Passion's Tide (45 page)

Though he had slowed her to save himself, he found that he
r restrained movements were just as intoxicating as when she rode him hard and fast
.
Drowning in her slick heat,
he glanced up to see her eyes closed, her luscious lower lip caught between her teeth as she concentrated on holding back
.
The sight of her trying so hard to please him nearly undid him right then and there.

Logan thrust his hips upwards, impaling Amber fully and drawing a gasp from her
.
“Let go,” he instructed, “come for me.” The look she sent him
was
grateful.

As she bucked wildly against him, he felt the wave threaten to overtake him
.
He gritted his teeth and held it back
until, with a cry, Amber convulsed around him, drawing from him his own crashing release
.

She collapsed down onto his chest, heaving with exhaustion
.
“Breathe, sweetheart
.
Don’t forget to breathe,” he instructed, rubbing her back until he felt her hear
tbeat return to normal
.
“Are you all right?”

She smiled into his shirt
.
“Never been better
.
Am I squishing you?”

“Only slightly,” he grunted, shifting her so that her panniers stopped digging into his side
.
“That’s better.” They lay like that for sev
eral minutes; silent and happy to be in each other’s arms again, and content to ignore the consequences of their actions.

The sound of a key turning in the lock painfully brought them back to reality
.
Amber bolted upright as the
door creaked open
, her eyes shooting back and forth between Logan and the door
.
But as it opened, he flipped her over and pressed her down, both to hide her state of undress and to see who entered
.
His hand covered her mouth
.

She heard a loud gasp in the doorway, followed by the sound of footsteps running from the room
.
From her position on the floor she could only see Logan’s face, but she knew from his expression that they were in trouble
.
“We need to get dressed and get out of here, now.”

“Who was it?” she asked as he stood and pulled her to her feet
.
“Did he see you?”

“A servant, and yes he saw me
.
Now we only have a few minutes before he brings the entire house back up here, so we have to hurry.” Amber responded by pulling her bodice back up and smoothi
ng down her wrinkled skirt
.
Logan dropped to the floor
.
“Where’s my damn cravat?  Oh here it is…and here are your shoes,” he said, shoving them at her and jumping up to re-lace the back of her dress
.
“Don’t forget to fix your hair,” he said as he tied t
he best bow he could and began working on his waistcoat buttons
.

“You appear to be quite practiced at this
.
Tell me, have you had many trysts in libraries?”

He shot her an impatient look
.
“Not the time or the place for this discussion, Amber.”  She wa
s pinning her curls back into place when the door swung open and Lady Penelope waltzed in
.
“Oh hell,” Logan muttered, and Amber silently agreed with him
.

But before she could open her mouth to apologize to the hostess of the party, and the woman whose library she had been found in a compromising situation, the tall woman directed her stern
gaze in her direction and demanded, “where have you been?”

Amber’s faced burned red
.
“My lady, I’m sorry
.
I…uh…desired to explore the rest of your beautiful house, a
nd I ran into this gentleman here…” she stopped when the older woman hel
d
up a hand
.

“I’m not looking for an excuse from you, Amber dear, though your family has been quite worried about you
.
I was speaking to him.”

Confused, Amber turned to Logan
.
She
was shocked to find him looking extremely uncomfortable, bewildering her further
.
His mouth opened and closed several times like a fish out of water, and he rocked back and forth on his heels. Growing tired of waiting for a response, Lady Penelope asked
another question: “Do you know how long it has been?”

Logan swallowed loudly and cleared his throat
.
“A few months?”

“Two and a half years!”

Logan cringed
.
“Time got away from me?”

Penelope crossed her arms in a gesture that Amber found somehow familiar
.
“Time got away from you, did it? Are you aware that half of London believes you to be dead?”

“Did you tell them I had died?”

“Of course
not
,” she scoffed
.
“When the rumors started circulating, we did our best to
ignore them
.
After a while, people stopped asking.”

Amber listene
d to the back and forth between Logan and the older woman, a faint buzz echoing through her head
.
It was almost as if a swarm of bees were flying around inside her skull
.
She did her best
to ignore them.

“I am glad to see you removed that awful earr
ing, although I wish you would do something about your hair.”

Just then, Georgina ran into the library and, with a squeal of delight, threw herself into Logan’s arms without hesitation
.
“It
is you! I knew you’d come back.”

Logan smiled again for the
first time since the Countess had entered the room
.
Putting Georgina back on the ground, he ruffled her hair
.
“I suppose I couldn’t avoid you forever, Munchkin.”

Georgina beamed
.
“And Amber,
there you are!  Everyone’s been looking for you
.
Oh my, you look quite pale
.
Do you need to sit down? Are you going to faint?”

