Moonwitch (44 page)

He was breathing hard, too, when he finally drew away. “How,” he said with weak laughter as he propped himself up on one elbow, “could I ever look at another woman when I have you?”

Too dazed to move, Selena murmured a contented sigh in answer. She felt Kyle brush an escaping tendril back from her face.

“How could I not love you?” he repeated quietly. “You’ve shown me how to run this plantation, you’ve been a mother to my sisters, you’ve made it easy for me to be with Clay… I do love you, Selena. Every night for the past week I’ve tried to show you how much.”

Her eyelids fluttering open slowly, Selena gazed back at Kyle, watching his eyes, the green flecks swimming in a sea of gold. “I thought it was just physical desire.”

“No.” Kyle shook his head solemnly. What he felt for her wasn’t merely lust. It hadn’t been that for a long time, perhaps from the first. And yet passion was an integral part of his love for her. Quite aware now of his body’s throbbing hunger, he traced the delicate curve of her jaw. “Do you have any idea what torment I endured night after night, sleeping apart from you, knowing you were so close?”

“Then why did you avoid me for so long?”

“Because every time I got near, I couldn’t manage to keep my hands off you. And you let me know very clearly you wouldn’t welcome my advances.”

“That was only because you said you didn’t want me.”

His brows drew together in a frown. “When did I say that?”

“On your ship…that morning after the storm. I overheard you telling Mr. Hardwick.”

“I remember telling him how brave you were for saving his life,” Kyle said, puzzled, “and that I was looking forward to being married, after all.”

“I wish I had known.”

The creases in his cheeks deepened as his mouth curved in a teasing grin. “Serves you right for eavesdropping.”

“I wasn’t eavesdropping when I saw you kissing Veronique,” Selena replied archly.

“I didn’t kiss her, she kissed me.”

“Perhaps. But what about that night, and the next one? You didn’t return to the hotel.”

“Yes, I did, only it was late. I stayed out playing cards. I never saw Veronique again.”

She traced the lines of laughter around his eyes, feathering her fingers over his bronzed skin. “Truly?”

Kyle’s expression softened. “Yes, truly.”

“Well, I didn’t know that. And I was jealous. Especially after discovering that Angel and Danielle were also part of your past.”

“And that’s just where I intended them to stay, in my past.”

“But when we arrived here, you never came to my bed.”

“Selena, I told you why. I thought you didn’t want me to. Besides, you never came to my bed, either.”

“It wasn’t my place to make advances.”

Kyle chuckled at her prim reply.

“Well, how could I?” she protested. “You had told me I was passionless, and you blamed me for depriving you of your son and for taking away your freedom—”

“I never blamed you—at least not after I got used to the idea.”

Boldly, Selena encircled his neck with her arms. “Kyle, you know very well you didn’t want to marry me.”

She felt the laughter rumbling in his chest. “That’s only because I couldn’t see what a treasure I was getting. I’ve since come to realize that the smartest thing I ever did was kiss you on the streets of St. John’s.”

“Truly?”

His smile was an endearment. “Truly.”

Her arms tightened about his neck, never wanting to let go. Happiness, joy, delight were welling in her, filling her because this rugged, vital man belonged to her, every glorious inch of him. Quivering with the feeling, Selena drew back. “Kyle,” she said with sudden urgency, “make love to me.”

“Here? Now?” His eyebrows rose in feigned shock, though the passion in his eyes was compelling and tender.

“Yes, now.” Her body, alive to the promise in his eyes, yearned for him.

“Aren’t you worried someone will hear?”

“All the servants are at supper, and the girls will have eaten. They decided to feel sorry for me and allow me some solitude.”

“I don’t know, Moonwitch.” Kyle glanced around him skeptically. “I’ve always thought straw overrated. As a bed it leaves much to be desired.”

“I don’t care. Kyle, please…”

“You know,” he observed with amusement, his fingers stealing to her bodice and deftly baring her breasts, “I always did have one major problem. I never could resist you…”

“I’m glad.”

His husky laughter caressed her nipple as his lips came down to capture it, and Selena quivered, her senses flaring with sensation, the intensity of pleasure she felt in his burning touch heightened by the certainty of his love.

He aroused her slowly, with a skill that left her trembling and breathless, and undressed her with reverence, as if it were the first time. Unashamed, Selena watched as Kyle removed his own clothes, glorying in the beauty of his powerful, bronzed, totally masculine body. And when he came to her, she clasped him to her breast with a possessiveness that his glowing eyes told her he shared.

“I want so much to give you a son,” she murmured, and the glow in Kyle’s eyes deepened to a golden flame as his mouth came fiercely down to claim hers.

Her hands roved over him, caressing the broad, damp expanse of his back with the muscles rippling under smooth skin, the tightly contracted strength of his buttocks and waist, his satiny, powerful arms, until he was trembling as violently as she.

“Selena,” Kyle breathed at last as he slid deep inside her welcoming warmth. “My woman, my lady, my love.”

