No Decent Gentleman (27 page)

For one awful moment, Adam thought she was going to refuse, but then she sat down. But she was stiffer than the oak desk in his office.

"Princess, look at me," he said. When she did, he asked, "Are you afraid?"

"I am not afraid of anything," she answered. "I am merely ... worried."

"I promise there is nothing to worry about," Adam told her. "Making love feels better than French sunshine or making gingerbread."

That made her smile.

Adam felt encouraged. What he needed was to get the damned thing over with so she wouldn't be afraid. No, he needed to seduce her slowly. What he really needed was more experience with virgins.

"Will you lie on the bed with me?" Adam asked.

Sabrina looked at him through enormous emerald eyes that mirrored her worry. And then she nodded.

Adam stood and, without giving her time to protest, scooped her up. Sabrina entwined her arms around his neck, and he carried her across the chamber to place her gently on the bed.

Without removing his robe, Adam lay down beside her and gathered her into his embrace. His lips sought hers in a slow kiss that seemed to last forever.

Sabrina returned his kiss tentatively, but her ardor grew to match his. She returned his kiss in kind.

"No other woman has ever visited my island," Adam told her. "I've been saving this place for you. Only you."

Sabrina smiled and then surprised him by asking, "Shouldn't we take our clothing off?"

"Is that what you want?"

"Yes."

Adam planted another kiss on her lips and then rose from the bed. He removed the nightshift from her body, and staring down at her, suffered the powerful urge to suckle upon her pink-tipped peaks. He unfastened the robe and shrugged out of it, letting it fall to the floor to mingle with her nightshift, even as they were about to mingle with their bodies.

Lying down beside her, Adam pulled her against his unyielding body to let her experience the incredible sensation of her female softness touching his masculine hardness. He kissed her thoroughly and felt her body arching against him; he heard the soft moan that escaped her lips. His hands caressed her breasts and then his lips moved down the column of her throat and beyond.

"So sweet," Adam whispered, and captured one of her nipples in his mouth. He felt her breathing turn ragged and suckled her nipple into aroused hardness before doing the same to its mate.

"Spread your legs for me," Adam ordered, his lips returning to hers. He kissed her again and inserted one long finger inside her.

Sabrina tried to escape his probing finger, but Adam kept her from moving. He held her immobile to insert a second finger inside her and felt the muscles inside her gripping and sucking his fingers. God, but she was a passionate little creature.

"You were made for this," Adam said, gazing down at her. "The muscles inside you are holding me. You need to be filled."

He dipped his head and suckled her aroused nipples. His fingers began to move rhythmically, seductively inside her.

In response, she began moving her hips, enticing his fingers deeper and deeper inside her writhing body.

And then his fingers were gone. She moaned to protest their desertion, but he rose up between her thighs and rubbed his manhood against her.

"Tell me you want me," Adam said thickly.

"I want you," Sabrina whispered, dazed and delirious with desire.

With one powerful thrust, Adam pushed himself inside her and broke through her virgin's barrier. She cried out in surprised pain, but he lay still for several moments and let her become accustomed to the feel of him inside her.

Adam began to move his hips seductively and enticed her to move with him. Caught in the midst of passion, Sabrina wrapped her legs around his waist and moved with him. She met each of his powerful thrusts with her own.

Suddenly, Sabrina cried out as waves of molten sensation carried her to fulfillment. Only then did Adam lose control, groaning and shuddering and pouring his seed deep inside her.

They lay still, cradled in each other's arms, for several long moments. Finally, Adam rolled to one side and pulled her with him.

He planted a kiss on her cheek and drew her down on his body. "Are you all right?"

Sabrina nodded. "Are you?"

"I've never felt better in my life," he answered, a smile lurking in his voice. "Sleep now."

Sabrina nestled into him. When her breathing evened, he knew she slept.

Adam cursed himself for being ten thousand times a fool. He had done the unthinkable. He had given his heart to a woman.
And he had lied to her again.

Chapter 13

Something wet tickled her face.

Swimming up from the depths of unconsciousness, Sabrina awakened and stared into dark eyes.

Slurp
! Winston kissed her again.

"Good morning," Sabrina greeted the dog, and reached out to pat him.

