Authors: Susannah Merrill
“Goodday,Mr.Chamberlain.Itwaslovelyof you to pay us a visit,” she announced, proud of her ability to gracefully offer her hand in greeting.
But Sarah realized immediately that she should have known better. The look in those molten brown eyes told her that her leverage was fast approaching its end. “Sarah,” he intoned intimately, ignoring her title. He took her thin fingers in his large hand, bending his head to place a searing kiss that caused a frisson of longing to nearly undo her. Nothing had changed, she realized, as his dark head rose to meet hers at eye level. He affects me the same, and damn him, he’s telling me he knows it, she thought, her eyes widening frantically.
“Have you breakfasted yet?” she asked breathlessly, refusing to pull her fingers away from his, knowing what the withdrawal would tell him.
Though she had planned for a pleasant, dignified reunion over a leisurely repast with Stewart and her family, she had done so with the notion that she would have the upper hand. But the man before her was anything but desolate, broken. If anything, Stewart exuded more authority and self-confidence, not to mention an aura of heartracing virility, than she had ever before remembered. Already her control of the situation was in jeopardy; another minute with the man would be her undoing.
“Ihadbreakfastinmyroom”shelied, shifting her balance backward, “and was just on my way out.”
“Out?” Juliana broke in skeptically, a hint of mischief in her cool voice. “Why, wherever are you going, Sarah? You haven’t gone ....”
“Riding,” Sarah retorted irritably, breaking the grasp Stewart maintained on her hand. “I am going riding,” she announced without looking at either of the two people before her. “If you will excuse me?”
Juliana laughed merrily and Sarah clenched her teeth, a taste of pure venom welling up inside her. “In that costume? Don’t be silly. Come join us, and do not be so rude to our guest.”
Heedlessly risking additional embarrassment, scathing glare, presence altogether. “Whose guest, Juliana? Surely not mine.”
Moving quickly to the door, she jerked it open and flew down the front steps, practically colliding with Silas, as he was preparing to bring the horses Juliana and Stewart had ridden to the paddock.
“ComeSilas,”sheordered,ignoringhislook of surprise, for he had not seen her in recent memory, “I want Serena saddled. I am going for a ride.”
“Right away, Lady Sarah,” the solemn little man answered, working quickly to match her pace with Fancy and Nubian in tow. The comical parade Sarah led advanced on the stable in record time, but it seemed ages before Silas had the mare saddled. Lacing up a pair of well-worn riding boots, her only concession to making her outfit more appropriate for a ride, Sarah grabbed Serena’s reins as soon as they were offered. With Silas’ assistance and a plea that she have a care for the animal and herself, Sarah took off through the training yard for a destination she herself did not even know. All she thought was that she had to get away from the couple who mocked her with their smugness.
“Blast,” she hissed bitterly, leaning low over Serena’s flanks as horse and rider hastened through the woods behind the Tremont estate. Angry tears blurred her vision as she sought to put miles between herself and the focus of her torture. Nothing had changed. She was again running from the pain and longing for a man who could promise her nothing but misery ... and the most brilliant glimpse of desire she had ever known.
As she raced across the sheltering terrain, her thoughts returned to the sight of Stewart and Juliana laughing and flirting, neither of them owning a care, while she was little more than a shadow bravely masking a savage ache. At that moment, Sarah’s thoughts were so vengeful, she would have heartlessly mowed the couple down had they been in her path.
Sensing that her mistress had no specific destination in mind, Serena was, out of long habit, heading toward the Gables, the mysterious ruin where Sarah, Juliana and Jack often rode in brighter days. As the mare voluntarily slowed her pace upon sighting the retreat, Sarah raised herself up in the saddle, bent on restoring the composure she had lost. But her lungs were heavy with choking sobs, and when Serena stopped to taste the fragrant clover surrounding the Gables, Sarah dropped from the saddle and sank to the ground, too tired and miserable to fight for composure.
