Titanic's Ondine (3 page)

Chapter Three

Joe Marlowe was no saint. A saint would keep his distance no matter what temptation lay in his path, not permit a naked woman to rub herself along his body in a forbidden part of the ship. Nor would a saint’s mind stray to imagine that sensual mouth of hers sucking and licking a different part of him. But Madeleine had pushed him too far to turn back now.

His groan encouraged her to press closer. Her full breasts cushioned his chest; the soft mound between her thighs brushed along his hardness. In the pool’s secret depths, the lips of her womanhood grazed his shaft and scrambled the last selfless thought in his head.

Backing Madeleine into the side of the pool, he lifted her legs and hoisted them onto his waist. One thrust sheathed him in her silken folds, and nothing mattered anymore except the joining of their bodies.

Madeleine threw back her head and moaned her acceptance. He watched their erotic silhouette in the watery reflections around the pool house. And, as the pale globes of her breasts bobbed in the water and her inner muscles clenched around his cock, he was overcome with heady lust. He would give anything to have the use of a first-class suite . . . and the time and luxury to explore her feminine curves in exquisite detail. But he had neither.

Feet planted on the bottom of the pool, hands anchored to the flare of her hips, he drove into her like a man possessed. Louisa might have taught him the mechanics of sex, but his ex had never made him lose control the way Madeleine did. These last months since she came into his life had tested his vow to remain celibate. A kiss, even a look from her, sent a rush of blood straight to his cock. Now, with their commitment to each other voiced out loud, he was finally free to enjoy the pleasures of her body.

So responsive beneath him, Madeleine tightened and released her hold as he screwed her against the wall. When his climax came hurtling through him at full speed, he tried to withdraw, to regain his composure and prolong their coupling, but the ever-surprising Madeleine locked her ankles behind his back, refusing to release him.

Surely, she couldn’t expect him to hold out much longer?

With renewed fervor, she kissed him and wound her fingers into his hair; the pleasure-pain he felt as she tugged his locks and rocked against him was driving him insane. Even at the pinnacle of orgasm, she demanded more.

The moment she latched onto the skin at his neck, sucking and biting like a wild thing, it was all over. Joe came with a cry that echoed his ecstasy around the room. Not wanting to waste a second of the time he had with the lush body hosting him, he ploughed into her warm pussy again and again until she milked him dry.

Totally spent, he bowed his head onto the pillow of her bosom and prayed his legs wouldn’t give way.

“I’m glad you’re holding on to me, or I might just slip under the water and drown.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

Madeleine gave another squeeze, and he gasped.

“This really is the ship of dreams.”

He laughed, thinking all his dreams had come true at once.

Madeleine slid her body from his, letting the water swirl back around him.

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

She worried her bottom lip with her teeth, but she had no reason to feel ashamed in Joe’s eyes.

“You weren’t a virgin,” he stated without judgment. “I don’t think any worse of you. You’re still my Maddy.”

How could he complain when she had just given him the most exciting sex of his life?

“I wasn’t a virgin, but that’s not what—”

“Shh!” Joe put a finger to her lips. “I don’t care.”

Right now, the only thing he wanted to concentrate on was Madeleine.

He took the weight of her breast in his palm, pushing upward until a tight, pink nipple poked through the water’s surface. Latching on to take the enticing bud in his mouth, he drew her into renewed arousal.

“Joe?” Her voice was quiet and unsteady.

“It’s your turn,” he said, briefly releasing her from his oral attentions.

He uncupped her breast and let a hand slide down over her flat stomach into the wet curls between her legs. One finger parted her to glide into her slick channel. She sighed and relaxed onto him, offering no resistance to the invasion.

“You like that?” he asked, eager for her approval.

“Mmm, mmm,” she moaned.

He stroked a digit along her slit to tease her before plunging back in to circle her clit, making her buck against him. With her leg hooked around him, she invited him further. Two fingers now stretched her, pushed her, and fucked her every bit as deeply as his cock could—his cock which was quickly surging back to its steely former self.

