The Chance of Love (The Book of Love 7) Read online

  “So, he just offered it to us? But we’re strangers to him.”

  Joshua shrugged. “Not so. We’re more like distant family. There’s a connection to Robbie, of course. But when Thaddius was courting Penelope Sherbourne, the earl was a guest at Sherbourne Manor and met your cousin Poppy, who is married to Penelope’s brother, the Earl of Welles. Robbie only needed to mention it was for Poppy’s cousin, and the earl was more than happy to oblige.”

  Holly laughed. “I still don’t see the connection, but who am I to complain? It’s a beautiful boat.”

  “It’s all ours for the next few days.”

  He did not rush her onto it, merely stood by her side as she took it all in. It was as though he already understood her deliberate nature. She had become like this after her years with Walter, ruing that mistake and determined not to make another. She now needed to know what she was getting into before she took a step forward.

  Oddly, with Joshua, she’d known from the moment he’d touched her.

  “What do you think, love?”

  “Yes, I’m ready.” There was something quite calming about the gentle lapping of waves against the hull and the soft groans of the ropes that strained against the yacht’s mooring.

  He led her up the gangplank and onto the deck where the captain and several crewmen were standing in wait.

  A big man with a crown of thick, red hair stepped forward. “Captain Archibald Hume at yer service, Mrs. Brayden. Good to see ye again, Joshua.”

  “Been a while, Archie.” They shook hands and then exchanged hearty claps on the shoulder. “Good to see you, too.”

  The captain personally led them to the master cabin, no doubt where the earl slept when he was on board. He lit the wall sconces; otherwise, they would be stumbling in the dark. The cabin was surprisingly large, and the mahogany woodwork was beautiful, especially in the warm glow of the lights. The earl’s quarters contained a bed large enough to sleep two, a writing desk and two chairs, a chest of drawers built into the wall, and shelves that contained an assortment of books.

  The desk also served as a dining table, and on it stood a vase with a dozen red roses, a pot of tea and cups, scones, cheese, and fruit. There was also a bottle of wine and crystal glasses beside the vase of flowers.

  “If ye run out of supplies,” the captain said with a wink, “just call for us, and we’ll bring ye whatever ye need.”

  Holly turned to Joshua, unable to contain her blush. “All this for us?”

  “I thought you might like it, love.” He secured the latch once the captain had departed. “There’s a basin and ewer in this alcove and more of whatever else we might need in the earl’s dressing room.” He pointed to what looked to be a cupboard door but led to a connected room filled with neat rows of the earl’s clothing, another chair, bureau, mirror, and grooming accessories.

  She stepped back into the bedchamber and went to peer out the porthole when she heard crewmen calling out. “Oh, we’re pulling away from the pier.”

  She was excited now that they were about to be under sail. The vessel was sturdy, and Holly felt its gentle rocking as it drew away from land. “Where are we going? Anywhere in particular?”

  “Just up to Harwich and then back. We won’t sail far tonight, just enough to get us out of London.”

  She pursed her lips. “What are you not telling me?”

  He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “I did not want to distress you tonight. This is our wedding night, and I don’t want you thinking of anything but my glorious body under your complete control.”

  She walked over to him and nestled against his chest. “But I will imagine the worst unless you tell me. Is it something to do with Lord Rawling?”

  He sighed again and nodded, circling his arms around her. “He isn’t quite right in the head. Mr. Barrow reported it to me this morning. His father, the Duke of Ismere, is in London and has been searching for him as well. The duke’s Bow Street runner knows Mr. Barrow and took him immediately to meet the duke.”

  “Oh, the poor man must be at the end of his rope if he’d deign to meet with another Bow Street runner.”

  “The duke is afraid of what his son might do. Seems Lord Rawling fell apart after Stanford died. He blames himself for his brother’s death. Probably feels he is to blame for Walter’s death, too. This may be why he came to see you.”

  She nodded. “It makes sense.”

