Authors: Susannah Merrill
He was on his feet, pulling her up before she could finish, gracefully retrieving his discarded shirt in the process. “Hurry,” he urged, pushing her toward the Gables. With a lilting laugh over her shoulder, she fairly flew across the grass, saucily hiking up her skirts to scale the litter of stones around the larger rock formation. Nimbly she plucked her way through the simple maze of hewn limestone chunks until they came upon a completely secluded patch of dried moss in the center.
Twirling about, her arms in their sleeves spread wide, her unlaced bodice sagging to reveal rosy breasts recently tasted, Sarah offered, “Juliana, Jack and I used to play house here. Isn’t it perfect?”
“Show me to the master’s chambers, wench,” he growled, his eyes sparkling with too-long abated needs, “and I shall pass judgment when I’ve sampled the hospitality.” At once he sat and began removing his knee-length riding boots, his eyes following her every delightful movement.
“’Twere it the kitchen, I’d be about the same purpose,” he declared, tossing the footgear aside and resting his elbows on raised knees, his fingers laced between them. His handsome face sobered into a smoldering stare. “Come here.”
The quiet words beckoned her immediately and she knelt before him, resting her hands on his legs where they crept along the sinewy hardness of his thighs. With the wordless concentration afforded sacred rituals, Stewart slowly undressed her, finding the arousing revelation a bittersweet reunion.
Thoughmoreslender,hercreamy,gazellelike features were proportionately generous and his breath labored at the sight of firm breasts, small waist and gently curving hips. But he could not help but recall that the last time they had shared such bliss, Sarah was voluptuously rounded with his child. An unbidden flicker of remorse in his eyes did not escape her notice, and the reaction brought the back of her hand to her lips, her eyes blinking back the pressure of building tears. A single tanned finger reached out to trace one of the few, barely visible translucent lines that feathered along the side of her flat abdomen.
Sarah was frozen with uncertainty, mesmerized by the sight of him concentrating on the path of his hand. Finally he spoke, his voice low with self-recrimination. “The cruelest consequence of my selfishness. I never should have let this happen to you.”
“Please, Stewart. Don’t,” she pleaded in a voice all but soundless. “I left Boston only because I could not bear your misplaced guilt. I loved you too much to serve as a reminder of some wrong you thought you’d done to me.”
Urgently she pressed his hand against her smooth belly, beseeching him to return her gaze. At last he did, his eyes hooded with emotion. “I have never for a moment blamed you. When I think of Mary Catherine, I recall the beauty of her conception. Few women whose love was declared can share the rapture of my memories.”
He was looking at her in stunned disbelief. Pressing on, she told him, “I recall that her father was there when I needed him most desperately. The help and strength you gave me that night – and many before we knew of her – are the reasons I am before you today. How many beloved wives can say as much?” He could not ignore that her moist eyes were glowing with a love that transcended any and all pain for which he felt responsible.
“I recall that you showed more joy and delight in the prospect of fatherhood than the most devoted of husbands. Had she lived, I would have required no other reason to stay with you. Oh my darling,” she petitioned, moving into the circle of his body as his arms closed around her, “I had but few regrets ... and none now.”
Her kiss promised all the relief of a cleansing balm, and Stewart eagerly partook. His mouth parted her lips to drink the fullness of the passion she offered, and with a shuddering moan, he welcomed the return of his fierce desire. With her help, the last of his clothes were removed and she gasped at the thrill of his nakedness in this ancient ruin. Cradling her beneath him, Stewart studied and teased her completely, with equal skill of both hands and lips. She gasped when he explored the wet heat of her womanhood, making whispered pleas for fulfillment until desire forced her to demand that which he held back.
Straining her body toward him, she pressed his lean hips with urgent fingers, groaning in frustration when he crooned teasingly in her ear. “Had I known what passion slumbered beneath me, I would have forced you to stay with me ....”
“’Tis your love that sets me free,” she whimpered, the sweet ache of desire causing a beguiling throatiness to shade her voice. “My defenses are gone, and I beg you, my love, for relief. Please ....”