“Nonsense,” Amber replied in a meek voice, the buzzing in her head getting louder, “I’ve never
fainted in my life, and I don’t plan
to start
now.”

Penelope smiled
.
“Well that is a relief, dear
.
Now,
would you
care to explain how you two know each other?  I assume you did not just meet tonight,” she said with a perceptive look at their disheveled appearances
.

Logan went back to looking nervous, something that Georgina failed to notice
.
“I bet he did something brave and wild, like capture her ship and take her prisoner!  I bet he killed her entire crew in cold blood and without mercy!”

Amber watched as Logan’s
face turned a
vibrant
shade of red, and he tugged at his loosely tied cravat as if it were a noose around his neck
.
Unfortunately, Penelope observed it too
.
“Oh Logan,” she said with a sigh, “you didn’t?”

“What?  That’s
…
I…she…well I didn’t murder the crew!”

“Does anyone else know about this?”

Amber wasn’t certain whether she was experiencing an earthquake (which was unlikely, as they were in London) or simply whether the bones in her legs had turned to jelly, but the effort of keeping herself standing upright was becoming harder and harder
.
She gripped the edge of the settee for support.

“Are you certain you don’t need to sit down?  Perhaps a glass of water?” Georgina
asked
.

She shook her head, causing the bees to become angry and buzz even louder
.
Her vision swam a bit
.
“I would appreciate it if someone would tell me what is going—” Her words died as a large man strode into the room, and with a
whoosh
all the air vanished
.
She struggled to take her next breath as the tall, dark
haired stranger moved to sta
nd next to Penelope, never once taking his grey eyes off of Logan.

“When did you arrive?”

“Just this morning, sir,” Logan answered with military precision.

The older man nodded
.
“Got rid of the earring, I see
.
A slight impr
ovement
.
Though your hair is a tad unruly.” His piercing gaze shifted to Amber, as if seeing her for the first time
.
“Are you going to introduce us, Logan?  Or did you throw your manners overboard when you were off exploring the world?”

“Ah, yes
.
Forgi
ve me
.
My Lord, this is Lady Amber Townsend, daughter of the late Lord Robert Townsend
.
Amber, might I present the Right Honorable, the Earl of Granville. My father.”

Amber, for the first time in her
life, fainted.

The still waters of the sea held the
Imperial Shadow
steady in its grasp, cradling it with a maternal tenderness and gently rocking the people on board to sleep
.
Among them was Amber, dozing in the main cabin
.
A creaking noise and the rush of cool, salty
air on her face alerted her that something was amiss
.
O
pening her eyes
,
she saw a dark figure creeping towards the bed, the window ajar behind him
.
Her body leapt into action, scrambling for any weapon to defend herself, but before she could re
ach one t
he figure was upon her.

A hand was clamped over her mouth to silence her screams, and another sought to grab her flailing limbs, but not before she made contact with her attacker’s face
.
There was a stream of obscenities from the figure
.
Then b
oth her hands were captured in his firm hold and she became aware that he was speaking, repeating a word.

Her name.

“Amber! Amber wake up, it’s me.”
Hearing the
familiar voice she awoke, this time in her bed at her aunt’s house. She stopped lashing out and peered up at Logan, who stood above her with his hand still over her mouth
.
As he removed it, her pulse returned to normal and she began breathing regularly.

Seeing her calm, he lifted a hand to his cheek, where a red welt had begun to form
.
“I’d appreciate it if
you
wouldn’t attack me anymore.”

Fully awake now and aware of her surroundings, she found her temper flaring
.
She hadn’t seen him since earlier that evening after the confrontation with his parents
.
Once she had
been revived from her unprecedented fainting episode, Logan’s family had whisked him away to catch up on what had apparently been a two and a half year absence
.
He had
had
only enough time to
send
her an apologetic glance
before they were separated and she was ushered downstairs to find her worried relatives
.

After avoiding most of their questions on the carriage ride home, Amber excused herself and went upstairs to her bedroom, undressed, and got into bed
.
It had tak
en her hours to fall asleep, and only to be
awakened
again in the most unpleasant manner
,
so
she
was feeling quite irate.

“Yes, well I’d appreciate a little warning the next time you attempt to surprise me with your sudden appearance. My body is having difficulty dealing with the stress.”

His hand dropped to his side, the redness on his face already fading to a dull pink
.
“Then let me be the first to tell you I’ll be returning tomorrow morning, bright and early, to ask your
uncle for your hand in marriage.”

Amber gasped as a gust of wind blew the unhinged window open, causing her to shiver
.
“Marriage?”