Surrender to the Fury (32 page)

Joy bubbled up inside him, causing his heart to overflow with happiness. It was almost too good to believe. Aimee had been at Miss Mona’s for an entire week. How could she not have been intimate with anyone? Aimee saw his happiness, and then the curtain of disbelief that tempered it.

“I don’t expect you to believe me, but it’s true. Mona didn’t rush me. She said I needed rest and food. She stuffed my belly for a week, and tonight was to be my debut.”

“It was?” Nick said. The devil in his green eyes
danced with mischievous delight. “Well, I’m the one you’re going to spend the night with. Love me, Aimee. Surrender to the fury that was uniquely ours. Tomorrow we leave for Washington, but tonight belongs to us.

“Like hell!”

“S
hut up and kiss me.”

Aimee groaned in dismay. Didn’t Nick understand? She was going nowhere with him. Nor could he have her son. He wasn’t the kind of man with whom she wanted to spend her life. Besides, the only reason he wanted her was because he wanted Brand. She wasn’t stupid. There was no possible way for him to prove Brand was his son, was there?

“Why must you keep up this pretense?” Aimee asked.

He looked at her with intensity—far too determined to give her peace of mind. “You’re not getting away from me again, Aimee. Why is it so difficult to believe that I care for you? Deeply.”

She looked away, visibly shaken. How easily the lie came to his lips. “Don’t patronize me, Nick.”

“Is that what you think I’m doing? Think again, sweetheart. I rushed to Atlanta the moment I was free in order to bring you and our son to Washington. We’ll be married as soon as arrangements can be made. For weeks I’ve suffered the pangs of hell thinking about you and Brand in this war-ravaged land, starving perhaps, or even worse.”

An uneasy silence settled between them as Nick continued to stare at her. His head bowed toward her. Aimee tried to turn away, but he grasped her face and held it in place between his hands. She stared at his mouth, remembering the moist heat of his full lips pressed across hers in passion, tasting her in places that made her forget her undying hatred.

Nick smiled, and she watched in fascination as the moist corners of his mouth tilted upward. Suddenly the thought occurred to her that he knew exactly what she was thinking, and hot color flooded her cheeks. A low chuckle rumbled from his chest.

“I remember, too, sweetheart.” His voice was sensual, seductive, and wildly erotic.

Dear God, was he a mind reader?

“You can’t possibly know what I’m thinking,” Aimee said.

“You’re remembering how magnificent it was between us when we made love. You’re recalling the wanton way in which you responded to the touch of my hands and mouth, and how tightly you held me inside you. We can have that again, sweetheart. Every night if we want.”

She grew breathless at the thought. “Nick, please, I can’t think straight when you’re confusing me like this.”

“Don’t think, Aimee, just feel.” Then his mouth, so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath on her lips, closed the gap between them.

His mouth covered hers completely. She felt his hunger in the furious pressure of his lips and in the hot, stabbing length of his tongue as it forced itself past the barrier of her teeth to fill
her with his need. He moved upon her until her body had no choice but to accept his weight and press upward against him in self-preservation. His hands touched her everywhere, her breasts, her hips, the soft place between her legs, and still he kissed her, forcibly pressing her mouth open with his as his tongue continued to plunder her sweetness.

It wasn’t until her tiny fists beat repeatedly against his chest that he allowed her respite. They were both panting erratically when he drew his mouth away from hers.

“You’re hurting me.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, but it’s been so long, so damn long.”

“Evidently Regina wasn’t very obliging.”

“I’ve not bedded Regina since I rode to Tall Oaks that day and met a woman from my past whom I’ve never been able to forget. In fact, I’ve bedded no other woman since fate brought us together again.”

“I was handy; there was no need to bed another woman.”

Nick groaned in frustration. Suddenly he stood up and began stripping off his clothes. Aimee lifted herself to her elbows. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like? Since you’re ‘handy,’ I may as well take advantage of the situation. Besides, I paid dearly for the pleasure of your company.”

Aimee opened her mouth to fling back a scathing retort, but when Nick pulled off his shirt and she saw the vivid red scar, she sucked in her breath and stared at the healing wound in mute
dismay. Seeing the direction of her gaze, Nick paused.

“Does it disgust you?”

