Twenty-seven
“Momma, what's wrong?”
“Nothing,” Susan lied to the precious boy standing at the doorway of her darkened bedroom. Earlier today the extortion money should have changed hands. Rufus West had sent an insect to collect it. But Remy Cinglure scared Angela Paget away.
Susan expected the detective at any moment to pound on the front door of 21 rue Royale and tear her boy away from the only home he'd ever known. Burke had gone back on his word, while he still claimed innocence. If he were faultless, how had Cinglure known to be at the cemetery?
Pippin cocked his head. “Why are you crying?”
“A cinder in my eye,” she further lied, and reached for a lucifer to light the candelabrum at bedside. She wanted a good look at him in case she'd need to commit his features to memory. “Come here, dumpling of mine.”
He scrambled into her lap, all freckles and cowlick and big blue-gray eyes. But when she tried to kiss his forehead, a protest met her. “I don't want no kiss from a lady with red eyes and a runny nose. Kinda makes me sick to think about it.”
“Oh, you.” She had to chuckle. But there was nothing else to chuckle about.
“Are you coming downstairs, Momma?” Pippin looked up at her. “Zinnia's got dinner ready.”
“I'm hungry only for hugs.” Susan pressed Pippin's youthful body into her shivering arms and kissed his dark head.
I wanted your happiness. Will you ever know it?
Should they run for one last chance at freedom? How far would she and Pippin get with no money? She regretted sending that letter of credit back.
“Damn,” she muttered.
“Momma, I don't like it when you're crabby. And you never curse.” Pippin sat straight. “Zinnia says you're touchy 'cause you got a baby growing.”
Surely not! Was it true? Mama Loa, was it? Susan knew changes had roiled through her body, but those were pegged on the climate permeating this house. “There's no baby.” Strangely, her barren state bothered her. Would she never hold Burke's child in her arms? That thought was better ignored. “Have you or Zinnia mentioned a baby to Dad?”
“No. Zinnia say y'all got 'nuff trouble as is.”
“Don't mention it. It's not true. You are my baby.”
“Okay. But I wish you'd kiss and make up with Dad. He ain't lookin' too good. I'm worried. I don't wanna lose him!” His chin trembled. “I wanna grow up so's he can be proud of me. When he gets old like Granddaddy, I wanna say âAye, aye, Cap'n' if he needs somebody to make things easy for him.”
You may end up no telling where, reared with other orphans
. Susan wouldn't allow that. As it had been upon boarding the O'Brien flagship at the start of July, she would have her son at her side for always.
Somehow.
“Susan . . .”
Burke. She lifted her head to see that he filled the doorway. So tall, so handsome, so devious. His wrist in a splint and held by a sling, his ribs in a tight bandage beneath his starched white shirt, he tried to mask pain. Candlelight showed a frown bracketing the mouth that ofttimes almost dimpled with grins; it gave him away. Her gaze went to the hands that had made love to her, hadâ
Damn you, Burke O'Brien. Damn you!
Pippin scrambled off her lap and flew to his betrayer. Burke allowed the comfort of his arms. How that must have stung his ribs and wrist. It also proved something. He'd thrown Pippin to the wolves, but that didn't mean he wasn't sorry.
Susan ached for him and the shipping line in peril. And for Pippin. And for herself. She knew in her heart she couldn't leave Burke. He'd have to tell her to go, come the end of the year.
But what about Pippin?
Burke tried to hunker down to speak with the child, but his broken ribs wouldn't allow it. He stroked the cowlick. “Go back downstairs, son. Someone brought a jar of licorice.”
Susan had sent for it during his convalescence. She'd never given it to him. She'd never given him anything but trouble.
“I've eaten half,” he was saying to Pippin. “You finish the rest. After you finish dinner.”
“I don't want nuttin' but to be a steamboat cap'n, just like you, Dad.”
“Then get downstairs so Dad can work on Momma. Close the door behind you.”
Pippin scurried out of the bedroom, doing as he was told.
