The Lady and the Dragon

“Even drunk, it hurt like hell to have it done. It also required someone with a lot of skill to create it.” Drex paused. “Any chance Manchester has decided such a tattoo is pure fancy?”

-208-

The Lady and the Dragon

“That is possible,” Greg conceded. “At this point, I daresay anything is. Just in case, I will suggest that very point to him.”

“The ploy might work, at least long enough to free Ryan,” Drex said.

Greg grinned. “Let’s dress the old chap up, shall we?”

* * *

Later the following night, Drex sat in the library, pretending to read the Times. Christina had retired to her room without dinner. Again. And he worried.

Had she been more affected by the Black Dragon’s presence than she had acted? Anger had brought the vitality back to her cheeks, the color and spark back to her eyes. How he’d wanted her there, across her lacy bed bathed in silvery moonlight. But he wanted her as her husband, not as her former lover, especially since she’d claimed to harbor some affection and respect for the man she had wed.

Drex frowned. How would she react once she learned the Black Dragon was

“dead”?

Greg burst in a moment later, unannounced. He came bearing toward Drex with a single-minded stride.

“Your visit must be urgent, indeed, for you to have so little care for the seams of your tight breeches,” Drex teased.

Greg reached his side, chest rising and falling rapidly beneath an azure coat. “Then you haven’t heard?”

“What?” Drex said, folding his paper and setting it aside.

“Manchester has fallen for our ruse.”

Drex smiled.

Greg whispered, “I overheard Manchester bragging at Boodle’s that he caught a man red-handed with all the appropriate garb, right down to the mask.”

“I planned to go with my father to the Lord Admiral’s office once the body was discovered and recommend Ryan’s release. He refused to let me

-209-

Shelley Bradley

accompany him, saying Manchester might become suspicious of me, a man with a questionable past, demanding the release of the very man the Black Dragon had sought.”

“Can’t disagree with that logic,” Greg said.

“Traitor.” Drex teased. “Let’s find my father and celebrate.”

“Not yet. Manchester sent a page to dispatch a note to his granddaughter.

You must know what it says.”

“Christina,” he whispered, then focused on his friend. “Of course. Go. Talk to my father. I will find you later.”

After Greg departed, Drex walked the length of the hall buoyed by happiness. After the Black Dragon’s appearance last night and his odious request, Christina wouldn’t mourn the man.

He knocked on her door. She did not answer. Drex knocked again. Still no reply.

He pressed his ear to the cool wood. A series of sniffles, nearly silent, reached his ears.

Lifting the latch with a frown, Drex entered to find her sitting on the edge of her bed. Her head shot up at his approach.

Misty green eyes, drowning in a pool of anger and sorrow, overshadowed the rest of her pale face. In one hand, she clutched a missive. In the other, a handkerchief.

She grieved the Black Dragon, without artifice. Her stark, torn expression told him that. Drex tried to stifle his surprise. She had truly loved him. And he had let her go.

Telling her the truth had become infinitely more complicated. God, what a tangle.

“He—he’s dead,” she pronounced between tears.

Drex strode the rest of the distance to her and knelt by her side. “I know. “

To his surprise, she reached out for him. Drex took her hand and squeezed.

Sitting beside her, he gathered Christina’s huddled form into the shelter of his arms. She felt so small, so uncertain and cold. Trembling pervaded her body as she raised questioning eyes to his, as if to ask why or how. He could hardly

-210-

The Lady and the Dragon

provide her the answers she sought, or confess his alter-identity. Not until he felt certain she loved him enough to deal with the knowledge. Not until she was less fragile.

“Do you still love him?” he asked, the anticipation of her answer making him ache. Though he liked the idea that she had fallen in love with him, as a husband, he found himself jealous.

A moment of silence stretched between them as Christina studied his face.

Finally, she shrugged. “When I first met you, I saw shades of him each time I looked at you. Similar eyes, similar noses and chins. Even similar voices.

Maybe because I was distraught or that’s what I wished to see in you. I’ve no notion why.” She hung her head. “Now when I look at you, I see the kind of man the Black Dragon could have become, had he given up crime and his selfish ways. I see a better man.”

Drex stared at the top of her pale head, feeling his heart in his mouth. He wanted to tell her everything—now, before the charade became any more deceitful.

Christina glanced up at him again, this time with dry, determined eyes.

“But I refuse to love a man who thinks of no one’s wishes but his own.”

With his wife harboring such sentiments, his confessions would have to come later, once she had accepted him as her husband completely.

He stroked the crown of her head, thankful she did not pull away.

“Someone I knew once taught me that refusing to love another is difficult, even when you know their faults. You can only stop pining for someone when you’ve reconciled with the past and are ready to accept a new future. Concentrate on that.”

Christina’s green gaze rose to his face. A frown creased her delicate brow as she studied him, as if solving a visual puzzle. Moments later, her brow smoothed. Clarity lit her eyes.

She sniffled, then smiled. “Thank you.”

Drex’s reply stuck in his throat when his wife threw her arms about him.

Her face rested inches from his. Their breaths mingled and merged. Her lips parted, filling his vision. The ticking pulse at her throat beat in rhythm with his own heart.

-211-

Shelley Bradley

The desire he had held in check since reciting their vows leaked beneath the barrier of his will. Clutching her shoulders, Drex closed his eyes and dipped his head toward her.

His lips met the feathery soft skin of her cheek. He lingered there, wanting so much more, but trying to content himself by drawing in her powdery, floral scent. Another kiss, this one a heartbeat from the temptation of her cherry mouth, reacquainted him with the downy texture of her skin.

Drex pulled away. Their gazes met. Christina opened her mouth, to say what he was not certain. At the moment, he ached too badly to hear a refusal.

He covered her lips with his, extinguishing the sound of her gasp with his mouth.

Warm surprise submerged him in joy. Instead of resistance in her embrace, he felt her welcome. Rather than opposition in her kiss, he felt yielding. He stroked her hair, held her tight, and kissed her with the oblivion of passion he yearned to share.

His tongue swirling to meet hers, and he tasted her with a groan. Their breaths mated as he held her close, fantasizing of the union of their flesh, their hearts.

And he kissed her once more.

Christina felt his nearness, his touch, through every nerve in her body. Her blood simmered with a longing she’d never thought to feel again. Breath rushed through her lungs in short gasps as she tried to sort the tangle of her thoughts.

Touching him now would not be wise. But he was her husband, a good man, not the Black Dragon.

The rays of the lamp light seemed not to extend beyond the two of them, creating the illusion that no world beyond existed. She paused, frozen by an ache, a sensation she could not put logic to. Pure desire.

Christina felt her teeth sink into her bottom lip as Drexell reached for her again. His hand touched her wrist, then slid down to take possession of her fingers.

A spark zinged through her body, igniting dormant senses.

“Your hands are cold,” he whispered.

-212-

The Lady and the Dragon

Christina met his stare in mute reply. She had believed from the time they’d spoken vows that her promise to love and cherish had been a lie, a fantasy she did not believe.

So why could she not erase the realization that she should have tried, at least a little, to care for him without judging him on the merits of another man?

She only now realized that she had failed him, failed them both, in their marriage. Her preoccupation with the Black Dragon and the pain he’d brought had kept her from realizing that, despite their physical similarities, they were profoundly different men.

Tears stung her eyes. She wiped them away, reminding herself she was tired and overwrought. The Black Dragon’s death had taken her by surprise, though not overmuch, if she were honest with herself. The way he’d lived his life ensured that he signed his own execution order long ago.

Maybe the bigger surprise was her husband. Patient, giving, compassionate, tender. He alone seemed to understand the loss she had endured, her fear to hope in the future. A warm tear slid down her cheek.

He rose and wrapped his arms about her. “Don’t cry, sweetheart.”

Christina buried her face in the crook of his shoulder, reveling in his familiar musky scent, part sandalwood, part pure man. Though she had fought him at every turn, Drexell had somehow become her anchor. He had not demanded intimacy when he could have, had not commanded her life as if God gave him the right.

Wrapping her arms about his neck, Christina held tighter. Drexell gave a reassuring squeeze in return and whispered soothing sounds in her ear as she spent her tears.

When the storm had passed, she raised her head and gave him an apologetic grimace. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t mourn him. He didn’t deserve you.”

He brushed the wetness from her cheek with his thumb. His dark gaze probed her face, leaving no curve or angle untouched.

“You’re staring,” she said, looking like a little girl lost.

“You are my wife.” He leaned closer, focused on her mouth.

-213-

Shelley Bradley

Heat rose in Christina’s cheeks as her heart picked up its pace. “You see me every day, my lord.”

“It’s Drexell,” he corrected, leaning closer until a mere whisper passed between their mouths. “And I’ve waited weeks to hold you this closely.”

She swallowed, clutching the kerchief in her hands tightly. “I’m sorry.”

Drexell’s body seemed to tense around her, envelop her as they sat thigh to thigh, chest to chest, nearly mouth to mouth.

“Shh,” he murmured, lifting his large hands to cup her face. “If I kiss you again, will you push me away?”

Her heart leapt into her throat and beat a triple-time rhythm that roared in her head. “No.”

Christina felt his groan melt her insides as he covered her lips with his own. His kiss fused their mouths and breaths, arms and wants. It was a brush of heaven.

She parted her lips to invite him in. He accepted the invitation and clutched her against him. He pulled her onto his lap, and she felt his hardness against her belly.

Drexell carried the light taste of ale on his tongue. Christina returned every nuance of the kiss. Her body tingled with anticipation as he pulled her further into his embrace, slanted his lips across hers again and took total possession of her mouth, her mind. The wet kerchief fell from her limp fingers.

He robbed her of breath before he finally lifted his head. She clutched his shoulders to prevent swaying in a dizzied frenzy of pleasure.

Drexell gulped in air. He stared at her, dark gaze greedy as it slid over her burning face and her shoulders. The scrutiny traveled down to her tingling breasts and their joined torsos, before he lifted his hot, carnal stare back to her eyes.

“If I wanted to make love to you now, would you lie passively in our bed?”

he asked, dark gaze probing all the way to her very soul.

“No,” she said into the dark shadows enveloping them.

His fingers tightened about her arms. “Say so. Tell me you want me, no one else.”

-214-

The Lady and the Dragon

Christina closed her eyes. A rush of certainty opened them again. “I want you to make love to me. No one else.”

“God, how I want to,” he groaned, then covered her mouth with his again.

Flashing lights danced beneath her eyelids as his lips enacted a sensual fantasy that created her short-breathed response. She wanted to draw him into her, sink every inch of his body within her own. Merge completely.

Drexell slid her wrapper from her shoulders, his fingers following the fabric down her arms in a feathery caress. Her skin came alive beneath his touch, as if infused with electricity. He followed the sensual torture with a trail of kisses down the column of her neck, butterfly-light.

