Married By Midnight (14 page)

She’d turned away, as he thought she might. He really didn’t want to go on talking about this. It was exhausting.

Anne faced him again and laid a hand on his cheek. “If it was an unexpected squall, it couldn’t have been your fault. I’m sure you did everything you could to prevent the worst from happening.”

He removed her hand from his face and set it away from him. “I’ve gone over every detail and there were a dozen things I could have done differently that might have changed the outcome. I could have stayed in bed that day, for one. I could have turned the boat around after dinner instead of staying out to watch the sunset. Or I could have drowned with the others instead of saving myself by grabbing hold of the life ring.”

He saw the frown in her eyes and wondered if she would change her mind about marrying him. He wouldn’t blame her if she did.

“
Everyone else was down below,” he explained, “trying to stay dry. “I was the only one up on deck. When the boat flipped over, they were trapped inside. I tried to help them when we were going down, but I couldn’t get to them.”

Except for the boy. Johnny. He had held onto his hand for as long as he could...

Garrett suddenly wished he hadn’t come here tonight. He’d wanted to escape the accident, not revisit it. Was it too much to ask to spend a few blissful hours in the arms of an angel?

“
I think you should tell your family,” Anne said. “They should know.”

He shook his head. “I just want to leave it be. I shouldn’t have told you. I don’t know why I did.”

He slid across the bed and reached for his robe, pulled it on and stood up.

“
Wait, don’t go.” Anne climbed out the other side and rushed around the foot of the bed to meet him. She took hold of his hands. “We don’t have to talk about that, and I promise I won’t say anything to anyone. Please, just stay.”

Her arms slid around his waist. She stepped into his embrace and rested her cheek on his chest.

Not a good idea, yet he found himself cupping the back of her head and holding her tight against him. He could feel the lush pressure of her breasts; her hair was like silk.

Desire burned through him and then the last thing he wanted to do, was talk. Or leave. He wanted only to hold her, taste her, satisfy this raging sexual arousal that had been plaguing him since the first moment he saw her.

Before he could think to resist, he pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her deeply as he lifted her onto the bed.

His angel lay back before him. She blinked up at him with desire while he ripped off his robe and tossed it to the floor.

“
If you don’t want me to make love to you,” he said, “you must tell me now.”

She inched across the mattress to make room for him. “We’ll be married anyway. I’m tired of fighting this.”

“
Is that a yes?”

She hesitated. “I think so.”

Garrett’s eyes narrowed while he paused at the edge of the bed. “I need a firmer answer than that, Anne. Otherwise, I should leave.”

Seconds of painful, agonizing anticipation ticked by while she considered it. “I’m...
nervous
.”

Garrett quickly reined in his passions. He took a few deep, calming breaths. “We won’t do anything you don’t want to do. I’ll stop if you ask me to. At any time, I promise. I just want to be with you.”

Anne gazed up at him with uncertainty.

* * *

There it was... His need for her was more than sexual.

Anne swallowed uneasily while her mind whirled in confusion. She wanted him with mad fury, wanted to feel his hands on her body, wanted to give herself over to him completely.

But why?
Was it purely wanton lust, or was it something more? He was obviously tormented by guilt and needed an escape. She understood that.

He needed pleasure to help him forget, and she wanted to be there for him.

But no, no, she was not that altruistic. As she watched his chest heave with barely controlled desire, she knew that, above all, this was lust. Dirty, greedy, hungry lust.

Responding to a wild flash of yearning, she rose up on her knees and began to tug at his nightshirt, lifted it over his head, tossed it onto the floor.

He now stood naked before her in the warm, golden glow of the firelight, and she stared at him with longing.

“
You have your answer,” she said, admiring his smooth muscled chest, running her hands over his arms and shoulders, down to his slender torso and hips. “I want you to stay.”

His mouth covered hers in a violent kiss of unrestrained passion. Then he came down upon her—his hand cradling her head, his nude body gloriously hot and heavy, pulsing against her, pressing her into the mattress.

She let out a tiny, breathless moan as he unbuttoned the collar of her nightdress and kissed the tops of her breasts. Their mouths collided in another violent surge of hunger and desire as he tugged roughly at her hem to gain better access to her thighs and hips and all the magic in between.

“
Take this off.” His voice was low and fierce.

Anne sat up and removed her nightgown. As she sat naked before him, the peaks of her breasts firm and alert, she was aroused beyond any dream or fantasy, and wanted—no, she
needed
—to feel him inside her now...
Now
. She couldn’t wait any longer.

His lips found hers again and he kissed her, more gently this time, slowing the frantic, ragged pace upon which they had begun.

“
Lie back,” he commanded, and she readily obeyed.

He leaned up on elbow beside her and ran the pad of his thumb across her nipples, then slid his palm smoothly down the center of her flat, quivering belly to the juncture between her thighs.

She was aching with need by this time and the wet fire between her thighs was tingling, begging to be explored. His hand slid into the damp folds, stroked her for a moment or two before he slipped his middle finger inside.

