Virginia Henley (39 page)

Adam cried out harshly as he spilled inside her like a firestorm. He gripped her fiercely, as if he could never get close enough or deep enough, and she felt every pulsebeat of his hot, shuddering release. He gathered her close and they collapsed together. Her eyes became pale and dreamy, then finally closed as she drifted between Heaven and earth.

Savage silently contemplated what he had done. There was no turning back now. What was done was done. Shamelessly, he had no regrets. She was extremely young, but age had nothing to do with it. They were two of a kind. Though society would be scandalized that a guardian should be intimate with his ward, he doubted that they would be ostracized. He was too damned rich and she too wellborn to be seriously censured. In any case he didn’t give a damn about the so-called ton, except for Antonia’s sake. He felt extremely protective of her, yet she was so outrageous, he doubted she gave a good goddamn either. Now that he had known Antonia, he was horrified to think he might have married Eve.

He wished he had never become romantically involved with both mother and daughter, but he could not undo the past, and long ago he had learned to live with the fact that he was a dishonorable bastard.

Antonia floated back to him. He brushed his lips across the tendrils of hair at her temples before he allowed her to uncurl her body from his. Her face was alive with her newfound knowledge, her eyes sparkling like emeralds at
having performed the long-forbidden act. Together they saw the blood smeared across her thigh. He reached out a strong hand to wipe the blood away before it upset her, but she quickly grabbed his fingers and brought them to her breast to smear the blood upon her naked flesh as if he had left his brand on her. A brand she was proud of.

Her gaze trailed down his body, and by the time it fell upon his phallus he was semihard again. She reached out a finger to the blood-covered head, then daubed his chest above the heart. “I dub thee noble Savage.”

He grabbed her then and they rolled about the bed laughing and nipping and biting each other in a rough play of love. She had almost as much energy as he. Almost. Before the night was spent they had exhausted each other, falling into the deep sleep that inevitably claims the totally sated.

Antonia awakened at dawn but kept her eyes closed in apprehension. My God, what had she done? Everything, she told herself as a blush covered her from her cheekbones to the tips of her breasts. When he looked at her with his ice-blue eyes she would die if she saw one flicker of contempt.

Adam’s acknowledgment began with a caress. She opened her eyes and found him above her. His kiss remembered last night’s passion and spoke of tonight’s possibilities. She realized she needed this recognition that she not only lingered in his consciousness, but filled it! Thus began the epilogue that made the cycle of lovemaking complete.

When he had loved her he didn’t allow her to drift off to Paradise, but lifted her from the bed and carried her to her own tower room. “I want you in your own bed when Mrs. Kenny brings your bathwater. I don’t wish to scandalize the servants. I don’t think she’s quite sure yet if you are male or female.”

Her hands raked through his long black hair, pulling it
fiercely. “You are, though,” she said with the confidence of a woman who was beginning to realize her power.

His mouth captured hers and she went weak, as he left her in no doubt who was the master.

Adam was surprised when Antonia joined him for breakfast. She was wearing a morning gown embroidered with forget-me-nots. Her wild black curls had been tamed with a simple blue ribbon. Though the table separated them, they made love with their eyes. It was difficult to believe the innocent beauty across from him was familiar with cardsharping and the inside of a brothel. Tony was game for any madcap suggestion, and he realized this was a big part of her attraction.

Suddenly he was smiling at her, and her heart turned over in her breast. It was rare that Adam Savage’s face lost its dark, forbidding look. It was infectious and Antonia, too, began to smile. Next thing they were laughing together, recalling every outrageous thing she’d done while masquerading as her twin.

They explored the castle together, then, handfast, they sought out the secret staircase in the towered gatehouse that led to the garden. The flowers were releasing their seed-power, turning the air they breathed to perfumed mist. They wandered through the orchards, where the fruit trees were just budding into blossom and the bumblebees were coated with pollen.

Tony leaned against his shoulder and his arm stole about her. “Let’s pledge to return in autumn so we can pluck the fruit.”

He hugged her to him. He had already plucked the fruit. At midday they eagerly accepted Mr. Burke’s suggestion of a picnic lunch and took it up on the cliff where they could enjoy the view. They saw more rainbows in one day than they would have seen in a year in London.

In the early afternoon they made their way down to the river, where a wooden punt was anchored beneath the
trees. Adam picked up a fishing rod. “Let’s try our hand at catching salmon.”

“To hell with fishing!” she said, sitting on a rock to remove her shoes and stockings. “I don’t have to do those damned male things anymore!”

