Page 39 of The Black Lion
She burst out laughing, the sound loud and uninhibited and drawing the stares of several men in the vicinity. Nadège locked eyes with one and raised an eyebrow, legs spreading even further as if in invitation. Drew choked on his rum, sputtering and choking between laughs as she crooked her finger at the man he supposed would be her bedmate for the night.
“Your cock is now officially off limits, so I’m no longer interested,” she said without breaking the other man’s gaze.
Drew frowned. “No longer?”
Sparing him a glance, she flashed him a grin and tipped one shoulder in a shrug. “A cock is a cock, friend, and I’d have had yours if you were willing. You weren’t, so I averted my attentions elsewhere. Don’t tell me you’re going to start avoiding me now? What’s talk of cock between friends?”
Wiping at his wet chin, Drew shook his head with a snort of disbelieving laughter. “Considering all we’ve been through together, nothing at all. It’s already forgotten.”
“Good. Now, bugger off.”
The pirate Nadège had beckoned to now sat on her other side, leaning close with clear intent in his gaze as he leered at exposure of her cleavage through her open shirt. Drew could have argued that this was his table and if she wanted to seduce her companion, she could do it someplace else. But he spied Bella moving through the crowd toward the house and decided to follow her. Aside from the feast, before which he had announced their marriage and introduced her to their guests, she had spent most of the party away from him. His time of hanging back so she could enjoy herself was at an end. The long day had tired him, but not so much that he wouldn’t enjoy taking Arabella in the bed they would share for the first time.
His cock pulsed in his breeches, rising to the occasion as he locked eyes on the back of her neck and followed the beacon of her magnetic presence up the front steps. She walked swiftly, rump swaying enticingly beneath the folds of a skirt she had fashioned out of a sarong he’d given her. The vibrant yellow material had been embroidered with a green and red floral pattern, and without the need for petticoats, it clung to her in a way that called attention to her shapely form. She wore a simple green bodice over it, one that laced up the front and thrust her breasts upward in a mouthwatering display. He’d been fantasizing about unlacing that bodice all afternoon.
The noise of the party faded away as he stalked her through the darkened corridors, simply enjoying the sight of her here, in his domain, wearing his ring on her finger and the clothes he’d selected for her, and bearing his surname. All his years of anticipating this eventuality paled in comparison. His footfalls were silent as he followed her up the curved staircase, wondering if she had decided to take herself to bed. If she was tired, why wouldn’t she have simply told him? He would have been more than happy to shun the party to spend the night lying beside her.
Arabella moved fast for such a petite woman, her legs propelling her several steps for each of his slow ones. Drew lingered in the doorway of their bedroom—which Arabella seemed not to realize she hadn’t closed behind her. Amusement made the corners of his mouth twitch as she began pacing about and muttering to herself. Kicking off her shoes, she jerked at the laces of her bodice.
“Damned insufferablepirate,” she ground out, pausing in her ministrations to throw up her hands with a huff. “Sitting there … smiling and laughing … I ought to blacken both his eyes!”
“Simply tell me which pirate on this island has caused you upset, and I’ll see to that for you,” he drawled, entering the room and pulling the door closed behind him.
Arabella flinched and sucked in a breath, whirling to face him with her bodice hanging open. Drew tore his gaze away from the plush, brown flesh showing in the gap and fixated on her face. It bewildered him to find anger there, flashing like amber lightning in the brown prisms of her eyes.
“Ah,” he said, rubbing at the back of his neck. “It would seemIam the pirate in question. Can I ask why you wish to blacken my eyes?”
Hands braced on her hips, she raised her chin and glared at him. “Have you had her? Nadège?”
At first, her words made no sense. He wouldn’t consider himself drunk, but he’d imbibed enough to wonder if his ears deceived him.
“Have I … had … what?”
“Her!” Arabella snapped, waving a hand toward the set of French doors leading to their balcony. From it, they would be able to overlook the entire front lawn and the party still in full swing. “I told myself it wouldn’t matter, and I could live with the knowledge that you might have taken lovers while we were apart. God knows I cannot fault you, when I was prepared to marry Will. And Icouldlive with knowing there were whores or the occasional passing fancy. In fact, I haven’t asked because I didn’t want to know. But I saw her, and she’s stunning, and you like her, and she makes you laugh, and I …”
Drew held up both hands, cutting off her nonsensical rambling. “You think I’ve fucked Nadège?”
Her chin trembled, one hand swiping at her cheek. Only then did he notice the tear that had leaked from the corner of one eye. “I think I could bear to know you have lain with her. What I suspect goes deeper than that. The two of you have a connection of some kind, don’t deny it. She calls youDrew. No one calls you that but me.”
Drew approached slowly, realizing he’d underestimated how upset his wife was. She trembled when he reached for her, sniffling and blinking back more tears.
“Come here, my Bella,” he murmured, taking hold of her arms and drawing her into him. “Is that why you’ve stayed away from me all night? You’ve been angry with me since we arrived.”
“Not precisely angry with you. I think I’m mostly angry with myself for being so jealous of a woman I hardly even know. I know I have no right—”
“You’re my wife. You have every right.” He smoothed his hands up her arms, fingertips skimming her neck and jaw, until he framed her face in both hands. “Nadège has been a great friend to me over the years. We respect one another and have much in common. But, my feelings for her are no different than those I have toward Rory, or Big Jack. Yes, she is lovely, but in my eyes, no woman is as beautiful as you.”
Her mouth fell open and she stared at him, her breath coming out on a breathless, “Oh.”
Drew smiled, caressing her cheeks with his thumbs and leaning down until his forehead rested against hers. “And even if Ihadindulged in an affair with her, or some other faceless woman, you would never need to worry that she might wrest my heart from your grasp. That feat is entirely impossible.”
“God, I feel so foolish,” she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut.
“I think it’s adorable that you were jealous. Truly, it’s very flattering.”
Her eyes flicked open and she pushed against his chest, face scrunching in a scowl. “Oh … you … you …”
“Pirate?” he teased, grasping her waist and lifting her off her feet.