With the sound of a seductive, promising sigh vibrating in her ear, Stewart hesitated but for one breathless moment before joining them in the swirling, passion-filled ritual of love. Responding to his thrusts with mindless abandon, Sarah readily forsook control of her body, whose limbs wrapped around him in feverish desire.
Bringing her to the brink of madness with his knowing touch and practiced movements, Stewart wove her in a magic cocoon of love and longing, branding her irrevocably with his impassioned words of commitment, as binding as any marriage vows that would follow.
In response, Sarah cried out her surrender, vowing all the love and devotion her heart had borne silently these many months. And when fevered lips could no longer speak but sighs and fiery whispers, their bodies carried the message, a message shared only by those lovers truly one in mind, body and spirit. Lovers such as these. CHAPTER 43
“I hope that your seed grows within me,” Sarah told Stewart quietly, watching him lace up her worn riding boots while she relaxed, half-lying, half-sitting on the mossy ground. His eyes rose from his task with an obvious twinkle.
“I am quite sure I have given you all that I had – which was considerably greater than my own expectations,” he chuckled, his hand moving up to caress for a moment one silk-covered thigh. “I knew you were a passionate woman, Sarah, but today you have proved nearly insatiable.”
Despite her recent abandonment, Sarah blushed noticeably, dropping her chin to her chest to hide an embarrassed smile. “I’ve missed you so,” her voice quivered.
“I know.” The conviction of his response surprised her and immediately her eyes were upon him with the question. Moving his length to rest beside her on the ground, Stewart brought his arms around her in a tender embrace. “You may as well know that we have your sister to thank for bringing us together again.”
“Juliana?” Sarah’s voice rose indignantly, her feelings of jealousy and betrayal still raw. “She was all too eager to claim you for herself.”
“You sorely underestimate her love for you,” Stewart reprimanded gently, stroking her taut body into acquiescence. “Hear me out, all right?”
“Verywell,”sherepliedicily,recallingwell the affection between the two and how it had hurt her so.
Settling himself more comfortably against the wall of their make-believe mansion, Stewart began his explanation. “While your parents were willing to believe your excuse of an illness and grief over Tegan during your return voyage, Juliana was too much of a romantic to be appeased. When she learned from her friends that they had seen me in London, she contacted me on her own.”
“Why did you come here? To England?” Sarah interrupted, nuzzling her cheek against his strong chest, afraid to look in his eyes.
“I was so damned restless – and useless – after you left. I hated the farm for the memories it bore. And when I returned to my home in Boston, Peggy had set the whole family against me. She was furious that I had let you go. She told me that you were in love with me, but I truly believed any feelings you might have had died with Mary Catherine – or else you would have stayed.
“MylifehadbecomeunbearablesoIdecided to take off. Actually I had planned to go to Paris, but when the ship docked in London, I felt compelled to be here. I took advantage of some opportunities to transact business ... and look up old friends.”
“Felicia,”Sarahspokedully.
“I admit that I saw her, but believe me, Sarah, my relationship with Felicia has been platonic since the day you and I boarded for our journey to America.”
“I believe you,” Sarah sighed, letting go of the poisonous green monster once and for all. Stewart sealed her declaration with a generous kiss, filled with the promise of a lifetime of love and fidelity. When at last he lifted his lips from the heat of hers, she smiled into his glowing brown eyes. “Oh yes, I believe you.”
“Ishallenjoyprovingmyloveforyou,” Stewart responded, lifting a glossy chestnut lock to his cheek and nuzzling it. “But let me finish.”
Sarah settled herself back against his broad chest as he continued, lovingly stroking the strong arms that caught her beneath her breasts. “She came to London last week to see me, after we’d exchanged cards. I admit I was a tad skeptical – your sister carries more than her share of charm in her blood. I thought perhaps she was after what you appeared to be running from.” Sarah giggled at the thought of Stewart nervous about being chased by a woman, stopping only when he playfully nipped at her ear.
“At any rate, I realized almost immediately that she actually knew nothing about us but suspected a great deal. When she revealed how frail and uncommunicative you’d become, I immediately contacted your father to gain an invitation to your home. I had finally admitted to myself why I was so miserable. I ached to be with you, to tell you that I loved you. I had to hope your troubles stemmed from the same malady. But I did not know for certain until this morning when Juliana and I went riding.”