Holding the coverlet up to cover her nakedness, Sabrina sat up and looked around. From the dimness in the chamber, she knew the hour was early, just before dawn.

She was alone. The bed beside her was empty, but the sheet was still warm where her husband had lain. The chamber was deserted, and the door had been left slightly ajar.

Sabrina slid from the bed and slipped her nightshift over her head. Then she padded on bare feet across the chamber to the door.

Stepping into the corridor, Sabrina saw her husband entering the east wing. He closed the door behind him.

What was Adam doing at such an early hour in the east wing? Should she follow him or not? Was he keeping something from her after he'd promised never to lie to her?

Sabrina lifted her hands. She looked first at her scrolled wedding band inscribed with the words
Pour amor say douc. For love so sweet.

Then she shifted her gaze to the winter rose betrothal ring. The ruby rose, pearl snowdrops, and diamond ice glittered even in the corridor's semidarkness.

"Lovely, delicate, hardy in the face of adverse conditions ... brave little blossom."
Those were the words her husband had used to describe her.

Adam believed in her, Sabrina thought, turning away from the sight of the east wing's door. He deserved the benefit of doubt. No, her husband deserved her trust. He had promised never to lie to her again, and she needed the faith to believe in him.

Sabrina returned to the bedchamber and saw the wolfhound stretched out on the rug in front of the hearth. She walked to the window and looked out at the sky. The eastern horizon glowed with orange, enough to tell her that dawn had arrived. The rising sun promised another fair day.

What am I doing here with a man I barely trust?
Sabrina wondered. She didn't belong here or in London. Longing for her home in Abingdon welled up within her breast. How she yearned to turn back the hands of the clock and return to a happier, safer time in her life when her father was alive.

Suddenly, Sabrina sensed a presence behind her and knew her husband had returned. She felt him lift her coppery mane aside and then brush his lips against the nape of her neck.

Without shame or modesty, Sabrina leaned back against the hard, muscular planes of his body. Every fiber of her being greeted him with warmth and tenderness. His strong arms encircled her and cupped the perfect globes of her breasts through the nightshirt's thin material. His thumbs flicked seductively across her sensitive nipples, and her breath caught in her throat.

"Why are you awake so early?" Adam asked.

"Winston roused me with one of his kisses," Sabrina answered.

Adam turned her within the circle of his embrace and flicked the nightshirt's straps off her shoulders. It fell to the floor in a pool of silk.

In answer, Sabrina unfastened the sash of his bedrobe and pushed it off his shoulders, letting it fall to the floor where her nightshirt lay. She entwined her arms around his neck and pressed her nakedness against his.

"Now my kisses will rouse you," Adam said, scooping her into his arms. He carried her across the chamber to the bed.

Ever so gently, Adam placed her on the bed and lay down beside her. He captured her lips and kissed her slowly, lingeringly. She entwined her arms around his neck and returned his kiss with equal ardor.

Sabrina felt the feathery light touch of his hands caressing her cheek, her throat, her breasts. He glided his hand lower to trace the curve of her hip and then crossed her body to her inner thigh to tease the jewel of her womanhood.

Though his touch was light, Sabrina burned and longed to touch him as he was touching her. Tentatively at first and then bolder, Sabrina ran her hand down his neck to the mat of black hair covering his chest. Lower and lower, she slid her hand until she reached his manhood. Caressing it with silken fingers, she felt it stir and stretch and harden.

"Look at me," Adam said, slipping his finger deep inside her.

Sabrina opened her eyes and stared at him in a daze of desire.

"Tell me that you want me," he whispered in a husky voice.

"I want you," she breathed.

Adam reared up and positioned himself between her thighs. He caressed her for a moment with his stiffened manhood and then thrust forward, impaling her.

At first Adam rode her slowly, grinding himself deep within her, enticing her to follow his lead. Wrapping her legs around him, Sabrina met him thrust for thrust in their tender duel. They moved fast and faster, becoming one maddened bucking creature. Their cries of pleasure mingled even as they mingled their bodies.

Adam fell to one side and pulled her with him. "I never would have thought a prim miss from Abingdon could be so passionate."

