Phillip hardened instantly. The cause was lost. A bath certainly would have relaxed her, but he was more than happy to use other methods. She started kissing his neck, working her way up to nibble at the corner of his mouth, bringing a smile to his lips. "I've created a monster."

"I can't help myself. What you do is so wonderful, I simply lose myself in you. That's what I need right now.'' She kissed her way across his lips, pausing to speak. "Not to think. Not to worry. Not to plan."

A knock sounded on the door. He'd ordered a bath when they'd arrived, and a maid was outside with the tub. Two burly men brought it in and set it in front of the fire, then followed with jugs of water. The maid bustled around the room, setting up a screen, laying out towels. As she departed, Phillip gave an order that they were not to be disturbed until morning.

"Are you going to wash your hair?" he asked in the too-silent room, his voice sounding husky and full of promise.

"No. I'll just brush out the snarls."

"I want to do it for you."

Jane wasn't about to argue the request. Everything he'd shown her so far had been full of wonder and promise. He led her to a stool in front of the mirror. Before letting her sit down, he deftly worked the buttons and hooks on her dress so it fell to the floor around her feet. The silk and lace of her chemise barely hid anything from his critical gaze. The cool air on her shoulders and chest, as well as Phillip's touch at her back, evoked prickly goose bumps up and down her arms. The anticipation was incredible.

Phillip untied the ribbon and pulled the pins from her hair, letting the heavy rope swing down her back. He threaded his fingers through it several times, loosening and straightening the long mass. Leaning down, he whispered in her ear, "I love your hair."

His breath, tickling her neck, created new sensations. Her breasts tingled, the woman's spot between her legs began to ache. The feel of him, working through her hair was so exquisite. Never would she have imagined that such a simple act could seem so intimate, so loving.

He told himself that he finished quickly because he didnat want her bath water to cool overly much. In truth, the simple act of brushing her hair was so dear that he was frightened. The feelings trying to work their way to the surface of his heart were startling. He'd never felt this way about anyone, and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to start now. Wishing for a return to the safer ground of simple lust, he laid the brush down and started unbuttoning his shirt.

Jane turned on the stool, only to see he was disrobing. From viewing her husband, she'd learned that the male body was a beautiful thing, and she never had her fill of looking. "What are you doing?"

"I thought we would bathe together."

Jane's eyes widened. The things he came up with! "What a wicked idea."

"I find the idea to be greatly arousing." He reached for her hand and placed it on his hard phallus. Through the fabric of his breeches, she could feel his erection, and she moved her hand across it in the manner he'd taught her.

"How can we both fit in the tub at the same time?" she asked, staring at her hand and what was waiting underneath.

"We'll make ourselves fit."

"I want to wash you." A few days earlier, she'd probably have died before being able to voice such a notion, but Phillip was methodically dashing so many of her inhibitions that she wasn't afraid to make the request.

"I'd like that very much."

Finished undressing, he stood before her in all his naked glory. She wrapped her fingers around his rigid shaft and worked him with her hands, each slow stroke rubbing the sensitive tip against the silk of her chemise. Somehow she'd known it would feel good to him, and his groan of pleasure made her smile.

He stopped her hand and broke the contact between their bodies, amazed anew at how such simple actions on her part were able to completely unman him. "You'd best stop, or we'll never make it to the water."

She chuckled and reached for the hem of her chemise. "Should I take this off?"

"No. Leave it. I enjoy seeing your breasts play against the fabric." He ran a hand across the swell, toying with the firm bud in the center, then led her to the bath where he eased down into the hot water.

Jane, kneeling beside the tub, wasn't certain how or where to begin, so she reached for the cloth and wet it under the water, then began rubbing it across his chest. It didnat provide her with close enough access to his warm skin so she quickly dropped it in favor of using her hands. She worked up a good lather, then let her fingers glide across his skin, washing across the swirl of dark hair on his chest, down his flat stomach, his hard thighs, behind his knees.

With his legs resting open and relaxed against the edges of the tub, she ran her finger along the inside of the right one. The oddest birthmark was there. A figure eight. She ran her fingers around and around the shape. "What's this?"

"It's a mark on the firstborn sons in my family. Passed on from generation to generation."

"It's the sign for infinity."

"It means I'll lust after you for all eternity."

Even though she loved the physical things he di to her, she was still unused to his casual sexual banter. Before meeting him, she'd had no idea men and women spoke to one another in such a fashion. She smiled, "You are terrible."

