His Wicked Kiss (26 page)

“Eden.”

“Papa suggested that—” She sighed. “If I was lonesome in the wilderness, that I should marry Connor.”

He scanned her face. “This plan found no favor with you?”

“I don’t love him,” she answered with vehemence, then shook her head. “I’ve tried. But I can’t.”

“Why not?”

She glanced at him warily. “Connor lost my trust.”

“How?”

She let out a slow exhalation, and then decided to share the grim tale. “When I was sixteen, a young Indian warrior, perhaps twenty years old, followed me into the forest. I had gone off alone to sketch my orchids. I was startled when he made his presence known. He started flirting with me. At first, I was merely nervous, but he wouldn’t leave me alone. Then I got scared.”

Every muscle in his body had tensed as he listened. “Go on,” he said quietly.

“Connor heard me when I screamed. He was there in the blink of an eye, I scarcely know how he found me so fast. But he pulled the boy off me and then—beat him senseless, right in front of me. It was horrible to watch. He just—tore him apart. He beat him so viciously the boy died a few days later.” She hesitated, shaking her head at the memory, her eyes glazed. “Connor was covered in blood. I’ll never forget the way he looked at me.”

Jack was silent.

She lifted her gaze to his once more. “Ever since then, he seems to think that I am his possession. I guess he felt that way all along, which is why he reacted to you as he did.”

“Come here.” He pulled her closer and put his arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him; Jack pressed a kiss to her temple. “Nobody could ever own you, Eden Farraday. If that’s the situation, you were right to get out of there.”

She was silent for a long moment. He could sense there was something she wanted to say.

“What is it?” he murmured, brushing his lips against the corner of her forehead.

“He may come after you, Jack. I do rather doubt he’ll leave the jungle just to follow me—he hates the world and can’t get on at all in civilization—but you deserve to know the possibility exists. He was in a rage, you see, that day he saw you kiss me.”

“Oh, hell.” He sighed. “So, I put you in danger by doing that.”

“I didn’t mind,” she said hastily, giving him a shy smile. “Besides, it wasn’t just you kissing me that made him angry. What made it far worse in his view, I’m sure, was to see me kissing you back.”

“Yes, you did, didn’t you?” Jack murmured in a husky tone, reaching over to tug a long lock of her hair in teasing affection.

“How could I not?” she retorted as a blush crept into her cheeks. “You didn’t give me much choice.”

“Oh, come, it wasn’t so bad, was it? Besides, it had to be done.”

“Why, because my father annoyed you?”

He shook his head and grazed his thumb along her plump, sensitive lips. “There was no way I was leaving that place without kissing you. I needed at least a taste.”

She blushed and lowered her gaze.

Jack watched her ravenously.

“The point is,” she resumed, “if he got the chance, I wouldn’t put it past Connor to try to strike back at you somehow.”

“Don’t worry, sweeting. I’m not afraid of him.”

“I am,” she said in a small voice.

Overwhelmed by the urge to protect her, Jack pulled her onto his lap. “Come to me. It’s all right,” he whispered. He pressed her head down gently onto his shoulder; she wrapped her arms around him and nestled her face against the crook of his neck. “Nobody’s going to hurt you. Not while I’m around.”

She hugged him more tightly, pressing a tender kiss to his cheek. After a moment, she mumbled absently, “I like you all clean shaved.”

He paid little mind. “Remember everything I said earlier, about funding your father’s research?”

She nodded.

“I take it all back,” he declared. “A new patron is the last thing that you and your father need. That’s not what you really want anyway, is it? Funding his project would only give him the means to return to the middle of nowhere, and drag you back with him. It’s time to be honest with yourself, Eden. This isn’t what you really want.”

“No,” she admitted in a reluctant whisper.

“You both need a break from the jungle before it turns the lot of you into, what, noble savages.”

“Yes.” She hugged him harder, almost fervently. “Oh, Jack. I’m praying Papa followed me out of the jungle—”

“I’m sure he did. He’d have to be worried sick. This may be just the thing to jar him back to his senses.”

“When he sees
London
again, and Aunt Cecily, and all my cousins, I’m sure he’ll realize that it isn’t as bad as he’s come to believe. It was Mother’s death that changed him. He’s been hiding out there in the forest.”