“I’ll fish, you can simply look beautiful.” He stretched out, his back against the bole of a tree, his eyes narrowed against the dazzle of the sun on the water’s surface. It was a warm, lazy afternoon. The drone of the insects added to the drowsy atmosphere.

Antonia pulled up her skirts so she could dabble her toes in the water, then she hiked them further as she let the water cover her ankles.

“If you expose any more of your tempting long legs, you’ll find yourself on your back in the grass,” Adam teased.

“Are you fishing or leering?”

“Both,” he said, grinning.

“You told me to look beautiful,” she said, removing her feet from the water, but still holding her skirts high.

“Come here.”

It was a command she had no wish to disobey. His hand caressed her slim calf, then moved up her thigh. “You hussy, you aren’t wearing any drawers.”

“I knew it wouldn’t take you long to discover my secret,” she teased.

He pulled her down into his lap, the fishing forgotten, as his hand slipped up her skirt to explore her silken curves and hot moist crevices. She was close enough to see the heavy pulsebeat in his throat and she put her lips against it as his fingers toyed and teased among the curls.

He stripped quickly, but the arousing that followed was long and slow and deliberately drawn out, tantalizing her almost beyond endurance. For almost an hour he held himself back from driving into her; his desire for her was too strong to let him take her before she was fully ready for his explosion of passion.

She lay in the long grass in a wanton sprawl as waves of pleasure built and receded over and over. What he was doing to her made him so hot and hungry, he was ready to devour her before his entrance. Again their lovemaking was almost violent in its intensity. A leopard in the grass with his mate. Yet afterward he was so tender with her, it made her throat ache with unshed tears. He was endlessly capable of gentleness both before and after, but not during, and Antonia didn’t want him any other way.

They spent every moment of each day together. They went for endless walks and rambles through the deep valleys and high hills. Adam had boundless, inexhaustible energy, so when Antonia’s flagged he carried her on his shoulders, teasing, “I don’t do this for you, I do it for myself. When you pull up your skirt and dangle those legs over my shoulders, I think I’ve died and gone to Heaven.”

“You Devil, you’ll never even get close to Heaven.”

“Don’t crow. I’ve tainted you and now you, too, are damned.”

She lifted her dark hair with both hands and let it fall sensuously about her shoulders. “I consider the world well lost.”

“I wonder,” he said seriously. “I wonder if you will always feel so?”

Antonia shivered as if a shadowy finger had reached out to touch her. She shook off the dark feeling. She refused to even think about tomorrow while they still had today … and tonight.

They went for rides in the pony cart, they visited the surrounding market towns, and one day he took her to the horse fair in Tallow and bought her a lovely white mare with a silken mane and tail.

“I’ll take her back to Edenwood for you,” he said absently.

“Edenwood.” She whispered the name lovingly, wistfully. Obviously he expected her to come to Edenwood often enough to ride, but he hadn’t invited her to live there. He hadn’t asked her to marry him. She pushed the thought away. She would not spoil their time here together by wishing for things. In Venice she had found romance, but in Ireland she had found love. She was mad in love with him.

He watched her quizzically. “Edenwood! So that’s it. I wondered why a beautiful young titled lady would give her favors to an ugly brute like me, but Edenwood is the attraction.”

She protested loudly. “That is untrue! It’s not only Edenwood, it’s all your chests of gold, your East India-men,
and
Blackwater Castle that attract me.”

“Little bitch,” he swore. But he was glad she cared passionately for Edenwood, for it was his lifetime dream come true. He knew exactly how it felt to be possessive over property. He hadn’t been able to sell Leopard’s Leap because of all the toil and sweat that had gone into the plantation. Once a thing became a part of a person, he couldn’t lose it without paying a tremendous price. He could survive, but he couldn’t happily thrive, and life was for thriving, not just surviving.

Savage knew that Antonia was becoming a part of him. She was unique. He knew he had never been in love before, never even wanted to be in love. He cursed. Why the hell did it have to be so complicated? Why did she have to be Eve’s daughter? He shrugged. The heart wanted what the heart wanted. There was naught he could do about it!

Every time he thought of Bernard Lamb his gut knotted.
She had been in mortal danger for months and he’d scoffed with contempt each time she’d tried to tell him. He blanched as he recalled showing her how to deal with an enemy. He had grabbed her coat lapels, pressed a swordstick to her gullet, and growled, “I’ll slit you from neck to nuts!” And plucky wench that she was, she had defended herself amazingly well, especially in the haunts she had frequented. He felt a chill run up the back of his neck and vowed she’d never have the need to protect herself again. Bernard the Bastard would be his first priority when he returned to London, and return he must.