“Oh, Joe.” Madeleine dug her nails into his shoulders while she rode the wave of ecstasy into which he had proudly whipped her.

He spun her around, his fingers relentlessly beckoning her orgasm, and she braced herself on the edge of the pool.

She was nearly there. He could hear it, feel it, and yet it wasn’t enough. He wanted her to come with a force that would almost turn her inside out.

The soft butt cheeks pushing against his straining erection were an invitation he couldn’t refuse. Nudging her legs apart with his knee, he positioned his cock between her thighs and teased the head along her pussy.

“Joe—” This time, she pleaded with him, and, gentleman that he was, he aimed to please the lady.

From behind, he slid into her feminine folds and elicited a contented sigh from his partner in return. Now he dictated the pace—slow and hard, deep and full.

Was this how it felt to love freely, completely, without restraint?
Then he never wanted to be with anyone but this woman who made such love possible.

* * * * *

Madeleine’s breasts bashed against the cold tiles with every thrust of Joe’s cock, but she didn’t care. She only cared about the orgasm threatening to blow her apart. For the first time, here was a man who enabled her to enjoy the experience as much as he did. Unlike those other men who seemed to be masturbating inside her, Joe made intercourse a mutual act of fulfillment.

As if to prove the point, Joe slipped a finger in to find her magic spot and flood her with so much arousal she achieved complete release. Only when she was fully sated did he spill into her for a second time.

“We need to get out of here before we wrinkle like prunes or drown each other with the sexual acrobatics.” Joe crossed his arms across her chest to wrap her body in his.

“And then we’ll have that talk,” she insisted. Maybe, in their afterglow, he would accept her secret life and they could make a new start on their return to Southampton.

But a sudden jolt of the ship stole her happy-ever-after from her grasp.

The lurch of the vessel sloshed the contents of the pool, including the naked bathers, forcefully against its walls.

“What the hell was that?” Joe spluttered as the unexpected waves swamped them.

Through it all, Madeleine’s personal lifesaver kept an arm round her. Even though she was never in danger of succumbing underwater, somehow Joe’s tight grip gave her solace. His embrace reaffirmed his commitment to her and told her without words that he was as concerned with her safety as with his own.

The ship came to a jerky halt, and the cold chill of foreboding pricked Madeleine’s skin.

“We should get out in case it happens again,” she suggested, but Joe was already steering them towards the steps.

They dressed in silence, but she could sense Joe’s worry across the room as he pulled on his clothes over his still wet skin.

“Wait here,” he said. “I’ll see what’s happened and come back for you.”

What could she do but follow his orders? If something had happened to the ship, she had completely failed in her duty of care, and Joe could surely never forgive her now.

* * * * *

If Joe hadn’t realized how bad the situation was when he heard the loud scraping noise that accompanied the ship’s sudden halt, then the worried crewmen swarming the previously empty corridors would have convinced him.

The pristinely turned-out stewards hurried past, their brows knitted into frowns as they knocked on cabin doors. Stokers and firemen dashed to and from the engine rooms, tension screaming from every furrowed brow and clenched jaw.

Joe grabbed one of the engineers by the arm, alarmed to find his clothes soaked through. “What happened?”

“We hit an iceberg,” the man said struggling to catch his breath. “Ripped a hole clean through the ship, she did.”

“How bad is it?” Deep down, Joe knew, but he wanted to know exactly what they were dealing with.

The worker shook his head, shock and disbelief written all over him.

“Boiler room six is gone. The water was rushing in so fast they had to close the watertight doors. Only me and two others got out.”

His voice trailed off, and Joe didn’t want to imagine the horror he was reliving inside his head.

Joe gave him a slap on the back and thanked him, even though his own worst fears were fast coming true. They were sinking. His first instinct was to plough into those engine rooms and do all he could with the lads to stop them from going under. But, in his mind, he needed to save one person above all others on board, and that person was Madeleine. He was torn between duty and love.

