The Promise (31 page)

He leaned forward, looming over her. “I want to see you.
All
of you.” He gently pressed her legs apart. “You, trust me, don’t you?” he murmured in her ear.

“Yes,” she breathed in a dusky voice.

He kissed her again, deeply, passionately, and she began to relax. He sat back on his knees to look at her. Finn had never seen anything more erotically pleasing than Jane’s delicate body splayed before him, still flushed from her first orgasm. Her sex was swollen and glistening with moisture. Her breasts were small but sweetly rounded… her waist flaring out to womanly hips… her pale, fine-boned limbs long and elegant.

He lowered himself onto her, bracing most of his weight on his elbows. Her body quivered under the heated pressure as his chest and torso pressing her down into the mattress. His chest hair gently abraded her nipples, rekindling her need. His heavy erection pulsed hot and hard against her belly and an unbearably sweet pressure began to build deep inside as he ground against her.

He pushed her legs apart with his knee and positioned his manhood against the swell of her sex. He guided his velvet tip to the slick opening and slowly, gently, entered her. Little by little he pushed until he met the resistance of her maidenhead. He pulled back his hips and plunged forward in one fluid motion then stopped, buried to the hilt.

Jane gasped and tensed against the pain, but it passed quickly.

Finn kissed her temple and whispered, “I’m so sorry, Jane. Are you all right?”

A tear slipped from the corner of her eye as she nodded. Soon the sensation of being gloriously filled began to overtake her. He kissed her lips tenderly as he began a deliberate movement inside her. Her body opened to receive him and he slid deeper with every thrust. She shifted beneath him and lost herself in the luxurious feeling of being joined with him. His hips rolled as he drove into her and she responded in a natural rhythm as her body built toward another release.

Soft sounds of need escaped her. Finn murmured wild, wicked endearments with each stroke, wanton, lustful words not meant for a lady’s ears, but they excited her nonetheless.

He slipped his hand between them to stroke her. She writhed and strained against him as his movements took on a new urgency. Her legs wrapped around his hips, her heels digging into his buttocks, urging him on. He groaned and plunged into her with more force. Each time he withdrew only to plunge deeper. She surged forward, meeting him stroke for stroke.

He straightened his arms and raised himself above her without breaking his rhythm. “Jane,” he said urgently and she opened eyes glazed with desire. His face was harsh from the strain of holding back his climax. “Look at me, Jane. I want to see your eyes when you come,” he said between his teeth as he drove into her. “Come for me now.”

The strong muscles of his arms held him above her. His corded belly contracted as he drove his narrow hips into hers. “You belong to me, Jane. Only me. Say it.”

She met his burning gaze. “I belong to you, Finn. Only you.”

Suddenly she was cresting again, flying, flying… then falling through an endless midnight sky full of stars. She cried out as Finn plunged into her, driving to the very core of her.

“Jane, Jane, Jane,” he growled. He came with soul shattering force as her muscles pulsated around him.

He collapsed on top of her, still buried deep as he fought for breath. His head lay on the pillow next to hers. She savored the warm weight of him, the slide of his sweat-drenched skin over her own. She sighed. Making love with Finn had been transcendent… the most intense, primal experience of her life.

When his breathing returned to normal, he shifted his weight off her, breaking their bond. She made a little sound of protest and he chuckled.

“I’m not going far,” he said and nuzzled her neck.

He shifted to her side and slid down her body so his shoulder was tucked under her arm, his cheek against her breast. Finn rested his hand on her downy cleft in a possessive gesture that made her feel content. Jane drew her fingers through his hair and rested her chin on the top of his head. He threw his leg over hers. She felt serene. Sated. Happy.

A comfortable silence settled over them and Finn wondered if she was slumbering. It was his experience that women wanted to talk after sex while men more often than not fell asleep. His fingers trailed a lazy pattern over her skin, riding the crest of her hipbone, dipping into the hollow of her bellybutton, tracing the elegant curve of her thigh.

“Is it always like that?” she asked quietly.

“So far… with you,” he teased.

“I’m serious,” she fussed, playfully tugging his hair. “Is it?”

Finn considered the question. “No.”

When it became clear he wasn’t going to elaborate, she pressed on. “I just want to know. Please tell me… I have nothing to compare it to, you see. You have been with many women.”

Although true, the statement unsettled him. He wasn’t sure why. “You’ll never have anything to compare it to,” he said harshly. The violence of his reaction to the thought of Jane with another man surprised him. A sick feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.

