Page 14 of The Black Lion
Then, he was turning her to face him wearing only her stays, shift, and stockings. Drew’s chest heaved with labored breath as he reached out to take one of her curls between his fingers. He stroked it to its end, then released it, letting his knuckles strum over the column of her throat and down to her breast. Arabella shuddered and leaned against the bed for support, certain she would melt into a heap at his feet. It had been so long, and she felt starved for his touch. For five long years she had only been able to dream of him, and now he stood here looking at her with fire in his eyes. What she wouldn’t give to have those hot, lazy summers back—lying in the sand with him, the ocean washing over them as he touched parts of her body that set her on fire.
Just then, he could have done anything to her, and Arabella would have let him. All she knew was that he was here, he had her in his sights, and—God help her—she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
“Oh, Drew,” she whispered, her gaze falling to his lips. “How I have missed you.”
His grin hardened even more, until he resembled the lion on his headboard, baring his teeth at her. He smoothed his thumb over her mouth.
“How prettily your lips lie.”
Arabella shook her head, the rough pad of his thumb abrading her tender lips. “I would never lie to you.”
He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Enough. I saw you myself.”
“What you witnessed was but a moment, a few seconds of a wedding. You have no idea what went on in the years since—”
“I wasn’t referring to your goddamned wedding!”
His fingers bit into her jaw, and Arabella stumbled when he yanked her against him. Chest heaving with rage barely held in check, Drew tipped her head back until her neck ached, holding her captive to his venomous glare.
“The night before your wedding, I sailed along the western coast of Falmouth, near Greenhill … to a place I had always thought of as ours.”
Arabella squeezed her eyes shut, heart plummeting as she realized what he might have witnessed had he ventured onto that beach. She had gone there for a walk to clear her head, and hopefully rid herself of bridal nerves. What she hadn’t counted upon was Will coming to her. If he had seen them …
“Oh, God,” she whispered, certain she was about to be ill. “No.”
“Yes,” Drew bit out, his voice a low, harsh whisper against her cheek as he leaned in close. “I took a jolly boat to the shore—an idiotic flight of fancy on my part. A part of me wanted to believe I had it all wrong, and you couldn’t possiblywantto marry my brother. But Isawthe two of you … kissing and pawing at each other like animals in heat. I saw him putting his hands all over you, as if you were his, and you … acting the whore.”
She shook her head, causing the grip of his fingers to hurt. Her throat burned and her eyes tingled with coming tears. How could she ever make him understand? Arabella had never desired Will’s touch. The only reason she’d ever allowed him liberties with her body was because she’d feared going to her marriage bed unable to endure another man touching places only Drew had ever been. Will had been frustrated with her reticence, but understanding, always stopping whenever she asked him to. He’d never kissed beyond the edges of her bodice, never had his hands under her skirts, never seen her stripped down to nothing the way Drew had. But, how could Drew know that? He’d only seen what he described, and the very idea brought her shame.
Until a sudden realization dropped into her mind.
“Why didn’t you come to me?” she accused, opening her eyes to meet the challenge in his stare. “You had your chance to confront us then, to take us if you wanted to. Instead, you hid in the shadows and … and watched?”
“I uncovered the answer I needed that night. Besides, nothing gave me greater satisfaction that ruining your sham of a wedding.”
“Drew, I can explain everything. If you would only listen—”
“I think not,” he rasped, his grip on her jaw loosening and his hand trailing down her throat.
Despite the desperation clawing in her chest and the sorrow of realizing he thought her a faithless harlot, the whisper of his fingers over the tops of her breasts made her shiver. It had been so long since anyone’s touch had brought her alive like this. Five years of separation and the distance of oceans had done nothing to destroy the current of desire and need that had always thrummed between them. She wanted to slap him, shake him until he came to his senses. More than that, she wanted to kiss him, press herself against him, remind him what they had once meant to each other.
His breath quickened, growing harsh as his thumb found its way back to her lips.
“I’d rather you use that pretty mouth of yours for something far more pleasurable. I seem to remember it being good for a bit more than lying.”
Her belly clenched as he pressed his thumb between her lips, the salty taste of him invading her senses. On instinct, she closed her mouth around him and sucked. She could not seem to help herself with him whole and alive before her, hot and hard and so devastatinglymale.
He hissed through his clenched teeth, snatching his thumb free of her mouth, then wrapping a hand around her throat. It took only a slight squeeze for him to command her to her knees, his eyes burning straight through her as he reached for the fall of his breeches.
Chapter Four
Drew’s hands shook as he unbuttoned his breeches to free the erection he’d been walking about with since laying eyes on Arabella. His thoughts were a torrent of confusion, suspicion, and anger, and it had all converged upon him like a hurricane at her insistence that she had missed him, that there was some reasonable explanation for what he’d witnessed on that beach. But, there was no good reason for Arabella to have given herself to Will in any way. How could she have been honest about her love for him if she could do something so cruel?
Thinking back to the days of his youth, when he’d begun falling in love with her, Drew could see things he had been blind to in the past. Such as the fact that Will had always wanted Bella, and had given himself away with every lingering glance. Surely, she hadn’t been ignorant to Will’s lust for her. Knowing this, it was easy to believe that Arabella believed Drew’s brother the better choice. Had she simply used Drew as a steppingstone to stature and security as the wife of an island planter? Had she been seduced by Will’s impending inheritance, pretty manners, and high birth?
But … the pain in her voice, the tears he’d seen in her eyes, gave him pause.
Drew had turned the circumstances over in his head several times, wondering what would possess the woman he loved to give herself to his brother when she knew him to be at sea. Hadn’t she gotten his letters promising to return to her come hell or high water? Didn’t she believe he would never let anything stop him from making her his?