Hoarsesobswrackedherfrailbodyasshe sought to burrow herself in the cool turf, heedless of the havoc it was wreaking on her lovely dress. Her billowing dark hair was a protective canopy about her face and heaving shoulders, and like cat’s paws, her thin fingers kneaded the sweet clover about her.
All attempt to exorcise the handsome demon who plagued her life had been fruitless, and seeing him again, so confident and sure, had completely undone whatever defense she had been able to muster in the months they had been apart. At this point, Sarah’s will was so weak and vulnerable that she was certain she was losing her mind. And all because of one man ... one exciting, captivating, supremely attractive and intimately desirable man.
From his vantage point at the crest of the rise, Stewart, astride Nubian, sighted her, a pool of red fabric being gently nudged by her mount. His heart lurched in pain at the view of the crumpled, sobbing heap, and he quickly dismounted, bent on closing the short distance on foot so that Nubian would not startle Serena and cause her to harm her mistress.
Consequently Sarah did not know of his nearness until strong but infinitely gentle hands lifted her shoulders and turned her into his embrace. “No, no,” she croaked, feebly resisting his comfort, her eyes squeezed shut as if to ignore the reality of his rescue.
“Are you hurt, love?” he demanded of her softly, as his practiced gaze noted her tearstreaked face and the hair plastered to her hollow cheeks. “Did Serena throw you?”
But Stewart ignored her pleas. “No, Sarah,” he pronounced, “not this time ... nor ever again.” Tenderly, but with an urgency that could not be mistaken, he held her curving form against his broad chest, his cheek nuzzling her own as her face was pinned in the comforting hollow of his shoulder.
To struggle against his strength would be fruitless, and despite the foolhardiness of allowing herself the soul-searing pleasure of his dangerous embrace, Sarah could not deny that she was again where she belonged. As he quietly rocked her, satisfied that she was whole, her meager attempts to push away evolved into timid caresses of the sleek chest where his shirt gapped.
Sensing her acquiescence, Stewart’s hands could not be denied the need to renew their acquaintance with Sarah’s trembling body. As his fingers trailed along the soft gown from shoulder to knee, he whispered soothingly in the delicate ear beneath his warm lips. “You have run from me for the last time, my beauty. I cannot tolerate this emptiness you leave in your wake, and I will not attempt to try again ... even if I am forced to chain you to my side.”
His voice, though soft, was sending shock waves through Sarah’s body, and an undeniable flicker of hope was sputtering within, determined to seek fuel, even as she begged restraint. “What must this poor wretch do, Sarah, to convince you of his love? Tell me,” he begged fiercely, “for it cannot be ignored, nor purged, nor left to die for want of a kindred emotion. I have tried all to no avail.”
Hurt and sadness were too longstanding companions for Sarah to trust his words, though her emotions tore at her to cleave to them. “’Tis your pity that moves you,” she choked. “And your guilt. From the beginning our roles were welldefined, and despite the complications, our motives stand as they are: different as night and day. I hold you responsible for nothing,” she urged through gritted teeth, her face hidden in the warmth of his chest. “Why can you not leave me alone?”
“God help me, I’ve tried, Sarah,” he said in a voice filled with desperation. Clutching her shoulder, he forced her gaze upon his own. “I know too well the sharp edge of that foolish matrimonial bargain, which I made purely out of a ridiculous notion that I could keep you in your place – a place I relegated all women – until I came to know you.
“Forgive me, Sarah, for my gluttony, but the charade we played out beneath d’Alava’s nose was as much my means to an end as they were to protect you from that pirate bastard.” The torment in his deep brown eyes was real. “I could not hope to surmount your stubbornness, but I knew you were vulnerable to me. I convinced Jeremiah that we needed to ratify the Special License to keep you safe, but my intentions were selfish. I wanted you in my bed,” he said, his voice harsh with remorse.
“But, my lady, you were not the only one to succumb. As surely as I stole your maidenhead, you captured my heart, and with foolish pride, I have been living a lie ever since, pretending that I did not love you with all my heart and soul.”