The possessiveness in his voice sent a thrill through her. Her arm tightened around him. “I don’t want anyone but you,” she said softly.

His erection sprang to life against her thigh. He wondered if it was too soon to take her again. She reached down and tentatively touched his hard, smooth shaft.

“I didn’t know. I thought… Can we do it again
already
?”

He frowned, selfish desire at odds with his conscience. “You need time to heal. I don’t want to hurt you again.”

Instead of answering his question, she wrapped her hand around his velvety rod and whispered, “You didn’t hurt me the first time.”

He laughed and raised up on one arm. “You make me feel like a young buck again,” he laughed and rolled her beneath him.

She wrapped her arms and legs around him. “Come here old man!”

They made love again, this time more slowly and with heart-breaking tenderness. Afterward he pulled her onto his chest and she wept softly. Alarmed, he asked, “Darling, did I hurt you after all? I knew we should have waited.”

She smiled at him then… a radiant, joyful smile that warmed him like the sun. “No. That’s not it. I don’t know how to explain it… I’m just so… happy.”

Her eyes were glowing with emotion and Finn’s heart clenched. His throat tightened painfully. “Hush, silly girl,” he whispered hoarsely. It was all he could manage to say. He stared at the ceiling for a long time, listening as her breathing evened out in sleep. He stroked her hair and struggled to sort out the unfamiliar emotions coursing through him.

She thought she loved him. The words had been hovering on her tongue. When she held them back, he had been relieved. He had never spoken those words to a lover and he wasn’t sure he could say them truthfully now.  Finn prided himself on total honesty and, as fond as he was of Jane, he wasn’t prepared to abandon his principles by lying to make her feel good. As inexperienced as she was, Jane couldn’t distinguish lust from love. Having never felt it himself, he wasn’t sure he believed in romantic love, but he knew for a fact that lust always faded in time. Finn was filled with trepidation at the knowledge that he was now responsible for Jane’s emotional wellbeing. He had the power to wound her. It felt like a terrible burden.

There had been something powerful and elemental about taking her maidenhead. It had been a profound act that inspired extraordinary feelings of masculine possession. He had claimed her... branded her as his own… forged a bond between them.

Finn had never taken a woman’s virginity before. As a rule he evaded innocents like the plague. There was no surer way to be forced into marriage than to be caught trifling with a virginal debutante, yet he had gone to the altar willingly, even eagerly with Jane. She was layered and complex… intelligent and generous. She illuminated the world around her and he felt warmer within her sphere. Jane would be a good life partner. He was confident friendship and mutual esteem would survive long after the bloom faded from the rose.

In the morning he awoke wrapped around Jane’s soft, fragrant body. The curve of her back was nestled against his belly and her legs were intertwined with his, one slender foot crooked around his ankle. His arm tightened around her waist as he savored her scent and snuggled closer to the warm, silken length of her.

I could get used to this
, Finn thought. His body was pleasantly sated from a long night of loving. He couldn’t recall when he had performed with such vigor and wondered, not for the first time, what it was about Jane that fired his blood like no other woman in his memory.

She wriggled her bottom against his burgeoning erection. As much as he wanted to take what she so flagrantly offered, he thought she should rest and recover. They had made love so many times the night before that he had lost count. He lifted his arm from her waist and began to untangle their limbs. She caught his wrist and pulled his arm back around her, pressing his palm to her breast.

“Woman, are you trying to kill me?” he teased.

Jane smiled with her eyes closed and nodded, wriggling again. “Yes.”

“Insatiable temptress,” he chuckled. “Although… there are some things a man should be willing to die for, I suppose.”

Finn rolled her onto her stomach and sat back on his knees between her legs. He gently pushed her thighs apart until she was fully open to his gaze. Embarrassed, Jane tried to turn over, but he held her down with gentle pressure.

“Don’t move. The view is spectacular from up here.”

He slipped a pillow under her hips then reached for another. “I little higher, I think. Mmm, yes, that’s it. Perfect!”

She turned her head and gave him a questioning glance.

“There are many ways to love.” He reached around to tug at her nipples, the pressure just shy of causing pain. A jolt of sensation speared straight to her womb. The muscles between her legs tightened deliciously. She sighed and arched her back.

“I am going to take great pleasure in teaching you every single one of them. Prepare for lesson five… or is it six?”

He caressed the fragile silk of her inner thighs then glided his hands over the graceful swell of her bottom. He dipped his fingers into the lissome arch of her back, home to a fetching pair of dimples. He probed them with his tongue then gently bit first one cheek, and then the other.