"No. Just insatiable." He pulled her into his arms, kissing her long and deeply, using the moment to scoop the hot water against her bosom so her chemise hung snugly to the peaked tips. As he sucked on one through the wet clotha"a new sensation for Jane, one which quickly had her squirminga"he said, "Who'd ever have imagined that you would be hiding such precious gems under all that clothing?"

When he said such things, she had no idea how to respond verbally, but she was growing much better at responding physically. Using the bath as her excuse, she explored him in every place she loved to touch in the dark hours of the night. From Phillip's teaching, she knew what he liked, but so far, she was still shy. Working her hands up his legs, she paid extra attention to the tender skin on the insides of his thighs, moving in circles, higher and higher, until with each stroke, she just brushed the soft sacs hanging between his legs.

'Twas the first time she'd been so bold, and he was dying. If she brushed him one more time like that, he'd ... He closed his eyes against the pleasure, groaning low in his throat. "You're killing me."

"You like that, do you?"

"Very much."

"I hope you realize what a wanton I've become. Tis all your doing."

"It has been my pleasure to show you the way."

Jane chuckled and leaned into the water, searching for the soap she'd dropped. The splash of water soaked her bodice again, the fabric now tight against her breasts, accentuating every peak and curve. "Up on your knees."

Phillip complied, resting his fists on the edge of the tub, the water slapping against him midthigh. His man-part, hard and pulsing, stood out proudly. Jane took the slippery soap and ran it the length of it, then back, then lower to lather between his legs and up the cleft of his buttocks. She dropped the soap, using her hands to work the lather around, fondling the sacs as she stroked the skin of his shaft back and forth in the steady rhythm he loved. The feeling of having him in her hands, of holding such control over him, was as arousing to her as it was to her husband.

"Enough!" Phillip hissed, as her fingers slid over the throbbing tip. "Enough. Come here." He pulled her into the tub, chemise and all. On her knees, with her back to him, she felt him working the fabric slowly, up her thighs, her hips, her stomach. Tugging it past her breasts and over her head, he threw it on the floor.

She shivered slightly as the chemise departed, so he dipped his hands in the hot water, finding the soap and running it deliberately up her body, much as she had just done. Up her thighs, between her legs, her stomach, breasts, across her shoulders, down her back. He worked the soap and water until she was as hot and slippery as he.

"Grab the edge," he commanded in a harsh tone, his arousal now painful, his need to spill his seed uncontrollable.

She leaned forward and held on, feeling Phillip behind her. He nudged her knees apart as much as he could in the small tub, then slipped his hard member between her legs, where it demanded entry. This was how he'd taken her on their wedding night, and he'd not tried it again. Until now. Although nothing about the experience was the same, she still tensed, her body instinctively remembering the pain, her mind the humiliation. "Phillip, please ..."

Completely attuned to her body's needs, he could sense her agitation over what he wanted to do. "You trust me, don't you?"

Did she? She closed her eyes as the truth struck her.

Their bond had changed, evolved and forged, until now, she realized, she'd trust him with her life if necessary. "Yes," she nodded in confirmation.

"Welcome me." He placed a hand on the center of her back, tipping her forward slightly, then grabbed for her hips. With one thrust, he plunged in all the way to the hilt.

Jane gasped at the sensation of having him fill her so completely. With one hand, he reached for her nipple and began to twirl it in a maddening circle, while the other moved between her legs to stroke the bud of her sex.

With her beautiful buttocks slapping against him, his shaft moving in and out, the need for release quickly grew out of control. He'd resolved never again to take his own pleasure without helping her to find her own first, but his arousal was so great that he couldn't wait. Holding her close, he pushed in all the way. Again. And a final time, the growl of pleasure escaping his throat sounding like that of a wild animal.

Jane felt the tip of his sex against her womb, the welcome surge of his seed. His body leaned over hers, his arm wrapped around her stomach, holding her buttocks tightly against his groin. His body spasmned, then relaxed, although his breathing, hot and heavy, pulsed across her back. His own passion spent, she knew he was finished. But what about her own? She'd not had this happen before and wasn't sure of what to do. Her body was thrumming with desire, her pulse was racing, her breasts were swollen painfully, her woman's core was crying out for release.