As her wrapper fell to her feet at the floor, he guided her to the bed. She lifted herself up willingly, and Drexell followed her to the mattress.

She took nary a breath before he claimed her mouth with a swirling passion that made her head spin. He lay siege to her nightrail as his mouth drugged her mind. With a tug and a roll, the garment fell free and the night air caressed her skin, along with the scent of man and the heat of anticipation.

A moan escaped her throat as his hand enveloped her breast and his thumb brushed her nipple to rigid attention. He repeated the action with the other breast, producing the same sizzling result. Bending to her, he took one in his mouth, squeezed the other, and the bite of desire slashed through her body.

With a sweep of his fiery hand across her abdomen, she caught her breath.

His touch roamed across her hips, her thighs, then torturously skimming the damp ache between her thighs.

He lingered there, his touch light, raising her need…but never satisfying it.

“Open for me,” he whispered.

She complied shyly, watching him. Did he like what he saw? Did he want to touch her more?

Drexell more than answered those questions when he stared at her damp folds with hunger, then fitted his hands between her knees and pushed her thighs wider.

“What—”

-215-

Shelley Bradley

“Shh,” he broke in. “I want to touch you.”

Certainly he didn’t mean… But an instant later, when his fingers brushed over a sensitive spot that had her gasping, she realized he meant exactly what he said. And more. He pressed there softly, mercilessly until she gripped the coverlet in her hands and closed her eyes.

“Look at me,” he demanded, breathing harsh.

It took a few moment for his words to penetrate her aroused senses, but her lashes fluttered open and she fixed her unfocused gaze on him as he continued his wicked, soul-stealing touch.

“Good,” he murmured. “What’s my name?”

Before she could answer, he pressed into that bundle of nerves again, and pleasure zoomed closer. So achingly close…

“My name,” he prompted.

“Drex!”

He laid a hot kiss on her neck, her shoulder. “Perfect. Look at me, sweetheart. Don’t look away.”

She raised her gaze to his, then stared in awe. Christina wondered if it wouldn’t be wise to hide her desire. To give him her body, she must trust him with her emotions, too. But Drex gave her no quarter, and she didn’t want to hold back anymore.

Blindly, Christina reached for the buttons of his shirt. They fell open at the touch of her fingers, revealing the solid muscle that comprised his chest.

Her husband eased her back on the bed and covered her smaller body beneath the power of his own. “Don’t be nervous.”

She met him halfway as he fused their mouths together in a searing kiss.

Suddenly, she felt his bare thighs between hers. Christina did not know when he had doffed his pants, but was heartily glad he had when he loomed closer to her core, one breath nearer.

She clutched his shoulders, feeling the cloth of his shirt instead of his skin.

No. She wanted to feel him, taste him, encompass him, as he did her.

-216-

The Lady and the Dragon

With a grunt, she tugged at the offending shirt. He ground the hard ridge of his cock against her, ending her furtive movements in a flurry of staccato gasps and a burst of sensation.

“Leave it,” he said, his whisper gruff. “We have the rest of our lives.”

Before Christina replied, he touched his lips to her chin, then nibbled his way to her mouth. He caressed her breasts, his fingers surrounding the flesh, lifting, cupping, loving. Arousing her again as he brushed and squeezed her nipples, demonstrating that he had the power to make her ache repeatedly.

In one thrust, his kiss possessed her the way his body did—deeply. She felt no pain at the smooth slide of his entry, only fullness and wholeness. He sank into the depths of her body, stealing into her mind, her heart. Then with one strong push after another, he brought her to the brink, even as the damp slide of their skin and their mouths made her feel cared for. He sealed her in the circle of their union.

Once more, he plunged deep inside her, and pleasure splintered Christina, body and soul, leaving her with the knowledge that she belonged with him. A certainty that she would be in his arms and by his side forever washed her with a warm glow of peace she had never known.

-217-

Shelley Bradley

Chapter Nineteen

Drex paced the entry hall the following morning. Every turn of a carriage’s wheel, every squeak of a door, made him jump.

Damn, his father had left to await Ryan’s release over three hours ago.

What could be taking so long?

A scrape of boots and a whine of hinges made Drex whirl again. In the door stood his father, wearing a distinguished gray coat and a wide smile. Ryan stood beside him.

A disbelieving smile burst through Drex’s shock as he zeroed in on his slightly younger brother. The beard, tattered clothing and bruises he’d worn at the hostage exchange had been replaced by a haircut mirroring his own. The breeches and coat Drex vaguely recognized as garments from his closet.

“Ryan!” Drex said, his tight throat. “You look…healthy, and a damn good sight.”

“Newgate’s goalers can be amazingly accommodating, under the right circumstances,” their father cut in. “Manchester’s reluctant nod and my coin lent enough weight.”

Drex stepped toward the pair and clapped his father on the back in thanks as he took the remaining steps toward Ryan.

Finally, after four hellish years, the two embraced, a hearty display of backslapping and a manly reining in of tears.

“Thank you for finding me. And risking your neck to do it.”

“Father told you?” Drex asked.

“Yes. Father.” Ryan laughed, then released Drex. “Seems odd to say that word and know the face.”

“Indeed.” Drex smiled.

-218-

The Lady and the Dragon

Life couldn’t be better. Ryan was free, they had gained a father, and Christina had accepted him as her husband.

The only dark spot was the truth. He’d been withholding it from Christina and would have to confess. Not today. Maybe not even tomorrow. But soon.

When he felt certain she could understand he had lied out of love, not spite.

“Chantal and Rory? Are they well?” Ryan’s voice trembled.

“Very well. I received a letter just last week, saying they were packed to travel as soon as I advised them you were free.”

“And she’s willing to come?” Ryan asked.

Drex peered at his brother. He never remembered a time when Ryan had been anything but self-assured, as if the world owed him happiness. Had the last four years taught him better?

“She loves you,” he finally answered.

“Imagine that.” Ryan shuffled his feet. “You’ve taken care of her and Rory in my absence. I can’t thank you enough.”

Drex shook his brother’s hand. “Yes, you can. Don’t seek adventure at their expense again.”

Ryan laughed. “I learned better, brother. Adventure is a momentary rush.

Love lasts forever. It only took me a few months of heaving my guts out in the North Sea to learn that.”

“Good man.” Drex smiled.

Ryan shook his head. “You’re the best. Chantal would have been better off with you.”

“That’s not true,” Drex contradicted. “I don’t love her.”

“Ah, yes. I hear you have a wife now. A very lovely wife.”

“A very capricious one.” He smiled wryly. “Let me find Christina. I want you two to meet.”

Ryan nodded. “I’ve waited years to meet the woman who could cage my older brother’s heart of steel.”

“I shall fetch your aunt and uncle as well,” Ashmont put in.

Drex and the earl rushed up the stairs in search of the others. As they disappeared to the top of the stairs, Drex spied Christina emerging through the

-219-

Shelley Bradley

front door. She looked stunning in an amaranthus pink riding habit. As she smiled, she withdrew her gloves and smiled at Ryan who stood ten paces away.

Drex ducked into the upstairs shadows to watch the drama unfold.

“Good morning.” She ducked her head shyly, then flashed Ryan a coquette’s gaze. “When I didn’t find you at breakfast this morning, I’d rather hoped we would meet in Hyde Park.”

Ryan opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again.

Christina stepped closer. “Drexell, say something. Are you unhappy?

Perhaps we should have talked more last night instead of…” She cleared her throat, color heating her cheeks.

Drex restrained a chuckle as she placed a concerned hand on his brother’s arm. Suddenly, she stepped back. Her face drew together in a curious, then bewildered frown.

She gasped. “You look like Drexell and dress like him. But you are not him.”

Ryan cleared his throat. “No. I’m his brother. His twin.”

Her mouth hung open. “He has a twin? I had no idea.”

Ryan frowned. “He didn’t tell you that he saved me by—”

“Christina, I see you’ve met my brother. Ryan,” Drex cut in on the confessional, then jockeyed his way beside them. “Ryan, this is my wife.”

The earl came down the stairs, Lord and Lady Allyn in tow.

“Milton, Agnes,” their father said to the pair, “this is my younger son, Ryan.”

Ryan kissed Lady Allyn’s gloved hand after a polite murmur. Her face remained as tight as the knot of hair at her nape.

Ryan extended a hand to Lord Allyn. He refused to take it.

The man cast a withering glare at his older brother. “Another of your by-blows, George? Really, how indiscreet.”

“They’re twins, Milton. And if you cannot take a better tone with me, I will ask you to go to the country.”

Agnes stepped in. “Milton, they were children born under unfortunate circumstances. Where are your manners? “

-220-

The Lady and the Dragon

A red-faced Lord Allyn whirled on his wife. “Agnes! How dare you criticize me in front of others. Your meddling in private is already too much to bear.”

Lady Allyn cleared her throat uncomfortably, then addressed everyone. “I shall adjourn upstairs.”

After she whirled away and mounted the stairs, Lord Allyn was left standing among a crowd of enemies and quickly departed.

“I’m sorry,” Ryan said. “I can leave for New Orleans as soon as I find a ship.”

“I’ll hear of no such thing,” Ashmont insisted. “You two are family as well.

Milton must accept that.”

* * *

The next morning, Christina lounged abed next to Drexell’s warmth. He placed an arm about her shoulder, the soft cloth of his shirt rubbing her sensitized skin, and drew her near.

“How are you this morning?” she asked, grinning.

“I feel abused. If we have too many nights like the last one, I daresay I won’t live to see thirty,” he teased.

She laughed, an unfettered curtain of peace enveloping her. “I hardly forced you.”

Drex peeked beneath the sheet at her bare body. “I beg to differ. At the very least, you compelled me.”

“You’re a wicked man.”

He nodded. “Married to the most deliciously wicked woman.”

“So when will I see you without that dratted shirt?”

He paused. “When we’re not in such a hurry to find the bed.”

As he gathered a giggling Christina against him, their lips met. She gave freely, reveling in the joy they shared.

“Thank you for helping me through the difficult first days of our marriage,”

she whispered. “Your patience and understanding was everything I needed.”

He peered down at her, his expression guarded. “My pleasure.”

-221-

Shelley Bradley

Christina frowned. “I resisted you, not I disliked you, but because you reminded me so much of him. I know you’re a much different man—”

The smile fell from his face. His expression turned grave in the span of a heartbeat.

“What is it? What troubles you, that I compared you to him?” She touched an apologetic hand to his. “I’m sorry.”

He rolled away and sat up, looking pensive.

“Drexell, please. What is wrong?”

