Ryan's Bride (22 page)

“So how was the fox hunt?” Corbett wanted to know. “I’ve always wanted to go on one.”

“Marvelous,” Nicholas said. “Lord Mooring has splendid horses. Dogs, too. His pack of fox terriers are extraordinary.”

Of course they are,
Angele thought angrily, bitterly.
My father trained them himself because
he
was extraordinary.

Suddenly she knew she couldn’t bear to hear any more and was about to excuse herself when Ramona’s next words were like ice water in her face. She tried to pretend she hadn’t heard, because she wasn’t supposed to be able to understand English. She reached for her water glass and took a big swallow to busy herself, giving thanks that Annette was busy talking to her husband and didn’t notice her unease.

“Poor Lord Mooring, he’s been through so much grief of late. His brother was convicted of some dastardly deed and took his own life to escape the humiliation. Lord Mooring had to step in and take over Foxwood, and it’s said that even though he was devastated, he was determined to look after his sister-in-law and her child. But something terrible happened. They disappeared.”

Angele forgot to breathe.

“Disappeared?” Corbett echoed.

“Yes. He thinks his sister-in-law ran away because she was so ashamed of what her husband had done.”

Corbett, ever curious, wanted to know, “Whatever
did
he do?”

“We don’t know,” Nicholas Wright volunteered. “Evidently it was something so terrible no one was willing to talk about it. But Lord Mooring is beside himself over his sister-in-law and his niece. He’s offered rewards all over England for their return. He says he’s duty-bound to see they’re cared for.”

“He thinks they might have even gone to France,” Ramona added. “That’s where his sister-in-law was born. When we were in Cherbourg, my sister had even heard about the reward.”

Ryan commented that it was all very sad and he hoped they were found. Corbett expressed the same sentiment. Then the subject changed, and Angele was relieved, because she was having a very hard time pretending she didn’t know what was being said.

A reward.

All over England.

And France, as well.

Dear God, she had escaped just in time. But one thing was certain—she couldn’t tell Ryan anything. Not for a long, long time.

Somehow she made it through the rest of dinner. She declined coffee and dessert, anxious to go back to the cabin where she could be alone. She excused herself, but Ryan surprised her by also getting up and saying good night to everyone.

“I noticed you didn’t seem to be enjoying yourself at dinner,” he said as they walked along. “So I didn’t want to leave you by yourself.”

She didn’t want him thinking she’d been upset, and tried to be humorous. “Are you afraid I will actually fall overboard this time?”

“No. But you seemed worried about something. You hardly touched your food.”

“I wasn’t hungry.”

“You never are.”

She shrugged. “Maybe it’s the food.”

“But it’s delicious,” he argued. “I think the chef does a good job.”

“Does he also cook for the steerage passengers?”

He laughed. “Corbett walked through the room where they eat just as they were sitting down to lunch today and said he’d starve before he’d take a bite of any of it. I think he’s exaggerating because he’s not happy about having to sleep down there. The captain told me they have the same food as the crew, and you know the crew wouldn’t have it too bad.”

“I guess Corbett blames me for being there. If I weren’t along, he’d be sharing the cabin with you.”

“If you weren’t along, we wouldn’t even be on this ship. Remember? We’d have returned on the same one we came over on, and both of us would have slept in a dormitory for men. It’s not as nice as this, but it’s certainly better than steerage.”

They had reached the cabin door. Angele used her key to open it, then urged, “Why don’t you join your friends now? I’m not going back out tonight. I’m tired, and I want to go to bed.”

His voice was as warm and caressing as cashmere. “I want to go to bed, too—but not because I’m tired.”

She tensed. Engaging in a sexual episode was the last thing she felt like doing at the moment. The Wrights had ignited all the old memories, and she needed to deal with them. “I’m really, really tired,” she emphasized.

“You just think you are.” He pushed the door open and motioned her inside, then closed it.

He had just taken off his coat when there was a knock.

“
Monsieur
Tremayne,” the steward called softly. “I have the Champagne you ordered.”

Ryan looked at Angele, who was still standing in the middle of the room and making no move to begin undressing. “This will put you in the mood,” he whispered huskily.

He opened the door and took the Champagne.

Angele shook her head. “I…I don’t feel like drinking.”

“You’ll love this bottle. It’s the finest they have on board. It came from the captain’s personal stock. He let me have it as a favor.”

“Maybe some other night.”

She turned away and began to fiddle with the ribbons on her bodice.

He put his hands on her bare shoulders and spun her around. “Come on. Let’s sip Champagne and have that talk.”

“Not tonight,” she said, too loudly.

His brows rose.

She rushed to finish before she lost her nerve. “The past doesn’t matter. We’re married, and that’s the only thing that does. And quite frankly, I’m tired of your questions. My goodness, Ryan, you met me when I was a thief. You took me out of jail. Do you actually think there’s anything more horrible I can tell you about myself?”

“Actually, I was hoping you could tell me something good.”

She saw annoyance flash in his eyes but didn’t care. “Suffice to say that everything you learn about me from now on
will
be.”

“So far, it hasn’t been.”

She cocked her head and reached to grab his hands and fling them from her shoulders. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Only that you’ve lied to me on several occasions, and I’ve told you that if there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a deceiving woman.”

“And since you’ve told me that I haven’t done it again.”

He reached for her with heat-glazed eyes. “Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe this is all that does…”

His hot, hard mouth captured hers in a deep kiss and then he abruptly let her go to command, “Take your clothes off or I’ll rip them off.”

