Silver Sea (45 page)

Clad only in his starched shirt, waistcoat, and dark trousers, Nathan smiled back at her. His grip on Adrienne's hand tightened as he pulled her into his arms. "You mentioned that you wanted to come to the beach again and go swimming. Somehow, this seemed just the night."

She relaxed in his embrace, twining her arms around his neck as they kissed. Great waves of bliss washed over her. "Can we have a talk before we... swim?"

"Of course." He pushed his trousers up to his knees and they waded along the water's edge. There was something wonderfully decadent about walking through water in evening garb. "What would you like to talk about?"

"Eloise."

Nathan's shadowed face was pensive. He nodded but did not look over at Adrienne immediately. "I suppose I should have guessed that you might want to know more. And I should have told you without waiting for you to ask." He paused, threading his fingers through hers and lifting her hand to his lips. "I think that, until tonight, I was blocking her out of my own thoughts—so I couldn't guess that she might be in yours."

"Explain to me, please? What was between you, and what remains?"

They continued to walk through the ankle-deep water as he talked, following the shoreline. "We met in London, as I think you've heard. I was there for my sister Lindsay's wedding, and a mutual friend introduced us. Romance was in the air." He tipped his head back and gazed up at the sky.

"How did Xavier Crowe come into the picture?"

"He was at Almack's one night while we were waltzing. Eloise was fond of society, and even though I should have realized that we weren't suited in the least, I was bewitched. There was something about her that made me want to take care of her...."

Adrienne sniffed. "I don't think that's a very good basis for a marriage."

"And you're absolutely correct, darling. It would have been a disaster—though it's hard to imagine Eloise's lot being worse than it is with Crowe." He stood still then and held both her hands. With care, he explained how Eloise had seemed almost frightened of his passion and his unpredictable style of living, and how Zach guessed that Crowe's great wealth and charm may have appeared less risky to Eloise. "He gave her lots of presents and doubtless made lots of promises. When she left with him, I was stunned by the rejection... but I couldn't help wondering if he'd coerced her somehow."

"You tried to rescue her?" There was a lump in Adrienne's throat as she imagined the scenario and how deeply he'd cared.

"Yes." His tone was flippant. "I gave chase. I was ready to do battle at sea if necessary, but Crowe invited me on board to see Eloise for myself. I still couldn't believe it. I challenged him to a duel, but she forbade it—and sent me away."

Her heart ached for him. "Have you loved her all these years?"

"Well, I realize now that I'm only just learning what love should be." A self-deprecating smile touched his mouth. "And I realize now that Eloise has been with me more than I thought. It's been hard, living on the island with them, and so I've avoided the entire situation by dashing off to sea so often."

"Do you think that Eloise is part of the reason you hate Crowe so much?"

He bit his lip, and they began to walk again, slowly. "Who knows? Perhaps. But I hated him before that. I know I am right about the ships he's lured onto the rocks and the men who have died as a result." For a moment Nathan was silent, and there was only the sound of the water. "I want you to know, though, that tonight I've realized how much I've changed, knowing you. Your love has healed my old wounds... and helped me to understand myself."

Adrienne was tingling from head to toe. He was saying the word
love!
Of course, Nathan hadn't actually admitted that he loved her, but she could feel the last of his resistance melting away. "You've helped me to understand myself as well," she said. "And I think I've grown up."

"We're rather alike, I've decided. You and I both have tended to rebel against any sort of constraint."

"Perhaps being alike helps us to understand one another." Adrienne paused, gathering courage. "There's something I've been wanting to ask you. The clothes I wore on board the
Golden Eagle..."

"Yes?" Nathan couldn't resist.

"Did they belong to Eloise?"

Her small voice melted his heart. "Is that what you thought? My dear wife, Eloise never went to sea with me. I never made love to her; I held her above that. I won't say that I never had another woman in that cabin, but the truth is that I went to sea to
escape
romantic entanglements." He paused. "Those clothes belonged to my lovely sister Lindsay. She left them by mistake the last time I took her from England to Connecticut to visit our family."

Adrienne found this highly amusing. "Do you have any idea how much I tortured myself with jealousy?"

"I might." He joined in her laughter and then fell silent. The sight of Adrienne, standing in the moonlit ocean while clad in pearl-embroidered silk, was awe-inspiring. He wondered what she would look like wearing only the damask roses in her hair....

"I am ready to swim," he announced.

"I would love that. Are you certain we're alone?"

"Yes, but to set your mind at ease, I know a completely secluded cove on the other side of those trees. Come with me, my little sea nymph."

Her heart was pounding as they walked around a gentle point of land and found themselves in a cove thickly lined with slender palm trees. It appeared to be their own private beach.

Nathan stripped off his clothing while Adrienne gazed dreamily at the water. "The idea of actually swimming seems—" Her voice broke off when she looked back and saw that her husband was completely and splendidly naked. His body was more gorgeously lean-muscled than ever in this setting.

"You were saying?" His wicked grin flashed in the shadows.

"I—I've forgotten." Her face was very warm. "I think I was going to say that the notion of swimming seems so natural and wonderful, yet—well, naughty."

"That's perfectly fine. You're a married woman, in the company of your husband."

"What wonderful words. I think that marriage is much more romantic than I ever dreamed." Nathan had come around behind her to unfasten her gown, and the touch of his fingers on her back made her melt. "Wait! Hold up your shirt in front of me while I undress."

Remembering the wild tigress who had shared his bed this past week, Nathan decided that he would never completely understand Adrienne. Somehow, this added to her allure. Shaking his head, smiling, he walked naked through the sand to get his shirt, then stood before her, holding it open with both hands to shield her. When her silk gown, stockings, and undergarments had dropped at her feet, she peeked at him playfully over the top of the makeshift curtain.