Finally, he heaved a great sigh and faced her. “Remember when I suggested that the Black Dragon brought you back to England and gave you back to your grandfather for a good reason?”

“Yes, but I had no intention of bringing the man into our bed,” she insisted.

“I shall not again.”

He clasped her wrists. “That’s not possible. He’ll always be between us because—”

“No. He’s gone. I’ve put him out of my heart, and you helped me.”

Drex shook his head. “If you put him out of your heart, you put me out as well. I am—”

“You mustn’t say that! My feelings for you are different.”

Drex would like to have explored her feelings, but knew the time for truth had come. “Christina, listen. I am—”

A pounding on the portal drew their startled gazes.

“Drakethorne!” A deep voice on the other side of Drex’s door boomed. “Open this door and release my granddaughter.”

Christina gasped. “Grandfather? What are you doing here?”

“Come out to the hall this instant, girl!”

She leapt from bed, threw on her wrapper and flashed Drex a confused frown.

Drex sat motionless. He looked stricken…and terrified. What was going on?

“Christina, sweetheart, don’t go to him yet,” Drex entreated. “Listen to me.

I’m trying to tell you that—”

-222-

The Lady and the Dragon

“Come out, you criminal,” her grandfather bellowed. “Don’t fill her head with any more of your lies.”

She whirled to face Drex. “Lies?”

“Christina.” Drex scrambled to his feet and gripped her hands. “Please don’t open the door yet. I need to tell you—”

The door splintered open with a crash. Grandfather glared at Drex, blue eyes bulging red over his ruddy face. Behind him, four armed officers stood, guns drawn.

“You are under arrest.” Grandfather’s voice was a thin hiss.

Christina stared in confusion as her grandfather glared at Drex. Her husband returned the grim gaze. He didn’t look shocked in the least.

“What is this about?” she asked.

The old man snaked his stare toward her. “He’s guilty of smuggling, treason and murder. Not to mention duplicity.” His eyes narrowed as he trained his stare on Drex. “Is that not so?”

Drex didn’t deny the accusations.

She whirled to face her husband, fists clenched. Dread coated her stomach; confusion pounded in her chest, throbbing in her temples. “Tell him he’s mistaken. He is mistaken, is he not?”

Drex cast his gaze to the floor. “Christina—”

“Seize him,” her grandfather directed two of the soldiers. Silently, Drex allowed them to grab and bind his wrists together.

“This is mad,” she screeched. “Release him!”

“Release the Black Dragon?” her grandfather parried. “I think not.”

“The Black Dragon is dead. You said so yourself.”

“I thought so. This should prove us right. Men,” her grandfather prompted, nodding to his soldiers.

“Christina!” Drex called as one of the men grabbed the back of his shirt and jerked down.

A tattoo of a fire-breathing dragon covered her husband’s back, tail winding about his arm in a green coil. The searing red of its eyes throttled her with its gaze, mocking her trust. That tattoo could only belong to one man.

-223-

Shelley Bradley

The Black Dragon.

Shock chilled her. Suddenly, she couldn’t breathe. Drex and the Black Dragon…the same man? No! But obviously yes. Why would he pretend to be an earl’s son and marry her? Why…?

Did it matter? She had trusted him as two different men. Heaven above! In both instances, Drex had spit in her face. He had deceived her. Again. Earned her trust and destroyed it. Again.

Shock waned, replaced by fury that breathed fire in her system. Blood roared in her ears.

Drexell wrenched free from the men and darted to her side. “Christina, sweetheart. This is not the way it appears. Let me explain …”

Christina slapped his face with all the power she could muster. “How dare you! How could you? Did you enjoy deceiving me twice? Did you laugh at me all the while?”

“No. I’m sorry. I can explain everything.” The two soldiers grabbed Drex’s arms. He struggled and stared at Christina, pleading in his desperate gaze. “I love you.”

She raised a pale brow, along with her chin, and fixed him with an icy glare. “This morning, I would have believed you. I’m thankful I know the truth about your lies now.”

Christina darted out of the hall, to her room. The sound of Drexell’s voice calling her name as the soldiers dragged him from the house rang in her head.

She covered her ears with trembling hands and made her way to her chamber.

She scarcely shut the door before bitter tears of fury and pain enveloped her, helping to foster a new hate for her Black Dragon husband—a hate she vowed would never die.

* * *

Drexell stood against the wall in the taproom at Newgate prison, trying to down the quart of ale for which he’d paid four pence. He shuddered as another draught slid down his throat, the slime seemingly contaminated with the

-224-

The Lady and the Dragon

stench of filth and disease abundant here in Newgate. Still, oblivion would be welcome, if only for a few hours.

He drifted back to thoughts of Lilli lying goldenly naked on a Bahamian beach, of his wife teasing him with her coquette’s smile in their London bed.

He’d known from the moment Manchester had arrested him that he would likely hang. Somehow, he had hoped Christina would realize his love for her was genuine, despite his deceptions.

Such a fantasy would never come to pass. Ryan, Greg and his father had visited nearly every day of his week’s confinement. Christina had not graced him with her presence once.

“Yer lordship,” one of the jailers called, voice mocking. “Ye’ve got a visitor, I’m told. Yer to meet èm in yer new room in the Press Yard. Second floor.”

Drex nodded. His father had arrived and obviously paid the five hundred pound entry fee for such lofty quarters. Regret tinged him when he thought of the wasted years of ignorance and hatred he’d directed at the man. But better to have known his father for a short time than not at all.

He arrived to find other prisoners hovering about his door, near the pins comprising their abandoned game of skittles.

“I haven’t seen one like that anywhere,” remarked another prisoner, clearly educated. “Inside or out of this hell.”

A chorus of guffaws echoed within the long, dim room.

He shouldered his way through the small crowd to the door.

“Are ye the infamous pirate?” one thin man asked.

He scowled his answer. “Move. I have a visitor.”

The men parted to let him pass, and he supposed his bad attitude preceded him.

Drex reached for the latch on his door, a fellow prisoner dressed in perfectly polished Hessians chuckled. “An understatement, my good man. A very substantial one.”

Puzzled, Drex opened the door, not certain who to expect.

The last visitor he anticipated was Christina.

-225-

Shelley Bradley

His legs carried him to her side, his arms rising to hold her. She stood with a regal grace she had never displayed before, chin high, skin flawless.

Drex dropped his hands and grappled to find the words to tell her he loved her, to beg her forgiveness. Anything to remove the indifferent expression from her gilded beauty.

“Your father sent some books. I’ve placed them on the table.” She gestured to the furniture in question, then walked to the oblong of the tiny window, which showed the orange hues of the setting sun. “Do you need more clothing?”

“No. Christina, darling—”

“I hope you enjoy your new quarters.”

“Did you arrange them?” he asked hopefully.

She laughed. “Me? No. It was your father’s doing. You’re probably going to burn in hell. Why pay a small fortune to make your last living days pleasant?”

Drex seized her hand. “Because I don’t want to die a miserable man.”

“You are a miserable man!” She whirled, blasting him with the full force of her anger. “You weren’t content to use and discard me once. No, you felt so guilty about the first occurrence, you repeated it.”

“Christina, I’m so damn sorry. I love you.” He clutched her hand tighter when she would have jerked away. “Believe me, I had no choice. Your grandfather had Ryan imprisoned. I’d been trying to free my brother for the last four years! I had no idea who you were when you boarded the Lair. After we made love on the beach, only then did I know the truth, and only then because you told me.” He sighed, straining for the right words to convince her of his sincerity. “Ransoming you back to Manchester tore my guts out. But I could not let my brother die, not to spare your heart or mine.”

She drew in a breath. “Ryan told me as much. But that does not change the fact you lied to me again when you married me. You lied when you made love to me—”

“No, that’s not true.”

She whipped her gaze back to his. “Yes. And you lied when you said you loved me. You trusted in the strength of my love so little, you withheld your

-226-

The Lady and the Dragon

true identity and duped me into marriage. I loved you.” Her fists clenched at her sides. “If you had told me the truth, your circumstances… If you had cared for me at all…” Her breath caught on a sob. “Instead, you decided everything and controlled me every moment we spent together. You never once thought about what I might want in life. Just like Grandfather, you assume you have all the answers. Well, no more.”

Drex struggled to digest the fervor of her speech. He’d never meant to control her, just…just love her.

Pain knifed through his chest. “Christina, you’re wrong. Tell me how I can prove my love to you. I’ll do it.”

“And give you another chance to control me and lie to me?” She shook her head. “Goodbye.”

She brushed past him. For the first time since childhood, Drex felt helpless to stop his own destruction.

With her departure, his heart shattered into a million pieces.

* * *

Ashmont, Viscount Monroe and Ryan all entered the town house late in the evening a week later. Their downcast eyes and deep frowns told Christina the trial had ended with dreadful results.

Christina set down the handkerchief she’d been kneading and swallowed.

She looked at the trio expectantly. All looked away.

“It’s death,” Ashmont mumbled, placing his hat atop a hall table with excruciating precision. “At noon in three days.”

Christina’s stomach sank to her knees. Though a part of her argued it mirrored the emotional punishment he’d banished her to when he’d crushed her heart, she didn’t want him to die. Maybe he deserved to, but she would have preferred to kill him herself.

The thought of a world without Drexell lumped her throat with emotion.

Her eyes filled with tears.

-227-

Shelley Bradley

Over the past days, her weepy bouts had combined with her fury in the worst sort of despair. The contradiction of her sentiments puzzled her deeply.

Why, in the face of everything he’d done, did she still love him?

“What now?” she asked.

Ryan slammed his fist against the hall table, rattling the ceramic vase on top. “I feel so damned helpless.”

“But what can we do?” Greg piped in. “In the last three bloody days, we’ve been over every nuance of the case, every possible escape. We’ve all offered our entire fortunes to Newgate’s goalers to let him escape. They all said money was of no use to them from the grave.”

“We must be missing something,” Ryan insisted. “Some way to prove they’ve got the wrong man.”

“There’s no way to prove something that is not true.”

“But my brother hardly deserves to die for trying to free me. God, I wish I’d never left home…”

The loyalty the brothers felt for one another was nearly tangible. Christina had witnessed it in the short time they had all spent under this roof. She understood their love. Commended it, even. She didn’t blame Drex for the lengths he’d gone to in order to save his brother. She simply wished he hadn’t saved Ryan at her expense with his deceptions.

But in his place would she have done anything differently?

“Half the crimes they attributed to Drex he would never commit. Raping nuns? Allowing his crew to killing a merchant’s family while he watched? No.

He would never do such things.”

“Never,” Greg agreed.

Christina agreed with their assessment. He’d maintained shipboard discipline by punishing her, but he’d never broken her. He’d certainly never hurt her or threatened her with death. He might be controlling, but not blood-thirsty. Not a monster.