Yet deliberately he held back, gazing down at her delicate, enchanting face. No longer was he aching because fate had deprived him of his son; he had Selena and a lifetime to spend loving her and their future children. No longer did he feel the restless need to roam the seas in search of challenge and adventure; he was home. No longer would he struggle against the chains of obligation and duty that bound him to the land and shackled his precious freedom; he had found freedom in her arms. His heart was soaring with a bliss so profound that he felt dizzy.

Giddy with the same joy, Selena arched against him as he moved within her, clutching the taut sinews of his arms, giving herself over totally to the passion that was hot and wild and sweet. And when together they found their own heaven, her cry of ecstasy mingled with Kyle’s hoarse groan of fulfillment. Still, he lowered himself to her, dropping his face into the warm, wet hollow of Selena’s throat as he lay against her, spent, shuddering.

It was a long time before they returned to earth, to the pulsing, sweltering heat of the loft. Selena made a small murmur of protest as Kyle eased his weight from her, but he pressed a conciliatory kiss on the damp, flushed skin of her temple and gathered her close, relaxing with a sigh of exhaustion. The last rays of sunlight glinted off the spinning dust motes as they lay together in sated silence.

“I think,” Kyle said sometime later, his voice still husky with passion, “I take the honors for noise this time.”

Selena roused herself enough to lift her gaze to his face. Seeing how contented he looked, she traced a provocative finger from his lightly furred chest to the hard, flat plane of his stomach, smiling when she felt his muscles tense. “I like it when you ‘carry on,’” she observed with deliberate smugness. “It makes a woman feel powerful, knowing she can make her man groan.”

At her echo of his onetime remark, Kyle put his head back and roared. She was a constant source of delight to him.

“No doubt,” he said wickedly when he could talk, “the uniqueness of the situation had a hand in arousing me. I’ve never made love to a pink-haired woman before.”

Selena’s cheeks flushed scarlet at the reminder. Wanting to hide, she buried her face in Kyle’s chest.

“I’m flattered, Moonwitch, that you would want to gratify my whims, but I happen to like you the way you are.”

“I’m never going to live this down,” she muttered ruefully.

“It isn’t that bad, I suppose. Only a
very pale
pink.”

Selena groaned in mortification.

“I expect the color will fade,” Kyle assured her, abandoning his teasing.

“When?”

“I don’t know. Did you try to wash it out?”

“I rinsed out the dye.”

“We’ll scrub it with lye soap.”

“What if that doesn’t help?”

“Then you can wear one of those turbans that are all the rage. You’ll be considered a leader of fashion. And I’m certain you’ll look every bit as beautiful as usual. Now why don’t you forget about your hair for a moment. I have a proposition to discuss with you.” He slipped a finger under Selena’s chin, making her lift her gaze. “What would you say to taking a trip to Louisville? Not now—the harvest will soon be under way. But next spring, before planting begins.”

She hesitated. “Louisville?”

“It’s a town upriver from here that is fast becoming a major steamboat center, according to the gentlemen I spoke to today. It already has a reputable firm of shipbuilders and a major engine manufacturer. They suggested I commission our steamboats there.”

“Then you really mean to do it?” she asked, sounding pleased. “How many do you plan to build?”

“Two, to begin with.” Kyle rested his palm against her cheek, his thumb tracing the outline of her lips. “And I intend to christen the first one
Moonwitch.”

A slow smile lighted Selena’s eyes, reflecting her joy. Seeing their gentle sparkle made Kyle recall the gift he had brought her. Later, he promised himself, his own eyes gleaming as he pictured Selena decked in sapphires and diamonds and nothing else.

“And since,” he continued, “I’ll have to travel there anyway to inspect the construction, I thought we could make it our wedding journey. I haven’t had you to myself since our marriage, and the idea rather appeals to me.”

“It appeals to me, as well. But what about your sisters?”

“My sisters be hanged,” Kyle said with a grin. “They can manage without us for a few weeks. We’ll ask Danielle to come and stay with them—or someone else, if she makes you uncomfortable.”

“Danielle never made me uncomfortable. It was the idea of you and her together that I found so objectionable.”

“Well, I’m giving up red-haired women altogether.”

“I’m gratified to know that,” she replied, her eyes shining with love in the gathering dusk.

“And tonight, you’ll sleep in my bed, where you belong.”

Selena caught her breath as Kyle’s hand moved down her throat to stroke the delicate line of her collarbone. “Then you don’t mean to avoid me any longer?”

“Moonwitch,” he said with a murmur of laughter as he bent his head, “just try and keep me away.”

* * * * *

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Photo by Debra MacFarlane

Nicole Jordan is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous historical, Western, and Regency romances. In her former life, Nicole grew up as an Army brat, earned a degree in civil engineering, and spent eight years as a manufacturing manager making disposable diapers and toilet tissue! Currently she lives in the Rocky Mountains of Utah with her real-life hero (her husband) and beloved kids (her horses).

One of Nicole's novels had the dubious honor of being humorously spotlighted by Jay Leno on “The Tonight Show.” On a more serious note, her books regularly appear on bestseller lists, including The New York Times and USA Today, and have earned such honors as RITA finalist, RWA's Favorite Book of the Year, and the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Historical Romance.