“Susan . . .” Spelling agony, Burke's voice hurtled to her chair. Green eyes found the brown of hers. “I didn't know about Cinglure. Hand on my heart, I didn't.”
“How did he know to be there?”
“Just as you jumped into suspecting Throck of murder and piracy, you don't give me the benefit of a doubt. Have I been that cruel to you?”
“I'd prefer you answer
my
question.”
Suddenly she couldn't look at Burke. Going to the door that led into the dressing room, she figured to freshen her face and make an effort to present a normal front downstairs.
Her hand reached for the lever, but his arm snaked around her. He covered her knuckles with his palm and pressed her between the wall and doorjamb. She felt his disabled arm against her spine. Her scalp tingled from the touch of his lips.
“Don't do me this way,” she whispered.
“I've gotta do what I've gotta do. The only way to get past your stubborn head is to play on your lust.”
Did he truly think that was the extent of her feelings? Well, why shouldn't he? Always, she'd acted as though he were at the end of her heart's queue.
He said, “I'm going to answer your question, if you'll listen. Cinglure suspected a link between Pip and that dead bully up in Natchez. He figured I was holding something back. But, Susan, he can't know the particulars.”
She listened to the honesty in her husband's plea. She'd wronged him. While she'd done so, he'd lost out on capturing the woman who might have led him to Rufus West.
The back of her head touched his shoulder. He deserved better than an accusatory voodooess. “I apologize for accusing you.”
It was a strange tone that met her humility. “I'm sorry I put you in the position to doubt me. It's been terrible for you, living here with me.” His voice wove raggedly. “Better luck with your . . . next husband.”
The only husband who could have her heart stood behind her. Yet if he wished fortune on another man . . . “I pray you'll have better luck with your next wife.”
“I'm not finished with this one.” He turned her to him. His eyes bleak, his mouth tense, he disclosed, “If a husband ever needed his wife, you're looking at him.”
“Oh, Burke.” She touched his dear face, scanning it, filling her heart with it. “Forgive me for mistreating you. I did want to make you happy.”
“It's a shame this marriage has been your prison.”
“We are a mess, aren't we?”
“Aye.”
Tilting his head for a kiss, he drew her to him. His broken wrist lay between them. For a moment she luxuriated in his anise-flavored tongue as it slipped between her teeth. At that same instant his hips angled to her. To revel in their passion, oh, what a longing, but endless passion had no future. They had this moment, but . . . “We shouldn'tâyour ribs.”
“Put your arms around my neck.”
She did, but protested. “How can we mate? We might puncture your lung.”
“Have you never looked at the drawings in those books of erotica? There are ways.”
Her face flamed, for she had snuck several peeks. Nevertheless, she subdued the urge to give in to wild desire for the sake of practicality. “Dinner . . . Zinnia will want you to eat. So do I. You need your strength.”
His mouth moved to the curve of Susan's throat. “I'll get more good out of eating you.”
“You are so wicked.” Yet his suggestion sent spirals of desire straight to the place he referred to. She grinned. “So lusciously wicked.”
“Aye, I'm wicked. Needy.” He stilled. “And very much in love with you.”
“Please don't speak of love.” A sting in her heart yanked cruelly. “So much happens outside this bedroom.”
And in your crowded heart.
A scowl turned beseeching as he asked, “Is it possible you could forget everything but you and me? For this night?”
Wanting him desperately, needing to think of nothing but him, she answered, “Yes.”
“Then let's make the most of a unique moment. Will you give me your body without reserve?”
“I'll be anything you wish.”
“Then grant me three wishes.” He blew gently in her ear, rousing a delicious quiver. “Will you be wild and wanton? Can we play as if we're in love?”
“I count but two requests.”
“I'll hold off on the last. Until I need it. Will you grant my pair of desires?”
“Indeed, sir.”
Somehow he got her braid loosened. Blond hair tumbled over her shoulders. It came as no surprise when his fingers slid over her breast, kneading and fondling. It caught her unawares when she flinched.
