The fingertips that rested against his chest pressed more firmly into his skin. She slid a hand along his arm, up his shoulder, to the hair at the nape of his neck. “Tell me you don’t want me here, and I’ll ask Drake to return me to
Nassau
once we find Alex’s ship.”
He opened his mouth to do just that, for it would be better for the both of them. Hurt now. Move forward. Before they said too many things that would make forward impossible. But his throat closed around the lie. “I can’t,” he exhaled. “God help me, I can’t.”
India
held his gaze as silence engulfed them. Dimly, he heard the rumbling laughter of his men. The hull creaked as
The Kraken
drifted in the late twilight. In the distance, a whale’s call echoed.
Trapped by the power of his immense feelings for this woman, Cain struggled to breathe, to sift his thoughts into coherent words he knew he ought to say. How he wished he could move backwards through time, attend the first dinner party William Prescott arranged, and meet
India
for the first time. He’d have asked for her that night. Hired another man to assume his captain’s duties and forced himself to learn the books, to deal with the negotiations that would keep him on land. If he had,
his
wedding might lurk around the corner. The life he desired with
India
, within his grasp.
“I love you,”
India
whispered.
He couldn’t say who moved first, who closed the intolerable distance between them and satisfied his body’s hunger for contact. Full and soft, her breasts pressed against his chest. Her arms slid around his neck, fastening him in place as his wound around her waist to drag her into his lap. She tipped her face up, and Cain lowered his mouth to hers.
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Bound By Decency
32
T
he softest, sweetest kiss carried
India
back into the bed like a gentle tide lapping at a tranquil beach. Cain came over her, lowering himself into her waiting arms, his weight comfortable. She twined her fingers through the thick wealth of his long hair and closed her eyes.
Yes,
she loved him. And every ounce of that powerful, amazing feeling swelled her heart until her chest felt tight.
Slow and leisurely, his tongue swirled against hers as one large palm grazed across her hip, her waist, her ribs, until his thumb stroked the side of her throat, a feather-light caress that mimicked the sensual exploration of her mouth. His palm warmed her skin. Her bounding pulse carried that warmth through her veins. She swept a hand down his back, memorizing the broad planes of muscle, shoulder blades that sharpened as he supported himself on his arms. His spine curved, bringing her palm to the small of his back, the perfect place to press him closer, until every conceivable portion of their bodies molded together.
And yet, somehow, it was not enough. Her breasts ached, indeed, her entire body ached with the same restlessness Cain’s masterful hands had provoked the previous night. She arched her back, shifted a leg, and finally found a modicum of relief by sliding her hands beneath his shirttail and fanning her palms across his warm skin.
Cain drew the kiss to a lingering close and lifted away. She opened her eyes, protest on her tingling lips. But before she could utter a single syllable, he shifted so he knelt between her thighs. Blue eyes glinted deep indigo in the dim light of twilight as he slipped his hands beneath her shirt. Strong hands gripped her waist, thumbs stroked the sensitive skin of her abdomen. He pushed his hands upward, dragging her shirt with him. The scrape of his callused palms rubbed pleasantly, awakening every nerve ending to his caress. She lifted to her elbows, and he pulled the thin linen over her head.
“Take me there,” he whispered as he cupped her breasts. Bringing them together and lifting, he pressed a kiss to the deep valley he’d created. Hot and moist, his breath washed against her skin. “To that house on the bluffs.”
His thumbs rolled over her nipples, and she gasped. Her senses sharpened to a fine point, drowning out all thought beyond the heat that radiated off his skin, the fantastic friction of his fingers, and the heavy rise and fall of their labored breath
ing
. She caught his shirt in her fingers, but her position beneath him thwarted her effort to remove it. Cain chuckled and nudged her hands aside. In one swift motion, he doffed it and dropped it on the floor. As it settled atop hers, he bent his head to her breast and drew an erect nipple into his mouth.
The hot play of his tongue freed a moan from the depths of her throat. A shiver rippled down to her toes. Heavens above, how quickly she’d forgotten his ability to rob her of thought. She writhed beneath the assuage of his mouth, curled her fingers into his hair. More…Less…She didn’t know which to ask for. Which would cease the unbearable torment.