Not a man she could stop loving.

And if she did not want to watch him die, she was going to have to save him.

-228-

The Lady and the Dragon

Silence ensued. Christina’s thoughts raced, weighing risks, calculating facts, until an idea gelled.

She smiled. “Greg, have you any idea if Hancock is still aboard The Dragon’s Lair? ”

“Yesterday he was. I suppose today should be no different.”

“Splendid. Gentlemen, gather round. I have a plan.”

-229-

Shelley Bradley

Chapter Twenty

The noontime sun beat unmercifully hot for a still March day. Rivulets of sweat trailed down Drex’s back as he scanned the Tyburn Fair crowd for the golden face he longed to see. The scents of unwashed bodies hung in the damp air. In the distance, an odd boom, almost like cannon fire, rose above the crowd’s din.

“A good day for a hanging, don’t you think?” Reverend Brownlow Ford said beside him. “Any last words, a confession?”

Drex glared at Newgate’s Ordinary. “You’ll have to create a tale to embellish your broadsheet. I won’t give you anything.”

“Saint Sepulchre’s bell has been rung, my condemned friend, and confession is good for the soul.”

“As well as your purse.”

The distant boom blared again, but Drex did not spare energy worrying about the sound. The sea of faces swelled to new numbers around the scaffold, all of whom had come to watch the spectacle of his execution, rotten tomatoes and eggs in hand.

Drex dreaded this with every grain of his body. He wasn’t ready to die.

Damn it, he had only taken the actions duty and responsibility required. The Black Dragon had been his response when more civilized methods had failed.

Manchester shouldered his way through the crowd, glancing over his shoulder at faraway gunfire and black smoke. The red-faced old goat turned and fixed Drex with a sneer of triumph. “I’ve waited years for this day, you bastard. Watching you swing will give me unparalleled pleasure.”

“And what of Christina?”

-230-

The Lady and the Dragon

He paused. “It would seem that in twenty minutes, she will be my concern once more. Were I you, I’d wonder about my lengthening neck,” he jibbed before pivoting away and climbing the scaffold.

His father stood behind the Lord Admiral. He, too, glanced at the increasing sounds of the melee a few miles away, then turned back to place soothing arms about him. “Do not despair.”

The brief whisper puzzled Drex. Was he supposed to be pleased death would claim him this day?

“Where is Ryan? I want to say good bye.”

“He could not bear to watch,” Ashmont said, then turned away.

Could not bear? Disappointment permeated his every nerve. Granted, he would have been in no great hurry to witness his brother’s execution, but he would have bid his twin farewell.

Lady Allyn followed his father, acknowledging him with a simple nod, her expression as severe as ever.

Lord Allyn trailed his wife, wearing a smug sneer. “My brother may be mourning. Rest assured, I will celebrate over your grave.”

Drex turned his face away, jaw clenched.

Greg filed past next, looking surprisingly unruffled in a China blue coat.

“Do not lose faith, my friend.”

Drex had no time to examine Greg’s whisper before Christina emerged through the crowd, filling his vision. Dressed in a sedate gray, she approached him without expression. She looked tired, her eyes circled and purple-smudged with sleeplessness.

“I had hoped to see you again,” he murmured.

She bowed her head. “I did not come to watch you die.”

He frowned. “Then why?”

She shrugged, refusing to elaborate. The outlying boom sounded again, louder now. What was that noise?

“I’ve always loved you,” he said. “I want you to know that, and someday, I hope you will forgive me.”

“I’ve no intention of hating a dead man.”

-231-

Shelley Bradley

With his hands bound behind his back, Drex was powerless to stop Christina from turning away and walking out of his life. And maybe he shouldn’t. Only a fool would tie her to a man who was all but dead. And after her impassioned speech in Newgate, only a dolt would believe his wife did not know what she wanted and deserved.

William Brunskill, the hangman, approached without expression. “I can make this painless, for the right price. Though the crowd does love to watch the condemned slowly choke.”

Drex closed his eyes, feeling as if the noose resting against his chest were tightening. “I will die either way. I hardly see where the manner in which I die makes a difference.”

Another boom was precipitated by a shrill whine. He cast a glance toward the noise, startled by the thick cloud of black smoke that hung over the harbor.

Was someone attacking?

The hangman shrugged off the sight. “As you like. The Under Sheriff will drive the cart out from beneath your feet and you will be left swinging from this beam of Triple Tree.” He pointed to the solid wooden length above him, which linked three trees together with three beams to form a triangle.

The executioner stepped on the scaffolding and gestured for the crowd’s attention. “Gentlemen and fair ladies,” he shouted, “I give you the man convicted of being one of England’s most notorious nemesis on the seas, the Black Dragon.”

The crowd booed its collective sentiment.

“He will hang by the neck until dead,” shouted Brunskill.

The blast of gunfire resounded above the noise of Tyburn Fair, almost silencing the crowd’s cheers.

Frowning, Drex searched the scaffold until he caught sight of Manchester.

The man’s pale eyes thinned with confusion as he looked south to the disturbance.

Brunskill turned back to the matter at hand. “Reverend Ford, have you last words to say upon this condemned man?”

“You in that condemned hold do lie, prepare you, for today you shall die!”

the berobed man began the ageless chant. “Watch all, and pray. The hour

-232-

The Lady and the Dragon

draws near that you before the Almighty must appear. Examine well yourself, in time repent, that you may not the eternal flames be sent. Now that Saint Sepulchre’s bell has tolled, the Lord above have mercy on your soul.”

Brunskill tightened the noose about his neck. The crowd cheered. Drex refused to hang in head in shame. England was not his country. If he died upholding his beliefs, he would die, not happily, but honorably.

He sought Christina with his gaze. She stood beside her grandfather, head bowed. The angelic cloud of her golden hair framed her pale features. Though he had destroyed her trust, he wished that, before he died, he could prove to her that he’d never meant to hurt her.

But time had run out.

The hangman turned to the Under Sheriff to give the signal that would pull the cart from beneath him. Drex’s gut tightened like a fist. Sweat drizzled down his forehead, stinging into his eyes. He gave a last desperate yank on the rope binding his wrists behind his back. The knot refused to budge.

Suddenly, another shrill whine rent the still. A boom followed, this time so powerful, the ground shook.

Women gasped and clutched their children tighter. The horses hitched to Drex’s cart pawed the earth in nervously.

“What the devil is going on?” Manchester shouted.

A naval officer on horseback galloped through the crowd, which parted like pouring water over a rock. He reached the scaffolding, dismounted, then saluted Manchester.

“My Lord Admiral, the harbor is under attack.”

“Damn French!” Christina’s grandfather swore. “Forever making war.

Gather more men to fight them, captain.”

“Not the French, your grace. The Black Dragon.”

Shock stung Drex. The Black Dragon? He jerked his gaze to the scaffold.

His father hid a smile with a handkerchief.

Manchester advanced on the officer. “Impossible! The man is about to be hanged. It can’t possibly be the Black Dragon.”

-233-

Shelley Bradley

“The Dragon’s Lair sailed into harbor about an hour ago and sent one of his crew, Hancock, over with a message.”

“What did he say, man?” Manchester barked.

The officer cleared his throat. “The Black Dragon’s message said, `Hang an innocent man if doing so will make you feel the hero, but you will not be rid of me.’”

Manchester cursed beneath his breath. Christina moved to stand beside her grandfather.

The old man paused. Christina placed her small hand on her grandfather’s sleeve, and stepping up on tip-toe, whispered something in his ear.

Manchester addressed the executioner. “I shall investigate this attack for its authenticity. Do nothing until I return.”

As the crowd roared its displeasure, Drex stared at his wife. Had they all cooked up some scheme to save him? He could hardly believe she had any reason to want his life spared. He urged her to return his glance, willing her to look his way.

She did. Her green eyes burned with mystery, her expression regal, unsmiling. Then she turned away with her grandfather.

As Manchester and Christina disappeared through the hissing crowd, Drex prayed she was involved with this plan. If so, she might still have at least a shred of feeling for him.

* * *

“Christina, what is this about?” her grandfather barked once ensconced inside his coach.

The vehicle jerked forward in its departure, saving her from an immediate response. “What do you mean?”

“This attack on the harbor, girl! What else could I mean?” His silver brows slashed downward like two polished swords.

“I—I’ve no notion why the Black Dragon would attack the harbor, Grandfather. Nor do I care. I simply want you to spare my husband’s life.”

-234-

The Lady and the Dragon

The old man shifted in the swaying coach and turned to face her. “Do you try to convince me that I’ve arrested the wrong man?”

“Have I not been telling you so for the past two days?” she shouted above the din of cannon fire they drew ever-closer to.

“You’ve been intimate with both, have you not?” he spat ruthlessly. “Can you not tell if they are one and the same?”

“They are not,” she lied, folding her damp palms together. “I said as much repeatedly.”

“So you slapped your husband upon his arrest for no reason at all.” He turned a skeptical scowl in her direction. “Do you truly expect me to believe such rubbish?”

“You’ve never believed in me at all. I shouldn’t think you would start now.”

Grandfather swore at the jarring ride and narrowed rheumy blue eyes at her. “Meaning what? That I should have allowed you to become a stage trollop?”

Christina raised her chin. “If I chose. My life is my own,” she argued. “As yours belongs to you.”

“I make plans and decisions because I care for you, because you know too little of the real world to make them yourself.”

She clenched her teeth. “I must learn, as we all must. If you truly care, let me lead my life, whether I succeed or fail.”

Grandfather turned a shoulder to her. Though hardly an acceptance, the fact he did not bark a refusal in her face seemed a victory of sorts. “I want the truth, Christina, not an answer designed to protect your husband. Is Drexell the Black Dragon?”

She paused, waiting out the mewl of more cannon fire. “Think about this.

You’ve convicted a man to die with what evidence? An anonymous note containing somebody’s theory and the fact Drexell has a tattoo. Neither proves he is the Black Dragon.”

“Perhaps,” he conceded. “However, do you not think the coincidence is quite suspicious?”

-235-

Shelley Bradley

“You said the word yourself: Coincidence. One can never tell. If Drexell is indeed the Black Dragon, would you truly wish the father of your possible great-grandchild to die a traitor? And if he is the Black Dragon, how do you describe this attack on the harbor while Drexell is shackled at Tyburn?”

Grandfather’s thin mouth turned down in thought, the man clearly at a loss for an answer.

Moments later, they arrived at the docks and emerged from the vehicle.

Smoke dusted the sky an ominous charcoal and hung pungent with the scent of gun powder. Another cannonball shot through the air. A tiny boat of soldiers rowing toward The Dragon’s Lair jumped from the dinghy seconds before it shattered into pieces with a crash. Christina winced at the blast.

