Captured (10 page)

She panted as she raced down the street, wishing that her blasted corset hadn’t been laced quite so tightly. She needed to make it to the center of Louisburg Square quickly, before her cousin could alert the house that she was gone. Years ago, that had been where she, Zander and Curtis agreed to meet if they were separated during their adventures. She could only hope that’s where Zander intended for her to go.

If not, she might as well sell those photos of herself to Paris. Her father would never forgive her for embarrassing him like this. Running away from her own betrothal dinner would surely be the most scandalous thing she’d ever done.

“As yet,” she whispered aloud. If Zander was truly there waiting for her in Louisburg Square…well, then her life was about to get more scandalous than ever.

She ran a little faster, praying for disgrace harder than she had prayed for anything in her life.

•

Zander paced the grass beside the bench for the fiftieth time, cursing himself for contacting Lillian as he had. Damned romantic, artistic nonsense! He should have simply rung the doorbell and demanded to speak with her, or intercepted her after the Ladies Arts Society Luncheon at her cousin’s house last week.

But she’d been laughing as she ascended her coach, hardly the picture of a woman tormented by melancholy. Unlike he himself, who had spent the past three weeks with perpetual circles under his eyes, unable to sleep for the dreams of Lillian that haunted him. He had made the most dreadful mistake of his life, letting her walk out of his home that day. A mistake second only to letting her father frighten him away in the first place.

“Or maybe second only to sending that damned box. Blast it, man—”

“Talking to yourself? I assumed you’d put that habit behind you, now that you are such a success.” She was a bit out of breath, but there was no mistaking that voice.

“No, sadly, I’m as ill-mannered as…” He turned to face her, the words dying on his lips as he took her in. Lillian was lovelier than ever, her light rose gown picking up the pink in her cheeks, her eyes flashing blue fire in the fading light.

“As ill-mannered as?” she asked, her voice a soft whisper.

“As I ever was.” He took a step toward her and stopped, suddenly more nervous than he could remember being in his life. “Lillian I’m sorry— I mean, I was a fool, a— Damn it, I—”

“Just tell me one thing Zander.” She held up her left hand, wiggling the finger where his mother’s ring already sat prettily, as if it had been made for her alone. “Is this where you intended this ring to be placed?”

“God, yes.” His throat tightened impossibly further as she closed the space between them, until he could feel her breath on his lips as he had that day on the beach.

“And will I be accompanying you home tonight?”

“Lillian, I hardly think it would be proper—”

“I’ve run away from my own betrothal dinner, Zander. I doubt I will be welcome at my father’s home.” She flipped a stray curl from her face and gave him a passionate look that he hoped to see again and again in the years to come. “I don’t give a damn about propriety, I—”

“I’ve booked two seats for us on the evening train to New York. We can get married in the city, tomorrow morning if we can manage it. We can honeymoon there as well, if you like.
I
don’t give a damn where we are as long as you’re my wife, as long as I get to feel you—”

She leapt into his arms with a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob, pulling his lips down to hers. Zander groaned as that warm velvet pressed against him, and her sweet tongue speared into his mouth. He’d come so close to losing this woman, the only person in the world who had ever touched him so deeply, made him want to be the man he saw reflected in her eyes. The knowledge made him shudder and grip her tighter, until her breasts smashed against his chest.

“Thank you, Lil, for giving me another chance, for coming here tonight.”

“You certainly left it to the last minute,” she murmured against his lips, even as she ran her hand down between them, over his rapidly swelling cock. “Next time, make sure you send the reconciliatory self-portraits
before
my father messengers my betrothal announcement to the
Globe
.”

“There won’t be a next time. You’re marrying me tomorrow, the
Globe
be damned. That’s final. And in the future, all reconciliatory self-portraits will be delivered to you personally. You’ll find them on your bed—”

“
Our
bed. I won’t stand for separate bedrooms.”

“Very well, you’ll find them on
our
bed seconds before I come to you, on my hands and knees, begging forgiveness for whatever stupid thing I’ve done.” Alexander let his hands wander to her bottom, squeezing her through her dress. They were hidden from the street by a stand of trees, but even if they weren’t, he didn’t know if he’d be able to keep his hands off his soon-to-be wife.

