Deception

Chapter 8

"I was so afraid you would think me overbold," Olympia confided into Jared's shirtfront. She was dazed with a combination of joyous relief and the glorious excitement that always consumed her when she was in Jared's arms. "I know you are a perfect gentleman and I feared my question might offend you."

Jared kissed the top of her head. "My sweet siren. I am not a perfect gentleman."

"Yes, you are." She lifted her head and gave him a tremulous smile. "At least you make every effort. It's not your fault that there is a vein of excessive passion within you. I realize that I am quite deliberately provoking that element in your nature. It is no doubt very wrong of me to do so."

"No, Olympia." Jared framed her face with his hands. His gaze glittered with fierce certainty. "I do not think there is anything wrong with this emotion and even if there is, I do not particularly care."

"I am so glad you feel that way. I was almost certain you did." Olympia was aware of the hard, strong muscles of his thighs as she leaned against him. "You and I are very much alike, are we not? Our experience and study of other lands and peoples has given us a broad view of human nature."

"Do you think so?"

"Oh, yes. Men and women of the world such as ourselves need not be bound by Society's conventions."

Jared cupped her face and looked down into her eyes. "You cannot know the effect you have on me."

"I hope it is similar to the effect you have on me," she whispered.

"I suspect it is a thousand times greater." Jared's mouth hovered barely an inch above hers. "If you were feeling what I am feeling, you would be consumed by flames."

"I am consumed by flames."

Jared muttered something soft, hoarse, and rough with emotion. Olympia could not make out the words but there was no need. His mouth was suddenly on hers and she knew precisely what he was trying to say. Jared desired her tonight with a passion that seared her soul, a passion that equalled her own.

With a tumultuous sense of happiness Olympia gave herself up to Jared's kiss. She pressed herself closer, seeking the heat and the strength in him. She was dimly aware of him leaning back against the edge of the desk and widening his stance so that she was gently trapped between his muscled thighs.

"So soft." Jared laced his hands through Olympia's hair, tearing it free of its precarious moorings. He took great fistfuls of the stuff and clenched and unclenched his fingers in it. "So exquisitely soft."

Out of the corner of her half-closed eyes Olympia saw her little white lace cap float softly to the carpet. The sight of it filled her with an extraordinary sense of abandon.

"Oh, Jared, this is beyond anything," she exclaimed, enthralled with the emotions that were cascading through her.

"Yes, my sweet siren." Jared's voice had darkened and roughened with passion. "Beyond anything."

He launched a trail of scorching kisses down her throat, forcing Olympia's head back over his arm. When he found his path blocked by the prim, pleated frill of her chemisette, he swore impatiently.

"I cannot bear this torture much longer." Jared tugged quickly at the tapes of her gown. "If I do not have you very soon, my lovely Olympia, I shall no doubt wind up in Bedlam, a broken man."

"I understand." Olympia began to unfasten his shirt. "I, too, feel as if I shall be driven mad by this powerful emotion."

Jared gave her an odd smile as he lowered the bodice of her gown to her waist. "Then we have no choice, do we? We must save each other from insanity tonight."

Olympia got his shirt open and gazed, entranced, at the sight of his bare chest. She shook her head slightly. "I am not certain that we can save ourselves. Perhaps we are already lost, Jared."

"Then so be it." Jared untied the strings of the cambric chemisette and let the garment fall to the carpet alongside the white lace cap. He went very still as he looked down at her breasts.

Olympia blushed under his heated gaze but she made no attempt to cover herself. Indeed, the knowledge that he wanted her so intensely only served to make her bolder. She splayed her fingers against his hard chest and then lifted her hands to his shoulders.

Jared inhaled deeply and let out his breath in a low groan. He lowered his head to kiss the high, taut crowns of her breasts as she traced the contours of his back.

"I like that very much." Jared closed his good eye and drew her closer until her breasts were crushed against him.

"Do you?" Olympia stroked him. "I like it, too. You feel so wonderful, Jared."

"My God, Olympia."

As if driven by some force he could no longer defend against, Jared moved. His hands wrapped around Olympia's waist. He lifted her, turned, and seated her on the edge of the desk. Olympia's skirts fluttered delicately.

"Jared?" Surprised to find herself sitting on the desk, Olympia raised questioning eyes to Jared's face.

"Sing your sweet song to me, my lovely siren." Jared pushed Olympia's gown up above her knees. He parted her legs with his hands and stepped between her thighs. "I want to be lured to my doom."

"Jared."

Olympia was still adjusting to the very strange sensation of having him standing between her legs when Jared put his hands on the sensitive skin of her inner thighs. She clutched his arms and stared at him, not certain how to react.

