For the next half hour he watched as her abigail helped her to dress. He said nothing, but his stifling presence made both her and the servant uncomfortable. By the time she finished changing she was certain she was about to expire from hunger and the thick tension radiating from her husband. She was greatly relieved when they reached the main floor and joined his family for the meal. She settled into her seat and ate with as much decorum as she could manage considering how long she'd gone without food.

"I am relieved to see you feeling better, Elizabeth," Elaine said. "I thank the Lord you were caught by that St. John fellow before you fell to injury, although he did seem-"

"Could you repeat that, Mother?" Marcus said with dangerous softness.

Elizabeth winced and ate with greater haste.

"Surely your wife mentioned her near faint this morn?" Elaine shot a questioning glance down the table.

"As a matter of fact, she did not." Setting his knife and fork down with unnatural care, he offered a grim smile and asked, "Did you say St.

John?"

Elaine blinked in obvious confusion.

Elizabeth's stomach clenched in apprehension. She should say something, she knew, but her throat was so tight she couldn't manage even one word.

The sudden pounding of Marcus's fist on the table startled everyone. Only the plates rattling sharply together broke the ensuing stunned silence. He slid his chair back and stood, placing his palms flat on the table. His glowering face had Elizabeth quaking in her chair. She held her breath."At what point did you intend to share this with me?" he roared.

The Ashfords sat with mouths agape, utensils paused in mid-air.

Galvanized by their horror, Elizabeth pushed back from the table and stood. Paul and Robert leapt to their feet.

"My lord," she began. "I f you would prefer to-"

"Do not try to sway me with sudden docility, Lady Westfield." He walked around the table. "What did he want? By G.o.d, I 'll kill him!"

She tried again. "Might I suggest the study?"

Paul sidestepped neatly into his path. Marcus glared, then moved to the sideboard and poured a hefty ration of brandy.

"I didn't mention it directly, because I knew it would upset you."

Marcus stared at her as if she'd grown two heads, then he downed his drink in one gulp and left the room, his handsome face set in harsh, unyielding lines. She heard the front door slam behind him.

Paul whistled softly.

"Good heavens," gasped Elaine, collapsing backwards in her chair. "He was angry."

Robert shook his head. "I would not believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Can hardly believe it now."

All eyes turned, awestruck, to look at Elizabeth who stood trembling. She inhaled a shaky breath. "I apologize. I realize you are unaccustomed to seeing him in such a state. I regret you had to witness it today."

Robert frowned. "St. John. The name sounds familiar."

"I should explain." She sighed. "Marcus suspects St. John is responsible for the attacks on vessels belonging to Ashford Shipping, but there is no evidence to support that."

"Was it simply unfortunate that he happened to be in such close proximity to you?" asked Elaine. "I thought it odd for him to be perusing soaps and bath oils."

Elizabeth searched for an explanation. "He was a close friend of Hawthorne's. When our paths cross, he pays his respects."

Robert removed his spectacles and began to polish the lenses. "Is St. John aware of Marcus's suspicions about him?"

"Yes."

"Then he should b.l.o.o.d.y well stay away from you and keep his respects to himself," Paul growled.

Elaine tapped her fingers against her water gla.s.s. "You did not appear to care much for him yourself, Elizabeth."

"He is a stranger to me."

"And for Marcus to be goaded into such a temper over the whole affair," Elaine continued, "well, I 've never seen the like."

"He was very angry," Elizabeth agreed, crestfallen. She'd never seen him so furious. That his fury had driven him to leave the house made her sick to her stomach. Certainly she was angry at him as well, but this gulf between them seemed as wide as when she'd been married to Hawthorne. She stepped away from the table. "I pray you will excuse me."

Climbing the stairs, Elizabeth considered the events of the day with a heavy heart. Marcus was important to her. She'd known that when she chose to marry him, and though she'd tried to discount it when he'd treated her so coldly, it remained immutable. Now that their bond, as tentative as it was, was threatened, she understood the depth of her attachment.

This morning the distance between them had been entirely her husband's doing. Now she too contributed to their estrangement. Perhaps if he cared for her they could meet in the middle, but she'd destroyed whatever tenderness he'd felt for her four years ago.