Finn covered her, his chest pressing down on her back. He ran his tongue inside her ear as he slipped his hand between her thighs, separating the petals of her sex so he could slip a finger deep inside her. He groaned, her pulsing sheath was gloriously wet. Rearing back on his knees, he gripped the blades of her hipbones and prepared to enter heaven. He slid his velvet tip into her hot passage, but did not thrust into her. Instead he teased her with brief, shallow advances. Jane whimpered and tried to push back onto his shaft, but his strong arms restrained her.

“Please, Finn,” Jane begged. “I need you inside.”

A tortured sound emerged from his throat.

With one powerful thrust he drove in, filling her completely. Stars exploded behind Jane’s eyelids and she rocked back on her knees, grinding herself against him. He clenched her hips as he pounded into her. She met him thrust for thrust, deeper, harder, faster. Sweet tension coiled inside her, spiraling higher and higher, tighter and tighter… and suddenly the dam burst. She cried out as spasms pulsed deep inside. Finn felt the violence of her release and it fed his own. His wild, guttural cry joined hers as he drove into her one last time, his entire body seized as he pumped his seed into her womb.

They collapsed onto the bed, starved for air, slick with sweat. Finn’s languid body pressed hers into the mattress. Jane could feel his heart slamming against his ribs. Slowly their breathing returned to normal.

“That felt so good,” she murmured. “So, so good.”

Finn rolled onto his side and tugged her back into his arms.

“We’re right back where we started,” he said, but she was already sound asleep.

Chapter Twenty-Two

“There they are!” At Tom’s urgent whisper, two filthy waifs poked their heads above the edge of a wagon that was delivering casks of port to sculleries on Mulberry Street. The boys saw a couple strolling away from them, arm-in-arm, with a little girl skipping circles around them.

“Take a good long look, lads, and remember what the lady’s wearing. If you lose sight of her, all you need to do is climb up on something high and look for her dress. Got it?” The boys nodded vigorously.

Jane wore a powder blue and white striped morning gown and a straw hat with matching ribbons. The handle of a blue silk parasol was hooked over her white-gloved wrist. Her escort’s clothing was more nondescript. He was very tall, however, and that should help pinpoint him in a crowd.

“As soon as we reach the park, we’ll split up. The two of you follow the lady, but stay back. I’ll mill about until I find the right time to snatch the child.”

The older boy’s head snapped up. “You didn’t say naught ’bout no kidnapping! We’ll swing from the gallows fer sure if we’re caught ’elping you do summat like that,” he squinted at Tom suspiciously. “What d’ya plan to do wif the girl anyway?”

Cooper had grown up on the streets of London. He was eleven, but looked much younger due to chronic malnourishment. Abandoned within hours of his birth at the front gate of a foundling hospital, he had never known the love of a mother. At five he had been given to a chimneysweep. After three weeks of misery, he had run away, thinking it better to die of starvation in the open air than hopelessly wedged in a hot, crypt-like flue. He was young, but he already knew too much about the evil nature of man. Some blokes preyed on little girls, little boys, too, and Coop didn’t want any part of causing another child to suffer. Still, he had eaten very little in the past three days and hunger was gnawing at his gut, making him feel sick and weak.

“If you follow my instructions, none of us will get caught,” Tom cuffed Cooper upside the head, knocking off his cap. “And I’m not paying you to ask questions. What I do with the girl is none of your concern. If you don’t like it, give me back my money and be on your way.”

Cooper scowled. He looked down at the other boy’s sunken eye sockets. He had taken Ben under his wing several months earlier and now thought of him as his little brother. Although his gut told him to give back the coins and walk away, he couldn’t face another day without food. He hung his head and said quietly, “We’ll do it.”

Tom smiled. He’d hired them off the docks that morning because they looked hungry and desperate enough to do just about anything for a few bob. Each had a tanner tucked in his pocket and the promise of another sixpence if the day’s work was done to Tom’s satisfaction. Apparently he had chosen well.

That settled, he continued his drill.

“Smart lad. While I’m getting into position, what will
you
be doing?”

“Stay close enow to the lady an’ gent so as we don’t lose ’em, but not so close as they’ll notice,” the boy answered.

“Good. What comes next, Ben?” Tom turned to the gaunt sack of bones.