Yes, she did, she dimly realized through a sea of engulfing sensation. Cain had shown her last night. She lifted her hips into his. As if he sensed her building need, he pressed into her and rubbed his swollen shaft against her sensitive center. When he withdrew his hips, she let out a plaintive whimper.
“Cain, please,” she breathed. “I cannot bear this.”
His mouth worked a path of fire to her opposite breast, where he flicked her aroused nipple with his tongue. “Bear what, my sweet?”
The absurdity of his question gave her pause. Surely he knew what she spoke of. She tipped her head, catching the lift of his dark eyelashes as he brought his gaze to hers. He said nothing as he suckled at her breast, gently lapping, taunting with each velvety brush of his tongue. But his eyes conveyed the meaning of his words. He wanted her to state precisely what she wanted. To find the bold freedom she’d known last night and shake off this sudden cloak of innocence.
She was not innocent. She’d lain with him before, known the certain exquisiteness of what it felt like to feel him deep inside. She just couldn’t recall it, a fact he didn’t realize.
The words felt foreign and awkward, and she couldn’t bring herself to speak them. She chose, instead, to show him. Sliding her hands down the smooth hard muscles of his chest, over the rigid contours of his abdomen, she dipped her fingers inside the waistband of his loose trousers. She felt the tip of him, the smooth satin width of his erection against her fingertips. He sucked in a short breath through his nostrils, and for one suspended heartbeat, his mouth stilled.
India
plied at the two wooden buttons. They popped free, loosening his waistband enough that she could slip her hands inside and around to shimmy the fabric down his hips. Cain dragged his mouth back to hers. As he nudged her lips apart and touched his tongue to hers, his hands followed the path hers had taken. Together they removed the last bits of clothing that separated them.
When they were completely bare, Cain lowered his body into hers and lifted his head to gaze into her eyes. The wide thick head of him nudged against her swollen folds, and she parted her legs to make room for his broader hips. He framed her face between his palms, his breath hard. Tenderness unlike any she had ever known filled his eyes and softened his chiseled features. He did nothing more but study her face for several moments. As if he sought to etch into his mind the memory of this moment. And then, Cain closed his eyes, caught her lips with his, and with a gentle nudge of his hips, entered her.
India
lifted into him, opening her legs as she opened her heart, giving herself body and soul. A prick of unexpected pain registered in the back of her mind, but the nip of Cain’s teeth against her lower lip focused her awareness on the sharp sting on her mouth. She moved to turn her head, and became aware of the way he surrounded her. The weight of his body atop hers. The heaviness of his shaft deep inside her womb. He lay still, and the pain passed as he made love to her with his mouth alone.
Understanding registered. He’d breached her maidenhead. Which meant…
A wealth of emotion rushed forward to bring tears to her eyes. This was the first time she’d given herself to Cain. She hadn’t lost that moment to a fever that muddled memories. And heaven above, he felt right, more right than anything she had ever known. So strong, so powerful, so unbelievably tender. She wrapped her arms around him and held tight.
He stretched her wide, almost to the point of uncomfortable. But the burn was beyond pleasant. Ecstasy rippled down her spine.
Yes, this.
This was what she recalled from her dreams. The heat of him. The sublime feel of his skin sliding against hers. She squeezed his buttocks and let out a throaty mewl.
Cain stilled. His lips clung to hers as he dragged in a short breath. Then another. A shudder rolled through him. He pulled in one last ragged gulp of air before he kissed her hard and moved within her. A feeling of such profoundness stole her breath. She turned her head to gasp for air. He lifted onto his hands, holding his body apart from hers, and slowly thrust into her once more. Bewildered and astounded by this newness of feeling,
India
could do no more than hold his intense gaze. She didn’t know what to do, how to move. How to
please
him. But where that realization would have panicked her moments before, when she’d believed she was experienced in love making, she embraced innocence. “Show me,” she whispered.
He guided his hand to the small of her back and lifted her body in rhythm with his.
Oh!
This was more pleasant than even fantasy. No, not pleasant—glorious. Pleasure burst all the way down to her toes. Her womb clamped against a fierce wave, and she locked one ankle around his calf. “Oh, Cain.”