Aimee looked puzzled. Disgust her? Far from being disgusted, she recalled the suffering he had endured because of it. “Why should it disgust me? I’ve seen it often enough when I was caring for you. Does it still give you discomfort?”

Nick’s green eyes glinted wickedly. “Not enough to keep me from loving you.” Then he slid his trousers down his legs and sat on the bed to remove his boots.

“I don’t want to make love with you, Nick.”

Nick’s smile vanished, replaced by a ferocious scowl. “You were willing enough to do it with a stranger.”

Aimee had the grace to flush. “I—had no choice.”

“You have no choice now,” Nick said as he rolled to his side and pulled her into his arms. “Since you won’t believe me when I say I care deeply for you, I’ll just have to show you by my actions. Before we leave this room, you’ll have no reason to doubt me or resist my efforts to make you my wife.”

“I’m not stupid; I know it’s Brand you want.”

“You stubborn little fool! Of course I want my son. But I also want my son’s mother. Now, shut up and let me love you.”

There was no tenderness in his kiss. It was penetrating, hard, and desperate. While his mouth worked to dissolve her resistance, his hands skillfully removed her clothes—what little she had on. The filmy robe went first, then the thin chemise. When she lay nude and vulnerable beneath
him, his mouth left hers, sliding down the slope of her breast to its hardened point.

Aimee shivered at the feel of his warm, moist lips against her sensitive flesh. She closed her eyes and moaned when his callused fingers slid up the inside of her thigh.

“Open your eyes, sweetheart. I want you to know who’s making love to you. I’m not your dead husband, or a faceless man who paid for your favors.”

Slowly Aimee’s eyes opened, clashing immediately with Nick’s mesmerizing gaze.

“Who am I, Aimee? Say my name, darling.”

“Oh, Nick!” His name came from her lips in an exclamation of mounting passion.

Then Nick’s lips, so insistent upon her breasts, began sucking vigorously at an engorged nipple as his hand explored the moisture between her legs.

His mouth closed over hers as his finger slipped inside her, the tormenting plunge of his tongue mimicking his motion below. Her head rolled back and forth. Her hands wound themselves in the tousled sleekness of his hair as his mouth returned to her ripe, sweetly swollen nipples. He nudged her knees, and to her own dismay, she found herself opening her legs wider, lifting herself against the subtle pressure of his hands, writhing to the rhythm of the awful pain he was creating there. When he slid down the length of her body, she tried to stop him, but was powerless to halt the spiraling surge of wanton hunger he had unleashed inside her.

He looked at her and grinned knowingly before spreading her open for the sweet torment of his mouth and tongue.

“Nick, please!”

“Are you going to marry me?”

“No.”

Lowering his head, he flicked his tongue out to tease her mercilessly. Then he tasted and tormented her, driving her wild with a need that went beyond anything he had ever done to her before.

She pleaded, but it did absolutely no good as he continued to lick and bedevil her with his lips and tongue. Every sensation was centered between her legs. The feeling grew and throbbed and grew until—

She screamed.

The release came like an eruption, shattering her soul. She was still vibrating when Nick slid upon her body and thrust the hot, throbbing shaft of his being into her. Incredibly, the feel of him filling her, stretching her, touching the very center of her soul, revived the hot spiral of bliss that gripped her body, and the splendor intensified.

“Ah, sweetheart, you never cease to amaze me. You’re body is so responsive to mine. How can you deny what we have together?”

Suspended in the grip of passion, Aimee could not reply. But Nick did not need one. He felt it in the way her body expanded to accommodate his, in every tiny tremor that squeezed him inside her with gentle pressure, in every shudder that made her body his to command, in the way she called his name when she climaxed around him. Then Nick’s own release came upon him and he no longer had the ability to think.

Unwilling to separate their bodies, Nick clung to Aimee, holding himself inside her as he rolled to
his side, taking her with him. More content than she was willing to admit, Aimee rested her head against his chest and counted his heartbeats as they slowed to a steady rhythm.

“Tell me now that we don’t belong together,” Nick said breathlessly. “I’ll wager your husband didn’t make you feel like that.”

“I don’t want to talk about Beau.”

“Then let’s talk about us. And our son. I’m going back out to Tall Oaks tomorrow to bring Brand and Savannah to Atlanta. Our train leaves at seven o’clock tomorrow evening.”

