Wolfishly Yours (26 page)

He chuckled as his manhood probed her center gently. He rocked his hips, settling closer and closer. “I promise to fix it for you,” he said.

“When?” she breathed, arching to meet his thrusts.

“Now,” he said quietly as he thrust inside her. He stilled when she stiffened. “Are you all right?” he asked, his breath heavy and filled with longing.

Livi lay very still, not certain how to feel about the way he filled her. The ache of his possession began to dissipate and she nodded against his shoulder. He slid ever so slowly, sheathing himself fully inside her. Small noises escaped his throat beside her ear, and she’d never felt so wanted, so desired. To have a man as strong as Grayson Hadley murmuring helplessly in her ear was a heady feeling.

One of his hands slipped down between them as he raised himself up on the other and looked down at her. As he began to move within her depths, he stroked across that little nub of pleasure and she couldn’t tell which was more fulfilling, the breathtaking slide of his manhood inside her or his fingers strumming her higher and higher.

Livi clutched his arms as the pleasure built within her. His lips lowered to hover over hers. “I love you, Livi,” he breathed against her lips.

The waves crashed over her like water over the falls. It stole her wits, her breath, and her very being. Gray stilled while his fingers continued their play, and she quaked around his length. She clutched at him until he milked all the pleasure from her.

“
Bon
Dieu
,” she cried when it was over. Her body was languid and soft, her muscles like water. But Gray took her hands in his and raised them above her head, pressing them firmly into the mattress as his hips began to move again.

“Mine,” he grunted as his jaw tensed. Yes, she was his. There was no doubt. He moved inside her, faster and faster. “Put your legs around me,” he urged.

When she wrapped her calves around his back, he slid even deeper inside her, touching some place that sent her once again over that waterfall, and this time he joined her. Gray shuddered above her, his hands still pressing hers to the mattress as he spent himself inside her. The jolt of his completion made her sheath clench again and he cried out her name, his hips moving until he’d taken everything she had to give him and given her all of himself in return.

Gray collapsed onto her chest, then rolled to the side, taking her into the crook of his arm just as surely as she’d taken him into her heart.

Livi sighed as she burrowed closer to Gray, and he trailed lazy circles across her back. “For a while there,” he yawned, “I thought I might never see you again.”

She’d had the very same thought, the very same fear. Livi rose up on her elbow to look at him, her husband, so handsome, so strong. “But you found me.”

“I don’t plan on ever losing you again.” A roguish grin settled on his face. “Lie here beside me for a minute, and then we’ll cross back to the
Madame
Gracieuse.
I just want to enjoy a few moments of bliss in your arms.”

How could Livi possibly refuse such an offer? She lay back down and snuggled against her very warm husband.

Gray awoke to the creaking of wood and the swaying of the ocean beneath him. He blinked his eyes wide. “We’re moving?” he asked, tasting the salty sea air on his tongue.

In his arms, Livi stirred. “Mmm?” she groaned, more asleep than awake.

Dear God. They’d fallen asleep. And where the devil were they? “Livi,” he said, trying to hide the panic in his voice. “My love, I think we’re moving.”

Livi rubbed at her eyes, then slowly pushed up on her elbow. “Uh-huh.” She smothered a yawn with her hand. “It feels like we’re sailing.”

But they couldn’t be sailing. Gray scrambled from the small bed. “I have to get home.
We
have to get home.” What would Dash say? What about Archer and Wes?

Livi lifted the counterpane to her chest and yawned once more. “If we’re out to sea, Gray, there’s nothing we can do about it.”

But there had to be something. They couldn’t be stuck on a ship. That was madness. The full moon was a night away. He couldn’t be a bloody wolf on board a blasted ship. “They’re going to have to turn around.” He found his trousers in a heap on the floor and quickly pulled them on. “We have to go back,” he said. “There’s a full moon tomorrow, Livi.”

“Well, then I’ll have to keep you here all to myself and out of sight, won’t I?” She giggled.

“I hardly find that amusing,” he grumbled as he tossed his shirt over his head. “Stay here. I’ll sort it out.”

“You wouldn’t be the first Lycan to spend the moonful onboard a ship,” she called as he slipped from the cabin into the darkened passageway in his bare feet.

Moonful on a ship. That sounded like the worst sort of nightmare. Something had to be done. Gray quickly found the ship’s steps and climbed back to the main deck. The nearly full moon glowed in the heavens and stars twinkled above, mocking him. He and Livi must have been asleep for quite some time for it to be so dark.

“So the married man finally emerges, does he?” came a now all-too-familiar voice just a few feet away.

Gray turned his head toward his new brother-in-law. Armand leaned casually against the railing. He cast a smirk in Gray’s direction, then turned his attention back to the darkened horizon before them.

“Where are we?”

Armand chuckled. “Do you not recall jumping aboard the
Aspire
? Hopefully, you remember you took a wife this afternoon.”

Gray was certain Armand Mayeux thrived on needling him. “I remember all of that perfectly well. What I don’t understand is why we are at sea when we should be in England.”