  “But who knows what is going on now in his twisted mind? He may have come to you to apologize, and then plotted to do something more. That’s why I had to change our plans, get you somewhere he could not reach you. Hopefully, while we’re away, Mr. Barrow and the duke will have the matter resolved.”

  Holly sank onto the bed. “What a mess this is. Will I never break away from the past?”

  “You will, love.” He sat beside her. “I know this is our wedding night, but after what’s happened, the last thing I wish to do is force myself on you. I’ll hold you in my arms if that is what you prefer.”

  “And spend another night as I am?” She gave a mirthless laugh. “Two husbands and still a maiden. Do they keep records for this in the London annals? No, Joshua. If this deranged marquess intends more than merely to apologize to me, I will not go to my death never knowing what it means to be a wife. Your wife.”

  “Blessed saints! I’m never going to let that happen. I’ll confront him first. He will not get anywhere near you so long as I am alive.”

  “That’s worse! Then I’ll have your death on my hands.”

  “This is no conversation to be having this evening. We’re safe. He cannot swim out to us. The currents are too swift. He’d drown before he got anywhere close. Nor can he reach us by boat without being seen. The earl’s men are on alert.”

  This did make her feel better, at least for the next few days. She did not know what would happen after that.

  “Holly, love. For now, no one matters but you and me. The incredible thing about this low brain we males have is that it never turns off. However, if anything does not feel right to you, just tell me to stop, and I will.”

  She cast him a sincerely affectionate smile, appreciating the lengths to which he’d gone to make this night special for her. Nor was she immune to her own lust for him. She wanted to be held in his arms and kissed and touched as only Joshua could touch her and make her heart sing.

  He removed his jacket and boots, leaving only his shirt and trousers on. He nudged her to her feet and slowly began to unpin her hair, feathering soft kisses along her neck as he did so.

  His lips felt warm and heavenly against her skin.

  She shivered as he continued his gentle onslaught, but it wasn’t from cold.

  He slid his fingers through her hair and watched the unbound mane tumble down her back. “Blessed saints, you look like an angel. Your hair’s longer than I realized.”

  “I haven’t cut it in years.”

  He turned her slightly to unlace the ties of her gown, taking his time kissing her shoulders and the swell of her breasts as he tugged the gown lower, and lower still. She closed her eyes and inhaled lightly as he untied the ribbon of her chemise and slipped his hand beneath it to cup her breast.

  At last.

  She realized she was now bared from the waist up, but the coolness of the air did nothing to stem her rising heat as his rough hands touched her skin, and his thumb stroked across the bud of her breast, swirling and teasing until it became taut.

  When he lowered his mouth to suckle it, she suddenly came alive everywhere. Her body, already fiery, turned molten. Pulses thrummed in places she did not know existed on her body. But Joshua knew. She heard him lightly groan with pleasure, and then he stopped suckling and drew himself up to cup her face in his hands.

  “You are glorious, love.” His mouth came down on hers in a kiss that was deep and passionately possessive.

  She opened her eyes when he stopped kissing her, but he’d only taken a step back to fling off his shirt before he took
her into his arms again. He held her close, his arms like two strong bands as they wrapped around her.

  There was no longer anything between them, only the heat of his body directly against hers. He felt so exquisitely good.

  His body was hard and splendid.

  She splayed her hands across his chest, her fingers touching the light dusting of hair. Curious, she ran her thumb across his nipple as he’d just done with hers and then gave it a hesitant lick. He sucked in a breath, and then laughingly groaned.

  In the next moment, the last of their clothes were off and pooled on the floor. He lifted her in his arms and carried her in two strides to the bed. “I knew you’d be this sweet and beautiful.”

  Her hair spilled across the pillows as he set her down in the center of the bed and joined her. He shifted their bodies so that she rested atop him, her breasts pressed to his chest.

  She felt the strength of his maleness against her hip, hard and throbbing whenever she moved against it.