And she finally understood just how much she had lost.

Chapter 18

Elizabeth woke to damp skin at her back and warm hands on her body, one wrapped in her hair and the other stroking her thigh. Her toes were curled, her nipples hard, her body already aware, even though her mind was not.

She whimpered. Marcus had been gone for hours, all through the afternoon and late into the night. She had cried herself to sleep again, after she'd sworn she wouldn't, and the feel and smell of him against her was both a balm and a barb. His c.o.c.k, hard and hot, snuggled in the valley between her b.u.t.tocks, a silent promise of his amorous intent.

"Hush," he said softly, his mouth nuzzling her throat, his wet hair cooling her suddenly feverish skin. Gripping her inner thigh, he lifted her leg and anch.o.r.ed it on his own, his fingers drifting to the curls between her legs. His touch was gentle, coaxing, once again the lover she craved and not the fiercely possessive husband who'd claimed her the night before.

With skill born of much practice and intimate knowledge, Marcus parted the lips of her s.e.x with reverent fingers and dipped inside, swirling around her c.l.i.toris and the opening to her body with a callused fingertip, the roughness of which heightened her pleasure almost unbearably.

Desperate, she undulated helplessly against his hard body. "Please..."

"My wife," he exclaimed, his tongue swirling around the sh.e.l.l of her ear, his breath hot against the newly damp flesh. "Always on fire. Naked in her bed, and waiting for my attentions."

He stroked through her cream and then slipped inside her, thrusting into the drenched walls of her s.e.x with maddening leisure. In and out.

Just that one digit, not nearly enough to satisfy, but enough to make her beg for more.

"Marcus!" She struggled to turn, to move, to take what she wanted, but his arm tightened and pinned her still.

"Relax, and I 'll let you come."

Elizabeth stilled a tremor shaking her body as his single finger was joined by another, the deep plunge and withdrawal sounding wetly over her panting breaths. She hitched her leg higher, opening herself wider, and he fisted his hand in her hair and arched her neck back.

Turning her head, she met his avid mouth with her own, her tongue thrusting along his in a frenzy of desire. Her eagerness goaded him, broke his rigid control. The shift was tangible, his frame tensing behind her, his c.o.c.k swelling even further between them, his hips grinding forward.

She gasped as his thumb rubbed her c.l.i.toris, the barely-there pressure increasing her thrashing. At her back she felt the rapid rise and fall of his chest, in her mouth she caught his harsh exhalation. Her skin was coated with a fine sheen of sweat and she rode his thrusting fingers with greater and greater urgency.

"Please!" she cried, clenching around his fingers in her quest to o.r.g.a.s.m. "I need you."

Marcus shifted, his fingers sliding free to reach for his c.o.c.k. Then he was there, the wide flared head breaching her and pushing inside. His hand, drenched in her cream, cupped her breast, pinched her nipple. And deeper he slid, a thick pulsing possession.

"Yes," she hissed struggling to meet him, to hurry him, to take the long length of him.

His groan in her ear enflamed her. That she could bring him such pleasure while lost in her own was an intoxicating power.

And still he pressed into her.

But it was not enough. The curve of her b.u.t.tocks kept him from the full depths she craved, and she wanted him, all of him. Not just his c.o.c.k and his hand at her breast, but his body over hers, his eyes locked on hers. The gulf between them was there, widened by the hours he'd spent away from her today, but in this there was no division. In this, they could be one.

"You're not deep enough," she complained, wiggling her bottom against his pelvis, crushing the curls at the base of his shaft.

He growled. "Greedy vixen."

"You made me this way." She cupped her hand over his, kneading her breast with his hand, bearing down on his rigid c.o.c.k with her hips.

"Roll me over," she urged, her voice husky with want. "f.u.c.k me deeply. Let me hold you."

I t was the last that moved him. He yanked free of her with a curse, pulling her onto her back so he could loom over her. Elizabeth spread her legs wide in welcome and moaned aloud when he sank to the hilt inside of her.He stilled then, staring down at her in the faint light from the banked fire. Backlit as he was, she couldn't see his features, but his eyes glittered with an unmistakable hunger.