“Coop and I’ll keep an eye on ye until ye give’s the signal. Ye’ll cough like this,” Ben covered his mouth and coughed theatrically. “After that I’m s’posed to fall on the ground near the lady an’ start hollerin’ to beat the band, like me leg is broken. Coop ’ll squat next to me…” Ben turned to Cooper and grinned broadly, “…and cry like a wee lass.” He snickered at the improvised goad.

“I ain’t neither, ye nodcock,” Cooper frowned.

Tom slapped both boys in the back of the head, once again sending Cooper’s cap flying to the ground.

“Pay attention!”

Tom was getting desperate. The sharks were circling closer and closer. After days of fruitless spying on Mulberry Street, he had begun to reconsider his strategy of waiting for Jane to come back to London. But just when he had decided to journey down to Middlesex, the family had returned. Who knew when he would get another chance to grab the girl? And it would be impossible to make another abduction attempt if his moneylender’s henchmen broke both his legs.

“All right, let’s go.”

Tom kept to the shadows, maintaining a discreet distance until they joined the crowd streaming toward the festival tents. Barkers on stilts walked the perimeter of the park waving colorful banners to draw attention to the fair.

Piemen in Renaissance costumes sold meat-filled pastries and fruit tarts. Cooper and Ben eyed them greedily. Tom shoved them forward, causing both to stumble.

“You’re not here to stuff your gobs. Look alive, here’s where we go our separate ways.”

Cooper nodded and grabbed Ben’s arm, dragging him through the crowd while Tom sketched a broad circle around to the largest tent. Through a wide canvas opening he could see men in chain mail and armor acting out a sword fight. He laughed when he saw a pickpocket dart in and out of the audience, deftly relieving spectators of valuables.

Tom’s body language was deceptively relaxed and casual as he leaned against a tent post. In recent weeks he had perfected the art of loitering unobtrusively. On the few occasions when he had been asked why he was lingering about, he had no trouble inventing a plausible excuse. Lies sprang effortlessly to his tongue and, for the most part, no one noticed the average, unassuming man with the bland countenance and a gift for blending into the background.

Now and then a gap in the crowd opened to reveal Jane’s family smiling and watching one spectacle or another. Tom moved closer. A flower girl not much older than Pip was selling daisy circlets with brightly colored ribbons flowing down the back. Pip tugged on Finn’s sleeve and he smiled indulgently, handing a coin the vendor. He placed the coronet on Pip’s head and she twirled happily.

Tom followed for nearly an hour before his patience paid off. A half dozen acrobats descended from the tent rafters on long ropes and began a comic sketch of leaps and tumbles. In a well-choreographed routine, they launched through the air, landing on each other’s shoulders to form a high pyramid. Everyone in the audience, including his prey, was riveted. Tom thought fleetingly that he might have wasted his money hiring the boys to create a diversion.

He drew closer, slipping through the crowd as smoothly as a panther through high grass. Closer and closer still. Finally he was standing right behind the child. He saw Ben and Cooper several feet away, dividing their attention between the acrobats and him. He unscrewed the lid of a small jar in his pocket and withdrew the chloroform-soaked rag.

Tom caught Ben’s eye and held it. He raised his wrist to his mouth and coughed softly.

Cooper was in a panic. As soon as he got a good look at Jane’s face, he had recognized her. She was the baker at Sugarmann’s… Miss Gray. For years she had been slipping bags of muffins and tarts to him from the side door of the bakery. There were many times when the food she gave him was the only thing he had to eat for days. More than once she had let him slip inside to sleep by the ovens on a cold winter night. Without her, he probably would have starved or frozen to death long ago.

Cooper hadn’t seen her in weeks and had wondered what had become of her. She must have married a toff. Well, good on her. If anyone deserved a bit of ease, it was Miss Gray and her sweet daughter Pip.

He wished he were something better, something more than a filthy guttersnipe who picked pockets to survive. And worse. He had done much, much, worse. But if he did
this
, it would be the worst thing he had ever done. Surely his soul would burn in hell if he hurt the woman who had been so good to him.

No! He couldn’t do it. He’d stop the man, but how? There was something about him that terrified Cooper. His eyes were cold and dead. He was streetwise enough to know the man would take revenge on Ben and him if they thwarted his plan.

No matter… he would warn Miss Gray as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

A troupe of acrobats dropped from above and the audience clapped and laughed as the men leapt and tumbled. Cooper kept his hand on Ben’s shoulder and waited for the signal. When it came, he leaned over and whispered, “Drop!”