“I just can’t leave Miss Mona like that. She won’t understand. I—I owe her for the loan of food and medicine I took out to Brand and Savannah.”

“I’ll pay her,” Nick said, gnashing his teeth in frustration. “I have a feeling Mona understands more than you give her credit for. Don’t worry, sweetheart, Mona won’t be cheated.”

“I’m not going to marry you, Nick.”

“Since you have few decent clothes, pack whatever you deem appropriate from those provided by Mona,” Nick continued, paying little heed to Aimee’s protests. “Surely Mona furnished you with something other than nightwear, didn’t she? I’ll pay her handsomely for whatever you take from your wardrobe. When we get to Washington, I’ll buy you and Brand whatever you need. We’ll be married as soon as arrangements can be made.”

“Nick, do you love me?” The words tumbled from her lips before she could bite them back.

“What in the hell kind of question is that? What do you think this is all about? Of course I love you. You’re the mother of my son.”

Aimee’s heart sank. Nick loved her because she was the mother of his son. Could she settle for his passion and live her life being loved for that reason only?

“Oh, God.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? What in the hell did I say now to upset you?”

“If you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you.”

“Women! The only time I can satisfy you is when I’m doing this.” He flexed his hips and thrust forward, revealing that he was still hard inside her.

Aimee felt him throb against the walls of her tight sheath as he grew and expanded, making her aware that his hunger had been momentarily appeased but not sated. He still wanted her.

“Feel what you do to me? We’ve all night, sweetheart; let’s make the most of it. I’ve yet to hear you say you love me.”

“I don’t love you. I—I hate you. I hate the fact that you’re a Yankee. I hate the way you left me aboard the
Dixie Belle
. I hate—”

He grasped her buttocks and held her in place while he thrust in and out, setting up a clamor in her blood.

“I love you,” Nick said. “I love the way you respond to me. I love the way you look at me and call my name when you climax. I love the way you hate me.”

Then he was lifting her atop him, pressing her down onto his erection, filling her deeply—so deep.

“Kiss me, sweetheart.”

She did, filling his mouth with the incredible taste of her.

“Ride me, Aimee. You’re in charge; do whatever you like.”

Closing her eyes and throwing her head back, Aimee took control, already lost in a world of sensual pleasure. When Nick lifted his head and took her nipple into his mouth, she exploded. Vaguely she heard him cry out, felt the hot splash of his sperm, then knew no more.

“One day you’ll admit you love me, sweetheart,” Nick whispered before he joined her in slumber.

She was awakened once during the night by hot kisses falling randomly over her face and body. At first she thought she was dreaming, until Nick’s lips and hands became so aggressive, she could no longer ignore the pounding of her blood or furious beating of her heart. Then he was thrusting inside her, bringing her the special kind of rapture only he was capable of. When she fell asleep again, she didn’t awaken until the sun streamed through the window and Nick was gently shaking her.

“Aimee. Wake up. It’s time I left for Tall Oaks.”

Aimee stirred, flipped on her stomach, and said, “Go away.”

Her buttocks rising beneath the single sheet was too tempting, and he stroked them absently as he spoke. “Aimee, I’m going to speak to Mona before I leave. I’ll take care of everything, sweetheart. Sleep as late as you like. All you need do is pack and meet me at the train station before seven o’clock tonight. I’ll have Brand and Savannah with me.”

His words succeeded in chasing the last vestiges of sleep from her. “What! What did you say?”

“Our train leaves at seven o’clock. You have all
day to make yourself ready. I expect you to be at the station on time.”

“What if I choose not to go?”

His lips thinned. “I don’t recall giving you a choice. But should you foolishly decide not to join me and Brand in Washington, we’ll somehow manage without you. It’s your choice, Aimee. Me and your son, or a life of spreading your legs for every man who meets your price.”

Her reply was a sharp intake of breath. God, how could he be so cruel? Did he have no compassion? Nick was a Yankee officer, and she was a southerner with no authority. Who would come to her defense if she complained that Nick was taking her beloved son away from her without her permission? The South was in chaos, and the damn Yankees were too busy with winning the war to concern themselves with one Reb woman’s claim against one of their own kind. Nick’s offer of marriage was obviously a sham; his words of love were meant only to soothe her wounded pride. How could she marry Nick when she suspected that his proposal was meant simply to appease her—when what he really wanted was custody of their son?