"Never fear, my beautiful siren." Jared kissed the curve of her shoulder. "You will tell me when you are ready."

Before Olympia could ask him what he meant by that, his hands skimmed along the inside of her leg all the way to the soft, hot vulnerable part of her that had suddenly been opened to him.

Olympia stopped breathing when she felt him touch the unguarded core of her body. An excruciating sense of urgency radiated outward from the place where his fingers connected with her womanly flesh.

"You are already wet," Jared said. "As warm and soft as southern seas." He withdrew his fingers and touched them to his lips. His smile was slow and deeply sensual. "You even taste of the sea."

"Do I?" Olympia gripped his upper arms and held on for dear life. She wished very badly that she knew what to do next but she was lost.

"Yes. Exciting. A little salty. Incredible."

Jared put his hand back between her legs and carefully eased one finger into her.

Olympia shuddered. "Jared. I do not know what to say."

"You need say nothing at all, my sweet siren, until you are ready to sing for me."

She did not know what he meant but she did not have the strength or presence of mind to ask for clarification. The feel of his finger inside her was so wondrous and strange that Olympia could not stop trembling in reaction. Her legs tightened instinctively around him.

"Come. Sing for me, my beautiful siren." Jared drew his finger slowly back out of her, watching her face as she moaned softly. "Yes, just like that. Again, my lovely one."

He touched her with the tip of his thumb and Olympia shivered and gave a soft, whimpered moan.

"Bloody hell, but I love your song." Jared removed his hand reluctantly from between her legs.

Olympia opened her eyes slightly, wondering why he was no longer touching her so intimately. She needed the feel of his hand there in that secret place. She was certain that nothing else could ease the great, aching restlessness she was experiencing.

"Jared?" She looked down and saw that he was fumbling with the opening of his trousers. "Please, I want you to touch me again."

Jared gave a choked laugh that ended in a groan. "I could not stop touching you now if all the fiends in hell were at my heels."

Olympia saw him ease aside the front of his breeches. She stared in shock at the sight of his heavy, erect manhood as it came free of the confining fabric.

"Mr. Chillhurst."

Jared rested his forehead on hers. His mouth curved with wicked sensuality. "Could you possibly think of it as a variation on that peculiar island wedding custom you once mentioned to me, Miss Wingfield? I realize that this particular phallus is not made of gold, but it is the only one I've got."

With a shock Olympia recalled her naive discussion of golden phalluses. She did not know whether to laugh or collapse in mortification.

"Perhaps it is just as well it is not made of solid gold, sir," she managed to say. "It is very large, after all, and would no doubt be worth a bloody fortune. Someone might attempt to steal it."

Jared's answering chuckle became a hoarse exclamation. "You mock me at your peril, siren."

She moistened her parted lips and looked up at him from beneath heavy lashes. "Do I?"

"Yes." Jared pulled her legs wider apart and wrapped them around his waist. He stepped close and fitted himself to the opening of her soft, wet passage.

If Olympia had been shocked at the sight of his male member, she was truly stunned at the feel of it pushing against the unguarded gates of her body. At the same time, the sensation seemed to be precisely what she had been craving.

"Yes, please." She clutched at his shoulders.

"My God." Jared cupped Olympia's buttocks in his hands, held her steady, and started to ease himself slowly into the portals of her womanly passage.

Olympia closed her eyes and concentrated intently on the strange feel of him as he entered her.

Excitement mingled with a delicious trepidation as Jared began to fill her. She could not believe that her body could adjust itself to his but that was exactly what seemed to be happening.

The fit was extremely snug, however, and not altogether comfortable, even if it was causing ripples of pleasure to course through her.

"Damnation." Jared suddenly stopped.

"What is wrong?" Olympia opened her eyes. Jared's face was as hard and unyielding as stone. But she had never before seen a stone that was beaded with perspiration, she thought. Beneath her fingers his muscles were like bands of steel. "Are you all right?"

He searched her face with an almost desperate expression. "Olympia, you said you were a woman of the world."

She smiled dreamily. "I am, sir."

"I thought you meant that you had some experience of this sort of thing."

"Not personal experience." She touched his cheek gently with her fingertips. "I believe I have been waiting for you to teach me, sir. You are, after all, a skilled tutor, are you not?"

"I am a madman." Jared's single-eyed gaze was fierce. "Olympia, are you very certain you want me?"

"More than anything," she whispered.

"Then I wish you would hold on to me with all of your strength while I find my way through the storm to the safe harbor inside you."

Olympia nearly melted beneath the heated words.