“Get back in the coach,” Grandfather barked.

“Like hell,” she called, running for the nearest dinghy. Three soldiers sat in it, waiting for others.

“Get out,” Christina barked.

“Oh, no, me lady. We could not let you row into that battle,” one wide-eyed boy replied.

“Christina, get out of there!” Grandfather roared.

“Don’t you understand yet? The Black Dragon will not let your sailors near his ship. He will, however, see me.”

Manchester hesitated before barking to the sailors. “You,” he pointed to a burly sailor. “Row us to that ship.”

The man swallowed. “He’ll blow us to bits, yer grace.”

Christina turned to the sailor. “He won’t fire, not once. I give you my word.”

At her grandfather’s nod, the dinghy set off for The Dragon’s Lair. True to her promise, not a single shot was fired in their direction. Sending a silent prayer up for Davie in the crow’s nest, she waited with a pounding heart until they pulled beside the familiar frigate. A ladder was lowered to them and, one by one, each made their way on deck.

An imposing figure stood at the top, waiting. The black beard and black mask were exactly as she remembered, as were the golden earring and lean

-236-

The Lady and the Dragon

lines of his body. The gun he leveled at her grandfather’s chest added to his imposing figure.

“Christina.”

“Captain,” she greeted in return.

Grandfather stood rigid but silent, bearing his own weapon.

“Have you come to hear reason, old man?” asked the captain, legs akimbo in an arrogant pose.

“That will depend on what you have to say, you defiler of innocent girls.”

He laughed. “Had I believed for an instant you would have embraced me as her husband, I would have gladly wed her.”

Her grandfather scowled. “What do you seek?”

“To prevent you from hanging her husband, an innocent man, I might add.

That could damage family harmony. It would be a grave mistake.”

“Why should you care?”

“I want Christina well cared for. I perceive that he will see to the task far better than you. But as I said in the note, if hanging an innocent man makes you feel hero… It’s nothing to me. If you do, however, I will return for Christina and take care of her myself.”

Grandfather gritted his teeth, mouth pinched in fury. “I won’t rest until I watch you swing, you son of a bitch.”

The Black Dragon shrugged. “I fear you shall wait a long time indeed. I plan to retire, you see, return to the life I led before war and politics called my name.

My mask gives me the anonymity to do so.”

Christina’s palms turned damp as a river as she waited for her grandfather’s reaction. He turned first to her and studied her face. She prayed he could not read her thoughts. She prayed their ruse worked.

He faced the Black Dragon again. “If you ever come within one hundred miles of another of my ships—or my granddaughter—I will personally hang every brigand on the seas until I find you.”

The Black Dragon nodded. “Agreed.”

With a curt nod, her grandfather turned and signaled to the dinghy below.

“Thank you,” she mouthed to the masked man.

-237-

Shelley Bradley

“What are brothers for?” Ryan whispered, then turned away.

* * *

When Christina and her grandfather arrived back at Tyburn, the crowd had thinned, now suspecting there would be no hanging today. The Lord Mayor and the magistrate both waited on the scaffold, as Grandfather had sent them notes requesting.

Drexell remained standing on the cart, rope looped about his neck. Sweat drizzled down his forehead. Someone had removed his coat down to his bound wrists, torn away his cravat and unfastened the top two buttons of his shirt.

Several women stood around him, calling out invitations. Christina could understand why. But in spite of his good looks and his good reasons, Drexell had lied, deceived, controlled and manipulated.

Why, then, did she still ache for him? Love him? She understood his motives—no sense in lying—but could she ever trust him again?

Her feelings were irrelevant. If this charade freed Drexell, their marriage could not continue. Christina doubted he would ever understand her, never love her enough to respect her autonomy. Certainly, all of his patience and

“understanding” during the early days of their marriage had been a ruse to win her over, earn her trust. She could never accept his emotional shackles again.

He lifted his dark, wolf-like gaze to her. A hungry mixture of pain, pleading and predatory desire filled his eyes. She lifted a cold chin and glanced away, but trembled inside.

He would not let her go easily.

Drawing in a deep breath, Christina turned to find her grandfather, the Lord Mayor and the magistrate conferring. The Lord Mayor, William Domville, shrugged and nodded. The magistrate shook his head, his vehement argument evident in his wild hand gestures. She climbed the scaffolding and walked to its far edge, glad to put distance between her and Drexell.

As Christina approached the trio, her grandfather snapped a reply to the magistrate. “I saw the miscreant myself. He spoke to me and my granddaughter. He wore the Black Dragon’s garb and commanded the Black

-238-

The Lady and the Dragon

Dragon’s ship. What else can one think but that Drexell Cain-Ashmont was falsely convicted?”

“You’re certain?” the magistrate pressed.

“Quite. He fits the description given in the anonymous letter perfectly—

height, facial characteristics, hair color.”

“But Lord Drakethorne’s tattoo,” the magistrate insisted. “It is very distinct, would you not agree?”

Christina held her breath, hoping Grandfather handled this point with the utmost caution.

Grandfather nodded, then added, “A tattoo alone proves nothing. Any man can mark his skin in most any Asian port.”

The magistrate shook his head in denial. “I will not turn this man free. You merely attempt to save your family from further scandal. Justice cannot be perverted in this way!”

Christina winced and bit her tongue.

“The perversion of justice would be to hang an innocent man,” the Lord Mayor jumped in. “A search of Drakethorne’s belongings found none of the accompaniments of an infamous privateer. As Manchester points out, a tattoo proves little except that fact the man was probably a drunken fool at one point in his life. I could say the same of you on several occasions, Gerald.” Domville chuckled. “That leaves us with nothing, except an anonymous letter from someone who may hate Lord Drakethorne enough to disgrace him into death.”

Manchester shrugged. “We can wait until the next Quarter Session, of course. But, based on my testimony and with the Lord Mayor’s backing, I believe the Assizes will reverse your verdict, which will leave you an unpopular man for wasting their time.”

“I do not like this sudden method of justice!” the magistrate hissed. “Such matters should be carefully considered—”

“Cain-Ashmont was convicted in twenty-five minutes based on circumstance,” Manchester pointed out.

-239-

Shelley Bradley

The Lord Mayor said, “Call off the execution and reverse his conviction, Gerald. Manchester is right. If you want to keep your post at Old Bailey, you cannot afford to have the others dislike your methods.”

With a resigned grunt, the magistrate conceded, “Fine, but our security for the seas will fall on your conscience.”

Grandfather smiled icily. “As it always does.”

The Lord Mayor made the announcement to the last of the crowd, who booed and hissed before exiting the Tyburn Fair in a trample and a cloud of dust.

The Under Sheriff cut Drex down. Christina watched her husband tear away his coat and roll the stiffness from his broad shoulders.

She released a sigh of relief. He was free.

And so was she.

But she couldn’t take her eyes off Drexell. Powerful, sleek. Utter masculine beauty personified. Their marriage, if not legally, was over in substance. When they separated, she would largely have the advantages of widowhood to set up her own house, lead her own life. She planned independence, no matter that he would fight her.

“No!” a woman screeched above the din.

Christina turned to find Lady Allyn advancing toward her grandfather. She frowned with confusion.

“Have you all become daft, to release the Black Dragon?” Lady Allyn screamed. “He is your man, I tell you. This miscreant destroyed your ships and brought fear to the greatest Navy on earth, and you set him free?”

Lord Allyn rushed to her side. “Agnes, what are you doing? They’ve released him. There is nothing further we can do.”

Lady Allyn shook off her husband’s restraining touch and pulled a gun from her reticule. Christina’s heart stopped when she pointed the barrel at Drexell.

The players on the scaffolding gasped collectively.

-240-

The Lady and the Dragon

“You’ve done nothing but sneer petty insults at your nephews,” Lady Allyn went on. “Did you really believe that would send them packing so you could become the next earl?” Her laugh mocked him. “You never were bright, Milton.”

She turned to Drex, thrusting her weapon closer to his heart. “You’re not fit to become Ashmont’s next earl. I tried to remove you from your father’s path, but you refused to leave and you refused to die, no matter how I attempted.”

“You tried to have me killed?”

She stepped closer, a vicious gleam in her small gray eyes. “I informed Manchester of your activities anonymously, yes.”

“You hired others to kill me, as well.”

“More than one person, including a fool named Talbot, who managed to get himself stabbed and tossed into the Thames instead,” she hissed. “After twenty-one years of marriage to a man I neither like nor respect, I will not allow you to inherit the earldom, or to make your whorish wife a countess. I was born to be countess. A grand hostess, you base-born menace.”

Behind her, Lord Allyn grabbed her arms. Agnes struggled and shrieked,

“What are you doing, Milton? I will rid us of this albatross if you will let me pull the trigger.”

Her husband struggled to control her. “Did you plan to kill Ryan as well?”

“Somebody must if you’re to become earl. Do you have the stomach for such a deed?” she panted, twisting against his hold. Her hand, still clutching the gun, flailed in the air.

“And what of Ryan’s son, Rory?” the earl asked. “Were you planning to murder a five year-old?”

She jerked from her husband. “One does what one must.”

The lady pointed the weapon at Drex again. Christina felt numb, as if the scenario were being played out in slow motion. Lady Allyn’s finger moved. A loud retort sounded in the air.

The bang shook Christina from her lethargy. She dashed to Drex’s side, expecting to see his blood spill across his chest. God, would he writhe in agony and die at her feet?

Instead, Lady Allyn collapsed, clutching her shoulder.

-241-

Shelley Bradley

Christina looked up in a daze to find her grandfather holding a smoking gun. She stared in open-mouthed shock.

Lord Allyn ripped his wife’s weapon from her fingers. “I may dislike George’s boys, but I won’t have them murdered, Agnes. Think of the scandal!”

At the magistrate’s urging, the Under Sheriff claimed Lady Allyn and hauled her away.

“There is your anonymous letter writer,” Manchester said to the magistrate.

“A bitter, greedy woman if ever I saw one.”

With a resigned sigh, the magistrate turned away.

Christina case last glance across the scaffolding at Drex. He stared back.

She loved him and she hated him. But she refused to be his wife, to live under the tyranny of his oppressive thumb until whatever affection she’d once held for him made her bitter.

Biting her lip to hold in her tears of resignation, she watched him. He accepted hugs from his father and Greg. Even Lord Allyn shook his hand and apologized for his wife.

Finally, he looked back at her, his glance spearing her façade of self-control. Before she gave in, before she gave him one more chance…

She gave him a chilly nod and turned away.

* * *

The following evening, Christina sat listlessly on the sofa. Her grandparents had gone out for the evening, leaving her alone with disillusionment and fury.

Both gnawed at her like acid.