“And keeping you with him. Listen to me.” He took her face between his hands and gave her a sober look. “You have nothing to feel guilty for in leaving. Your father’s the one who’s been selfish—and the next time we meet, I shall make a point to tell him so.”

She smiled ruefully. “Not that he’ll listen.”

“You haven’t heard me roar,” he explained in a teasing whisper, then he chucked her gently under the chin. “No more talk of patronage, now, or what your Papa wants. The important question from here on in is what do you want,
Eden
?”

She relaxed in his arms again, laying her head on his shoulder. “I want what I’ve always wanted,” she said after a moment’s consideration, then reached up to play with his hair, a faraway smile curving her lips. “I want to go to
London
and join in all the pleasures of the Season.”

“Hm.” He wrapped his arms around her waist. “And why do you want that?”

“Oh, I don’t know, you’ll think it sounds silly—but it just—it seems to me like
London
is the place where life is
really
happening. Everywhere else is just… pale imitations.” She shook her head, seeing visions he could only guess at, by her dreamy look. “So many people. So much to do. The elegant shops and houses. All the beautiful lords and ladies… just like in the magazines.” She leaned her cheek wistfully against his. “How I wish that I could be like them.”

Jack held her in silence, not knowing what to say.

He got the feeling there was something she still wasn’t telling him, but from what she
had
said, there were so many wrong assumptions built into her innocent words that he didn’t know where to begin to correct her.

Besides, it wasn’t his place. Who was he to dash her little-girl illusions about the glittering delights of
London
Town
? He had no desire to nay-say her, especially now, after she had opened up to him.

Maybe she needed to hold onto that illusory dream right now, anyway, to keep her courage up for the unknown road ahead. He merely worried what would happen to her when she got there and found out there was another side to that world, as well. A dark side. A cruelty. An emptiness one had to guard against.

Those who had been exposed to it, as Jack had in his early years, quickly came to realize that the one thing a life of opulence lacked was meaning; that lack had nearly destroyed his youngest brother, Alec, as his sister’s letters had described.

No,
Eden
didn’t know that side of
London
life at all, but Jack did. He had survived firsthand the particular cruelty of the ton.

Considering that
Eden
was as much of an outsider as he was, he feared what could become of her in Society. At least in the jungle, she understood the dangers. In
London
, she would walk right into any number of traps. Chances were, she’d have to learn the hard way. And what then? Pain and disappointment could quickly leave her jaded.

A few years of trying to be what Society required would turn her into someone as cynical as he—or worse, a mercenary woman like Maura and her ilk, those title-chasing females who sold themselves on the marriage mart for a country house and a coronet.

Having already developed a certain fondness for the little jungle oddball and all her charming quirks, he didn’t want to see her hurt or changed by her efforts to fit in. Indeed, the whole prospect only made him want to protect her all the more.

Well, she still had time, he mused. He hadn’t told her yet that, in fact, he was not taking her directly to
London
. She’d be staying in
Ireland
for six months, until his mission was completed.

As a result, she would actually miss the whole Season. Maybe by next year, she might have a better idea of what she was getting herself into. She could better prepare herself that way and learn ahead of time where Society’s worst traps were buried.

For now, Jack dared not tell her of his decision to leave her safely ensconced at his castle in
Ireland
. Informing her now would only lead to feminine fury and tears—and they were getting along so well, he thought as he held her on his lap and gently stroked her hair.

A few more hours into their vigil,
Eden
fell asleep.

Since she had worked for two days straight tending her patient, earning, in all, the greatest measure of respect that he had ever had for a female, Jack lifted her in his arms and carried her up to his cabin, where he laid her in his bed.

He pulled the coverlet over her slender body to make sure she stayed warm. He smiled as his gaze trailed over her in the sparkly sea-princess gown, her auburn tresses spilling gracefully across his extra pillow.
You want to be one of the beautiful people
?
He shook his head.
Eden
. Don’t you know that you already are
?
Aye, she was more beautiful than most of them could ever hope to be, and this kind of beauty had nothing to do with her fairness of face.

He leaned down and placed a whisper-soft kiss on her pale, smooth forehead, then straightened up slowly and withdrew from the room without a sound.

Eden
dreamed of orchids.

A weightless rain of petals, so delicate and pale, floating down on her, and Jack was there, smiling, brown, solid as an oak in the mossy jungle shadows. But somehow, instead of their usual vanilla scent, the orchids smelled like cinnamon…