She could find no verbal response so she tightened her arms and legs around him and urged him closer.

Jared's palms were strong and firm around the soft curves of her bottom. He used his grip to hold her carefully still while he thrust himself swiftly and relentlessly into her softness.

Olympia stiffened and opened her mouth to cry out in astonished surprise. Jared covered her lips with his own, stifling her startled protest.

When he was lodged to the hilt, he went rigid. He did not move except to lift his mouth cautiously from hers.

"Are you all right?" he got out in a husky whisper.

"Yes." Olympia swallowed and gingerly unclenched her nails from his back. "Yes, I believe so."

"Show me. Sing for me, siren."

Jared began to move very slowly and very gently within her, never quite leaving her body before returning to sheath himself once more.

Whatever pain had been caused by his entry was soon extinguished as the flowing heat returned. Olympia clung to Jared as he drew her deeper and deeper into the sultry waters of passion.

The aching need inside her was overwhelming. She felt full to the bursting point. She heard herself pleading with Jared for a release she could not name.

"Soon, my siren, soon," he promised as he drove slowly back into her depths.

"Now, Jared. You must do something."

"You are a demanding little thing, are you not?"

But Jared sounded very pleased with her demands. In fact, to Olympia's growing frustration, he encouraged them. He seemed to know just how to drive himself into her; how far to withdraw. He stoked the fiery tension until she felt like a clockwork toy that has had its spring wound much too tight.

And then Jared put his hand down between their bodies and did something with his fingers at the same time that he surged into her.

It was too much. The spring inside Olympia shattered.

She had never dreamed she could feel such sensations. Wave after wave of pleasure raced through her, leaving her shivering in the aftermath. She wanted to scream with joy but Jared sealed her mouth with his own.

She felt him drive into her one last time. He shuddered heavily and opened his mouth against hers. Olympia found herself swallowing his fierce shout of satisfaction, just as he had swallowed her softer cries.

When it was over, Jared scooped Olympia off the desk, staggered to the sofa, and collapsed with her onto the cushions.

It was a long while before Jared recovered to the point where he could raise his head and look down at Olympia. She stretched languidly beneath him. Her smile was laced with a delightfully smug feminine satisfaction. The smile of a siren who has finally learned her own power, he thought.

And he was the one who had taught her the extent of that power.

"You are a man of excessive passions, Mr. Chillhurst," Olympia said.

Jared chuckled ruefully. He was exhausted. Exhausted and exhilarated. "It would appear so, Miss Wingfield. Allow me to tell you that your passions are every bit as excessive as my own."

She wriggled delightfully against him as she twined her arms around his neck. "I must tell you that it was all extremely exciting. I have never experienced anything quite like those sensations."

"I am aware of that, Olympia." He bent his head and tenderly kissed the curve of her breast. A deep sense of possessiveness flowed through him.

In spite of Olympia's opinion of his passionate nature, Jared was only too well aware that until now he had always conducted his few liaisons with the same orderly, disciplined approach he applied to his business affairs. He had certainly never involved himself with a virgin.

There had been no denying the tight, untried status of Olympia's body. He had been vividly conscious of the small amount of blood that had mingled with the sultry moisture that had coated his shaft.

He should probably be ashamed of himself, he thought. But the only emotion he could manage in that moment was one of deep, contented satisfaction. And, as Olympia herself had said, it was not as if she were a young girl straight out of the schoolroom. She was five-and-twenty. A woman of the world.

Jared groaned silently. She was not a woman of the world at all. She was an innocent who had been cloistered in the country all of her life and he had taken advantage of her.

It had been the most glorious experience of his life.

Jared thought of the lecherous Draycott who had attempted to seduce Olympia in her library. He wondered how many other men in Upper Tudway had seen her as legitimate prey; how many others had made dishonorable advances.

But Olympia had waited to sing her siren's song just for him.

Jared was awed by the knowledge that he had been the one she had chosen; the one to whom she had given herself. His throat tightened and he had to swallow hard before he could speak.

"Olympia," he said very steadily, "I want you to know that I value the treasure you have bestowed upon me. I will take excellent care of you."

She drew her fingertip along the line of his jaw. "You already take very good care of me." She smiled. "I only hope that you will remain in this household for a very long time."

"As tutor and lover?"

She blushed. "Well, yes, of course. What else?"

"What else, indeed?" Jared put his arm over his eyes. He ought to tell her the entire tale now, he thought, but if he did, everything would change. She would doubtless be angry and offended by his deception.

If he were in her place Jared knew that he would be coldly furious when he learned that he had been deceived, just as he had been when he had discovered Demetria with her lover.