Grabbing two life jackets from a passing steward, he headed back toward the pool. In their drills, the stokers were instructed to guide all passengers to safety, and he intended to start right there with her.

Serene and beautiful, Madeleine waited for him in the shadows. How he wished he could stay with her here forever rather than return to the chaos below.

“What’s happening, Joe?” Her small voice in the darkness made him want to take her in his arms, stroke her hair, and tell her everything would be all right. But he couldn’t lie.

“We’ve hit an iceberg. The ship is sinking.” He put the lifejacket on her, but if he expected tears or panic, he was with the wrong girl.

Madeleine simply took his hand. “Then we’d best get off.”

* * * * *

Neither Joe nor Madeleine worried about the sight they made as they hurtled through the ship, wet and bedraggled. In fact, Joe wished he could inject some of their urgency into the first-class passengers who eyed them from the cabin doorways with disapproving stares.

“Please, Madam, put on your life jacket and proceed to the boat deck.” A steward was pleading with one of the passengers. But the occupants of the first-class cabins were reluctant to leave their luxury.

“No amount of jewels or money will save them now,” Joe said in dismay.

But he didn’t stop. He would save his energy for those who wanted to be saved.

The deafening hiss coming from the upper decks was so loud that Madeleine covered her ears with her hands.

“It’s the sound of the steam escaping through the safety valves,” he shouted over the din.

He realized the main engines were shutting down. Madeleine nodded and kept up with his fast pace until they reached the outside decks.

Up here, the atmosphere was altogether different from that below, where the crew rushed about in despair. The passengers milled around the deck with the same nonchalance they took their afternoon stroll.

“What is wrong with these people?” Madeleine’s question echoed his incredulity.

“I suppose they don’t believe this ‘unsinkable’ ship could possibly be in danger.”

At the moment, there was little indication of the peril they were in. It simply didn’t seem as though the ship was sinking.

The band still played, the men still sat drinking in the saloon, and the women simply looked inconvenienced. If only they knew lives had already been lost below decks as the sea staked its claim on Titanic.

But Joe wasn’t about to cause a commotion by running through the decks telling them they were all going to die. No, he would do his duty calmly, as he had learned in training.

“We need to get you in a lifeboat as quickly as possible.” Joe brought Madeleine portside, where the crew had already begun lowering lifeboat number seven.

“Women and children first,” came the order. But, with so few passengers willing to abandon the luxury liner to step into a tiny raft, the officers were forced to let several of the crew and a handful of men on board.

“You, too, Madeleine.” Joe coaxed her forward with a hand on her back.

“Not without you.” Not a hint of fear showed on her face, but she had that stubborn look that told him she wouldn’t go quietly.

“We haven’t got time to waste. You get in this one, and I will follow later.” He pushed her toward the officer in charge.

She dug her heels in all the more. “This boat isn’t even half full. By the time everyone realizes they’re in trouble, it will be too late, and they will all be scrabbling to get in the last lifeboat. Come with me now!”

“Madeleine, I’m not about to run away from my responsibilities. The engineers are still working down below to keep the electric on, the band is still playing to keep some semblance of normality. How would it look if I abandoned all these people to save my own skin? I am not a coward.”

From the corner of his eye, Joe could see the officer wasn’t prepared to hold the lifeboat much longer.

“I know you’re not, Joe. Neither am I. If you don’t go, I don’t go.”

She folded her arms in an act of defiance, one he would have found funny if she wasn’t risking her life to prove a point. This time, he was taking control.

In one swift movement, he grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder.

“You. Are. Going!”

Ignoring her protests, he dumped her unceremoniously into the raft. He could only hope this wasn’t the last time he would ever see her. If these were their final moments together, he should have found something more heartfelt to say to her.

As stubborn as ever, Madeleine batted away the female passengers who tried to wrestle the blanket from her shoulders and got to her feet.

The well-dressed woman beside her eyed Madeleine with horror.

“Sit down!” she commanded.

“I will not sit down. I don’t deserve a place in this lifeboat. I’m a stowaway.”