to whisper. She found herself making little sounds that she didn't recognize, but they didn't seem to bother him a bit. He held her hard against him with one hand, while the other found its way under her nightgown and cupped her backside. Just the sensation of his powerful hand, inches from the source of her need, made her suddenly hotter and moister. She had an urge to push against him but didn't know what it meant.

"You're certain—" Nathan drew back for a moment, staring into her eyes, and the fire flared brighter between them. "If you're not, just say so."

"I want you. I want this more than anything in the world."

If he'd been in his right mind, Raveneau would have taken those words as a strong warning, but he couldn't think. He rolled Adrienne over into the pillows and tugged the gown over her head. His gaze was like a brand, searing the halo of moonlit hair around her face and the irresistible curves of her breasts and hips. He hardly dared look lower in search of the place he wanted to be so much it hurt...

"You are too, too beautiful."

"No," she argued, "you are." The sight of him braced above her was frighteningly stirring. Adrienne splayed her hands over his chest and felt her own nipples tighten in response. Her eyes strayed lower, and she glimpsed his manhood, poised in the shadows like a weapon. Indeed, she had never imagined—

Nathan kissed her slowly, savoring each sweet touch of their tongues. He used his lips like warm feathers, brushing the hollows of her face, her throat, her inner arms, and between her fingers. Adrienne's muted groans became less human-sounding. He feasted gently on each of her breasts, alternately suckling and teasing, until she arched against him and nearly climaxed without understanding. His own need was almost beyond bearing.

She opened her thighs to him in welcome. He touched her and she shuddered, panting.

"Christ, you're wet—"

"Please, Nathan." She savored his name. "Nathan... Essex."

Raveneau had never wanted anything more in his life than to be inside Adrienne. He wanted something beyond mating, and the strength of that need, coupled with the sound of a false name, worked on him like a bucket of ice. Everything else rushed over him then: his obligation to protect her, his promise to Nicholai to keep his daughter virtuous until her twenty-first birthday, and the harsh realization that Adrienne might well be in love with him. No, not with
him
... Nathan Essex.

What would the dawn bring? If he continued and met his immediate needs, Nathan would have a new set of problems on the morrow. Serious problems. Once a man's word was broken and his honor discarded, what good was he?

"I can't."

"Yes! I'll help you."

Her soft hand, reaching downward, was like a flame to be avoided at all costs. "That sort of help is
not
what I need." He pushed himself away, out of danger. Lying beside Adrienne, he smoothed back her hair. She was staring at him in disbelief. "Thank God I came to my senses."

"Wh-what are you talking about? I don't understand!" She scrambled toward him, but he caught her wrists. For a moment, there was only the sound of her fierce breathing, and then she spoke sharply. "Have you taken vows? Are you a man of the cloth?"

"Of course not."

"Then what the devil do you mean? How dare you speak of coming to your senses!"

"Kindly lower your voice before the entire house hears us!" No longer apologetic, Nathan took Adrienne by her shoulders, pushed her on her back, and glared down at her, every muscle in his body taut as he crouched on the bedclothes. "I am trying to remind you, Miss Beauvisage, that I am in the employ of your father, and it would be a breech of his trust if I were to plant my seed in his daughter! Perhaps you don't give these matters as much thought—"

"Ohh! I hate you!"

"Haven't we had this conversation before? Numerous times, in fact?"

"I'll say it again then! I despise you!" To Adrienne's fury, he silenced her by covering her mouth with his hand. She in turn sank her teeth into as much of his palm as she could get hold of, but he didn't budge.

"I'd quit that if I were you," he suggested. "Has anyone ever given you a good spanking? No? A pity. I wonder if it's too late?"

Adrienne began thrashing around, wildly, so he straddled her hips. "Beast! Scoundrel!" came her muffled accusations. It only increased her rage to realize dimly that he was far more attractive and desirable than she had ever imagined.

"Put your hands up. Come on." Nathan managed to drag the nightgown back over her head in an effort to restore her modesty. "For God's sake, be still, you little hellion! You are very fortunate that I am not a different kind of man, for you are trying my patience to the breaking point. If I didn't feel guilty for my part in this, I would gladly repay you now in kind."

Adrienne was horrified to feel tears burn her eyes. "I just don't understand!"

"Look—" He took a deep breath. His head began to throb. "It's not that I don't
want
you in my bed, but this simply cannot be. In this life, we are not able to have everything that we want. Hasn't anyone told you that?" The sight of Adrienne's face, turned sideways in the weak light, moved Nathan more than he cared to admit. Why was he so bewitched by her? The urge to take her in his arms and fulfill all her dreams was achingly powerful.

"Let me up." Her voice was raw. "I want to go back to my own bed. I never want to see you again."

He released her and covered himself with the sheet again. "Is it so difficult to believe that I could be doing the right thing for both of us?"

"Now? No, it's not difficult. Now I thank God that it didn't happen." Her heart hurt terribly as she gathered the shreds of her pride and left Nathan's room.

Chapter 11

"I'd like to know where you were last night, Miss Beau! I rang and rang for you." Lady Thomasina settled her bulk into a chair newly placed on the stone terrace. When Adrienne didn't reply immediately, she fumbled for her quizzing glass and sought the girl out, squinting. "Hmm? Have you nothing to say for yourself?"

Adrienne plucked her basket from a nearby bench and hurried away, down the shallow steps that led to the garden and the boxwood maze. It would be terrible if the old woman saw her bright cheeks. "There's nothing to tell, your ladyship!" she called back in a studiedly offhand tone. "I must not have heard you ring, being asleep—or else I was still downstairs, playing whist with Lord Harms and his guests. Yes, that was probably the reason I didn't answer."

"March up here, young lady. I want to have a look at you."

"Have I done something wrong?"

"I wish that you would tell
me."
She fixed her companion with a shrewd stare. Adrienne was looking particularly pretty this morning. Clad in a high-necked gown of French muslin, she had also wound her hair into a chaste braid, pinned to the crown of her head. Something was different, though, and it had nothing to do with the purity of her costume. In fact, it seemed to Lady Thomasina that Miss Beau was more womanly than she had been the day before. "What time did you leave Hunty and his friends?"

Why did she keep blushing? "You know, I am really not feeling quite the thing. I'm so awfully warm!"

"Indeed?"

"My lady, I really don't remember what time I retired last night." Adrienne tried a firm tack. "I confess that I drank a bit of claret, and my wits were rather muddled. I'm sorry I didn't hear you ringing. Do let us speak of something else."

Just then Nathan came through the doors to the castle. He carried
Pride and Prejudice
in one hand and a bowl of cherries in the other. At first, he seemed not to notice Adrienne.

"Why, Mr. Essex, you must bid Miss Beau a good morning," Lady Thomasina prompted. "She isn't feeling well. Do you see how flushed she is?"