He recalled his own words to Felix that afternoon. I do not care to play the fool.

When Olympia learned the truth she would think that he had played her for the fool; that he had amused himself at her expense.

It was certainly the conclusion that he would reach were their positions reversed.

The realization made him set his back teeth. What if Olympia reacted to the knowledge that she had been deceived in the same way he had reacted to Demetria's deception three years ago, he asked himself. What if she threw him out of her life as he had thrown Demetria out of his?

What if Olympia turned and walked away from him?

He went cold inside.

Jared was unsure of what to do next. He could not seem to think logically about the situation.

The only thing of which he was absolutely certain was that he was too enthralled by the passionate beginning of his affair with Olympia to risk everything yet.

There would be the devil to pay once he told her the truth, he thought glumly. She would probably not be able to tolerate such deception in the man to whom she had given herself.

He had to face the possibility that once Olympia learned all, she would likely never again believe in him and trust in him as completely as she did tonight.

He could not bear to have her turn away from him. Not now, when he had only just found her.

It was all so bloody complicated, Jared thought, not for the first time.

Such were the wages of passion.

He had never before found himself in such a position but he sensed he needed time. Just a little more time in which to teach her to care for him enough so that he could risk telling her the truth.

Yes, time was the answer, he decided, grateful at having discovered a practical, eminently logical reason to stave off the inevitable.

His wild thoughts were shattered by a muffled bark from below stairs.

He raised his arm from his eyes. "What the devil?"

"It's Minotaur," Olympia said, sounding surprised.

"That bloody dog will awaken the entire household." Jared rolled off the sofa and got to his feet. He swiftly set his clothing to rights.

The thought of Mrs. Bird and the three boys bursting into the study and finding Olympia in her present state was more than a little alarming.

"Get dressed," he ordered. "Quickly. I'll see to the dog." He picked up a candle and started for the door.

"Do you know, that is just the way Minotaur barked the night that he heard someone in my library in Upper Tudway." Olympia's brows drew thoughtfully together as she pushed herself to a sitting position. "Perhaps he has heard another intruder." She hastily reassembled the bodice of her gown.

"I seriously doubt it. More likely the beast has heard someone or something out in the street. He is not accustomed to the sounds and smells of the city." Jared paused briefly at the door and turned back to watch Olympia adjust her clothing. It was an entrancing sight.

Olympia's chemisette was still lying on the carpet beside her dainty lace cap. Without the small cambric garment to fill in the area above the low neckline, her gown was miraculously transformed. It went from being modest in the extreme to a daring and provocative frame for her delicately curved breasts.

He saw her wince as she took an unsteady step forward. He realized that she was very likely experiencing some soreness. But Olympia did not complain and he did not know how to apologize.

Before he could decide what to do, Olympia recovered. She smiled at him and hurried toward the door.

Jared was bemused and rather astonished at the immediate response of his body. With an effort of will, he forced himself to pay attention to the matter at hand.

"Wait here. I shall go and see what is disturbing Minotaur," he muttered. With one last, regretful glance at the sight of Olympia's sweetly rounded bosom, flushed cheeks, and tousled hair, he went out into the hall.

Olympia hurried after him. "Hold a moment, Mr. Chillhurst. I shall accompany you."

Jared mocked her with one raised brow as he went toward the back stairs. "Mr. Chillhurst?"

"Best not to get out of the habit of formality," she said very seriously. "We must maintain appearances in front of the boys and Mrs. Bird."

"As you wish, Miss Wingfield." Jared lowered his voice as he started down the stairs. "But I warn you that I reserve the right to call you Olympia on any occasion when I happen to have my hand up under your skirts."

"Mr. Chillhurst."

"That is the way such matters are handled among men and women of the world," Jared informed her with lofty certainty. He put the guilt behind him and allowed himself to feel the pleasure that was threatening to overpower him.

A grand satisfaction, more potent than brandy, flowed in his veins. He was Icarus flying too close to the sun, but it was worth the risks. The rewards of a passionate nature were very fine, he thought with a fleeting grin. Tonight he was a new man.

"You are teasing me in a most ungentlemanly fashion, sir." Olympia's breathless accusation was interrupted by another whining bark from below. "Minotaur is definitely alarmed by something."

"A nightman has probably arrived next door to empty the neighbor's cesspool."

"Perhaps."

Jared opened the kitchen door and nearly got run down by Minotaur who had been waiting impatiently on the other side. The dog dashed straight past him and skidded to a halt in front of Olympia.

"What's the matter, Minotaur?" Olympia patted him warily but gently on the head. "There is no one in the house except us."

