A Thoroughly Compromised Lady (14 page)

‘I don't think anyone slips by them,' Dulci whispered to Jack.

‘You're right about that. But we aren't going to slip, we're going to be noticed.' Jack wore a smug smile. If she hadn't seen the concern in his eyes earlier, she would have sworn Jack was having fun, all dressed up in smelly clothes and only a step ahead of disaster. There was no trace of his doubts now.

‘What are we going to do?'

‘We're just going to walk right up the gang plank.'

Dulci frowned. ‘Run. Walk. You come up with great plans.'

‘They work,' Jack said simply, gathering her to him. ‘Now, kiss me once for courage.'

He was still kissing her, sloppy and wide-mouthed, when they emerged into the street, tripping over one another, staggering over the hem of her gown, Jack's hands wandering lewdly over her breasts, a hand occasion ally dipping to squeeze her buttocks. It was quite the
sinful display and Dulci knew she looked well used by the time they made the base of the gang plank. A sailor bumped into them on the gangway and swore at Jack for drunken laziness. A few others shouted up ribald comments. Jack shouted back replies in a sailor's cant Dulci didn't pretend to under stand. She played her part feverishly, returning Jack's kisses with wanton abandon, hanging on him with a whore's desperation, which wasn't too far from her own desperation, truth be told. Her heart hammered beneath her gown. At every step, she expected them to be stopped. Surely the guards would not let them pass unquestioned, but each step took them further from notice and closer to the safety of the ship.

Down the wharf, there was a commotion, a clatter of hooves and a frustrated cry. ‘Don't look,' Jack commanded in her ear, nipping fiercely at her ear lobe. ‘Ortiz has arrived. But no worries, we've made it.'

‘Jack, is that you? You old dog!' A booming voice that Dulci was thankful no one on the wharves could hear greeted them at the top of the gangway.

‘Andrew Merryweather, I cannot believe they've gone and made you captain!' Jack returned, pumping the outstretched hand. ‘Finally, a bit of luck today.'

‘I got the whole report. All is in order. There's a cabin ready for you and the king's own writ and introduction have arrived. You can rest easy for a while now.'

The captain's gaze moved in her direction and Dulci tilted her chin up haughtily, gathering her pride. What must the man think of her? Surely he'd seen that little display on the gangway.

‘What do we have here, Jack? I wasn't told there'd be another, ah, guest.'

‘This is Lady Dulcinea, the Earl of Stockport's sister,' Jack said meaning fully. ‘She was implicated in a rather nasty abduction attempt, which has left me no choice but to bring her along. You know Stockport would never forgive me if I left his sister unprotected.'

‘Brandon's sister, of course. It's been ages since I've seen him. We'll all have a lot of catching up to do.'

Dulci felt the captain look at her with new eyes, polite eyes, and she bristled. It shouldn't have mattered.

‘Right now, we would like to change and I need to send a note to Brandon. He'll be worried sick if any of this reaches his ears before my news does.' Jack jerked his head to indicate Calisto Ortiz on the dockside. ‘Perhaps we can cast off as soon as possible. We don't want him trying to board the ship.'

‘We'll be off within the half-hour. I will start immediately,' Andrew promised, his humour high. ‘What a voyage this will be with you on board, Jack.'

The cabin was a little larger than expected, but still small—space was always at a premium on board any ship. But there was a wide bed, a table to function as a desk and a sea trunk bolted to the floor. Best of all, there was a little round window.

There would be arrangements to make in regards to that bed, Dulci thought, eyeing the cabin. If Jack thought he had
carte blanche
to it and her in it, he'd best think again. There were issues that had to be hammered out between them. But that was for later. Right now, all she wanted to do was put her own clothes on.

Dulci could feel the ship start to move beneath her feet as she finished dressing. Jack had already washed his face and hair and returned to his regular self. He'd given her a few minutes alone to complete her
toilette
in the cabin and now he was back, urging her to hurry, to come on deck as the ship slipped its moorings.

‘The sun is coming up, Dulci,' he urged, grabbing her hand, nearly pulling her up the stairs to the deck.

They found a place at the railing, out of the way of scurrying crew members. Fresh air blew across their faces, the sky pinkened over head. Jack was behind her, his arms about her waist, pulling her against him. For the moment, that was all she needed.