Her heart ached with longing. Marcus Ashford belonged to her, and yet he would never truly be hers.

At least she had this. His pa.s.sion, his desire. I t would have to be enough since it was all he would give her. The feeling of his c.o.c.k stroking in deep inner caresses, the clenching of his hard, muscular b.u.t.tocks as he propelled himself into her, the scent of his skin, heated and damp with sweat, the sound of his guttural cries of pleasure.

She wrapped her arms around him and held him as if she would never let go, absorbing what she could of him, until finally, with silent tears, she sank into blissful relief with him.

Flat on his back, Marcus stared up through the darkness to the canopy above. Against his side Elizabeth curled, her thigh atop his, her arm across his waist. The warm, soft feel of her curves was heaven after the loneliness of their wedding night. Dawn had arrived without him sleeping a wink. He'd paced for hours, fighting the urge to return to her, to hold her, as he had during the nights of their affair. He'd thought the physical distance would help him find objectivity, but when he awoke to find her gone, he'd realized how hopeless that endeavor was.

Their row, and the gulf it created, had shown him the folly in pushing her away. d.a.m.n it, she was his w ife! He'd waited all these years to have her, only to turn away from her once she was his.

Elizabeth stirred, and then sat up. Heedless of her nakedness, she settled back on her heels. She presented such a vision of loveliness Marcus almost forgot to breathe. Wanting to see her in all her glory, he slid from the bed to light the bedside taper.

"I f you walk out that door, don't visit me again," she said coldly.

He stilled, fighting the urge to snap back. While her threat to bar him from her bed was not one he would accept, ever, he understood it was his own churlish behavior that prompted her to throw down the gauntlet.

"I simply wish to throw some light on the situation."

She made no sound, but he could sense her sudden relief and closed his eyes. He had every right to protect her, and his goal had been worthy, but the execution had been a terrible mistake. How much damage had he inflicted? She said nothing of St. John to him...she didn' t trust him...

"Are you still angry?" she asked hesitantly.

He sighed aloud. "I haven't yet decided. What happened today? Tell me everything."

Behind him, she shifted uncomfortably and his hackles rose. "St. John approached me. H-he claims to want to help me. I believe he-"

"In what way did he offer to help?"

"He didn't say. Your mother arrived. He was unable to finish speaking."

"Dear G.o.d," he exclaimed, horrified at the thought of St. John in such close proximity to his wife and his mother.

"He knows who desires Hawthorne's journal."

"Of course he does." His voice was gritty with renewed anger. He should have killed the pirate.

Leaving the bed, Marcus took a moment to stoke the fire and relight the extinguished taper. Then he returned to Elizabeth and eyed her suspiciously. "You are not the type of woman who succ.u.mbs to fits of vapors. You forget I have seen you shoot a man without a qualm. You are hiding something from me." He arched a brow in silent query.

Her gaze met his.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier, Elizabeth?"

"I was feeling cross."

Marcus narrowed his gaze. He knew she could be spiteful when angered, but she was not stupid. Anger alone would not prevent her from protecting herself. Something was amiss, he could feel it. She was attempting to conceal information and he considered all possibilities. Perhaps the pirate had threatened her in some manner. I f so, he intended to discern the cause and attend to it directly. More than he already had.

"Where did you go?" she asked when the silence stretched out.

"To locate St. John, of course."

Her eyes widened and then dropped to his torso. She gaped. "Look at you! You've been hurt."

"He revealed even less information than you, dear wife. But I 'm certain he now understands the foolishness of approaching you again.""What did you do?" Her fingertips drifted with heartening concern to the spreading bruise that marred his ribs.

He shrugged, completely unaffected by her horrified gaze. "St. John and I simply engaged in casual discourse."

She poked brutally into the swelling and he winced. "That does not come from talking," she argued. "And look at your hand." She examined his swollen knuckles and shot him a chastising glance.

Marcus grinned. "Better you should look at St. John's face."

"Ridiculous. I want you to stay away from him, Marcus."

"I will," he agreed, "I f he stays away from you."

"Aren't you curious as to what manner of help he's offering?"