"Close your eyes."

He heaved a long-suffering sigh but obeyed.

"You can open your eyes!" Her voice came to him from a distance, and Nathan looked to see that Adrienne was in the water, waving to him. The shirt fell from his hands, and he plunged into the sea.

Starlit, her face radiant and her skin wet and gleaming, she had never looked happier or more beautiful. When Nathan reached her side, she put her hands on his shoulders and murmured, "Oh, the water feels better than I ever imagined. It's warm!"

"I know. This is one of the reasons I love Barbados so much. It's as close to heaven as one gets on earth...." He paused and laid a hand on her cheek. "At least I thought so until our wedding night."

It was almost more pleasure than he could bear when Adrienne moved forward, into his waiting arms, and linked her arms around his neck. They bobbed gently in the calm sea, buoyed by the saltwater and caressed by the soft night air. He held her close, kissing her tangy lips. There was no need to hurry, or even to talk.

After a bit, Adrienne slipped away and swam in front of their cove. She unpinned her hair and dove down, then floated on her back and looked at the star-strewn summer sky while the roses from her hair drifted to and fro on the current. The sensation of the warm water moving over her bare flesh was deliciously liberating and erotic.

Nathan swam too, but his eyes never left his mermaid-wife. At last, when he saw her lying on her back, watching him, he glided over and slipped his arms around her from below. Bending near, he gently kissed her breast, and when he reached the nipple, it was puckered, tasting of salt. His hands slid around her narrow waist, caressing, then over her legs. Parting her thighs to his exploring fingers, she moaned at the first touch. Minutes passed as she lay under his skilled hands and lips, allowing herself the extreme pleasure of heightening desire.

When he bent his head again, lower, and touched his tongue to her wet, delicate curls and then to her swollen womanhood, Adrienne cried out, pushed abruptly over the precipice. Every nerve in her body seemed to be between her legs, contracting and releasing in intense waves of pleasure.

At last she could bear no more. Adrienne turned and came into her husband's powerful embrace, and they kissed with new abandon.

"I want you," Nathan breathed, uncertain if he'd even spoken aloud. Adrienne's hands were roving over his chest, and he realized that he'd been aroused a very long time, perhaps even before they'd reached the cove.

"Oh, Nathan, I want you too." She swallowed tears, still afraid to let him see how desperately she cared. Every time they came together, Adrienne tried to memorize the savage beauty of his face, yet the next time he was always more breathtaking. Now, as the midnight-blue water glimmered around them, she wrapped her legs around his waist. They kissed and touched for long minutes, as if starved for the taste of one another, and she let herself brush against his pulsing member. Nathan held her hips and, panting, they pushed until their bodies were united.

Adrienne sank her fingers into his wet hair. It seemed that he was touching her very heart. "Nathan!"

Their eyes met, souls bared, and there were no words. The fire they created together was greater than anything either of them was capable of alone, and it burned brighter and brighter as she met his thrusts, her head thrown back so that her streaming hair poured over the water.

When at last Nathan found his own scalding release, he heard himself saying, "I love you."

Her breasts pressed to his chest and her cheek against his temple, Adrienne began to cry. "You'll never give me a finer gift than that. Oh, Nathan, I love you too."

Chapter 23

Golden light poured through the jalousie shutters and across the mahogany four-poster bed. Nathan Raveneau lay amid rumpled sheets, watching his wife sleep, while a pair of Barbary doves cooed from the sandbox tree behind the house.

"The rain must have stopped for your birthday," he whispered when he saw her eyelids flutter.

"Mmm. I rather like the rainy season. You are in the house more." Sensing that he was about to get out of bed, Adrienne quickly snuggled back against him, fitting her bottom to his hips and caressing his sun-darkened arm when he embraced her. "Don't get up yet."

"I'm already late, love. I only stayed this long because I wanted to kiss you and tell you how glad I am that you are twenty-one at last. I don't have to worry that your father will change his mind." The heat was building in his groin, and he tried to will his body to behave. By the smile on Adrienne's face, he knew that she could feel the first stirrings against her backside. "Have you forgotten that we have a visitor coming for luncheon today?"

"Oh, yes—Andre!" Her eyes lit up. "It will be wonderful to see him. Darling, did I tell you that Orchid is making callaloo? I love it, and we're going to serve it to your father for lunch. Orchid says that it's one of the dishes her people brought from Africa."

He kissed her glossy hair. "You seem to be quite at home."

"I am." Her smile widened. "Every morning, when I awaken, I feel happier. I look at the yellow walls in this room and they are my world. Even the rain is fresh and cheerful to me. I smell the air and listen to the guinea fowl in the garden and it's as if I have always lived in this house." Turning in his arms, she burrowed into Nathan's wide, wonderful chest. "And when I find you in my bed, it's as if we have always been married."

"Excuse me, but
you
are in
my
bed!"

"A slip of the tongue. I meant to say
our
bed."

"Naughty chit, I must leave you. There are arrangements to make for your birthday—"

"Wait—I've been meaning to tell you that I already know what I want. I want you to help me rescue Lady Thomasina from Crowe's Nest, and perhaps Eloise as well!"

* * *

Andre Raveneau gazed around Tempest Hall's interior and smiled. At last, his son's house was a home. Orchid may have done her best to take care of him in the past, but only a wife could fill a room with so much spirited charm.

Everywhere he looked there were bright exotic flowers, in Chinese vases and glass flasks and crystal bowls of all sizes, and their soft fragrances filled the air. The walls had fresh paint, the furniture had been polished, and the wood floors wore a burnished glow. Every bit of silver and brass had been cleaned, and even the windows had been washed.