“Will you be naked as well?” She laughed then gasped into his mouth as he moved one hand to her breast and dipped his fingers beneath her bodice, capturing her nipple.

“In the portraits or when I come begging for forgiveness?”

“Both would be nice, I do so like to look at you naked.” She kissed him again, raking her teeth over his bottom lip, making his cock twitch painfully in his trousers. “But you won’t do stupid things too often will you Zander?”

“I’ll try not to, Lil, but you know by now that I’m a foolish man. I can’t believe I ever risked losing you to that flabby pink son of a horse’s—”

“Please, don’t speak of it. I’ve just recovered my stomach from an hour ago when I was imagining my wedding night.”

He pulled away from their kiss, searching her face. “I love you desperately. You know that don’t you?”

“I do.” She smiled, and his heart ached at the beauty of it.

“I will do everything in my power to show you that, every day. And when I fail, it won’t be because I don’t love you. I’ll try to be deserving of you, to—”

“Shh.” She quieted him with two fingers pressed against his lips. “Alexander Darian, you
are
deserving, you always have been, no matter what my father, my brother or anyone else might think. You are a good man, a brilliant friend and a lover more clever and passionate and tender than I could have—”

“Stop, Lil. You have to stop or I’m going to do something hideously ungentlemanly like weep or take you on that bench.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Her hand ventured back down to his cock and squeezed. “Don’t tempt me, Lil. I’m a wicked man, you’ve said it yourself. I have no manners,

good or otherwise.” He sent her a warning with his eyes, a warning she ignored as she pushed him back to sit on the bench and stood before him.

“I believe, in the past, that I may have put entirely too high a value on manners.” She slowly began to bunch the front of her skirt in her hands, and his heart skipped a beat in his chest. “It’s a cool evening. There aren’t many people out walking the square.”

“Lillian.” Her skirts were hitched up to her waist now, revealing those delicate white drawers that he knew were slit wide open between her legs.

“Zander.” She mocked his firm tone and gave his erection a pointed glance. “You’d better take that out quickly if we are to have our fun before we are caught.”

“You mean for us to commit an unnatural act, don’t you?” He freed his cock and pulled her to straddle him on the bench, stifling a groan as her damp little cunny slid onto him with astounding ease. They were made for each other. How could he ever have doubted it?

“Is it unnatural if I’m on top?” she asked, her eyelids drooping and her lips parting as she began to ride him, up and down, sheathing him in the sweet, slick heat of her body.

“It certainly feels unnaturally good.” He gripped her hips and met her thrusts with his own, leaning forward to nibble and tease her breasts through her clothes.

“Oh, more, please more,” she begged, arching toward his mouth.

Without a second thought, he dipped his hands into her bodice, coaxing her breasts out into the cool evening air. The sight of her nipples, now so readily available to him though she remained fully clothed, was easily the most erotic thing he’d ever seen. He set to work attending to the rosy tips, licking and suckling the heated flesh until her breath came in desperate little pants and her hips squirmed frantically closer to his own.

“Will you come for me Lillian? Out here in the square for all of polite society to hear?”

“Zander!” She called his name as her quim contracted around his cock, the evidence of her passion coating his aching member.

He followed her a second later, muffling his cry against the soft skin of her breasts, clutching her close as he spent himself inside the welcome heat of his love. She hugged him tightly, feathering kisses over the top of his head, laughing as she struggled to catch her breath.

“You must let me up, or I fear I will faint. Maggie laced me far too tightly to fit into this blasted dress.” He helped her detangle herself to sit next to him on the bench. Once

she’d smoothed her skirts, and adjusted her bodice, only her kiss-swollen lips gave any clue as to what they’d just done.

“You look lovely in that blasted dress.” He smiled and leaned over to press a quick kiss to the tops of her breasts. She pushed him away with a giggle and a gentle swat on his knee.

“Thank you. I’m glad you find it lovely, as it is now the only dress I have to my name.”

“We’ll get you an entire wardrobe made in New York, and you can order whatever you want when we return to Boston.” He would gladly buy her the moon and a few stars as well, if he were able. Nothing was too good for his Lil, though he knew she had never been the sort to pursue fashion above her other interests. “I’m sure you’ll want to redecorate the house, as well. It’s terribly masculine and stuffy, been needing a woman’s touch for years.”