  A groan tore from this throat. “Stop, love. I’ll be done before I have the chance to fill you if you keep rubbing against me like that.”

  She stopped, eager to follow his instructions, for he was the one with experience in such matters. “I’ll try not to move.”

  He laughed. “You can move, just not…never mind. Do whatever feels right for you.”

  She kissed his chest, liking the feel of his skin against her lips.

  Their hearts beat in unison, fast and pounding.

  He took a moment to simply look at her face, to smile as he wound his hands in her hair again and took his time stroking it, running his fingers through it. He seemed enthralled as he watched it slide through his hands like water spilling down a waterfall. Finally, his grin broadened, and he said, “It’s time for my little butterfly to shed her cocoon.”

  “Oh, good gracious. Yes.” Perhaps she ought to have been more modest in her desire, but she was hungry for Joshua and eager to experience everything their joining would involve.

  He brushed her hair to one side so that it did not catch under her as he positioned her under him. “You’re so soft and beautiful,” he whispered and then began to slowly kiss his way down her body, taking his time to tease and explore.

  The touch of his lips to her skin set off little fires inside of her.

  Whatever her thoughts were in that moment no longer mattered. She could not think, only feel. The rough heat of his hands on her body. The weight of him atop her.

  The arousing scent of him, male and musk.

  She tasted the salt of his skin.

  “Joshua,” she cried out softly when he cupped her breast and dipped his head to take its bud into his mouth. She arched up when his tongue flicked over it and cried out again in pleasure when he began to tease and suckle it.

  “Oh!” His hand now slipped between her thighs to stroke her intimately. She felt herself become slick against his fingers. Was this supposed to happen?

  “You are fretting again, love. Am I hurting you?”

  “No. I…is this usual?”

  He chuckled. “Yes, sweetheart. You’d be too tight otherwise, and I would hurt you when our bodies joined.”

  He nipped at the lobe of her ear, then kissed her throat. He teased it only a moment before returning his attention to her breast, taking the tip into his mouth again.

  She grabbed his head to keep his mouth pressed to her breast.

  She raised her hips and strained against his fingers, eager to know more of this new sensation that left her fiery and squirming. She wanted him inside her, wanted him with a raw and savage hunger she did not think any woman of good breeding ought to feel.

  But how could she not?

  A fiery pressure built within her. She did not know what it was, only that it was intense and exquisite like a volcano about to erupt. It was unlike anything she’d ever felt before.

  Then she did erupt, everything bursting all at once in a dazzling starburst of colors. Fiery reds and golds and hot blues. She was consumed, her blood molten as it flowed through her limbs. “Joshua!”

  She cried out for him again and again.

  “I know, love.” He crushed his lips to hers, hot and wild, and exquisitely tender.

  He cradled her in his arms as the fiery explosions rocked through her and lovingly caressed her until they finally began to wane. “I love you, Holly.”

  She opened her eyes to gaze at him in wonder. “I never knew it could be like this.”

  “Always with you and me, love.” His breaths were as ragged as hers, but he had a wicked grin on his face.

  She placed her hand against his cheek. “Feeling smug, are we?”

  He laughed. “Yes, and every other low brain, frenzied, dominating feeling you can think of. Proud, possessive. Hungry for more of you. Pleasuring you also gave me great pleasure.”

  She felt the hard length of him and realized he had not yet been satisfied. They hadn’t coupled. Had something gone wrong? She began to nibble her lip.

  He laughed again and kissed her lightly on the mouth. “Stop fretting. We’re only getting started. There is more to come.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I wanted to give you a moment to recover before we continued.”

  She nodded. “I don’t need another moment. I’m ready, Joshua.”

  “Ah, impatient for me to get down to business and claim you for my own?” He drew her back into his embrace. “I’m eager for it as well.”

  He shifted them so that she was once more on her back. He settled over her, his weight lightly crushing and divine, although most of it was absorbed onto his elbows as they rested on either side of her body.