JANE LAUGHED AT THE clownish antics of the acrobats. She glanced down at Pip watching the performers with wide-eyed wonder, the ribbons of her charming daisy circlet drifting around her shoulders.

Finn reached over and squeezed her hand. She looked up into his eyes, the deep blue-gray of the North Sea after a storm and just as turbulent. Still unsure of all his moods, she swallowed, but then he smiled and the corners of his eyes crinkled up in the way that always made her stomach flip. What a handsome man, her husband. How she wanted him, loved him. She returned his smile with a wistful one of her own.

“Happy?” he asked.

“So happy I’m frightened,” she admitted.

He tilted his head and searched her face, but said nothing. His brows drew together thoughtfully and Jane tried to read his expression, but he suddenly seemed a million miles away.

The past two weeks had been emotionally overwhelming. They had made love at every opportunity, but it never seemed to quench her desire. She was devastated by the intensity of her attraction to him and wondered if it was normal to crave a man as much as she did Finn. He was never far from her thoughts. Like some sort of love-drunk wanton, she looked forward to the end of each day when she could climb the stairs to his room and melt into his arms.

Finn had only to look at her in that dark, enigmatic way and every nerve ending in her body pulsed to life. He seemed to know the effect he had on her, and why not… he must have had a great deal of practice. The thought made her miserably jealous and insecure. Would he tire of her? If he did, would he go back to the women who warmed his bed before her? It was a lowering idea.

Jane was sure she loved him, but was equally sure that he didn’t return her feelings. Although Finn often told her she was beautiful, that he desired her, he never said he loved her, even when they reached that moment of indescribable joy during lovemaking. She longed to tell him how she felt, but choked back the words because she didn’t want to create any awkwardness between them. He would either feel obligated to tell her he loved her, too, or would remain uncomfortably silent. How embarrassing
that
would be!

He had made it perfectly clear in the beginning that he didn’t believe in romantic love. But if he was right and it didn’t exist, then what was she feeling? Simple passion? Lust? Was it possible that the glorious effervescent feelings he inspired in her were nothing more than a primitive mating instinct indulged to its fullest? Had it always been within her, a dormant biological urge triggered the first time they made love? She rested her hand on her flat abdomen. The thought of carrying Finn’s child in her womb filled her with contentment. She hoped she would be pregnant soon.

She sighed. Not since she was a girl had she felt the absence of her mother so keenly. Jane wished she had a sister or close friend to go to for advice. She certainly couldn’t ask the duchess to help her sort through her confused tangle of feelings for Finn.

His fingers tightened on her hand and she glanced at him again. She read the question in his eyes and gave him a reassuring smile.

“Where did you go just now?” he asked quietly.

She never got the chance to answer.

“Ow! Me leg! Me leg! I broke me bleedin’ leg!”

Jane turned in the direction of the shouting. A little boy was curled up on the ground with his knee clamped to his chest. She dropped down beside him and brushed the hair from his face. He looked familiar. Another boy leaned over her and said something low in her ear. Startled, she jerked her head up and recognized him.

“Cooper!” She looked back down, “Is this a friend of yours? What happened? Did someone step on him?”

Finn knelt next to her. “You know these lads?”

Cooper looked over Jane’s head, then ducked and spoke again louder. “He’s taking Pip! Hurry!”

“What…?” Both Finn and Jane looked up and saw a man disappearing into the press of bodies with something bundled against his chest. Then they recognized Pip’s soft suede half boots and pink skirts as her abductor cleared an isle with his elbows, indiscriminately shoving aside anyone in his path.

“Stop him! Stop that man!” Finn shouted desperately as he sprang to his feet. Those closest to him craned their necks, trying to see. With muffled curses and apologies he jostled his way through the crowd while straining to catch sight of Pip.

People became aware that something was happening, but no one was sure exactly what it was. A ripple of alarm spread outward and in the midst of the confusion a loud voice asked, “Is there a fire?” Another person heard only the last word and shouted, “Fire!” Panic swept through the crowd as spectators rushed toward the exits, thrusting others out of the way.

Knowing there was no fire, Jane pulled the boys to their feet and tugged them toward the nearest tent wall, sheltering them as best she could with her body until they were the last people inside the tent. Within seconds the tent emptied. Her umbrella lay trampled several feet away, but miraculously no one had been seriously injured.

“Are you alright?” she asked. They nodded and she turned in the direction Finn had gone. Lifting her skirts to her knees, she ran out onto the grounds, searching frantically for a glimpse of Pip.