“You are heaven,
India
,” he murmured against the side of her neck. “I could spend forever inside you.” He withdrew, nearly to the point of leaving her completely, but as his tongue traced the shell of her ear, he slid in deep. Deeper than he had been before.
His steady thrusts stirred the familiar crest of pleasure, bringing her to that place where magic flowed between them. Where she craved more. Needed everything Cain had to offer.
He gave it to her freely, and as he pushed hard within her again, he stroked the sensitive nub between her legs. She moaned at the shock of ecstasy that surged through her veins. She dug her hands into the tight flesh of his buttocks and arched her back off the bed. His breath came faster. Harder. His arms twitched with the effort of holding himself up.
Nature took control of
India
’s body. Caught in the building tide of pleasure, she moved against him instinctively. Perspiration slickened their bodies, made the glide of his skin against hers even more incredible. They moved together as one, their breaths shared, their voices intermingling. Drop by drop he filled her up. Inch by inch he broke her into pieces. Sensation overflowed until she could take no more. With a quiet cry, she surrendered to wave after wave of ecstasy that washed through her, then burst with all the power of a firing cannon.
He moved hard within her, then again, and again, until he choked out a hoarse groan and his body went as still as stone. Deep inside, she felt his shaft pulse as he spilled his seed.
“Cain,” she murmured as she clung to him, trembling.
It took a moment for the rigidness to leave his body. When it did, a soft smile touched the corners of his mouth. “I will make the next time better. But for your first, I wanted to be gentle.”
Better? She blinked as the rest of what he said registered. “You knew? How?”
Cain chuckled. “You did not?”
As a flush crept into her cheeks, she shook her head. “I had dreams.”
“Aye, dreams that drove me to near madness.”
“I thought they were real.” A grin threatened. Goodness, she’d behaved like a complete wanton, all the while as innocent as the first flower of spring. She could not bring herself to regret it.
He laughed again and dusted kisses against her lips. “No, little wren, I have thoroughly corrupted you.”
Wrapping his arms about her, he rolled onto his back, taking her with him, keeping them joined. She laid her cheek against his damp chest and listened to the pounding of his heart. For long moments they lay entangled in each others arms, struggling to regain control over their ragged breathing.
Contentedness ebbed through her. He was hers here in the quiet. No obstacles lay between them. No quest for revenge placed them at opposite odds. They were as close as they could be, in body and in spirit.
“
India
,” he whispered as he pulled his fingers gently through her hair.
She tipped her head back to look at his face. Long eyelashes dusted the high arch of his cheekbones. “Yes?”
“That house on the bluffs is a beautiful place.”
She swallowed hard. Did she dare tell him she knew of such a place? Would broaching that subject spoil the beauty of this night?
No, it could not. He held the dream. She possessed the means of fulfilling it. She snuggled deeper into the protective circle of his arms. “I can take you there, to the real thing.”
His hand stilled. He tensed beneath her. “What do you mean?”
“My father owns a house that overlooks the sea. It’s not much in the way of grandiose, just an abandoned two-story made of stone. The roof is sound, though. The floors are solid.” She traced a lazy circle over the expanse of his chest. “It is part of my dowry. I always loved the place, but before he left for
Bordeaux
, Richard said he would tear it down and erect something more fitting to his status.”
Slowly, Cain lifted to his elbows. A deep crease marred his brow. “What did you say?”
She peered at him quizzically. “I said I own a cottage.”
“No.” Grasping her by her shoulders, he lifted her off his body and eased out from beneath her. He rolled her onto her back, his gaze harsh, his jaw set. “About Richard. How did you know he was in
Bordeaux
?”
Panic seized
India
. For the love of the saints she’d not meant to let that slip. She searched her mind for a plausible explanation and breathed a bit easier as she remembered Edward. With a light laugh she summoned a smile. “I was there when Edward told you.”
“No.” Abruptly Cain sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Bending, he grabbed his trousers. “Edward only mentioned
France
in your company
. He told me
Bordeaux
after
you left.” He stuffed his legs into his pants and stood, buttoning them with haste.
India
bolted upright. She caught his hand. “Wait, Cain.”
He twisted free
,
retrieved his shirt from the floor
,
and yanked it over his head. Fully dressed, he turned to her with a dark glower. “You knew all along!”