Armand pushed away from the rail and shrugged. “Well, you absconded with Livi before any real plans could be decided. Captain Payne needed to continue on his course, and I didn’t think it would be wise to seek your counsel at the time. There are certain things I don’t want to ever witness.”

Gray’s mouth fell open. “I’m just supposed to stay on this ship?”

“I suppose Livi could always toss you overboard.” Armand grinned as though he’d be happy to oblige his sister, should it come to that.

“But I have to get home. I have to get back to my family—”

“Not to worry, my new brother. Etienne will explain everything to them. Once he dispenses with that Honeywell fellow of yours anyway.”

Etienne? Honeywell? “Your brother left the ship?”

Armand nodded. “Someone had to. And I like you better than he does.”

None of this made any sense. “But why?” Why would Etienne return to England, while Gray found himself bound for America?

“That lord who shot you. He thought he could take advantage of Livi. Etienne will see that he doesn’t take advantage of anyone else.” His grin widened. “And I think he has aspirations of stealing Lady Sophia away from your brother, not that he’d admit as much.”

Gray must still be sleeping. All of this was a dream. Not one thing Armand Mayeux said made any sense at all. “He wouldn’t have to steal Lady Sophia from Archer. In fact, my brother would pay Honeywell to take her, I’m certain.”

Armand snorted. “That’s not the impression that I got.”

What the devil? “What gave you any impression at all? The two of them despise each other.” Lady Sophia was a cold fish if Gray had ever met one. Not Archer’s type in any way. His brother tended toward busty blondes with hips a man could grab hold of. And probably ride all night. Gray’s thoughts returned to Livi, who was warm beneath the counterpane in their bed. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to get back to her. He turned in that direction. But then his original purpose for coming above deck sneaked into his path. “So, we’re on the way to New Orleans?”

“By way of Boston.”

“We’ll be trapped on a ship the night of the moonful.”

Armand nodded, continuing his appraisal of the nearly full moon in the sky.

“Doesn’t that concern you at all?”

His new brother-in-law finally turned to face Gray. “Does it concern you?” His eyes opened wide, somewhat mocking. “You’re not afraid you’ll lose control with my sister, are you? If so, tell me now.”

Gray wasn’t afraid of that at all. Only of someone stumbling upon him in wolf form. There weren’t that many places to hide on a ship. “I’d never hurt her,” he said instead.

“Livi would lop your stones off with a dull knife from the galley if you ever did anything to hurt her.” He clapped Gray on the shoulder with a chuckle. “If she could get to you before I did, anyway.”

This conversation had been far from reassuring and less than helpful in so many ways. “What do you plan to do during the moonful?” Gray and his brothers usually retreated to the forest to seek solace within the surrounding nature. They didn’t stay in close proximity with regular people. And they certainly didn’t set sail aboard ships.

“Same as always. What are your plans?”

To toss his blasted brother-in-law into the Atlantic. Gray narrowed his eyes on the other man. “You’ve done this before? Spent a moonful in the middle of the ocean?”

Armand nodded. “More than once. There’s nothing to it, Hadley. And as there are no ladies on board, aside from my sister, the population is safe from my lusty wolfish nature.”

Gray heaved a sigh and swiped a hand down his face in frustration. “Do you stalk the deck and howl at the moon?”

The American chuckled. “Livi will lock me in my chambers. And much to my dismay, she’ll lock you in yours along with her.”

Heat crept up Gray’s cheeks. He would be locked in with Livi on the night of the moonful. He’d claim her as his own in a ritual more basic than any marriage ceremony. His manhood twitched at the thought of it. He’d bite the sensitive skin where her neck met her shoulder and leave his mark upon her, like he’d wanted to do ever since their very first kiss.

“I’m not certain your hasty marriage onboard a ship by an Irish priest will please my father.” He must have seen how confused that statement made Gray feel because he continued. “Under other circumstances, he might very well try to nullify your marriage.” He sent Gray a sly look. “But if she wears your mark…” He shrugged. “Not even Philippe Mayeux would disregard the significance of a bite mark.”

“Thank you for the suggestion,” Gray muttered. He must be making headway, at least with Armand, if the man was willing to give Gray information about how to win against their father. “Do you think he’ll hate me on sight?”

“I think he’ll absolutely loathe you and call you a money-grabbing whoremonger, and he’ll give Livi a hell of a time about it all.”

That was hardly reassuring. “Didn’t he send her off to be married?”

“He sent her off to be married to a man of wealth and prestige.” He snorted again. It was a most annoying sound.

“I may not be a man of wealth or prestige, but I love her.”

“And that is the only reason you’re alive today, Hadley,” Armand said with a haughty smirk as he strolled away toward a dark corner of the ship.

Gray stood at the rail for a while, looking at the clear sky and the nearly full moon whose light bounced off the sea. He’d once given Wes a hard time for falling so deeply and so completely in love with Madeline. But now Gray completely understood how his brother felt. His heart was so full that it was near to bursting. Livi was his, and tomorrow he would claim her for an eternity.