Stewart framed her face between trembling hands, tilting her chin closer to him. “Love you and beg you to accept my name as your own. I have known more happiness and fulfillment with you on that accursed island that I have ever felt as a man. Please let me return that joy. Let me give you a home, and nights as unforgettable as those we’ve already enjoyed. Please share my life with me, or know that I have no life.”
Suspended in time, the two looked upon each other, each devouring the other’s exposed yearning. Aching to bend her will with the touch of his lips on hers, Stewart forced himself to wait for a commitment that would be meaningless if not freely given.
Sarah, on the other hand, was awash with a torrent of emotions so sweet that she was paralyzed with bliss. But when her voice broke free, she gasped, “Oh my love!” before her arms flew around him and their lips met in a wild and joyful surrender that felled them to the sweet-smelling earth. Reveling in her abandon, Stewart opened his mouth to welcome her delicate, seeking tongue. She moaned in pleasure as firm hands pressed her body into the supple strength of his own, reacquainting himself with her slender waist and the softly-rounded hips that swayed across his loins in an urgent expression of desire.
E ffortlessly Stewart rolled above her, his mouth sliding across her swollen lips to devour with fevered kisses the silky column of her throat. As his hand toured the length of her, his other cradling her in a fierce embrace, Sarah pressed her flushed face into the springy softness of his dark hair, whispering unintelligible endearments as he wove his passionate magic about her.
“Ohyes,darling,”Sarahwhispered,herbody throbbing with the pleasure only he could give her. “I would have told you, shown you countless times, but I was hiding my love in fear that it would never be returned.”
As his fingers moved against the buttons holding her gown together, his eyes seared her and he made his fierce confession. “Dearest Sarah, would that I could have spared you all the suffering my stubborn nature has caused. If you only knew how long I have been under your spell. I wrestled wildly with myself against sending you to Boston while I stayed in Charleston ....”
“Felicia had nothing to do with it,” he insisted, unconsciously squeezing the rounded breast beneath his exploring fingers. Her startled gasp made him aware of what he’d done, and apologetically he kissed the red fabric covering her breast, his warm breath scorching through to the aroused nipple longing for his naked touch. As he purposefully plucked away the offending layers of clothing, he continued, “I was plagued by the sight of you. Remembering how you had come to welcome me into our bed on the island, I was tormented by the time we arrived in Charleston. I admit I considered easing my lusts with Felicia, but God’s truth, Sarah, I was incapable ....”
“Aye, love,” he muttered, recalling his discomfiture as well as Felicia’s. “Men have been known to kill themselves over such a curse as befell me,” he laughed without humor. “When I came to your room that night ....”
“’Twas painful, but at least it proved the problem’s cause. It was you I wanted, Sarah, only you. And that has been true since the day we sailed from London, I swear. But I refused to give my feelings their rightful name and sought to break the spell by sending you away from me.” Her breath caught in her throat as she realized the depths of his own suffering, not so unlike her own. How foolish they had been!
Sarah realized that Stewart had become distracted by his success in parting her clothes. With flattering concentration, he was savoring the taste of the swollen bud revealed to him, causing Sarah to moan with desire.
“You are more beautiful than my tortured dreams reminded me,” he purred, lovingly tracing the creamy contours of her ripe breasts. “I do not deserve this taste of heaven, but by God I would die were you to deny me now.” As he caressed her, Sarah’s trembling fingers found their way to the tactile delights of his chest, parting his shirt so that his warm skin could join her own.
Hugging him to her, she whispered, “I could no more deny you than I could deny the sun. I have loved you for a long time, Stewart, longer than I realized. Please let me show you how much.”
Enflamed anew captured her mouth slipped his shirt from his shoulders, then lighted a trail of fire as her fingers forayed beneath the flap of his close-fitting breeches.
by her boldness, Stewart
With a groan, he lifted himself and pulled her up, bringing them both to their knees. Cupping her breasts, his thumbs wreaking havoc on her fevered nipples, Stewart rained torrid kisses on her jaw and the slender column of her throat, as she gently raked her fingertips across his lean torso. “You once cooled your desires because of an open meadow,” she teased, her voice throbbing with anticipation. “Let me show you a place ....”