They had responded with both sympathy and surprise when she’d announced her separation from Drexell. In answer to their questions why, she had replied something vague about differences and his desire to live in Louisiana.

True, a part of her still yearned for him. Yet had she not walked away from him on the scaffolding, she might have fallen for whatever rubbish he spewed next, if only to be near him again.

-242-

The Lady and the Dragon

He would be back, she knew. Legally, he could force her to resume her role as his wife. And she fully expected him to do just that. He would tell her and himself that it was for her own good, but it would be yet another sham to gain his way.

Christina reclined on the sofa to stare at the carved ceiling. A click of the drawing room’s door made her pause.

Drexell stood inside the room, her dim reading light polishing him with shadows. “Hello, Christina.”

“So you’ve come,” she snapped. “I will not return. I have no plans to be your wife in the—”

“I know. I hardly blame you. I wish…” he said softly, then shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. I came only to say goodbye.”

“Goodbye?” Wasn’t he going to force her back to his side? Attempt to manipulate his way back into her bed?

He shuffled his feet, scanning the carpet, before raising his gaze to her face again. “I know I can never apologize enough. Neither do I expect you to forgive me.” He shrugged. “I had endless hours to think in Newgate after you visited. I truly tried to think as you might and realized you were right. I did act as if I knew best. I didn’t trust you with the truth and tell you my identity before we married, or why I had to marry you, as I should have. I didn’t tell you I loved you on Grand Bahama or that it killed me to let you go after our journey back to England. So many regrets… I was a fool.”

“Thank you,” she said stiffly. “Now kindly go. I intend to stay here, with my grandfather, until I can establish a residence of my own. I would also appreciate it very much if you would not attend the ton’s gatherings for a time so that I may—”

“I’m leaving England with the morning tide. I have a plantation outside of New Orleans. I won’t ask you to come with me. I’m freeing you to live your life as you see fit.”

Christina gasped. Shock set in, vibrating within her aching chest. He was leaving the country? She drew in a deep breath. She wanted this, she reminded herself.

Then why did her heart feel as if he’d ripped it out?

-243-

Shelley Bradley

His sigh filled the air, low and sad. “I ask that you promise me two things, however. First, should a child result from our intimacy, tell me. I grew up without a father, and would not wish that kind of emptiness on my son or daughter.”

Put that way, denying him the chance to see his child, did she conceive, seemed petty indeed.

“I will,” she said.

He drew in a deep breath, crossed the room and reached for her hands. His warm fingers enveloped hers in a familiar caress. Despair tangled with painful yearning in her chest.

Drex cast a searing glance at her, packed with supplication and passion. “If you ever decide that you love me, even half as much as I love you, please come to me.” He dropped his gaze. “If that day never comes, then this will be our final goodbye.”

He took her face between his hands and lowered his mouth to hers. A barrage of sensations hit her as their lips met. Warmth, familiarity, musk, desperation and longing all combined to become an ache.

Before she could protest, he ended the kiss and left.

-244-

The Lady and the Dragon

Chapter Twenty-One

Drex rose from the blue damask meridienne when he heard the doorbell ring. He prayed this visitor was his father, due to arrive any day. He did not need another nosy neighbor eager to add to his misery with their curiosity about his or Ryan’s long absences. He groaned. Or worse, another mama, determined to parade her marriageable daughter before a real viscount, despite the fact he’d informed them repeatedly he had a wife in London.

Christina. Her name rang through his mind, her memory as sharp as the scent of fresh cut orchids on the table beside him.

God, how he had ached for her since kissing her goodbye three miserable months ago.

The morning he’d left London, he had foolishly hoped she would meet him at the Lair and accompany him back to Louisiana. She had not. His next wish had been that she would follow close behind, perhaps make him wait a few weeks to teach him a lesson. That dream had not come to fruition, either. He’d even hoped for a brief time that she would be with child and come to him for the babe’s sake. A note he received mere weeks ago crushed that hope.

He had well and truly lost her.

In his attempts to guide her to safety and free his brother, he had used and controlled her, rather than accepted her as a partner. Drex sighed, raking a stiff-fingered hand through his hair. What a dolt. Somewhere during his life in England, she had taught him about true love, which meant giving another the room to make their own choices, even if painful.

Unfortunately, he had realized that too late. The ever-present ache inside him swelled again. Could he possibly wake up one day and find that memories

-245-

Shelley Bradley

of her smile, her laughter, the shade of her crying eyes no longer haunted him?

He doubted it. Christina had imprinted herself onto his heart forever.

A servant opened the door, snapping Drex out of his reverie. His father stood in the open portal, valise in hand. The two embraced.

“Drex.” His father held him close. “I’ve missed you.”

“I missed you, too.” The two broke apart, and Drex asked, “How is Ryan adjusting to London life?”

“Well, indeed. He’s liked by the ton. Even Milton is coming to accept him.”

“And Lady Allyn?”

The earl shook his head. “After her wound healed, Milton placed her in Bedlam. The magistrate agreed it would serve her better than a term in Newgate, given her mental state.” He forced a smile. “Now what about you? You look entirely too gaunt, son. Are you not eating nor sleeping properly?”

Drex shrugged. “When I need to. I have much to do here.” And Christina keeps me from concentrating. God, I miss her. He pushed the thought aside.

“Tell me of Chantal and Rory’s arrival in London. Do they enjoy their new home?”

The earl’s disapproving frown disappeared for the moment. “Rory loves having a bevy of devoted admirers about. And Chantal is so very happy to be reunited with her husband, she is already in the family way.”

Drex smiled wistfully. He couldn’t be happier for his brother, yet…he wished, yearned for, Christina and a child borne of their love.

He cleared his throat, wishing he could stop the pain engulfing his heart.

“Splendid. Rory will need a sibling to keep him out of trouble, I perceive, especially someday when he becomes earl.”

His father frowned. “You’re the elder twin, Drex. The earldom will pass through your children.”

He cast a pained glance to the floor, staring at the high gloss of his black boots. “Unless Christina changes her mind and returns to me, I will not have any children.”

“Hmmm,” came the earl’s response. “We’ll see.”

-246-

The Lady and the Dragon

Drex raised his gaze, unable to hold back the question in his heart any longer. “How is she? Happy?”

“I suggest you ask her yourself.”

His father stepped aside. Christina stood in the doorway.

The world tilted crazily around him. Drex reached out to the mahogany table by his side for support.

“Hello,” she murmured, looking fresh and tanned and smiling.

“Lilli,” he breathed.

She stood in his house! Hope soared within him as he drank in the sight of her in a soft twill traveling dress of lilac that clung to her familiar curves, much as he longed to. A shaky smile graced her lush pink mouth. Drex didn’t know what to say.

“Well, I’ll have your manservant show me to another room,” his father announced.

Drex nodded absently, staring at his wife as the earl quit the room. Had she come to stay?

“You looked surprised to see me,” she said.

“Shocked.” He took a step toward her, and her familiar floral scent assailed him with an urge to hold her and never let go.

“I was angry with you,” she conceded.

“You had a right to be.”

“I did. But…I realized before you left England that, in your position, I might have made many of the same choices. You had no reason to trust me when I stowed away on your ship. Or after my recklessness forced you to pay a thousand pounds in gold to rescue me from my aunt. Thank you for that, by the way.”

“I wasn’t about to let another man have you, no matter what it cost me.”

She smiled uncertainly, then bit her lip. Drex had never wanted to hold her more, but he stood frozen, uncertain.

“Tell me one thing,” she demanded softly. “Did you marry me for any other reason than to free your brother?”

-247-

Shelley Bradley

“God, yes. I know I didn’t tell you that I loved you until it was too late. By then, you had little reason to believe me. If freeing Ryan had been my only goal and I cared nothing for you, I would have simply abducted you after returning you to your grandfather. Or found some other way to use you. I was desperate to have my brother back. But I also ached to be with you. Live with you. Love with you. So I chose marriage. I know now that I should have been honest and enlisted your help in gaining Ryan’s release. I truly did mean to tell you the truth. I kept waiting for the right time to tell you. It didn’t come soon enough.”

“Thank you.”

“Come in. Sit. I—”

“I need to say something first.” She clasped her hands together, looking nervous. “The first month after you left, I prayed you would stay as heartbroken as you looked the day we said goodbye. I hoped you would drown in unhappiness, so you could understand how I felt.”

Had she traveled all this way to complete some scheme of revenge? “I’m intimately familiar with misery, Christina. Believe me.”

“That first month I was thrilled you had finally listened to my wishes and left me alone. Then, some insidious little emotion within me surfaced…and I missed you. I found myself lying abed at night remembering you.” She bit her lip again. “T—the way you rescued me from the ratlines on The Dragon’s Lair, the chilly night you gave me your coat on the Worthington’s terrace and—and saved me from Lord Ralston’s attention.” She cleared her throat and whispered,

“The first time we made love. The last time… No matter where I went, something reminded me of you—a gesture, a piece of music, a sunset. I recalled how handsome you looked on our wedding day, how patiently you waited for me after. Revenge was not nearly so satisfying then.”

“And now?” he whispered, daring to hope. Sweat beaded his brow, streaked his chest. The familiar ache to hold her assailed him. His heart beat in triple time as he waited for her answer.

“Now I realize that you stayed away and put our future in my hands, despite the pain it cost you. You really listened to me. No one else has ever done so. I had to reconsider the assumptions I made about you ruthlessly controlling me.” She smiled. “After you left, I expected to see you crawl through

-248-

The Lady and the Dragon

my window again, demanding I follow you to the ends of the earth. That you didn’t proves you care.”

“I love you,” he told her, his voice honest, his gaze unflinching. “I have for longer than I wanted to admit.”

“Then perhaps you will help me. I have a dilemma.”

She took a step closer. The sounds of swishing cotton and her shallow breathing swept across his taut nerves.

“I have no notion what to do with my life,” she said.

Drex curled his hands into fists, restraining the urge to tell her to stay. “I can’t answer that for you. Nothing has changed since I left London. Our marriage rests in your hands.”

She took another step toward him, eyes glassy with moisture. “But I’ve no notion how to tell you that I need you and I want to be with you always.” She sniffled, her mouth twisting down with the onslaught of tears. “Or that I love you, too.”

Drex closed the remaining distance between them, kicked her valise from his path, then swept Christina into his arms. Her delicate arms clutched him, and she sobbed into his shoulder.

He smoothed her golden hair with a gentle hand and soothed her cries with a whisper. “You don’t have to say anything else. Just stay with me.”

She lifted her head and met his gaze, her eyes as brilliant as cut emeralds.

Drex smiled.

“Forever. I’ll never let you leave me again.”

