gasps of exertion couldn’t be trusted. Just when I thought he’d worn himself out, he broke me all over again.
As the sun crested the rail of the balcony, yellow-pink fingers of light crept over our tangled, sweaty limbs. We lay naked on our sides, face to face, waning in the softness of a new day.
He twisted a coil of my hair around his finger, regarding me with the grin of a sated wolf.
It made my heart dance, and I couldn’t stop myself from touching that curved mouth. “So this is what you look like when you smile.”
“I haven’t…experienced this in a long time.”
“Smiling?”
“Feeling. You make me feel again.”
“Why ever did you stop?”
“Titles. Ranks. Responsibility.” His gaze roamed my face. “But you…with your unrehearsed words, bold touches, fierce eye contact, raw, untamed beauty… God help me, everything about you is such a welcome freedom from the tedious, rigid order of my life.”
“Then change it.”
“Change…?”
“Your life. Remove the things that confine you. You can do anything you want.”
“Like your mother did?” he asked gently. “She was the daughter of an earl, and one time, she ignored the rules and followed her heart. How did that work out for her?”
My stomach hardened. In fourteen years, I’d never once seen her smile. She’d been utterly and completely miserable. Because of her mistake. Because of me.
I hooked my leg over his hip. “Have you ever been in love?”
“I’m betrothed.”
“And?”
“It’s a sensible contract. Business. Love is unneeded, and frankly, unwanted.”
“You’re a fool.”
His eyebrows formed an angry V. “Careful…”
“Surely you see the gross stupidity in forsaking your happiness for that which is perceived as sensible. Nobility as a notion is objective and impersonal. What a horrible doctrine to live by. From where I stand, aristocrats rob the world of pleasure.”
“Says the woman who chose a dangerous career that put her constantly on the run. Tell me, Bennett. In your life beyond the reaches of laws and social constraints, have you been happy?”
I’d been happy for a year. In the arms of a libertine.
“No.” I sighed, feeling the press of exhaustion. “But at least I’m free to love who I want.”
But I wasn’t free.
I was a prisoner, facing an uncertain end.
As if he read my mind, he tucked my head beneath his chin and stroked my hair. “You need to sleep.”
“I can’t.”
“All right.” He released a slow breath. “Then I’ll tell you a true story.” He leaned back and ran a knuckle along my jaw. “I met your father once.”
“What?” My eyes widened, my pulse hammering. “When?”
“I was around your age so… Thirteen years ago. I was a sergeant then, taking a short leave in Nassau with some mates.” His thumb rested against my neck, softly caressing. “He was in a brothel.”
My throat convulsed.
“It was attached to a tavern, and that’s where I saw him—sitting alone, staring into a tankard of ale, while his crew of scoundrels spent their coin on painted women.”
“Did you know who he was?”
“Indeed. Everyone knew. The island was more or less overrun by pirates at the time, and I was but one English soldier among dozens of rogues in that tavern.”
“What did you do?”
“I sat beside him at the bar.” His lips twitched. “And he bought me a drink.”
My heart swelled, and a tingling burn rose to my eyes. “Did you talk to him?”
“No. We sat in silence, just two sailors enjoying their drinks.” He brushed a curl from my face. “Women approached him, doxies and ladies alike, and he turned them all away. He wasn’t there for that.”
“He loved my mother.”
“And his daughter.” He kissed my forehead, my nose, my lips. “Time to close your eyes.”
As I drifted to sleep, his sensual smile was the last thing I saw.
When I woke later that afternoon, it was the first thing that filled my vision. He lay beside me in the position, as if he’d never moved.
“What are you doing?” I yawned, stretching my lovingly abused body.
“My second favorite activity.”
“Watching me sleep?”
“Yes.” The delicious curve of his lips deepened as he rolled on top of me, both of us nude, and wedged my legs open with his hips.
“What’s your first favorite activity?”
He reached between us and parted the dampening folds between my thighs with the head of his erection. Then he slowly sank inside, showing me what he favored above all else.
We didn’t leave his private quarters for the next two days. We ate, bathed, slept. And fucked. Made love. Hard and soft, sluggish and rabid, lazy and impassioned. In every position, bottom and