“Do I hurt you?” he murmured.
“No,” she lied, wanting nothing to stop.
His fingers slipped into the blouse. “You're hardening, just as I am. What have you done in our bed when I was in the library? Have you touched yourself here? Have you tried this?”
His fingers dug into the simple skirt, finding her mound and cupping it. A slight friction arced at the node of her desire, and she caught her breath. Ravenous as a beggar, she found britches-clad male gems. She fancied having them in hand, guiding him into her. It seemed as if a lifetime had passed since they had mated. Licentious abandonânothing else would appease her, so frenzied was she.
“This is the first time you've touched me there in way too long,” he murmured, eyes shuttered.
“If you don't like it, I'll stop.”
“Don't you dare,” he growled.
She voiced a question first formed in the still hours of a lonesome night. “When you were recuperating, did you ever look at those provocative books? Did you think of such as this?”
“No books. But once the elixir wore off, I would've given five years of my life if you'd slipped into the cot.”
“I should have. Eros might've eased both our . . . minds. What did you do to satisfy yourself, husband?”
He chuckled. “The same thing man's been doing since he first got snubbed. I played with my balls and imagined they were your fingers instead of mine.” He nipped her chin as she giggled. “This would be a lot simpler if we got undressed and made ourselves comfortable on that nice satin counterpane. . . .”
Already her fingers were working the buttons of his shirt. He lifted the sling over his neck, tossed it and his shirt away. “Help me with my boots, wife?”
“My pleasure.”
Afterward, her fingernails grooved into the swirls of hair that grew on his chest, visible above his bandage. What a delight, undressing her man in the dance of candlelight!
Once his britches were down his legs, her eyes widened. “You're not wearing drawers.”
“A trick I learned from a lovely blonde,” he said, and stepped out of those britches.
She grinned and caressed. “Does make for a more interesting sight.”
“Feels damn good too,” he admitted as her fingers explored. “Susan . . . I've always had a terrible hunger for you. From the first night on the
Yankee Princess.
When did you get a hankering for me?”
Her tongue circled the chest area that had first enticed her. “At the lake. You know that.”
“Vixen.” He hoisted a strand of blond tress to tickle her nose. “If I'd walked over to you that night, do you reckon you'd have played with my cock?”
“I don't know. I was a virgin. I had no idea how good you would feel. I knew I wanted something you had. Over and above touching your chest with my lips.”
“You've done that once or twice” was his droll comment.
He took her hand and led her to their bed. Sitting down and spreading his knees, he presented a captivating eyeful. “Unbutton your blouse. Do it slowly. Sway like you hear the drums at Pontchartrain. Let me see your breasts. Aye, like that. You have lovely skin. So lovely, and it always smells of flowers. I love your bouquet of flowers, Black-eyed Susan.”
“Why doesn't your refined nose take a closer sniff?”
“Be rid of your skirt first.” She did as bade. “You're perfect in form.” His gaze devoured her nudity, and she loved it. His fingers traced the rise of first one breast, then the other. “May I taste you?”
“Be my guest,” she invited him in a promise-soaked voice.
His tongue flicked on the nipple that puckered for him. His lips were first gentle, then more insistent. She twitched at the pressure, then gave in to shared hunger.
The splint at the back of her legs, his left hand moving up and down her spine, she held tight to his shoulders. They both wanted more, demanded it.
“How can we mate, husband, without doing you more harm?”
He scooted backward, propped up with a pile of pillows, and patted the headboard. “Come here, wife. Put yourself in my mouth.”
Such an experience she hadn't known since that night in the dining salon. She liked the idea of it. “Sometime in the past you must've studied those naughty books.”
“I didn't buy them to fill up a bookcase. But I've had a well-rounded education.” His teeth flashed as he grinned. Wiggling against a nest of soft pillows, he growled and asked, “Are you going to feed me, or not?”
“Goodness, you can be crude,” she said softly, and crawled in beside him.