Once an Innocent (24 page)

“This figure is clearly a seated woman.”

“It’s a man. Look, there’s a beard coming from the chin!”

“I suppose you would know,” Janine said tartly. “You were probably there when it was chiseled into the stone.”

“Oh-ho! Is that the way of it, madam? With no academic rejoinder, you resort to juvenile insults. Not very becoming for someone who wants to be taken as a serious intellectual.”

“Auntie?” Naomi ventured. The two combatants looked at her. Behind her spectacles, Aunt Janine’s eyes gleamed. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I wondered if you might like to take a walk with Lord Freese and me.”

As if speaking his name had summoned him, she was suddenly aware of Jordan’s presence at her back. Her breath hitched in her throat.

“What sort of a walk?” Aunt Janine inquired.

“I thought I’d take Lady Naomi on the nature walk,” Jordan answered. He moved to stand beside her. Today he wore a dark green coat, buff breeches, and Hessian boots. The waves of his raven hair were damp at the ends. “You’re both welcome,” he informed their elders. “There’s an old stone circle to see.”

Aunt Janine’s brows rose. “Hmm. I was working on some translations, but that sounds fascinating. I’ll just go change into my walking boots.”

Sir Randell smirked. “So you forfeit the debate, do you?”

She made an indignant noise. “Certainly not!”

“I shall take your departure as proof that you concede the point about the male figure.” Sir Randell tapped the page.

“That is a
woman
, you stubborn old mule!” Aunt Janine shoved her chair back and strode to a bookshelf. As she scanned the volumes, she continued her tirade. “Your eyes fail you, sir, if you do not recognize a simple crack in the stone revealed by the rubbing. But leave it to a man to see a phallus in anything. Ah-ha!” She plucked a book from the shelf and waggled it at her adversary. “Now you shall see I have the right of it.”

She flipped through pages as she resumed her seat. Sir Randell sank onto the chair beside her. Their heads bent over the text while their argument continued at full steam.

Jordan glanced at Naomi. “I believe we’ve been forgotten.”

“That’s Auntie’s way,” Naomi confirmed. “When she’s interested in a subject, there’s almost no pulling her out of it before she’s satisfied her curiosity. Woe unto any who try. I fear Sir Randell has gotten himself into a debate that could last all day.”

“I suppose it’s just us, then. Shall we?” Jordan gestured for Naomi to precede him into the corridor. Nerves buffeted her middle as they made their way outside and across the park.

Jordan strolled easily at her side, his hands clasped behind his back. He looked relaxed, with only a slight tightness around his eyes betraying any anxiety.

“Is it safe to be out of doors?” Naomi asked. “After what happened yesterday … ”

“Nothing happened yesterday.”

Oh, he was so frustrating sometimes! Why must he always speak around things, she wondered. “Jordan, you know what I mean. I won’t say anything to the ladies, but — ”

Jordan abruptly stopped. “Yes, you’re safe, Naomi.” He caressed her jaw with a warm hand. “I would never expose you to unnecessary risk.”

She stared into his eyes, weighing the sincerity of his words. Her gaze traveled to the scar on his cheek. A tiny, red line, a shaving nick, stood out on the white ridge of flesh. A wound atop a wound. She brushed it with a fingertip. “And what about you, Jordan? Are you safe?”

His gaze darkened for an instant. Then he stepped back and tossed her his devil-may-care grin. “Safe from everything but your fatal charms, my dear,” he said as he offered his arm and continued toward the tree line. “Is that your new bonnet? It complements your complexion to an astonishing degree.”

Naomi’s mouth pulled to the side as she raised a brow at him, thoroughly unimpressed with his parlor tricks. He might be able to distract other women with his outlandish flirtations and compliments, but she knew him too well now. What was he hiding?

But experience with her father and two brothers had taught her that men usually thought females were better left in ignorance of a great many things. She would not get to the bottom of Jordan’s secrets now that he’d dug in. Since he had his guard up about one thing, though, she might as well discuss another.

“You need to spend more time with Enrique,” she ventured. “He’s a very lonely boy. You should have seen the way he lit up last night when he had the opportunity to chat with Kate.”

They were surrounded by trees now. A pathway, narrow but well tended, wended through the woods. The air was filled with the smell of rich earth and the occasional sweet or spicy aroma wafting from a plant.

