The Truth

© Jane Lark Publishing rights belong to Jane Lark,

this should not be recreated in any form without prior consent from Jane Lark

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,16,17,18 ,19,20,21,22,23,24,25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35

I thought we’d have an extra post tonight.

*** Before you begin reading this week’s episode here is a warning***

If you read my books you will know that they are very passionate in places, sometimes early on in a story and sometimes later, depending on the nature of the characters, and in this story we have reached that stage so if you dislike an open bedroom door then from this point forward I’d suggest you only read the posts without a warning 🙂

 

Richard

Emerald looked at him with an expression that gloated and glowed with success as she moved from beneath him, getting up to take off her nightdress, as ordered.

“We will need to be quiet,” he whispered as she stood. “Joseph is on the deck above.”

Her fingers lifted to the buttons at the neck of her nightgown and began sliding each one free, slowly. His siren. Was she deliberately tormenting him or was it uncertainty? Did she even know what happened between a man and a woman in a bed?

When the buttons were free the material hung open to her stomach, with far more buttons undone than needed to be. She smiled at him as her long slender fingers grasped the cloth covering her thighs and then in one swift movement she pulled the nightdress up and over her head.

He felt as though someone had thrown him into the sea or pushed him off the rigging. He was in awe of her, stunned into silence, as she stood there in the moonlight and let him look. She was beautiful, tall and slender, but not thin, she had soft tempting curves in her hips and her thighs that had been hidden by her skirt and petticoats. Her body called for his hands while her small pert breasts begged for his mouth as her nipples protruded from their crests.

Her hand rose and swept her long hair off one shoulder. She stood before him without shame. Where had she learned to be so brazen? Swimming with servants…

“Emma.” He lifted his hand, calling her back to him. Now he did not want her to go. Now he was only desperate for her to stay. All his thoughts of denial had gone. This was inevitable. He was determined to marry her anyway. What did it matter if they pre-empted the date?

He moved to let her lay down next to him, naked as he was naked. Her soft body felt cooler than his. When she looked up at him he could see no fear or reservation in her eyes – there had been none in her movements. Was it because there was a lack of knowledge, though?

He brushed her hair from her brow and touched the scar there. “If you stay in my bed and we join as a man and wife would do you know what will happen? Do you even know what you are agreeing to?” This would be her first time. What did a girl learn of such things?

Her eyes laughed at him, silver and black in the moonlight. “I am not ignorant. I have heard people speak and I have seen what animals do.”

“That is blasphemy.” He let amusement ring in his voice as he leant more across her and his fingers stroked over her brow and then her cheek. “We are not animals,” he teased in a whisper.

“We are just like them in this.” she responded, his intelligent woman who analysed life through the eyes of innocence.

“Except that we know love, do animals know love?” Before she began debating the fact, as he knew she would, he claimed her lips. Perhaps he had been like an animal in all his other encounters but not in this. This was no act of sexual gratification this was about her.

“I love you,” he whispered as he broke the kiss and looked down at her breast. He bowed his head and claimed it in his mouth. The hard bud was an erotic thing.

She moaned and her body arched up to him. His hand slipped to her narrow waist his fingers reached to the small of her back. Her hips may have been broader than he had imagined but she was still so exquisitely delicate, it felt like touching a very thin, fine, china that one held carefully so it would not break.

He slid a little down the bunk and turned his attention to her other breast, not wishing to exclude one. She laughed , a light low sound.“Mmm,” she murmured as she pressed up against his thigh. He smiled against her breast, then chased the peek of her nipple with his tongue, circling and playing. “Ahh,” another sound escaped her lips as the movement of her lower body sought to match the rhythm he’d formed earlier when he’d pressed against her. The ship gently rocked them, side to side, back and forth.

It had been years since he’d lain with a woman on one of his ships. Women were bad luck on a ship, celibacy was safer. But God on the sea every sensation seemed to multiply tenfold.

Her whole body was temptation to him. He was going to relish every inch. He slid farther down the bed and kissed the skin below her breast, then the skin beside her navel, then her navel. “You are beautiful,” he whispered, descending lower and kissing below her navel.

Her hands slid free of his hair. “So are you.”