They were up on the battlements of Blackwater watching the sunset. The sky turned from violet to vermilion, then became flame riven with red and gold.

Adam drew Antonia against his side, and her head fell back against his shoulder. “Blackwater is displaying its beauty to us because it’s our last night here.”

“We’re leaving tomorrow?” she asked wistfully.

“I’m leaving tomorrow. I have urgent business I’ve neglected for a week. I want you to stay on a couple of days.” He turned her to face him and his finger traced the mauve shadows beneath her eyes. “Get some rest. Mr. Burke will bring you back safely. I’ll take your milk-white steed to Edenwood.”

“Mr. Burke knows we are lovers; we haven’t fooled him for a moment.”

“The whole bloody castle knows, we’ve been so besotted.” Though Mr. Burke had never said a word, Savage knew he disapproved of his scandalous deflowering of Antonia. Burke also expected him to do the honorable thing. And so he would. But unfortunately the honorable thing was not marrying the daughter before he had honorably broken off with the mother.

Even in sleep Adam sensed they were no longer joined in body or spirit. He opened his eyes to darkness. He did not need to grope in the bed to know she was gone. As his
eyes became accustomed to the predawn shadows he saw her by the window.

His lithe body slipped from the bed soundlessly, then his arms captured her and he turned her face up to his with a puzzled frown. There was enough light for him to see the silver tears that lay upon her cheeks. He brushed them away with his lips. “Tony, don’t shed one tear over me, sweetheart, I’m not worth it.”

She swallowed hard. He would be gone in an hour, perhaps two, and he had said no word of love. She could have borne the fact that he had not proposed marriage. A man like Savage could not be bludgeoned, shackled, and forced to play the role of dutiful husband. But love. She needed his love to go on breathing. When she loved him so deeply, so shamelessly, so inordinately, how could he
not
love?

He pressed her to the length of him and his hot sex felt like a candle flame being held to her belly and thighs. She pulled away, burned.

“Yield to me,” he demanded.

She searched his face. She did not see love written there, she saw hunger. “I have yielded … everything.”

He swooped his arm beneath her knees and lifted her against his heart. “Let me show you that you have not.”

The kissing was fierce, passionate, savage. They did not release each other’s mouths until they were swollen and throbbing and her lips were too tender to bear the brush of his lips in one more kiss.

That’s when his mouth moved to her throat to ravish and worship its curve. This was only a prelude to how his mouth first plundered, then ravished, her breasts. His hot breath stirred her nipples, which had ruched at his first lick. His husky whispers showed her just how sensitive he had rendered them. “Tell me you
want
this. Tell me you
love
this!”

“I do want it, I do love it,” she cried.

He moved down her belly. His mouth, his tongue, and
his teeth made her throb with a hundred pulse points she hadn’t known she had. “Tell me you
want
this, tell me you
love
this,” he demanded again.

She cried out in a fever of need as her thighs fell apart and she arched up to him shamelessly. “You know what I
want,
you know what I
love.”

Then he ravished her with his tongue. She shuddered uncontrollably as she realized her fantasy was now reality. He was conquering her with his bronzed body until she was forced to yield to him. She was going to explode upon his rough tongue and she didn’t care, didn’t care, didn’t care. She came hot, wet, and slippery into his mouth. She
wanted
it, she
loved
it! The Leopard licked the cream.

Savage slid up her violet-drenched body, hung above her for what seemed like eternity, then plunged to her depths to drown in her, not caring if he ever surfaced again. The animal cry torn from his throat merged with her own moaning cries as she met his thrusts, then matched them, submitting to every last demand his powerful body made upon hers. She built again so quickly, it stole her senses and hurtled her to the edge of the precipice. The stroke that brought them to climax carried so much force, she thought he had pierced her heart. Together they spun over the edge, then soared to the peaks before they plunged down to the deep depths of darkest sensuality.

He growled,
“Now
you have yielded everything.”

She was too languorous to utter one word. His lips brushed her ear. “Now it is my turn. I yield you my heart. I
want
you, I
love
you.”

She sighed with contentment. She had managed to achieve the impossible. Indian Savage, the magnificent Leopard, had pledged her his love. She closed her eyes in pure happiness. When they again fluttered open, she realized he was fully dressed and about to take his leave.