‘I can't believe we made it.' Dulci sighed.

‘I can. It's been quite a night, hasn't it?' Jack was nipping at her ear again.'

‘You're in satiable,' she scolded, but she didn't mind. Jack was safe. She was safe.

The boat slid down the Thames. It would be a while before they reached open sea, but they were underway. There was no going back.

Impulsively, Dulci raised her arm and waved to the shore.

‘Who are you waving at?' Jack asked.

‘Calisto Ortiz.' Dulci turned in Jack's arms. ‘Just in case he's watching.'

Jack laughed. ‘Well, in that case, let's make it good.' He swept her into a kiss, and Dulci gave herself over to it. Soon the enormity of what she'd done, of what Jack had done, would sink in. She might even be appalled. But that was for later.

Two weeks later

M
ore sensual surroundings Jack could not have better designed: the turquoise of the ocean sparkled beneath the sun, the breeze warm and gentle in his face as he stood on deck, Dulci a few feet ahead of him, unaware of his presence.

He wanted to drink in the sight of her as she was right now in the moment—bare footed, her black hair loose down her back, the bright cotton of the Spanish skirt they'd purchased when they'd put into port fluttering play fully at her ankles. She wore a loose white peasant's blouse, also courtesy of the local market they'd frequented, showing off her curves quite nicely. Absolutely a vision of loveliness. In the days they'd been at sea, she'd won the hearts of a sceptical crew easily and Jack yearned for her with a never-ending intensity. But he'd played the gentleman and strung up a hammock in their shared cabin, unwilling to take advantage of the
situation although it was becoming tortuous to do so. This next task he had to perform would be tortuous as well. There were five weeks at sea before them and they had to talk.

He moved forwards, his boots sounding on the wood planks of the deck. Dulci turned at the sound, a content smile on her lips. ‘Isn't it beautiful out here, Jack?'

‘It can be,' he answered, taking up a place at the rail with her. ‘It's not so beautiful in the midst of a storm, although I know that's hard to believe on such a glorious day.' There was a hub of land fast approaching and Jack pointed to it. ‘That's a nice deserted island; it has a sheltered bay. Andrew plans to put in there and take a day of relaxation. The beaches are sandy, the water is warm. We should reach it by this afternoon.' Dulci's face lit up at the prospect of some adventure.

‘We should talk before then, Dulci. Perhaps we should have talked days ago,' Jack began.

Dulci didn't flinch. She kept her gaze fixed on the horizon and the approaching island. ‘I think we're doing fine, Jack. The cabin is working out. You needn't worry overmuch about my modesty.'

‘I don't want to talk about the cabin, Dulci. I want to talk about us, about you, really.' Jack tried again. ‘Maybe I should begin with an apology. I've put you in a horrible position. I've ruined you quite thoroughly with this gambit of mine. Incomparables can't run off to sea with gentlemen even if they are viscounts.'

Dulci gave a slow nod of her head. ‘I am well aware of that, Jack. But what's done is done and there's no going back. We didn't have much of a choice.' She gave a delicate shrug of her shoulders. ‘I was tired of being an Incomparable anyway.'

Jack gave a snort of disbelief. ‘You? Tired of ruling London? I don't believe it, Dulci.'

Dulci turned at his challenge and leaned back against the railing. ‘Believe it, Jack. I've been tired of it for some time. Frankly, I'm surprised I lasted this long, but maybe I was afraid to let it go when it really came down to it. Being an Incomparable is difficult work: all the gowns, always looking fresh, and all those silly young men.' Dulci rolled her eyes. ‘All those puppies needing their egos stroked and a woman to laugh at their jokes. It was fun at first, a great game. But then my friends I came out with began to marry and have their own families and I was more and more alone every year.'

‘The races? The dares?' Jack prodded, fascinated by this look into Dulci's thoughts. ‘Am I to believe they were all products of your boredom?'

‘I like a challenge.' Dulci's eyes held a teasing glint. ‘Maybe that's why I put up with you.'

‘I
am
a good kisser,' Jack replied. He was already thinking about what he'd like to do once they reached the island. He'd stopped here once before with Andrew and knew of a private cove where he and Dulci could get up to all kinds of sinful decadence.