Her words warmed the depths of his heart. He kissed her hands. “I won’t ever give you a reason to ask me to go.”

The smile that lit her shining oval face warmed Drex’s heart. He reached for her. She met him halfway for a kiss of welcome and promise for the future.

She broke away, laughing. “When will you take me to a swamp?”

The change in subject took Drex aback. He grappled for an answer. “A swamp? Christina, it’s not the place for a lady to venture. People can be hurt, even die—”

“Trust me to look after myself, to make my own mistakes.”

-249-

Shelley Bradley

Drex sighed. “How about tomorrow, you curious little minx?”

She threw her arms about him with a saucy smile. “Maybe the day after. I suspect we will be more than busy until then.”

He laughed. “God, I hope so. I’ve missed you so much.”

“You’ll never have to miss me again.”

Drex claimed her lips for another sweet kiss. She sighed. The ton might whisper that the Duke of Manchester’s only granddaughter was nothing short of reckless. But now that she had tamed her dragon, Christina much preferred to think of herself as happy.

-250-

About the Author

To learn more about Shelley Bradley, please visit www.shelleybradley.com

or

www.myspace.com/shelleybradley. Send an email to

shelley@shelleybradley.com or join her free newsletter via the form on her website to hear more about current and upcoming titles.

Look for these titles

Now Available:

Naughty Little Secret

Coming Soon:

Watch Me

Dangerous Little Secret

One bashful lady discovers her dashing husband might be a traitor to their country.

One Bashful Lady

© 2007 Brenda Williamson

Desmond Rawlington, Marquess of Dunsmore and seductive charmer, needs a Delacorte sister as a wife. When the eldest elopes, Desmond marries Ainsley only to find himself falling in love with the enchanting young woman, despite her quirky habit of hiding behind draperies.

Lady Ainsley Delacorte, the shyest person anyone has ever met, is nervous around servants, overwhelmed by the ton and forced into marriage. Her reluctance fades with her husband’s sinfully romantic touch, but she can’t forget he’s involved in a traitorous plot to return Napoleon to power.

When Ainsley is caught with an incriminating letter she stole from her husband, Desmond intervenes. Will they face the gallows or can love save them?

Enjoy the following excerpt for One Bashful Lady:

Ainsley had a way of making the idea of kissing a major event, instead of a prelude to the wedding night they had yet to share. Desmond folded his hand around her neck. He didn’t forget where they were. Instead, he chose to ignore the music and chatter outside the pantry.

He wanted to touch her smooth skin and taste her sweet breasts.

“M’lord, is something wrong?”

Her fingers tapped against the front of his jacket. He didn’t like that she was nervous. Her lips parted and the tip of her tongue slid along the edge of her teeth. He lowered his head and her mouth sought his for the first time.

The candy masked some of the sourness of her breath, but he was reminded of her upset stomach and drew away.

“Do you feel all right…I mean right now?” Even her sickness couldn’t stop his attraction to her.

“Much better. Sometimes a crowd can be overwhelming.”

He resumed the kiss and her lips glided delicately over his. She shuffled closer, between his parted legs and pressed her hip into his groin. He held back from rubbing against her.

“I like kissing you, m’lord.”

“I like when you say my name while doing so.” He stroked the pulse in her neck.

“Desmond, please have patience with me.”

“If it seems I don’t at times, will you not take it personally?”

“I don’t understand.”

He turned her in his arms and kissed the side of her neck.

“It’ll never be you I’m angry with. Never.”

Her head dropped away and his mouth fit to the slender corded muscle from neck to shoulder.

“You don’t know that, not for sure. I may make an awful mistake one day.”

His hand held the curve of her breast and her hand held his. Gentle caresses over the back of his knuckles encouraged him to test the limits of her gown.

“I want to touch you.” He inched the gown up her leg.

“Here?” She tried to stop him. “We’re in the pantry, someone could come.”

Desmond found the crotch of her underpants already wet.

“M’lord.” She moved, not to get away, but to accommodate the width of his hand.

“You are a morsel for savoring.” He kissed her cheek. “It is a very good thing you’re my wife.”

“Oh?”

“Do not think I won’t enjoy every minute I can have with you.”

“Like a possession?”

“Like a lover,” he sighed against the damp curve of her jaw. “You have it in your power to possess me, Ainsley.”

“I would never be as bold as to believe I could.”

He massaged the ringlets covering the entrance to her sex and it produced a whimper from her.

“You don’t have a clue as to how desirable you are, do you?” He played with the hood of her clit.

She squirmed without protest. Her head turned sideways to hide her face with its rosy blush.

“Look at me, my Lady Dunsmore. I want to see your eyes.”

Everything, right down to her bashfulness, teased him with wonderful delight. He never thought he’d care to hold a woman untouched by a man. But every time she spoke, she created exquisite sensations that made him feel emotionally closer to her.

“Desmond, please, oh please, don’t do this here.” She shuddered and her nails dug into his sleeve.

Her legs trembled, her bottom pressed tighter to his erection. She wiggled against all the right places and he made her squirm more with each plunge of his finger.

She tensed as he stroked deeper. Her virginity intact, he kept a leash on the reaches he sought. The hymen would be his ultimate goal and pleasure, but it would come later, when he held her tight beneath him.

“Oh God, Desmond, please stop.” She struggled in his arms.

He kissed her and captured the reverberating sounds of her panted cries forced from her by an intense orgasm. Her slender frame fit to him. Each contour complimented his as if they were pieces of a puzzle someone put together.

He held her face and pressed his kiss deeper. She slumped against him in whimpers. Her languid body drooped in his hold. Retrieving the handkerchief he had used on her face, he took the clean side and wiped the silk between her legs. Her muscles quivered with each pass over the sensitive area.

“Desmond!” She tried to close her legs.

He wouldn’t let her walk from the room feeling uncomfortable with the excessive fluids running down the inside of her thighs.

She tried to back away from the ticklish brush of cloth on her dampened ringlets. Another minute of her bottom wriggling over his cock and he would explode. He’d have a large wet spot on his trousers and worse discomfort than Ainsley.

“Hold still,” he ordered and stopped touching her.

He hugged her and let his mind wander to the people beyond the paneled door. She shivered and he squeezed her to him while resting his cheek on top her auburn curls.

“I’m sorry.” She trembled. “I can’t stop shaking.”

“You will.”

He inhaled the perfume from her hair. Tugging her around, he wished they were in their room for the night. Her sex had the enticing scent of the rose water that she had bathed in before their journey.

“Desmond, I can’t go back out there. People will know what you did to me.”

“You’re my wife. My sweet, charming wife and if we had hours, I’d do more to pleasure your body than you could ever imagine.” He kissed her forehead.

“You were pleased, were you not?”

She nodded quickly.

“Good, because later”—he picked up her chin—“I want to make love to you for a very long time and it would be nice to have you enjoy my touch.”

“Oh, I do!”

Desmond grinned at the way the color heightened in her cheeks and she lowered her lashes.

Mortified by the intimate moment with Desmond, Ainsley felt awkward walking out of the pantry. The tension from her concern someone would guess what she’d been doing eased when he led her to where Edwina stood.

Surrounded by men as if they were honeybees ready to drink her sweet nectar, Edwina was the center of attention and that suited Ainsley.

Edwina didn’t take notice of her or Desmond right away. Her silky black hair swished back and forth as she talked rapidly, trying to captivate her audience of admirers, but Desmond’s intense stare eventually brought his sister’s gaze around to him.

Suddenly, Edwina stopped talking. “Lord Dunsmore.” She nodded toward him.

He gave her a bow. “Don’t let me interrupt.”

Edwina’s face wrinkled with annoyance and then smoothed back into a happy expression as she resumed speaking to the man on the other side of her.

“She doesn’t want you close by.” Ainsley tried to draw Desmond away.

“I know. That’s why I am.”

“Leave her room to breathe. I don’t think standing somewhere other than alongside her would make her any less chaperoned by you.”

“I was just proving a point. She tends to get too familiar with people. I want her to tone down her forwardness.”

“She’s young and outgoing.”

“You’re young and show ten times the maturity she does.”

A laugh burst from her. “I’m sorry, but even I can see my hiding is more childish than mature.”

Something across the room caught his attention and his gaze strayed.

“Excuse me for a moment. Stay here with Edwina.”

He hurried away before she could say a word. Her heart gave a flutter. His magnificent gait bespoke confidence and she wished she had his strength of character in public. She lost sight of him as he passed through the crowd.

“Lady Dunsmore has recently come from France,” Lady Edwina noted.

“Maybe she could tell you how goes the—”

Before Edwina finished her sentence, a call to dinner was announced.

Ainsley found Harlan ready to offer his arm and she took it with gratitude.

“I saw he deserted you,” he said. “I’d be happy to escort you to the dining room.”

“Thank you, m’lord.”

“It’s Harlan to you, m’lady.” He patted her hand.

She smiled and gave his arm a squeeze. Harlan hadn’t ever displayed an expression of sadness. His gaiety for the short time she had known him made her feel strangely close to him. Edwina too, had treated her as if they had always been friends. They were comfortable to be around.

“Thank you, Harlan,” she whispered. “You make me feel at ease.”

“And Desmond doesn’t?” He frowned.

“Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that.”

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “He’s an ogre at times, but you’ll get use to it.”

Ainsley blushed. Harlan’s inappropriate affection was unexpected, but as she watched him wave and greet a passerby, she accepted his kiss as a simple friendly quirk in his behavior.

While Harlan talked to someone who stood near them, she glanced around the room for Desmond. When she spotted him, his glare was coldly disturbing.

Had he misinterpreted Harlan’s kiss?

Being a spinster was much easier than becoming the accidental countess and it definitely didn’t prepare her for falling in love.

The Accidental Countess

© 2007 Melissa Schroeder

Colleen MacGregor doesn’t like rich men, especially rich titled men. Still, her guilt won’t allow her to leave Sebastian passed out in the snow. Before he can leave, they are caught in a compromising situation. Under an agreement he will leave and never bother her again, Colleen marries a man she barely knows to save her reputation. Before she can really stop anything, she is whisked to London, where she is transformed into an Original and captures the attention of the ton—not to mention her husband.

Sebastian Ware thinks he’ll never see the sharp-tongued spinster again. He never planned on becoming the next Earl of Penwyth…or on falling in love. But before he can declare his feelings, he must protect her from an enemy who wants them both dead. Racing against the clock, Sebastian strives to save them both so he can turn their accidental love into a love for eternity.

Enjoy the following excerpt for The Accidental Countess: Never in her life would she have thought the mere touch of his lips against hers would send her emotions spiraling out of control. But the kiss heated quickly, her body reacting immediately. Her breasts swelled, her lungs seized.