He moved to the bed and she stood upon it, naked, and
clung to him. Her fingers threaded through his long black hair.

“Darling, come to me at Edenwood. I’ll try to be there by the end of the week, but if I am not, wait for me.”

Her fingers traced the scar upon his mouth. That same mouth that never begged, just ordered and commanded. “I’ll wait,” she whispered. It felt so deliciously female to yield to his demands.

Two nights later, Adam Savage sat in the darkened theater, laughing as Angela Brown strutted about the stage in corset, stockings, garters, and little else, singing the saucy words to “Come Tickle My Fancy.” Before the final curtain rang down, Savage entered her dressing room backstage and pretended surprise when he encountered Bernard Lamb. “What a pleasant coincidence. You’re the very man I wanted to see.”

“Savage! I haven’t seen you in ages. Have you been out of the country?” Bernard asked pleasantly.

“Several times,” Savage admitted.

“Was my cousin Anthony with you?” Bernard asked casually.

“No, he’s been to The Hague on business. His ship docks at Wapping later tonight.”

Bernard smiled. “You said you wanted to see me?”

“Yes, you seem to have a proprietary interest in Angela and I thought perhaps I could make it worth your while to look the other way while I … borrow her once in a while.”

Bernard’s smile widened. “Why not tonight?”

“Well, I should meet Tony. I suppose I could take Angela to supper at the Prospect of Whitby, an inn that’s been in Wapping since 1509.”

“I have a better idea. Why don’t I meet my cousin and you can take Angela somewhere that will tickle her fancy? In fact why don’t I disappear before she comes offstage?”

“It’s very civilized of you to bow out for the night,” Adam said silkily.

“What are friends for?” Bernard asked generously. “What’s the name of Tony’s ship?”

“The
Red Dragon,
” Adam replied softly.

When Angela entered the dressing room and found Savage instead of the dreaded Bernard she threw her arms about his neck in delight. “Adam! How lovely to see you.”

He pulled her arms from about his neck and, with her hands still captured in his, fixed her with his pale blue gaze. “I am about to make you richer by five thousand pounds if you will give me what I desire.”

She licked her lips in anticipation. Christ, she’d be willing to commit any perversion he’d like for free. “Whatever you desire,” she said breathlessly.

“I desire information, my angel.”

She blinked in surprise, and felt his powerful hands tighten about hers.

“Why do you give your favors to Bernard Lamb when he is penniless and up to his eyes in debt?”

She licked her lips again, afraid now. She knew Savage would settle for nothing but the truth. “He is heir to a title and an estate, you know that.”

“Being heir to someone younger than himself doesn’t give him very good prospects,” Savage pointed out.

Angela bit her lip. Bernard was a cruel bastard and she owed him nothing, yet she would be willing to bet the dangerous man who stood before her with the icy eyes and scarred face could be infinitely more cruel than Bernard had ever dreamed of being.

“Accidents happen all the time,” she whispered hoarsely.

“Are you hinting, guessing, or insinuating?” His black eyebrows rose questioningly above those cold, piercing eyes.

“No,” Angela said, experiencing a vengeful relief in the telling. “Bernard intends to eliminate his cousin. He’s already planned accidents that have failed. Next time he said he’d use a knife. He’s very good with knives.” She shuddered uncontrollably as she remembered the threat of his blade between her legs.

Adam Savage dropped her hands and reached for his money belt. He had felt her ragged pulse and knew her fear.

“If he knows I peached on ’im, he’ll do me too,” she cried, lapsing into cockney.

Savage placed a calloused hand beneath her chin. “Didn’t I tell you? Bernard said good-bye. He’s leaving the country tonight for a very long time.”

After Indian Savage had departed, Angela stared at the incredible pile of money. If Bernard was leaving the country, it was not by his own choice.

The tall, dark shadow moved silently down the water stairs, then loomed motionless against Wapping Wall. The shadow seemingly had infinite patience. Farther down the dock half a dozen tall ships lay at anchor. The lights and the voices from the decks merged in friendly banter and the crew of an East Indiaman loaded the last of the cargo that had been piled on the quayside.

Bernard Lamb’s footsteps quickened as he caught sight of the ships and hoped his quarry had not yet disembarked. His eyes were already raised to read the names of the ships that rocked at anchor. The shadow allowed him to pass, then loomed up tall and terrible at his back and brought a heavy cudgel down upon his head. It took every ounce of willpower Savage possessed not to smash his skull into red ruin.