"I had no doubts about you once the London gossip reached my ears," Sabrina said.

Adam burst out laughing. Then he asked, "What would you like to do today?"

Sabrina gazed meaningfully into his eyes.

"Princess, we've just done that," Adam said with a smile. "I want to show you all of my hothouse flowers. I even grow a few herbs there in the winter."

"Afterward, you may watch me cook lunch," Sabrina said. "We'll eat in the kitchen like ordinary people do."

"You want to be one of the ordinary?"

Sabrina nodded. "Ordinary people have always seemed so much happier to me."

Across the chamber Winston lifted his head and growled low in his throat, drawing their attention. Then they heard the noises on the other side of the connecting door.

"Who is in my chamber?" Sabrina asked.

"I ordered you a bath," Adam told her. "Razi will knock when it's ready."

"What did Razi mean when he said he wasn't like other men?" Sabrina asked.

"He meant that he is very, very short."

Sabrina narrowed her gaze on him.

Adam hesitated, but then added, "Razi is trained to see without really seeing."

"I don't understand," she said.

"Today you do not understand my words, but someday you will," Adam said, confusing her even more. "Trust me, Princess."

Sabrina inclined her head. At least he wasn't lying to her again.

An hour later Sabrina had bathed and dressed in a simple white muslin morning gown. She brushed her hair back and wove it into a knot at the nape of her neck. Picking up a cashmere shawl, she left the bedchamber and started down the corridor. At the end of the hallway stood the door to the east wing.

Staring hard at the door, Sabrina closed the distance between it and her. Why would Adam have been inside the unused wing two days in a row? What business would he have in there before dawn?

Sabrina stopped walking when she reached the door. If she peeked inside, did that mean she didn't trust him? What would happen if she went inside and someone caught her there?

Slowly, Sabrina raised her hand and reached for the doorknob, but pulled it back before touching it. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth and stood in indecision.

Sabrina reached out again, this time turning the knob.

Locked
.

"Sabrina?" She heard her husband calling her name as he climbed the stairs to find her.

"I'm on my way," she answered, pasting a smile onto her face.

Adam and Sabrina met on the second-floor landing. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her with passion. Drawing back, he studied her face and then said, "You look a little pale."

"I feel fine," she assured him.

"Perhaps you are already with child," he teased, escorting her down the stairs.

Sabrina snapped her head around to look at him in surprised panic. Only a blind man would have missed her expression.

"You aren't looking forward to being a mother?" Adam asked, his expression disappointed.

"Of course I want children," Sabrina answered. "I hadn't thought much about it before and certainly wouldn't think that after one day of married ..." Her voice drifted off. She blushed, unused to speaking intimately with a man.

"I understand," Adam said, putting his arm around her. "You must remember that a man and a woman need only join their bodies once to create new life."

They walked into the hothouse a few minutes later. The glass structure was rectangular, one of the longer sides directly facing south. The air was humid and perfumed with the mingling scents of flowers.

''I have placed the flowers that need the direct sun in the row facing south," Adam told her. "The ones needing less direct light are positioned to the east and the west. In the rear, I grow herbs for winter use. The shrubs, of course, remain outside and dormant during this time of the year."

"These are your winter roses?" Sabrina asked, pointing to several gigantic crates containing rose bushes.

"Yes, but they do grow wild in Abingdon," Adam said with a smile.

She felt momentarily confused, but then blushed as she understood what he meant. He was flattering her again.

"Roses are the oldest flowers known to man," he told her. "Every culture—Persia, Kashmir, Rome, or Greece—adores the flower of love."

Sabrina smiled and reached out to touch a rose petal. "I had no idea that roses were cultivated everywhere."

"You English think you invented everything, but your fondness for the rose has come relatively late," Adam said. He picked a rose and handed it to her. "One of my favorite legends concerns a nightingale and a rose. One night the songbird whispered words of love to a white rose. When she blushed, pink roses bloomed all over the world. At the nightingale's urging, the white rose opened her petals, and the songbird stole her virginity. The rose turned red with shame, and red roses bloomed all over the world. Every evening after that, the nightingale serenaded the rose with songs of love, but the rose kept her petals closed."