She stepped behind the screen, her pulse pounding.

Through the screen’s webbing, she could see him as he stripped. A little gasp, escaped her lips when she saw that he was already aroused.

When she was naked, she called to him to please turn down the lantern.

“No,” came his abrupt response. “I want to see you.”

She knew arguing would be in vain.

She stepped from behind the screen.

And it was his turn to gasp.

“I’ve never seen you this way. My God, you are truly everything a man could want…”

He crossed to pull her into his arms. Her face pressed against his granite chest, as always, the mat of hair tickling deliciously.

Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply of his masculine scent.

His hands dropped to her buttocks, and he began to knead the tender flesh, pressing her into him. “Stand on your toes.”

Bemused, she whispered, “Why do you—”

“Just do it,” he said gruffly, raising her up.

And then she knew why he wanted it, because his hard penis slid between her thighs, then her cleft.

He bent and again kissed her, this time more forcefully, his mouth almost brutal as his tongue devoured her.

He moved himself to and fro, massaging the hot nub of her center with the tip of his organ. Angele’s toes went stiff, and her fingers dug into his shoulders to hang on tight, because the sensation as he rubbed against her was so divine she wanted it to last forever.

His mouth stayed fused with hers as he backed her toward the wall. Her nipples hardened, and he felt them and moved his chest ever slowly from side to side, rubbing against her.

Angele clung to him even tighter, stunned by the unbelievable pleasure he was evoking in two places at once.

Her heart was leaping, and her head was whirling furiously. She felt as though she were drowning in his kiss as he sucked her tongue into his mouth and nibbled it ever so softly.

Her back was pressed against the wall. He continued to push himself in and out of her cleft with maddening rhythm.

He raised his lips to murmur, “Stay on your toes and spread your legs.”

She didn’t understand, and he showed her. Lowering his hands a few inches, he grasped her thighs and pulled them open. Then he held her by her waist and lifted her up till she was on the very tips of her toes.

“Now when I push inside you, wrap your legs around me.”

Again she didn’t know what he meant, and there was no time to ask, because the next thing she knew, he had impaled her.

All at once she understood, because it seemed only natural to leap upon him, her legs scissoring about his back, and she wrapped her arms yet tighter and held on.

He shoved harder, and her hips bounced against the wall, but she didn’t care. Her teeth sank into his shoulder as she tried to muffle her cries of rapture.

It was as though she could feel him all the way into her belly, and she delighted with each hard thrust he gave.

His hips undulated, grinding to set an even more delightfully torturous cadence.

Somehow he managed to lower his head to one of her breasts as he held her. He sucked as much as he could into his mouth, his tongue flicking to and fro over her nipple.

Angele’s hands went to his thick blond hair and, unconsciously, she began to kiss his neck, licking the perspiration away.

Her lips found his earlobe, and she sucked and chewed, breath ragged, panting.

She felt the explosion coming and began to shake her hips against him, wanting more, deeper, harder.

He felt it, too, and drove into her mercilessly.

It began as a tiny spark, in the very core of her, and then it spread upward into her loins like a great, all-consuming fire.

It roared all the way to her breasts, her nipples, and then to her heart and back down again.

The feeling didn’t end but went on and on, and Angele thought she would surely die and didn’t care in that crystallized moment in time if she did.

Ryan was moaning in his throat and suddenly cursed and said, “I want to be deep inside you…”

In one fluid motion, he stepped from the wall and then gave her a forward thrust that sent her back arching downward.

Her hair touched the floor; and she stretched her arms to cling to him, but he wasn’t about to let her fall. He held her buttocks firmly as he rammed into her, again and again.

Then, with a guttural cry, he gave one last push and spilled into her.

He held her that way for a second, then helped her to rise up against him. Her arms twined around his neck, and he rained kisses over her face.

He set her on her feet, then bent to lick a drop of sweat that had roiled from her neck to her breast.

“Delicious,” he whispered. “Like all of you.”

Angele was rocked with awe. Never had she imagined such ecstasy existed.

The girls at school had been right, she thought with a secret smile.

Miss Appleton really hadn’t known what she was talking about.

Chapter Fifteen

For the remainder of the voyage, Angele busied herself pretending to learn how to sew. Every morning she met with all the ladies except for Ramona Wright. Due to the language barrier, Ramona and her husband kept to themselves except at mealtimes, when they could converse with Ryan and Corbett.

Though she didn’t return to where the horses were penned, Angele knew that the mare was healing nicely, because Ryan thoughtfully kept her informed.

She hinted that since she had helped the horse, perhaps it could be hers once they got to Virginia. Ryan hadn’t been at all receptive, pointing out that she didn’t know how to ride. When she said she was anxious to learn, he countered by bluntly reminding her he hoped she’d get pregnant right away and then, of course, she couldn’t do anything as strenuous as ride a horse.

Angele didn’t argue. Everything, in its own good time, she reasoned. For the present, she was pleased they were getting on so well. In fact, she had begun to secretly look forward to their lovemaking. And even though he let her know that he’d like her to be more adventuresome in bed, all she could bring herself to do was yield to whatever he wanted. She instigated nothing.

As for Corbett, Angele avoided him as much as possible. Since he did so many things she disapproved of. He drank too much, and swore, and she noticed he was quite a flirt with the ladies when their husbands weren’t around. He was handsome, and he knew it. He had curly red hair, and his spicy-brown eyes were fringed by lashes too long for a man.