“Yes, don’t think I’m not perturbed about you taking Kate there,” Jordan said. “I asked you to stay away from Enrique, Naomi. I have my reasons.”

She scoffed. “Whatever they are, they can’t be worth making the poor fellow miserable. I’ve already caught you out in your ‘Basque urchin’ lie. Enrique is as French as a crèpe. You might as well — ”

His hand clamped around her forearm. Gone was the jovial, flirtatious man of a moment ago. His lips drew into a hard line, and every inch of his large frame was tensed as though to pounce on an enemy. “Enrique is not a subject I will discuss with you, Naomi. He is absolutely none of your concern. None. Do not raise the matter with me again.”

She wrenched out of his grasp. “Fine. I just don’t understand, Jordan. I don’t know what’s happening here. I don’t know why people were shooting at each other yesterday. I don’t know why you were whistling signals. I don’t know why you pretend Enrique is someone he isn’t. It’s all so confusing, and you won’t explain anything! How should I know what to say or do when everything you say or do could be a lie? I don’t know what’s really important, or what’s true or — ”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. “I’m sorry it must be this way, Naomi, but I cannot answer your questions. I never meant for you to get caught up in this.”

In what?
she wanted to ask. But she didn’t. She knew he wouldn’t answer.

For a while, they strolled through the woods in silence. Sudden breaks in the trees opened on to stunning vistas. There was a picturesque meadow where two rabbits nibbled clover. High clouds gathered in the sky. They weren’t threatening, but the gloomy atmosphere reflected her state of mind.

“Was it the stone circle you wanted to show me?” she finally asked. “Is that the part of your home you like best? Is it much farther?”

Jordan laughed. “Questions abound, about everything. I begin to see more and more similarities between yourself and your worthy aunt.”

She lifted her skirt to step over a log. “Well, you won’t address the questions I really want answered. I’ll take what I can.”

“As it happens,” he replied, with a playful tone creeping back into his voice, “the stone circle is not what I had in mind. I said that on the spot to conceal our true destination. The place I mean to take you is just ahead.”

A clap of thunder caused Naomi to yelp in surprise. With no further warning, the sky opened, and rain fell fast and heavy. They’d walked nearly a mile. There was no escaping the deluge.

Naomi started to head back the way they’d come. Jordan grabbed her hand. “This way,” he said, tugging her deeper into the woods. Her protest was swallowed by another rumble of thunder.

For several minutes, Naomi kept her head down and let Jordan lead her. There must be a gamekeeper’s cottage nearby, she reasoned. Cold water poured off the brim of her bonnet until it seeped through the straw and lining and into her hair. It ran down her nape, into her dress, and on down her back. In short order, the hem of her walking dress was a sodden, muddy mess.

“Here.”

Jordan pulled her to a stop and she looked up. And up. And up.

“Gracious,” was all she could think to say.

Before them loomed an enormous pine tree. The lowest branch was ten feet above Naomi’s head. She forgot the rain washing over her face as she tried to take in the entirety of the huge tree. It towered over everything else in the forest.

Jordan pulled her off the path and around the massive trunk. On the opposite side, an opening yawned wide, revealing a hollow place inside the tree. They stooped to enter.

Naomi blinked in the enveloping gloom. Eventually, she made out a small, needle-strewn space that was just big enough for the two of them. Fortunately, the rain hadn’t blown into the hollow. The pungent aroma of pine resin permeated the area.

“This is what you wanted to show me?” she asked, incredulous.

“Yes.”

“A tree?”

Jordan wrapped his arms around his knees. “Yes.”

Naomi folded her legs beneath her and tried to arrange her sodden skirts, but they were hopeless. “Why is this place special to you?”

He stared at the curtain of rain and ran a hand through his wet hair. “When I was a boy, this was my secret spot. I could stay in here for hours, playing with my tin soldiers. Or I’d imagine I was an Indian in America, and this was my wigwam.” He smiled ruefully. “Once, I was pretending to be a hunter stalking through the forest. I was seven, I think, and it must have been late afternoon, because I came upon a badger emerging from its burrow. I don’t know what I thought I was going to do with the thing, but I managed to sneak up behind it. Suddenly, it spun and hissed at me. Oh, how I screamed. I ran the whole way home and didn’t stop until my face was buried in my governess’s skirts.”

Naomi laughed at the charming mental picture he’d sketched for her. “I’m sure the badger ran home, too.” Their eyes met, and Naomi’s laughter died in her throat.

