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arms around him and snuggling close. “I suspect you are generous

as well, my lord. And I am glad you are here with me.”

As she drifted off to sleep, he wondered cynically if he would

be able to share her now that he had tasted her incredible passion.

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Not that he had a choice. She was not his specifically; she

belonged to none of them.

And to all of them.

It was similar to being trapped on a beautiful island by a tragic

shipwreck. He felt both lucky and supremely cursed.

* * * *

Walking slowly behind Major Reeves as he skirted the path

into the forest, Jenna was glad for the first time someone was

accompanying her to the waterfall pool for her bath. That morning

she had awakened disappointingly alone, the sound of a small

commotion outside making her almost rush out the door stark

naked. When she did peek out the doorway, she saw a large cat on

the beach. The creature seemed almost disdainful of the three men

with sticks and knives that stood between her and it, which

frightened her for them. Impressive muscles rippled under a sleek

coat as it finally slunk back into the foliage. Shivering, she

remembered how huge it had been, not realizing leopards were so

large. Seeing with her own eyes one of the dangers of the jungle

gave her a new acquiescence to being accompanied.

Besides, they were all now going to know her body intimately,

so privacy didn’t seem quite such a concern. She blushed when she

thought of the things Jonathan Richmond had done to her the night

before. Now that it was too late, she wondered if the act of sexual

intercourse was possible to engage in with detachment of emotion.

It must be, if women everywhere plied their trade as harlots,

though she hardly wanted to compare herself to them. It wasn’t as

if any of the men who would bed her were strangers, but she had

been unprepared for the sheer intimacy of the act itself.

Or the blissful physical joy she had experienced.

“Stay here for a moment,” Anthony ordered, his gaze narrowed

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37

on the plunging water ahead. “Let me make sure it is safe.”

The waterfall was the result of a small stream seeking the

ocean, coming out of an outcropping of rocks, the water crystalline

and only waist deep. Stopping by a tree twined with thick vines,

she watched him scout the small area and rippling water, searching

the ground and looking in the pool itself, before he turned and

motioned her forward. Feeling sticky from the heat and between

her legs from the night before, Jenna looked at the water longingly.

She pulled the tie to her chemise loose, noting the ribbon had

grown so frayed that it wasn’t going to serve the purpose of

keeping her bodice together much longer.

Anthony watched her intently. A soft blond beard graced his

lean cheeks, though all three men kept their faces closely cropped

by using their knives. It gave him a rakish appearance at odds with

the well-groomed man she had met what felt like a lifetime ago,

but that wasn’t all that had changed about him. Jenna recognized

the difference in the way he regarded her, respectful deference

having given way to male speculation in even a man as polite as

Major Reeves. After her night in the hut with Jonathan, she was no

longer the innocent virgin to be desired but not touched. She was a

woman who could accept a man with pleasure and his expression

told her he knew it. Blood rushed into her face as she wondered if

he and Charles had heard her abandoned cries of joy. The different

light in his brown eyes told her he had.

“There is no need to turn your back,” she said with as much

dignity as possible considering her shift was open and her breasts

visible. “I have a feeling you have seen me before anyway, and

that tonight, there will be no secrets between us. Will it be you?”

“Whoever is your bodyguard for the day, my lady,” he

responded, “is the only man who can touch you that night. And

even then, it will always be only if you wish it.” A sudden smile lit

his usually serious expression. He added softly, “And I am hoping

very much you will wish it tonight with me.”

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Looking at his honed, muscular body, she wondered what it

was going to be like to have him inside her and blushed more

deeply. “I will not withdraw my offer, Major.”

His bow was cultured and polite, but incongruous when his

gaze had strayed to where the curves of her breasts were visible

through her gaping chemise. “You cannot know how I am looking

forward to it. Here, I will hold your clothing while you bathe. It is

hot as Hades today and the water looks cool.”

Taking off her shift with only a modicum of embarrassment,

she gave it to him and slipped into the pool. He was right, the

water felt marvelous and she sighed, moving back so the cascade

poured over her nude body. Though she knew he watched her, he

was also vigilant, his keen gaze periodically scanning the foliage

as she washed and luxuriated in the streaming fall, standing only a

few feet away, his knife strapped purposefully to his trim waist.

Shaking the water out of her eyes after rinsing her hair, Jenna

sat up, the water swirling around her waist, her bare breasts

uplifted and exposed, realizing there was a lovely freedom in

letting him openly stare at her, the tension of the past days

completely gone. She laughed out loud, and said truthfully, “If you

had told me, Major, that the last time we met…when was it, at that

reception celebrating my father’s new command? Any way, if

someone had told me that in a few short weeks I would be bathing

naked in front of you, I would have thought them insane.”

His gaze riveted on her streaming curves in front of him,

Anthony’s mouth quirked. “And if someone had told me I’d be

guarding you from leopards on a deserted island and anticipating

paradise in your arms, I would have been equally staggered.

However, if there is one thing I have learned in the course of my

career as a soldier, Miss Hayward, it is that life can change in a

blink of an eye and one has to adapt.”

Standing to let the water stream off her body, Jenna agreed.

“That is what I am doing. Adapting. The drawling room rules I was

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39

raised with seem useless and silly when one chances at every

moment being pounced on by feral cats and eats fruits shaped like

gnomes from grim fairy tales. I never imagined in my life I would

sleep with anyone other than my husband, and only after our vows

were properly taken.”