‘That's all I expect, Jack. Good kisses.' Dulci was all seriousness now, returning to the topic at hand. ‘I've been thinking these past weeks about my future. If British Guiana is promising, maybe I'll stay. I don't think London will ever be the same, at least not for me. But whatever I decide, it will be my decision. You don't have to be responsible for me, Jack. You don't owe me anything. You saved me in London and I won't repay you for that by trapping you into something you don't want.'

The island neared and Jack felt a sense of disappointment swamp him. She didn't want anything from him? Didn't expect anything beyond the immediate adventure to hand? That should fill him with elation, but it left him with a certain emptiness he couldn't explain. Did she think he wasn't capable of offering more? Such a thought wounded his male ego. But he had five weeks to change her mind, to show her he could offer more than sin and seduction.
If he wanted.

Ah, that was the real question. Thankfully he had five weeks to sort that out too. Was he actually in love with Dulci Wycroft? Maybe it was finally time to name the amorphous emotion that had floated through him since the night she'd downed an intruder with a candlestick. If he could name it, then maybe he could decide what he ought to do about Dulci. Regardless of the answers yet to be revealed, the five weeks started today.

The ship sailed smoothly into the sheltered bay and the island lay before them, pristine and quiet. There was the sound of the anchor chain being lowered as preparations were made to go ashore. Dulci had been strangely silent during the process, her head averted, taking in the island to the exclusion of all else, fully lost in thought. Apparently, he wasn't the only one wrestling with the un nameable something between them. But unlike him, it appeared that Dulci had arrived at some sort of conclusion for the present.

Dulci boldly moved against him, her arms twining around his neck, the familiar scent of her filling his nostrils with her nearness. She reached up to whisper in his ear, ‘Take me to the island, Jack.'

His body reacted fiercely and immediately at her invitation. His voice was hoarse with desire when he
answered her, gruff and impatient with his need, ‘Come on, then, Dulci, they're lowering the boats.'

 

Sin and seduction aside, all she wanted was to be with Jack. She'd decided at the rail that morning she was done with the awkward limbo their relationship hung in. She was thoroughly ruined in rumour, she might as well be thoroughly ruined in truth. Dulci Wycroft the Incomparable had tumbled from her pinnacle. It might as well be for a good reason and Jack was the best reason she could think of. Her body craved him and the wildness he un leashed in her. This passion would not last for ever. Jack was not capable of that, had never professed to be. But she would take what she could have and be satisfied with it. Sharing close quarters with Jack had rendered her entirely aroused in a most un lady like way. The island seemed to provide a perfect antidote for what ailed her.

The island was any woman's romantic paradise. She'd not bothered with shoes when they'd climbed on a boat to row ashore and now her feet sank into the pleasant warmth of the sand as Jack led her apart from the group, saying only, ‘I know a spot.'

Dulci was all too happy to let Jack take her hand and lead her around the headland of the island, the ocean waves lapping occasionally at their feet. Jack carried his shoes in his other hand, having stopped to take them off and roll up his trouser legs once they were out of sight.

They rounded a corner and out of nowhere the private cove Jack sought appeared. Dulci gasped in delight. On their left was the aqua marine ocean, placidly rushing towards the shore. On their right against the island wall
set back from the beach was a waterfall splashing into a pool of clear water. Between the beach and the falls was an expanse of white sand, warm and clean and entirely theirs.

‘This is the most beautiful place on earth,' Dulci breathed in awe. ‘What shall we do first?' The afternoon stretched out like a blissful eternity before her.

‘This,' Jack whispered, capturing her mouth in a full, passionate kiss that resonated to the core of her. His hands were on her, undressing her until her body was gloriously naked to the breeze and the sun, the decadence of what they were about to do a potent aphrodisiac that spurred her on, her hands anxious to strip him.

His arousal was unyielding against her bare skin and the moment he was freed, he took her to the sand, driving into her hard and fast until she screamed out in unmitigated pleasure, the sand warm against her back, Jack hard and deep inside her, the rhythm of the ocean adding its cadence to their love-making. Dulci doubted nothing in her life would ever compare to that single moment when Jack shattered with her and the ocean drowned the sound of their cries.