“You shouldn’t have a cold, wet hat on your head.” Jordan reached over and loosened the ribbons of her soggy bonnet. “There now,” he said, tossing it to the floor, where it fell in a limp heap. He surveyed the rest of her ensemble with a gimlet eye, as well. His hand extended, palm up, fingers flapping. “Pelisse.”

A jolt of nervousness shot through her as she rose onto her knees and started to remove the garment. She must have been colder than she realized; shivering fingers fumbled the buttons.

Jordan twisted to face her and gently swatted her hands away. “Let me.”

He started at her waist. At his light touch, Naomi’s belly clenched. If he noticed her body’s response, he didn’t let on. Steadily, he worked up her torso. Every brush of his fingers was a torment. Beneath her wet clothes, her nipples puckered.

The silence was becoming charged. “Thank you for the caramels,” she said to break the tension. “They were delicious.” Blood rushed to her face as she recalled her seduction-by-confection.

“You’re welcome.” His hands stilled. There was only the top button remaining. Intense blue eyes lifted, watching her from beneath a fringe of sooty lashes. “Did you do as I asked?”

Her cheeks flamed. “You mean, did I have them — ”

“In bed.” His sensuous lips spread in a lazy smile that made her insides melt.

“Yes,” she whispered. “But why?”

“After the day you had yesterday, you deserved a little something special.”

Oh, he’d given her a little something, all right. More than he knew. “It was quite indulgent. Such treatment will spoil me, my lord.”

With a flick of his wrist, he loosened the last button. “Good,” he said as he peeled the garment off her shoulders and rolled it down her arms. “You need spoiling.”

His lips brushed the corner of her mouth, traced the contour of her bottom lip. Just a whisper of a kiss. Naomi trembled.

“You think I don’t pay attention to people, but I do. How could I not be aware of you, always?” he murmured, taking tiny sips at her mouth between words. “You’re there, quietly supporting everyone, always doing for someone else.”

He was always aware of her? Naomi’s heart soared. Could it be he reciprocated the feelings she’d had for so long?

When he reached the opposite corner of her mouth, his lips parted slightly and swung back in the other direction. She felt his warm breath as he followed the line of her chin and jaw to her ear. He nuzzled against her earlobe. “Soft as a peach,” he murmured. A tiny nip caused her to inhale sharply. “But sweeter.” His voice softened her brain, reducing her mental faculties to porridge.

Then his featherlight kisses crossed her cheekbones while his slightly rough fingertips caressed her forehead, her temples. Down her neck. One hand cupped the base of her skull, while the other tilted her chin, handling her with exquisite delicacy.

“Yours is the kindest heart I’ve ever encountered,” he said. Dark brows furrowed over his blue eyes.

This time, when his mouth returned to hers, she was eager, wanting. She tried to reach for him, but her arms were snared by the wet pelisse, which had only gotten as far down as her elbows. At her whimper of protest, Jordan rested their foreheads together. “Shh, let me spoil you.”

His lips covered hers; his tongue teased back and forth along the seam of her mouth. Naomi’s lips parted on a sigh, seduced by his tender words and exquisite kisses. His tongue swept into her mouth. Slowly, he deepened the kiss, exploring her at leisure.

Naomi wrestled against the confines of her pelisse bindings, yearning to touch him. Between her thighs, the throbbing ache she’d felt this morning returned, every beat of her heart drumming through that hidden flesh. His hands roved her face, her throat, her shoulders. Always moving. Learning her. Branding her with his touch. She wanted to learn him, too.

He responded to her struggles by firmly holding her arms to her sides.

“Please,” she moaned. “Oh, please, I want … ”

His teeth teased her collarbone. His tongue swirled into the hollow at the base of her throat. He buried his nose in the soft swell of her breasts and inhaled deeply. “What do you want, sweetheart?”

She brushed her cheek over his hair. He smelled of rain and warm male. Intoxicating. “I want to touch you,” she confessed in a rush. “Let my arms out.”

A groan rumbled deep in his chest. “I can’t, Naomi.” His hands covered her breasts. She arched her back, pressing into his palms. Thumbs and fingers found her nipples. Sharp pleasure shot to her core. She let out a choked sob. “If you touch me, I won’t be able to stop myself,” he crooned. “I want to give you pleasure, but I can’t take mine.”