“I am ashamed to admit it, but you truly are probably

preventing us from going after each other eventually.” He looked

ruefully honest. “Have you noticed, the tension is already less?”

“I noticed,” Jenna admitted. “And if I don’t have to continually

be aware of the three of you watching me so intently, it will be a

relief.”

“I hope Richmond was gentle with you.”

Honesty seemed in place since she was being so candid. “I

never dreamed of enjoying it so much.”

“It sounded a little like you might have,” he smiled, a teasing

light in those brown eyes. “Of course, from all reports, the earl has

been practicing a great deal of his life. I am glad. What a boon for

us all if you are sensual as well as giving. I promise you, Jenna,”

he lowered his voice a notch, using her given name for the first

time, “to give you as much pleasure as I can.”

Her stomach tightened a little in anticipation as she extended

her hand for her worn chemise. “And I vow the same, Major.”

“Somehow,” he said wryly, his gaze sliding over her gleaming

body, “I don’t think that will be a problem.”

* * * *

Lifting his arm, Jonathan slashed at a low branch, cursing as

something large slithered away to his left, seeing the tail disappear

into the leafy boughs above his head. “Damn serpents

everywhere,” he muttered. “Hell and blast, Charles, I agree this

part of the island is worth exploring, but it is riddled with snakes

and I have insect bites the size of gold coins. Let’s go back.”

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“There are small caves on this side of the hill, my lord.” Face

flushed, his skin turned nut brown from weeks in the sun, Charles

lifted his brows, his knife ready in his hand, stepping gingerly over

a fallen tree trunk. “What if we could find some place to shelter if

we needed it? There are violent storms like the one that sank our

ship often enough here. The hut will blow away like a bit of fluff

in a high gale. We need to be able to keep ourselves safe from the

waves and the possibility of wind funnels. Don’t you remember the

time in Jamaica when the island was lashed by a storm so fierce

huge trees hurtled past us like slender sticks?”

One of the reasons Jonathan employed young Charles was his

enthusiasm for travel and his steady nerve. Not to mention his skill

with a sidearm or blade. There were not a lot of efficient valets that

braved the Russian steppes with aplomb or scaled cool mountains

on tiny donkeys. Having a wanderlust, Jonathan had explored the

world in the past five years with Charles in tow, though he had

vowed each night since their mishap, that he would return dutifully

to England take up his role as earl if he ever got the chance. He

grunted, still mindful of the huge snake somewhere above his head.

“I remember. I hate it when you are right, by the way. All right,

steady on. How far is this series of caves anyway?”

“Dead ahead, sir. See where we have notched the trees so we

could find our way back? Major Reeves is capable and it was his

idea.”

“I see nothing but snakes and strangling vegetation…oh hell,

yes, there I do see one. Well, that means at least we are on the right

track.” Jonathan pushed away the thought of Major Reeves and the

fact he was with the lovely Jenna as they spoke. He also refused to

contemplate them together in the hut this evening, but on the other

hand, he was a practical man, and containing his jealousy was

much easier than not being able to have her at all.

They struggled on, the underbrush so thick it was difficult to

walk, both of them with weapons in hand, mindful of the dangers

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41

around them. Jonathan was relieved and curious when they reached

the rise of ground and he saw that there were indeed openings. The

rock was riddled with holes, most of them too small for human

beings, but a few were promising. Skirting along the base of the

small mountain, he selected the biggest one he could find and went

about the process of lighting the driftwood they had brought as a

torch. The lack of light had kept Anthony and Charles from

actually exploring inside on their previous visit.

“Let us pray this is not a haven for a family of hungry

panthers,” he said, lifting the blazing wood in his hand. “I’ll go

first, but I swear, Charles, this is like when we hunted lions in

Africa. Run like the devil if we are confronted. One small knife

will not help us one wit, and if cornered in a cave, a leopard will

risk our fire to escape.”

“Who knows what other animals are around, too, my lord,”

Charles said helpfully. With his curly brown hair and dusting of

whiskers, he looked like a handsome dissolute young pirate.

“There could be creatures we don’t even dream exist.”

“Thanks. That bolsters my courage,” Jonathan shot back,

sending his companion a killing glare. “Be sure and get a

description for the scientists back home. They will want to study

this new specimen, especially if it devours me in a single gulp.

Here…I’m going in.”

Edging inside the gap, Jonathan lifted his light, finding the

space was too shallow and narrowed immediately. Backing out, he

picked another opening, this one smaller, but just the opposite, the

cave inside widening into a good-sized cavern that was thankfully

unoccupied, though there were droppings that indicated bats and

the ceiling rustled slightly at their entrance.

“A good possibility,” Charles murmured, “if you don’t mind

flying rodents.”

The floor was dry and even, and the space was remarkably cool

considering the heat and humidity outside. Jonathan lifted the

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Emma Wildes

torch, sweeping it around. “Twenty people could fit in here. I think

the four of us could weather a storm with ease. Jenna might not

like the company.” He glanced upward but the ceiling was actually

too high to see the mammals clinging there. “But she will adjust. A

few bats are better than being blown back into the ocean.”

“She liked the company last eve,” Charles said evenly.

“Standing sentry so close, neither the major nor myself could

escape hearing her scream your name. More than once, if I recall.”

Turning, Jonathan gave him a sardonic glance. “Remind me to

sleep farther down the beach. I have no interest in hearing her with