The glories of the afternoon were not done. When they could stand, they swam in the ocean, letting the warm waves lift their bodies and carry them towards shore. It was an erotic luxury to spend the day utterly naked, to let the elements touch her, to feel Jack's unabashed gaze upon her, and to look her fill of him. Jack's nude body was a wonder. He carried his nakedness effortlessly and without shame, a veritable wonder of the world. She said as much and Jack laughed, a seductive smile on his lips as he promised to show her another wonder of the for bid den world.

‘This is our Eden today,' he whispered, taking her down to the sand. ‘Today we eat from all the trees of the garden.'

This time the love-making was a languid perusal, as Jack worshipped her with his hands and she thought she'd weep from the beauty of it. Afterwards, he traced her foot prints in the sand. ‘I didn't know life could be like this. I guessed, I wondered, but I didn't know until today,' Dulci murmured. The sky above her was losing its afternoon bright ness, the sun moving slowly towards the horizon. The idyll was nearly over. ‘It seems as though society is cheating us of all of the things that matter with its rules and strictures.'

Jack stretched out beside her, running a hand up the length of her leg. ‘Perfect days are rare gems indeed. When I was growing up, I lived for the sun because that meant Brandon and I could romp the meadows without anyone shouting for us. Those were perfect days, away from the house and all its ill humours.' He smiled briefly at Dulci, but she could see the emotions flickering behind his eyes. She knew about his dismal home life. Brandon had talked of it on occasion. But Jack had never shared anything of his youth with her before and such a disclosure touched her.

‘Was it bad?' she coaxed gently.

‘It wasn't bad so much as it was apathetic.' Jack took a finger and drew a gentle line down her torso to her belly. ‘No one cared for anyone. It was probably a blessing to be ignored most of the time.' Jack shrugged. ‘I had Brandon. His friendship made up for a lot in those days.' He paused.

Dulci could read his thoughts. She covered Jack's hand with her own where it lay warm on her belly. ‘Don't
feel guilty, Jack. Brandon will under stand, once Nora calms him down, of course. Besides, this has to be about us, about our choices.' Dulci stood up. She brushed at the sand that clung to her legs. The waterfall caught her eye. ‘Is that waterfall fresh water?'

‘Yes.' A slow grin took Jack's face. ‘What are you thinking?'

Dulci tossed her ocean-soaked hair and gave him a coy smile. ‘I'm thinking you need a bath.'

Dulci and Jack stood beneath the falls, letting the cool fresh water sluice over their sand-caked bodies, the grit of the beach and the salt of the ocean washing away. Her body tingled with an aware ness of itself, life coursing through her at the sensation. Jack helped her with her hair, freeing it from dried sand, his fingers combing through the thick tresses. ‘I'll brush it for you later tonight,' he promised under the roar of the falls and Dulci could imagine how that would go with a little tremor of anticipation.

The basin of the falls was deep enough for a little swimming, the bottom of the clear pool never too far from their feet and they swam out from the waterfall when they were clean, enjoying the quiet pool in the setting sun.

Jack had his arms about her, his hands cupping her breasts in the last rays of the day. ‘Have you ever made love in water before?' His voice was husky with need.

‘I hope that's a rhetorical question,' Dulci teased. ‘You know I haven't, Jack.'

‘Then you should. It is an experience not to be missed,' Jack murmured hotly against her neck, his member pushing at her buttocks.

‘Show me.' Dulci leaned her head back against his shoulder.

‘You'll have to turn around.' Jack turned her, and lifted her, her legs wrapped about him of their own volition. Her body knew what to do. She could see his eyes darkened with passion as he entered her. There was an in de finable intimate quality to their last joining, face to face, their bodies so tightly joined. Dulci clung to him as their passion crested and Jack filled her.

She could have stayed on that island for ever, Dulci thought. But all too soon the lantern signalled from the ship and it was time to head back. She dressed in her cotton blouse and skirt and Jack held out his hand to lead her back across the sand.

The sun had fallen out of the sky by the time they reached the rowboat and the sand had turned colder in its absence. As they neared the rowboat and the lanterns of the ship beyond it in the bay, Dulci's mind was made up. She'd wasted two weeks already grappling with her thoughts. She'd made up her mind. For the next five weeks, she'd be his, the future be damned.

Jack handed her into the rowboat and she leaned near his ear, whispering, ‘Jack, take down your hammock.'