Usually, when the moon was this full, a feral wildness rested just beneath his skin and he wanted a woman like nothing else. But a certain peace had settled within his heart on this fine night, sailing the ocean. He certainly wanted a woman, but not just any woman. He wanted his and only his. He wanted her fiercely, desperately, and completely.

The crescent-moon mark on her thigh crept back into his thoughts, and his heartbeat quickened at the thought of tasting it again. But then he remembered her father who was waiting at the other end of the journey. The man wouldn’t be able to deny the way Gray felt about Livi. But was he worthy of her? He would be some day. Livi was worth a bloody fortune, but that didn’t even signify for Gray. He didn’t want a single piece of it. He just wanted to meet her father, show him he could be a good man, a good provider, a father for his grandchildren, and to gain his trust. He could do that, couldn’t he?

The thought of being a father to Livi’s children made a little part of his heart ache with sweetness. He couldn’t wait to run his hands over her burgeoning belly, to feel a life they created growing within her. He wanted to see her chase a child across the courtyard at Hadley Hall and kiss the bottoms of tiny baby feet. He wanted it all.

But what would her father see when he met Gray? A wastrel from a poor family who was part owner of a gaming hell? Or would he just see a man who loved his daughter?

“You look like you’re a million miles away,” a soft voice said from beside his shoulder. He turned and looked down into Livi’s eyes, which were almost black in the moonlight. “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing important,” he murmured as he put his arm around her and drew her into his side.

“You’re not worried about the moonful, are you? Armand and Etienne have sailed under a full moon more times than I can count.”

He shrugged. He wasn’t as worried about that as he once had been. Now he was much more worried about proving himself to her father. To being a man she could respect and love. “I’m not worried about anything.”

She burrowed more closely into his side, her summery scent teasing his nose. He wanted to draw her into himself, as close as she could go.

Livi placed a hand over his heart. “I won’t leave your side. Everything will work out. Just wait and see,” she murmured, her breath tickling his chin.

“I know,” he replied. Though he wasn’t certain he agreed.

***

Livi tiptoed out of the small cabin, careful not to wake Gray. After the day he’d had yesterday, he could use as much sleep as he could get. After the night they’d shared, he might sleep all the way to Boston.

She nodded in greeting to some of the
Aspire
’s crew and finally made her way to the front of the brigantine. She leaned against the ship’s railing and closed her eyes, content to let the sea breeze wash over her skin. What a truly wonderful adventure she was on. Life with Gray would never be boring.

A familiar hand landed on her back and Livi smiled, knowing who stood behind her without even needing to look. “Thank you, Armand,” she said softly. “For everything.”

He heaved a heavy sigh and then leaned his large frame against the railing at her side. “You’re sure this is what you want? You’re sure he is who you want?”

“
Oui
, I’m sure.” Livi opened her eyes and tilted her head to see her brother, who looked troubled. She slid her arm around his and leaned her head against his shoulder. “In time you’ll accept him.”

Armand shook his head. “It’s not me you need to worry about, Liv. I’m concerned about what will happen when we finally set foot in New Orleans. You know Father won’t be happy with this turn of events.” He slid his arm around her and hugged her to him. “The man has nothing to recommend him, nothing that will mean anything to Father.”

Indeed, very few men would be deemed worthy by the powerful Philippe Mayeux, but Gray didn’t have to live up to her father’s expectations. He only had to live up to hers. She rested her head against her brother’s heart and smiled against his chest. How comforting she’d always found Armand’s embrace.

No matter how strong and rigid he appeared to the world, when it came to her, he’d always been the most tender of men. How like him it was to worry about Father on her behalf. But it was pointless to predict Papa’s reaction to anything. “He has my heart. Papa will see I’m happy. That should be enough for him.”

Armand tipped her chin up so she had to look him in the eyes. “I told your husband he should claim you tonight. Father won’t try to break that bond, but…” He frowned. “Well, make sure that’s what you want, Liv. There’s no going back after you’ve been marked.”

Livi touched a hand to her shoulder. “I know that.”

“You have the day to decide whether you want to wear Hadley’s mark or not. You can always lock him in your cabin and stay on deck through the night if you choose otherwise.”

And destroy Gray in the process? Livi gaped at her brother. “You think I should run out on him?” She couldn’t imagine ever doing any such thing, especially after everything they’d been through.

Armand shook his head. “I can’t make that decision for you, Liv. You’re on your own path. I just want you to be sure of what you’re choosing. There are some things that can’t be reversed.”

And some things she would never want to reverse. She wasn’t certain why or even how she’d fallen for Gray, but she had. Her heart had been in shambles yesterday when she thought he’d run out on her, but when she’d spotted him on the
Madame
Gracieuse
, when he’d jumped from the schooner to her brigantine, when he hadn’t hesitated in the least at her suggestion they marry that very moment—she’d known he loved her too. “Thank you for worrying about me.” Livi smiled up at her brother.

Armand heaved a sigh. “Made your decision already, hmm?” He dropped a kiss to her brow. “Do at least one thing for me?”

After all he’d done to help Gray get to her? “Anything,” she vowed.