Before she could think of how to move from the dreadful pinnacle on which Phillip had left her dangling, he pulled away and twirled her around so she was facing him. Not knowing what was coming, she watched in fascination as he worked an arm under her hips and raised her, his mouth kissing a trail down her stomach. When he touched her there with his mouth for the first time, she gasped.

"Phillip!" Although she wasn't sure why, she struggled against the pleasure he was inflicting with short flicks of his tongue.

"Everything's allowed between us, love, remember?" His tongue slipped lower, entering where only his fingers and shaft had gone before. "Close your eyes. Let me have you this way."

She di as he asked, closing her eyes and gripping the rim of the tub. He moved his tongue back to her hard center, licking and tickling as tendrils of fire shot out from her stomach to her limbs, the pressure building higher and higher. As she reached the edge of her cliff, Phillip wrapped his lips around the firm bud and sucked, pushing her over into free fall.

As always, he held her tightly in his arms as she spirraled through space and time, catching her when she returned. This time, gently kissing her lips and allowing her to taste her own sex.

"I love you," she whispered for the second time ever, now against the salty tang on his mouth.

Phillip remained silent, but his heart swelled and ached.

Much later, he woke in the night with a start. Jane wasn't by his side. He'd grown so used to her presence that the darkness seemed overwhelming without her. In a shaft of moonlight, he found her, wrapped in his shirt, sitting in a chair and staring into the remnants of the fire.

He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. The movement caused her to turn and look at him.

"I'm sorry. I didnat mean to wake you," she said softly. She looked so lonely. So forlorn. "Are you all right?"

"I was just thinking."

"About what, love?"

"About what I'll do now. I've no home, no family, no employment. I feel so lost" She looked back to the fire. "It's a horrible thing to find yourself twenty years old and to suddenly learn that you don't have a place, that there's no one in the world who cares about you."

The despair in her voice brought back that unwelcome ache in the center of his chest. He rose and moved to her side, stroking his hand across her hair. "I care about you."

She looked up into his eyes which were so hard to read in the darkness. "Do you?"

"Very much. And Emily cares about you. Besides, you've other good friends. Richard, John, Meg." He slipped into the chair, moving underneath her and turning her so she sat astride his lap, her cheek resting on his shoulder. "You're already building a new life to replace what you've lost here."

Feeling confused and hopeless, she shrugged. "I don't belong anywhere."

"You belong by my side, Jane. Your home is with me." Phillip couldn't believe the next thought which sprang into his head unannounced, but he gave voice to it before he had time to contemplate the consequences of what he was asking. "Could you think of Emily and me as your family?"

Jane pulled back and stared at him with love in her eyes. She knew many things about Phillip, things he probably didnat even realize himself. It was hard for him to trust others. Hard to care. Hard to love, simply because no one had ever taught him how. What he was asking, although it sounded like a modest request, was a monumental step on his part. A step toward a better life. Toward friendship. Toward hope and believing mutual dependence was a good and valuable thing. If he was willing to offer so much, so would she.

She hugged him as tightly as she could and whispered in his ear. "I would love to consider you and Emily as my family. If you'll have me."

Phillip shrugged as though her decision didnat matter much to him one way or the other although, in fact, it meant everything. Over the years, he'd convinced himself that he didnat need to love or be loved, but lately, he found himself thinking back on his position more and more. Since meeting Jane, he'd realized there was an emptiness somewhere inside him, a barren spot left vacant by those who should have, but had never, cared about him. What would it feel like to have that barren spot filled in? Was he brave enough to find out?

He brushed his lips lightly across her temple. "Be my family, Jane. I'd like that more than anything." In response, she hugged him again, as though she'd never let go, and the ache around his heart eased for the first time.

Chapter Twenty-Four.

Jane sat in the meadow grass with Emily, the same place where three months earlier, Phillip had screamed and shouted because he'd found her picnicking with her friends. The October day was as bright and hot as any she could remember, and if someone had told her the calendar was wrong, that somehow time had moved backward and 'twas still mid-July, she'd have believed it in a heartbeat.

What a difference three months could make. Phillip seemed a different man. Although he still had moments when he managed to be incredibly difficult, he seemed to have found some of what had been lost to him so many years earlier. Much to Jane's surprise and delight, he'd decided to forgo the autumn invitations he received daily to attend house parties and hunting excursions. Instead, he spent time relearning the ways of the estate and reacquainting himself with the servants, villagers and tenants who had faithfully served his family for generations.