Minotaur whined loudly and then darted around her and went up the stairs.

"Perhaps he wants to go into the garden," Olympia said. "I will let him outside for a few minutes."

"I will see to it." Jared took a quick look around the kitchen before following the dog up the stairs. There was no sign that anything had been disturbed near the large iron stove or in the vicinity of the sink. The window that opened onto the enclosed front area below the street level was securely latched.

Jared led the way back up the stairs. Olympia stayed close.

Together they went down the hall to the back door. Minotaur was already there. He scratched enthusiastically at the threshold.

"Something is wrong," Olympia said. "This is not his customary behavior at all."

"I believe you are right." Jared unbolted the door.

Minotaur squeezed through the opening as soon as possible and ran out into the small, walled garden.

"The neighbors are going to be very annoyed if he starts barking again," Olympia said uneasily.

"Just as well, then, that we have not met any of them." Jared handed the candle to her. "Remain here in the house. I shall see what it is that is troubling Minotaur."

Jared slipped quietly outside into the night. He assumed his orders to Olympia would be obeyed simply because his orders were always obeyed when he gave them in that particular tone.

Minotaur stopped when he reached the far end of the garden. He jumped up on his hind legs and sniffed industriously at the top of the wall.

Jared walked past the privy and made his way through the overgrown shrubbery to where Minotaur was looking out into the alley. There was just enough light to see that the small, cobbled lane was empty.

Jared glanced into the neighbors' gardens on either side. Both were dark and silent. There was no sign of any of the nightmen whose business flourished during the late hours. Few people wished to be bothered with having a privy emptied during the day. In most houses the contents of the cesspool had to be carried out of the garden through the main hall and deposited into a cart on the street. It was standard practice to conduct the necessary business at night when fewer people were around to be offended by the odors.

"There is no one about," Jared said softly. "But I suspect you already know that, do you not, Minotaur?"

Minotaur glanced at him and then resumed sniffing the bricks.

"Do you see anything?" Olympia asked.

Jared glanced over his shoulder and saw that she had ignored his instructions. She had left the candle behind in the house and followed him outside. Her eyes were huge in the moonlight and there were deep, fascinating shadows between her breasts.

Jared was torn between irritation at having been disobeyed and an extremely keen recollection of how soft Olympia's breasts were.

"No," he said. "There is no sign of anyone in the alley. Perhaps someone went past a few minutes ago and alarmed Minotaur."

Olympia peered over the top of the wall. "We have been staying in this house for several nights now and he has never before reacted to anyone passing by in the alley."

"I am aware of that." Jared took her arm. "Let's return to the house. There is no point hanging about out here."

She glanced at him, obviously surprised by the inflection of his voice. "Has something annoyed you?"

He wondered how a tutor went about informing his employer that when he gave logical, reasonable commands, he expected to have those commands followed to the letter. But before he could find a means of getting his point across without telling her the truth about his identity, she drew him to a halt with a sharp exclamation.

"Good heavens, what is that?" Olympia stared at a small patch of white on the grass. "Did you drop your handkerchief, Mr. Chillhurst?"

"No." Jared bent down and picked up the square of crumpled white linen. He frowned as he caught a whiff of perfume.

Olympia wrinkled her nose at the strong scent. She looked at Jared, her gaze clear and solemn. "There was someone here in the garden tonight."

Jared watched Minotaur trot over to sniff at the handkerchief. "It appears that way," he said quietly.

"I was afraid of this, Mr. Chillhurst. There can no longer be any doubt about it. We have an extremely urgent situation here."

"Urgent?"

Olympia narrowed her gaze as she studied the perfumed linen. "The warning I discovered in the diary about the Guardian must be taken seriously. Someone is determined to get his hands on the secret of the buried treasure. But how did the villain learn our address here in town?"

"Damn it, Olympia." Jared broke off abruptly as an unpleasant thought struck him. His mouth tightened. "Have you been indiscreet about our presence in town?"

"No, of course not. I have been most careful in that regard. Your reputation is very important to me."

"I suppose one of your acquaintances in the Society for Travel and Exploration could have followed us home or hired someone to do so."

"Yes, that is definitely a possibility," Olympia said quickly. "Perhaps one of them is connected to the Guardian in some way."

Or perhaps one of Olympia's new friends was drawn by the lure of treasure as were so many, Jared thought grimly. He knew the lengths certain members of his own family had gone to in the past when they had been on the trail of a missing fortune. It was entirely possible that there were others who would go to similar lengths.

All of the members of the Society for Travel and Exploration were no doubt well aware that Miss Olympia Wingfield's specialty was researching buried treasures and lost gold.