“The groom spending a fortune for his new bride. Quite a change from the large dowry Arnold Halewater was to receive.” She turned her eyes downward, a blush heating her cheeks.

“I don’t want your father’s money, Lillian.” He gently took her chin and turned her head toward him. “I don’t need it, wouldn’t take your dowry if he begged me to accept it.”

“You’re certain?” she asked with a grin. “You want an old maid with no dowry and no doubt, after this evening, a truly scandalous reputation?”

“All I want is you, scandal and all. In my home, in my life, in my bed, in—”

“And in your studio, as well?” she asked, as he helped her to her feet. “I meant what I said, Zander. I want to help you in your business as well as at home.”

“I would be delighted. God knows, my apprentice Kenneth will be glad of some help by the time we return from New York. He has nearly two hundred prints due by the end of the month.”

“Goodness! The poor boy.”

“Misery wasn’t good for me, Lil, I couldn’t seem to get anything done.” He led her out to the opposite end of the square, where his carriage waited with his trunk and two tickets to New York on the nine o’clock train. “Aside from printing out pictures of you and some fairly horrid nude self portraits, of course.”

She joined his laughter, then turned to him with a gasp. “The portraits! Zander, I shoved them under my mattress, but they’re sure to be discovered.”

“Let them be discovered. Your father wouldn’t dare show them to anyone.”

“But won’t you be embarrassed? Assuming my father forgives us, of course, and consents to have us over for dinner now and then?”

“Surely you’re joking, Lil. This glorious masterpiece of nature is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, I’m quite proud of my splendid love rod, my glorious cock stand, my proud, pants pea—”

“Enough! No more reading for you, you silly goose.” She laughed until she was out of breath and he had to lift her bodily into the carriage. Then he climbed in beside her and they both laughed some more.

And when they were finished, his Lil scooted close to him and put her head on his shoulder all the way to the train station. Alexander knew then that he had made the best decision of his life when he took that roll of Kodak film and set about developing the future of his dreams.

About the Author

Anna J. Evans came back to her true love of writing fiction after a decade or so as a poorly paid actor and playwright. After working off-off-Broadway, in a few C-movie films in Hollywood, and then becoming a stay-at-home mom-writer to three children (ages three to thirteen), writing erotic adventures seems like tame work.

She’s written contemporary, paranormal, historical and fantasy erotic romances and been awarded multiple Recommended Reads from review sites such Fallen Angel Reviews, Two Lips Reviews and Joyfully Reviewed, but her favorite feedback always comes from fans.

Anna lives in Arkansas with her Air Force husband, her real-life romantic hero, and their three kids.

To learn more about Anna J. Evans, please visit
http://annajevans.com
. Send an email to
[email protected]
or join her Yahoo! group to join in the fun with other readers as well at
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Tess Starling is willing to risk everything—and offer anything—to avenge her father's death.

Carnal Deceptions

© 2007 Scottie Barrett Available now at Samhain Publishing

Upon leaving her father's gravesite, Tess spies creditors confiscating the finery of her first London Season. But her gowns will do little to satisfy her father's debts. Fleet Prison awaits her. Tess dons a homely disguise, cloaking herself in mourning weeds. She is determined to evade the authorities until she brings to justice the swindler who ruined her father. Resolute in her quest, she will transform anew, reinventing herself as a temptress to seduce the villain. She only wants for hands-on training, but the man who volunteers proves too much of a distraction. Everything about Tallon Hawkes, the Earl of Marcliffe, fascinates, including the battle scars marking his body. A motivated pupil, Tess yields eagerly to his sexual demands.

Long before he discovers the sensuous female beneath the layers of black crepe…long before he discovers the brilliant copper-colored tresses hidden by the ratty wig…long before he tastes the sweetness of her skin, Tallon Hawkes' heart has been hooked. Tallon plays along with Tess's scheme, but he is distrustful and jealous of her obsession with their shared enemy. Tallon is determined to bring her dangerous game to an end. But will his arrogant maneuver lose him any chance with Tess?