Sexual Hunger. Melissa MacNeal
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again.
“God above, but I love you, woman!” he whispered reverently. He removed her blindfold so she could see the adoration in his smile. “Who else would play my pirate games? Who else excites me so much that I feel sorry for the chaps coming tonight to bemoan the last of my bachelorhood?”
Maria yanked off his eye patch and then coyly widened her eyes at him. “I don’t know. Who?”
Jason held her in a long, glorious hug. What a man he was, all taut body and smooth skin, large enough to wrap himself completely around her like a cocoon. With a bandanna still tied rakishly on his head and a slender mustache that shimmered whenever he grinned, Jason looked the part of the pirate he often played when they made love: randy and powerful in a way that always made her pulse skitter, even after he’d sated her.
“You’re incorrigible!” he muttered into her hair. He inhaled deeply, sighing his appreciation. “And in my haste to plunder your fine body, I nearly forgot something! Check the pocket inside my suit coat.”
Prickling with curiosity, Maria slipped off the tall bed to find Jason’s jacket among the garments strewn around the room. When she fumbled beneath its lapel, her fingers felt a fine mesh chain…a flat, shaped piece of metal, cool and smooth on one side…pronged and bumpy on the other. As she pulled it out, its brilliance made her gasp. “Oh, Jason! Jason, it’s—it’s so beautiful! And you know how I love butterflies!”
Her fiancé rolled to his side to watch her with a lazy grin. “A gift for you on the day before we wed, sweet Maria. I told Jude to spare no expense when it came to the stones. Did he choose well?”
Holding the pendant up to catch the light, Maria could only gaze in disbelief: if Jason’s twin had fashioned this exquisite piece, these colorful gems were genuine. Never in her wildest dreams had she hoped to own such stunning jewelry. “What have I done to deserve such—”
“Deserve?” Her beloved bent his arm to rest his head on his hand. “You’ve shared your heart and soul with a man whose only thought was of his next adventure; a man who spent his days avoiding matrimony. Until I met you.”
Fully stretched out, naked, with his dark chestnut hair in disarray beneath his bandanna, Jason Darington was the picture of a rakish aristocrat whose ambition burned behind his shining brown eyes. Or was that a love like she’d never hoped to know, glowing like the stones his brother had so expertly arranged for her? “Thank you, Jason, but this piece must’ve cost you—”
“Nothing, compared to what you have given me, Maria.” He smiled sweetly. “In the years to come, I hope you’ll realize my family’s wealth and possessions are merely…decoration. Window dressing.” Jason rose from the rumpled bed to take the pendant from her. With utmost care, he fastened it around her neck and then steered her toward the cheval mirror. “Now here’s a picture worthy of Matisse or Renoir! True wealth of spirit and affection, without a stitch of clothing or pretense to hide behind! You, Maria. Simple, yet simply everything to me.”
She swallowed hard. Fixed her eyes on his in the glass, praying the devotion she saw there would never waver. “You could have chosen any woman you fancied. Certainly a more socially acceptable—”
“Acceptable?” His finger drifted along the column of her neck before following the pendant’s chain to rest directly above her heart. “Pay no attention to my mother’s blather about one’s station in life, or what passes as acceptable in her circles, Maria. You’re like this butterfly: free and uniquely beautiful, because you follow no one else’s preconceived ideas about love and marriage. You came to me—gave yourself to me—expecting nothing in return. Have you any idea how refreshing you are?”
She smiled shyly, only now allowing herself to relish the gemstones that shimmered in the hollow of her collarbone. The butterfly’s body curved slightly, in beads of onyx. Lustrous sapphires and rubies formed the lower wings and then swirled into spiral antennae. Diamonds and blue topaz made the upper wings seem to flutter when they caught the afternoon light. “I—I don’t know what to say.”
“Then I’ve performed a miracle! I’ve left you speechless!” He brushed his lips against her temple. “I hope you’ll accept this pendant as a token of the love I intend to rejoice in every day, for the rest of my life.”
Jason grinned wickedly, cupping her breasts. “And to think I could have been sailing off on one of Father’s ships to once again lose myself in Jamaican rum, island women, and gambling! No, thank you!”
Maria’s lips curved wryly as she thrust into his caress. “That is a miracle.”
“That’s what Father said. Jude is just damn thankful I haven’t gotten myself killed during some of my wilder forays,” he added with a chuckle. “Nothing he fears more than bearing up under the mantle of family responsibility, you know. In his way, he’s every bit the vagabond I am. Just indulges in more artistic pursuits.”
“And he’s very, very good at it, too.” She teased her fingertip along the prongs of the butterfly’s jeweled wings. “I’ll wear this tomorrow, instead of the pearls Jemma loaned me. Your mother will fuss, but—”
“My mother has a chest of jewelry that rarely catches the light of day. So many exquisite pieces she’s demanded over the years, as payment for Father’s perceived shortcomings.”
“What a shame! And what a sad commentary on their marriage.” Maria’s hand flew to her mouth. “I’m sorry! It’s not my place to judge or—”
“You hit the nail on the head. And your outspoken honesty is one more reason I love you,” he murmured. “It’s also another means of defying their authority when they insisted I marry on their terms. So you’re perfect. Absolutely perfect for me.”
Once again her throat tightened with emotion. While Jason Darington often showered her with compliments and encouragement, this afternoon was a rare treat: his words shone as brightly as the jewels he’d just given her. Maria watched him dress in a fresh shirt and suit then, openly admiring his fine body, his casual donning of the Darington wealth and its trappings. Would she ever forget her meager years of scraping by, looking after her younger brother, when their mother’s untimely death had left them alone on foreign soil?
Or was this a dream? A vision that would disappear like morning mist in the bright light of day?
“Have a good time tonight,” she offered.
“Oh, my friends will see to that.” He deftly tied a fresh necktie and then folded his shirt collar over it. “I’m only succumbing to tradition, spending this evening at the club to avoid loving the night away with my bride. Not that I give a damn about tradition.”
Maria smiled. She smoothed the broad shoulders of his serge suit, a houndstooth check in shades of umber and cinnamon. “You look very handsomely put together—”
“Jude chose the fabric. Says it complements my eyes.”
“—except your hair looks like, well—a pirate’s, after he’s romped with a wayward lady.”
Jason laughed and checked his reflection. “I should leave it this way. Give the boys something to speculate about, eh?” He swept a comb through his chestnut hair as though good grooming was the farthest thing from his mind. “There. Better?”
“Until I get my fingers in it again, it’ll have to do.”
“Can’t happen soon enough.” Jason bent to kiss her, quickly taking her beyond a going-away peck into those realms of passion that once again had her succumbing…surrendering. With a sigh, he released her. “Damn. Better get going before Blackbeard overrules my better judgment.”
He strode briskly toward the bedroom door and then turned to gaze at her. “By this time tomorrow, I’ll be the happiest man alive because you’ll finally be mine, sweet Maria. Pleasant dreams tonight, love.”
As his boots beat a rapid tattoo on the stairs, Maria’s body prickled with a premonition. Ecstasy and joy juxtaposed