With much grace, he'd stood up with John at his wedding to Meg. With enthusiasm and humor, he'd helped as the crops were brought in, then presided over the festivities during and after the harvest. With awkward, but successful, attempts at parenting, he'd established a bond with Emily. Even his relationship with Richard was on the mend. Just the previous afternoon, Jane had peeked out the library window and seen the two of them talking near the stables. Of all things, Phillip was smiling.

With herself, he was more than anything she could have imagined finding in a husband. By day, he was courteous, affectionate, concerned. By night, he was as passionate as ever, his lust for her only seeming to increase. If she hadn't known him as well as she did, it would almost seem as though he were in love with her. Considering his past, she wasn't certain the emotion could ever overtake him, but that was all right. She had enough love for both of them.

Yes, what a difference three months could make.

Emily's voice brought her out of her reverie. "What did you say, dear?"

"I said, 'tis so dreadfully hot, let's go swimming."

"What if someone sees us?"

"No one's about, Jane. Please, let's do."

Jane hadn't gone swimming since she was a young girl. Glancing around, she saw that Emily was correct They were alone, and even if someone happened by, they'd never be seen through the copse of trees shielding them from the lane. "Why not?" She smiled at the girl.

"Yes." Emily clapped her hands in excitement.

They helped each other with hooks and ties, stripping down to their chemises and drawers. One of Emily's petticoats snagged on the heel of her boot, and Jane knelt down to help her untangle it. While she was pulling free the last of the offending fabric, the girl's knees were visible. On the inside of her right one was the same birthmarka"the mark of infinitya"that was on Phillip's leg.

Tentatively, Jane touched the spot as though afraid it might disappear. Thrilled and shocked to find it there, she shook her head in consternation. Had no one ever looked closely at the girl? Or had everyone just assumed, as Phillip had, that the mark only appeared on firstborn males? To think of all the years both father and daughter had suffered because he'd been convinced his unfaithful wife had left him to care for another man's child.

The enormity of her discovery was disconcerting. Still on her knees, she glanced up at Emily. "Di you ever show your father this birthmark?"

"Really, Jane, the things you say are so funny sometimes. As if I'd show Father my legs!" Emily laughed at the thought of doing something so outrageous. "You can be so silly."

"Yes, I can, can't I?" As far as Jane knew, Emily had no idea about what type of woman her mother had been, what had happened between her parents or why the birthmark was so significant. Jane was not about to broach such subjects. She stood, pulling on Emily's hand. "Last one in's a rotten egg."

Together, they ran into the water, laughing and splashing, shrieking with delight as the cold water soaked their undergarments.

Phillip rode slowly along the country road, enjoying the unseasonably hot weather. Coming back from a visit to the village, his eyes surveyed the fields and cottages he passed on the way to the estate. Winter would last long enough, and he couldn't get over how much he relished the unexpected extension of summer.

Somewhere he'd lost his way the past few years, convincing himself that he hated the estate. Approaching the turn up the long lane to the house, he inhaled deeply, loving the smell of the fresh grass yellowing in the autumn sun. Overhead, a shower of colorful leaves danced off the trees, covering his shoulders with orange and red. He picked one up off the saddle, twirling it by the stem.

Happiness was a tangible thing, he'd learned lately. Something missing most of his life, but given to him now like a precious gift to be protected and cherished. He'd found a true and good friend in John Graves. Slowly, he'd been building a new relationship with Emily. His connection with Richard was improving dailya"something he had never imagined happening in his lifetime. Using the excuse of estate business, he'd found himself drawn to the man's company more and more. The bond which had always existed between them was still there, bruised but unbroken by the sins of the past.

All because of Jane. Standing square in the middle of his life, she was the center of this new universe filled with laughter, friendship and love. Gradually, he was learning that devotion and trust were not frightening things, but emotions to welcome. Rubbing a hand across his chest, he sometimes wondered if the ache he felt there was actually the thawing of his cold, miserable heart.

Ahead, he could see a rider approaching. Before he could turn up the lane, the man waved and hailed him with a hearty hello.

"Wessington," Morris greeted Phillip, riding up alongside.

"Morris," he nodded back. "We haven't seen much of you lately." Thank God, Phillip added to himself.

"I've been in Sussex. At Roberta's party. Thought I'd see you there."

"I had matters to attend to here. I couldn't get away."