Desire and need ignited. When he pulled back, she tried to follow him. He chuckled and she opened her eyes. Before she could reprimand him once more, he was tugging at her spectacles, pulling them off, tossing them on the table, and then returning to kiss her.

This kiss was no longer the innocent brushing of his lips against hers. He took her face into his hands, deepening the kiss. Passion singed a path along her nerve endings as she slipped her hands up his arms to his shoulders and buried them in his hair. Her nipples tightened. As if sensing it, he rubbed his chest against them, and even through the layers of clothing, it was pleasure

and pain all wrapped up in one. She couldn’t seem to get enough of his body next to hers before he was pulling away again.

Confused, Colleen opened her eyes to see him getting to his feet beside the bed. Thinking that he was leaving, she opened her mouth to protest. Her breath came out in a rush as he tugged his nightshirt off. Even in the dim light and without her spectacles, she could see that he was beautifully naked. Every drop of moisture in her mouth evaporated as her gaze roved down his muscular chest. Yes, she had seen him practically naked in her cottage, but he had been half-conscious at the time. Now he stood before her, a golden god.

When her attention dipped from his chest to his abdomen and then farther, she panicked.

Good God.

He laughed. “I don’t know whether to be embarrassed or proud of the expression on your face.”

He climbed back on the bed but didn’t cover her body with his. She looked at his face as he grabbed the bottom of her nightdress. Instead of pulling it off her as she suspected, he took it in his hands and slid it up her body, his palms brushing over her skin. A rush of tingles followed the same path. As he bared her, she didn’t feel the cold air. All she could feel was the warmth of his hands, the heat of his gaze. She tried not to think of him seeing her completely naked, but it preoccupied her when the edge of the nightgown rose about her hips.

She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on the sensations he was causing.

When he reached her breasts, his palms skimmed the sides, just the briefest of touches, and his thumbs grazed over her hardened nipples. She shivered.

A moment later she was laid bare for her husband to see. Colleen opened her eyes, but Sebastian never noticed. He kneeled between her outspread legs.

As he stared down at her body, the look on his face erased all her doubts. Pure sensual hunger deepened the color of his eyes. At that moment, she didn’t care if she was plain Colleen Macgregor from York who accidentally married an earl.

All she cared about was that this man, her husband, wanted her. She wanted his skin against hers.

“Sebastian?”

He glanced up, smiling, but made no move to cover her. Instead, he brushed the backs of his fingers against one of her nipples. It tightened further, almost painfully. Again, her eyes slid closed as she allowed the sensation of his touch to seduce her body—her mind.

As he continued teasing that nipple, he leaned forward and took the other in his mouth. Relief filled her as she felt it close over her breast, but at the same time, frustration mounted. Liquid heat was now pouring through her, pushing her toward the pinnacle. Panic filled her chest, clogging her throat at the loss of control. It was true. She no longer held any control over her body. It was now Sebastian’s to use as he wanted.

Colleen wanted to protest, to tell him she didn’t like this feeling. At the same time, her body throbbed, clamored for his touch. Soon, he moved down her body, his lips brushing against her stomach, his tongue in her bellybutton, until he settled between her legs. She rose to her elbows, looking down at him.

His head was level with her most private parts.

“Sebastian. ”

He didn’t even glance up. Instead, he kissed each thigh, his tongue sneaking out against her skin.

“Sebastian, I really—”

Her protest ended on a groan as he pressed his mouth against her. His tongue slipped between her folds. She gasped at the sensation as he applied himself to driving her out of her mind.

By night, he becomes a mysterious stranger devoted only to her pleasure…and discovers she’s hiding a naughty little secret.

Naughty Little Secret

© 2006 Shelley Bradley

Now available in print and ebook

After divorcing her never-home husband, Lauren Southall plucked up her courage, dusted off her power suits, and returned to corporate life. Two years later, there's just one six-foot three, testosterone-packed problem: her ex-husband's good friend and her current boss, Noah Reeves. Lauren aches for him. No other man will do. But she can’t possibly measure up to the silicone-packed professional cheerleaders he dates. So she hides her desire behind a professional persona and fantasizes.

For ten years, Noah Reeves has waited to make Lauren his. Once her divorce was final, he tracked down and hired the brilliant, dedicated woman.

But when he's with her, it isn't spreadsheets and profit margins on his brain.

Problem is, she's never seen him as anything but her ex-husband’s pal. Now that she's finally a free woman and with him 40+ hours a week, well…he'd love to persuade her to throw in her nights and weekends.

Noah decides to romance her by day. By night, he becomes a mysterious stranger devoted only to her pleasure…and discovers she’s hiding a naughty little secret of her own.

Enjoy the following excerpt for Naughty Little Secret: Awareness prickled along her spine suddenly. Lauren swore she could hear someone exhale. Raggedly. Goosebumps raised on her arms, getting bigger as her heart raced faster.

Or was it possible she wasn’t alone? Maybe Mr. Mysterious was here, waiting to make good on his plan to ravish her body once for each bloom in that awesome bouquet she’d received earlier today.

Lauren reached for the chair. “Hello?”

Nothing. But suddenly, she felt him here. Yes, she was tired, and it was possible her imagination was overactive…but she didn’t think so.

Her heart raced like it was finishing the final laps at the Indy 500. Bracing herself on the chair, she made to walk out of the dining room and into the foyer to flip on a light. She’d told him to leave Friday night. The man coming back…not a good idea. He would only take her body and mess with her head, if she let him.

She wasn’t about to allow that.

A firm hand clamped around her wrist before she got anywhere near the light switch and pulled, jerking her back against the hot width of his male chest.

Electricity shot down her arm, exploded in her body. She gasped in the darkness. Oh, God. He was back. Here. And given the erect cock prodding her backside, Lauren didn’t have to guess twice what he had in mind.

“Hello, Lauren,” he whispered in her ear. “I told you I’d be back.”

Mr. Mysterious. And she knew what he wanted. His sin-infused voice rasped against her senses. Like the devil’s, his voice seemed to say that he’d returned not just to possess her body but to steal her soul. Adrenaline pumped into her and morphed into arousal that snaked through her mercilessly.

His other hand journeyed from her waist up, up—until his palm smoothed over her breast.

“Hard nipples. Nice welcome. For me?”

His touch was like fire. She swallowed against the zip of pleasure slinking up her spine. “Who are you?”

He tsked at her. “We’ve already played that game. Now’s not the time to rehash it again. I’m here to play something far more interesting.”

“But I never got an answer.”

“All in good time.” As if he knew his answer would piss her off, he tempered the words with a seductive caress of his lips over the sensitive crook of her neck. His fingertips skated over her nipples. Her knees buckled.

“You shouldn’t be here.” Her voice shook.

“You’re right. I shouldn’t be here.” He nudged his hard cock against the small of her back. “I should be…”

The hand he’d anchored at her waist dipped south. Lauren’s belly fluttered as his palm glided over her flesh. Heat blossomed inside her as his fingers inched slowly toward the damp, aching spot between her legs.

He covered her mound with his enormous hand. “Here. Right here.”

“No,” she choked past her urge to whimper and beg.

What was it about the man’s touch? Like an electric kaleidoscope of color and sensation. One touch and she could barely remember her own name, much less resist.

“Did you like your roses?” His hushed voice teased, taunted, made her shiver.

“Yes.” She heard the tremble in her voice. “But what you want…it’s not possible.”

His wicked chuckle in her ear sent a shiver through her. He palmed the flat of her belly, bringing her even closer to him. “It’s inevitable.”

Warm, moist lips trailed a path of kisses from her ear down to her shoulder. His hot breath heated her, stirring across her skin. Lauren shivered.

“I love the feel of you trembling for me. I want to feel that tonight as I fuck you.” He nipped on her lobe. “As I make love to you.”

“No,” she protested.

But it was weak. Very weak. Already, his body heat and her memories were combining to crush her resistance. His mouth at her neck drumming up her desires helped to make her self-control look like a tin can freshly crushed for recycling.

“Yes. You’re special. I want to show you that, give you the kind of pleasure you’ve never had.”

“You already have. Friday night was amazing, but—”

“Friday night was just a start. I’m dying to give you more. Everything.”

Lauren exhaled raggedly. Everything? She didn’t doubt he could. If he did, however, she feared her heart and her body wouldn’t be hers anymore by the time he was done.

“I already said no.”

“I respect that word,” he promised. “But not when you’re quivering in my arms and creaming your panties while you say it.”

Damn! He knew she wanted him.

Of course he knew. The man wasn’t an idiot. He was a single-minded, sexually-driven god between the sheets, his hard body was well equipped to drive a woman to repeated orgasms.

And you’re resisting…why? Her sex drive asked.

Her sex drive was not helping her keep her priorities straight.

“That isn’t the point. I’m not ruled by my panties.”

“Ruled? No. But let’s see if your panties and I can persuade you…”

Before Lauren could breathe or form a coherent answer, Mr. Mysterious had reached beneath her suit skirt and grabbed the panties in question. With a good yank, he ripped them away and tossed them to the ground.

“You don’t wear those again this week, day or night. I want to know that pretty pussy is bare and waiting for me all day.”

“At work—”

“No one at work will know.” He froze. “Unless you plan on showing someone you work with.”

Lauren’s mind flooded with images of Noah—smiling, frowning in thought, shooting her a heated stare. Instead of ramping her desire down, the thought of giving Noah a glimpse of her bare, wet sex made her desire spike fiercely.

“Do you?” he demanded.

“N—no,” she stammered. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to show you.”

“Oh?” He slipped his fingers into her wet slit, right over her clit and gave a soft little slide. “You’re this wet and needy but you plan to ease yourself?”

As if she could… Only he made her ache like this. Damn him.

Even now, those fingers of his, just grazing her clit slowly, rhythmically, slowly destroyed her defiance—and sanity. The coil of need wrapped tighter and tighter low in her belly, right between her legs. She bit her lip to keep from crying out.

But he knew.

“Don’t hold it in. I want you to tell me how you feel.”

“Stop,” she grated out.

He did. Instantly. His fingers ceased their lush, leisurely stimulation. But his fingers remained on her hard clit, which pulsed under his touch, silently begging. The ache between her legs became a clamp of pleasure/pain at the sudden deprivation of his strokes.

Nothing in the world could stop the whimper that clawed up her throat and out of her mouth.

“I know,” he murmured gruffly. “I feel you throbbing under my fingers. It’s the same way my cock throbs for you. Want me to make it better, sugar?”

Samhain Publishing, Ltd.

It’s all about the story…

Action/Adventure

Fantasy

Historical

Horror

Mainstream

Mystery/Suspense

Non-Fiction

Paranormal

Red Hots!

Romance

Science Fiction

Western

Young Adult

www.samhainpublishing.com

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One