Anne arched her back and groaned as orgasmic sensation flooded her body. It was too soon. They’d only just begun, but her mind had been filled with sexual visions for days now, and she simply couldn’t hold back. He thrust his finger in and out of her a few times until she cried out, stiffened and convulsed with searing, trembling pleasure.

He continued to slide his hand around, pleasuring her until the climax eased off and her body relaxed to the smooth thrusting sensations. She opened her eyes and looked at him, worried that she had behaved too wantonly, but he was gazing at her with fascination.

“
Anne...” He rolled on top of her.

She spread her legs wide, wrapped them around his hips and lifted her head off the pillow to meet his kiss. She felt him down below—the firm but velvety tip of his erection pushing against the entrance to her womanhood. His skin was warm against her breasts. She couldn’t seem to get close enough. She wanted more, to hold him tighter. Oh, how she reveled in the pleasure of his mouth kissing the side of her neck. His tongue darted out to probe into the hollow beneath her collarbone. It was all so dreamlike.

He slid into her then, and she cried out at the overwhelming invasion of his body into hers. He filled her completely. She could barely breathe.

“
Are you all right?” he asked, moving slowly within.

She answered him with a nod and a kiss as she pushed her hips upward to meet each of his deep rhythmic thrusts. He moved carefully at first, as if he were fighting against some primitive need to push into her like a beast, then gave in to his impulses and made love to her with deep penetrations that took her breath away.

He braced both hands on the bed on either side of her, arched his back and shut his eyes as if in tortuous pain. Then he shot his seed into her with a spectacular throbbing, drenching rush of heat and wetness.

Anne wrapped her arms around him as he collapsed on top of her. She couldn’t seem to hold him close enough or tight enough. Her heart was racing. She hadn’t known it could feel like this. She felt both astounded and awakened. How was this possible? And what was she going to do?

She had only one more week with him. Then what? Would she be able to accept the loss of him?

She could not bear to imagine her world without him.

Without
this
.

Chapter Ten

A light snow fell during the night, but by morning the family woke to milder temperatures, a clear blue sky, and the sound of water dripping from the eaves. By late afternoon, however, the temperature dropped as quickly as it had risen, and all the puddles turned to ice.

Garrett lay alone in his bed, staring up at the canopy, recalling all the sensual pleasures he’d enjoyed in Anne’s bed the night before, and wondering if she would be agreeable to more of the same this evening.

Again, he had slept all night with her. There were no dreams of stormy seas and drowning faces. Only peace and...well, exhaustion.

He was about to get up and visit Anne in her bedchamber for a brief time before tea when a knock sounded at his door.

“
Come in,” he said as he swung his booted feet to the floor.

A footman burst in to the room. “My lord. Her Grace is asking for you. She is in the duke’s chamber. She said to hurry.”

Garrett flew off the bed and followed the footman.

A moment later he was striding into his father’s chamber where his mother was pacing back and forth in front of the window.

“
Garrett, I’m so glad you are here. We cannot locate your father. Dr. Thomas is scheduled to arrive at any moment for their regular appointment, but now your father is missing.”

“
Did he not want to be examined today?” Garrett asked.

“
He never wants to be examined. I told him to stay in bed, but when I returned he was gone. The servants have searched all the rooms, but we haven’t been able to find him.”

Garrett strode to the window, pulled the curtain aside with one finger and scanned the courtyard and snow-covered lawns in the distance. “What was he wearing? Did he take a topcoat?”

“
No, he was dressed only in his nightshirt. He is not wearing shoes.”

Garrett faced his mother. “Where are Devon and Blake? Have you told them?”

“
They have already left for London with Chelsea and Rebecca to see the solicitor and banker about the will. They won’t be back until late tomorrow. I don’t know what to do. Where could he be?”

“
Don’t worry, we’ll find him.” Garrett glanced around the room for signs of something—anything—out of order. “Was he distraught when you left him?”

“
No more than usual.”

“
And you’ve searched all the rooms?”

She nodded. “The servants are still looking everywhere. Perhaps we should send a search party outside. What if he went to the lake house? It’s been sunny and mild the past few days. The ice isn’t safe.”

Garrett hurried to the door and called the footman. “You there, come here at once. Go out to the stables and tell the grooms to take a few horses to the lake. We must find the duke.”

“
Yes, my lord.”

Garrett swung around to face his mother. Her brow was creased with concern. “Was he talking about the ghosts again?”

“
Not that I know of. He just seemed frightened and restless.”

“
Has anyone checked the chapel? Could he have gone down to the tunnels?”

She sucked in a breath. “Possibly. I didn’t think of that. Why didn’t I?”

He squeezed her hand and moved quickly to the door. “I will go and search there. In the meantime inform Lady Anne about what is happening. She is a good person to help search. She has a calming effect on him.”

* * *

Just as Garrett had suspected, the chapel door was wide open, the loose stone that concealed the key was dislodged, the key was missing, and the door to the catacombs was ajar.