“So that explains why you were so jovial when I first saw you!” Sarah exclaimed, leaning back to look into his face. “My father told me you had changed, that you seemed to have lost your vitality. I was prepared to deal with a down-trodden man, but when I saw you laughing and fit, I thought I had been deceived ... and worse. I thought Juliana had finally caught your eye.”
“You were in a pique,” Stewart laughed. “Quite impolite, which only served to prove the truth of Juliana’s words. She told me how she’d gotten you to admit your feelings for me. And needless to say, I felt like a new man.”
“Oh Stewart,” Sarah crooned, turning to wrap her arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly as her lips brushed his neck. “When I heard how you had changed, I feared you were still laboring under a sense of guilt over Mary Catherine. I could not bear the thought that I had caused you such pain by the horrible things I said to you at the farm. I needed to make amends; to show you that I bore no contempt for you, and that you had nothing to feel responsible for.”
“When I first saw you today,” Stewart replied, “I thought I would burst. You were so beautiful standing there on the stairs, looking haughty and outraged. I fear I shall miss your indignation – it makes your eyes sparkle so. But then,” he whispered seductively, bringing his hands up to frame her face, his thumbs gently stroking her high cheekbones, “it doesn’t nearly match the fire that’s kindled when I make love to you. All these lonely months, your eyes have haunted me. Sometimes I convinced myself that you must have cared a little – the way you could look at me when I held you in my arms.”
“I have loved you for a long time, my darling.” She turned her head to place a reverent kiss into his palm. “Only pride kept me from telling you – and then later, when I thought all you carried was guilt – I did not want to use it to force you into my life. I wanted your heart, not just your name. You told me once that men like you don’t marry for the usual reasons. I knew we could never be happy unless you truly loved me.”
“AndIhavebeensuchanarrogantcad, expecting you to fall completely under my spell, without any commitment from me. It was a cruel game I played, and my only consolation is that I wounded myself more than you.” Dragging his eyes from her face, his jaw tightened as he stared off into the distance. “When I saw you that day at the farm swollen with my child, I was actually relieved to have a reason to offer marriage. I refused to let you or myself believe my reasons were deeper than obligation – and lust. But after you left, and misery became my most constant companion, I realized my folly. And until this morning, I feared I’d lost any chance for real happiness.
“Forgive me, Sarah,” he pleaded, turning his face back to hers, the urgency clearly reflected in his intense gaze. “I would do anything to take back the hurt I caused you.”
“Stop.” Her fingers pressed against his lips in a fervent command. “What’s done is past, and we have so much to look forward to. Let’s not cloud our future with regrets. Promise me.”
For what seemed like hours, he stared at her with a passion that took her breath away. Then with his pledge given in a hoarse whisper, he took her lips in a savagely sweet caress that purged all the pain of their memories, leaving nothing but the exhilarating promise of a future filled with bliss. CHAPTER 44
The afternoon sun streamed di ffused light through the cloud cover as Stewart and Sarah ambled toward the stables, walking their mounts behind them. Even an inexperienced eye could determine how these lovers had spent their day. Conversation flowed easily in between warm embraces and teasing kisses. Despite their efforts to tidy themselves, Sarah’s long, dark locks were decidedly tousled, with bits of moss clinging about, and their clothes were dotted with grass stains and creases.
But it wasn’t until they neared the mansion, having left the horses with Silas, that Sarah voiced any trepidation over their dishabille. “Let’s use the back stairs,” she urged, as Stewart began leading her toward the cobblestone entrance in the front. “I would surely have much to explain if my parents saw us.”
Stewart laughed at her sudden air of propriety. “If anyone were going to disapprove, Sarah, I’m sure a search party would have been sent out about five hours ago. Juliana knew exactly where I was going and I’m quite certain she informed your parents.”
“Still ....” she bit her lip worriedly, “there is so much I want to explain to them before I make known the fact that we are lovers. And I would rather tell them after we are safely wed. You understand, don’t you, love?” Her nervous blue gaze brought a kindly glow to his eyes as he squeezed her narrow waist.