  She must have been a wanton and never known it, for her blood was already turning fiery. He had yet to touch her in that way again, and the pressure began to build inside of her.

  “Easy, my love.” He kissed her, and at the same time, stroked his fingers at the spot between her thighs until she was in exquisite torment and could not wait another moment to take him in.

  Then she felt him, his fingers now replaced by the length of him. Fire shot through her as he settled between her legs and entered her. His magnificent body strained like a wild, untamed stallion straining at his tether.

  His muscles were taut and rippling with tension as he fought to hold himself back.

  But she did not want him tame or cautious. She was not fragile, and he was not going to hurt her. She bucked against him, lifted her hips to take all of him inside her.

  When he broke through her maidenhead, she felt a painful pull. But the discomfort lasted only a moment. Then all she felt was pleasure and exhilaration as he thrust inside her, his movements at first slow and steady. But as she became used to him, he began to thrust deeper until he was fully embedded inside her.

  They were connected forever, and irrevocably. She had never understood the power of this eternal mating dance until now. Suddenly all the tears she’d shed, all the loneliness and emptiness she’d ever experienced, simply fell away.

  Joshua’s arms were around her, holding her, his hands caressing her, making her feel as though she was the dearest thing to him. “I love you, Holly.”

  Sweet mercy!

  She loved him so much. “I’m yours forever, my handsome captain.”

  He moved in and out of her, his thrusts more urgent now, each push deeper and more intense. She felt the newly familiar pressure build inside her, and knew she was about to experience the fiery burst again. Fireworks and starlight.

  Would he experience the same?

  She felt his raw hunger and the power of him.

  As heat and fire surrounded her, she moaned in pleasure. The bursts came one after the other in unrelenting waves. She clutched his shoulders, dug her nails into his back as these sensations, never experienced yet long-buried in her soul, coursed through her body.

  In the next moment, she felt him tense and heard his shuddering grunts. He closed his eyes as he released inside her. She
stared in fascination, noting the masculine angles of his jaw and cheekbones, enthralled by the enormous power of his body.

  She did not think any man could be so exquisitely formed.

  Her hands were still on his shoulders when he opened his eyes and smiled at her. Easing her grip, she raised her hand to caress his cheek. “I had no idea. I never thought such happiness was possible. This is a wondrous thing, Joshua.”

  He kissed her palm. “Yes, love. It is.”

  “How was it for you? Did you like it?”

  “I did. Very much.” He kissed her on the forehead and shifted them, so he was no longer atop her. But he did not let go of her and continued to hold her close so that their hot, damp bodies stuck together.

  She breathed him in.

  He smiled. “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to remember every detail of this moment.” This was their mating scent, the musky dampness that held in the air. This was the scent their souls would always recognize. I am his. He is mine. We are now one. “What did you like best about it, Joshua?”

  He kissed her lightly on the mouth. “Do you wish to review every aspect of our mating? Discuss it like a battle plan?”

  “No, not if you prefer not to.”

  “Has it escaped your notice? I am completely in your thrall. You may ask anything of me. If you wish to talk all night, then we shall talk all night.”

  She laughed. “My poor, captain. I don’t wish to torture you. But may we speak of it a little?”

  “Of course, love.” He began to caress her hair as he spoke. “So, what did I like best about it? Let me see. Well, the best is that it was you in my arms and your body taking me in. You’re the most important thing to me. To know that you enjoyed it, enhanced my pleasure.”

  “I suppose I was quite obvious.”

  “If you mean clawing at me, clutching me in a death grip, and pinning my face to your exquisitely heaving breasts, then yes. Your breathy moans also gave you away. The entire crew must have heard you.”

  She gasped and sat up, but he grinned and drew her back into his arms. “Gad, you are too gullible. They didn’t hear you, love. I’m only teasing.”

  “Are you sure? I think there were moments I was howling.”