“Do you trust me?” he asked, his breath stirring the hair at the juncture of her thighs.

“Yes.”

“Then lift your hands above your head and to do not try to touch me, only let me touch you.”

Her arms rose and lay where they had been when he’d held her wrists.

Yes she trusted him. What had he done in his life to deserve such a woman? He would spend his whole life worshipping her. He’d be devoted to her for evermore. He kissed the very edge of her hip, where her pelvic bone pressed against her skin, then slid lower and his hand rested on her thigh. Her knee moved outward, her legs instinctively opening. He kissed the hollow where her thigh joined her pelvis.

The muscle in her legs shivered beneath his touch as he opened her thighs wider and moved to kneel between them, looking down at her. His idol had become a sacrifice. The dampness on her skin from the warmth of the night shimmered in the moonlight adding an ethereal, otherworldly, quality to his endeavour.

He had no words – there were no words to describe how he felt. He’d never known this emotion before, it gripped about his heart like a clenching fist. His gaze lifted to her face and met hers, but then she looked down. The sheet did not cover him anymore. Her lips parted a little. She had thought she’d known – but she had not known, he could see it. There was surprise in her expression.

A smile parted his lips. This, her innocence, was a novelty he would relish. His fingertips pressed into her thighs as he pulled them wider and looked down. He leant and kissed her there, then kissed her inner thigh, then kissed her there again. Her muscles tensed, uncertain and unknowing, but he did not cease. He kissed her tenderly on the bud at the fore of her sex and relished her womanly scent and let his tongue taste, tentatively. Her whole body jolted, the surprise now definite. But he did not cease he tasted her more deeply to let her learn the feelings and grow accustomed to his presence at the apex of her thighs. Her hands came down and settled on his head.

He stopped kissing her. “Lift your arms above your head. I asked that you do not touch me.”

“Oh.” It was a huff of complaint and a sound of happiness wrapped into one as his finger slipped into her. He used his tongue and his fingers and  within moments she was moaning, sighing and fidgeting. Her body rocking up against his invasion as the ship rocked them both. His free hand slid beneath her bottom and lifted her hips.

“Richard,” she whispered into the air above them, her muscles trembling.

She could not understand this – she could not know these sensations or what to expect. He was probably confusing her. If she had imagined anything when she had come to his cabin she had imagined animals.

He kissed the small bud of her sex then sucked it gently as his fingers continued their invasion. Her body shivered, despite the warm night. He was determined to  help her reach a conclusion. He’d heard men say it was impossible for a virgin. He did not think it impossible for Emma with her challenging nature. He rose up and leaned over her, while his fingers continued pressing into her. He met her gaze. Her eyes were hazy with the discovery of the unknown.

Her fingers had clasped the sheet above her head but now one hand lifted again and brushed over the stubble on his jaw. He did not tell her to take her hand away.

His caress became more determined, harder and faster, sliding in and out, rubbing up against the front of her passage and pelvic bone. Her gaze fractured, losing focus and her fingers fell and cling to his shoulder. “Richard,” she begged on a harsh whisper full of doubt but then her body suddenly flushed with glistening sweat and she broke, jolting and tumbling over ecstasy’s edge. Her fingernails pressed into the skin of his shoulder and her other hand grasped at his arm as her warm fluid surrounded his fingers and her inner muscle clenched in spasm . She had done it. This innocent beauty. She could be no more precious to him.

“Emma…” He leant over her seeking permission and preparing to claim her in full.

“What was that?” she whispered, as he set his hands on the sheet beside her shoulders, his body above hers.

“The little death. Did you feel like you died?”

“And went to heaven…”

“I’ll take you to heaven again, if you stay with me now. But if you wish to leave you must say. I will let you go.”

“I do not want to go.” Her fingers touched his cheek, then slid to the back of his head and pulled him down so that he would kiss her.

To be continued…

The Marlow Intrigues: Perfect for lovers of period drama, like Victoria and Poldark.

The Lost Love of Soldier ~ The Prequel #1 ~ A Christmas Elopement began it all 

The Illicit Love of a Courtesan #2 

Capturing The Love of an Earl ~ A Free Novella #2.5 

The Passionate Love of a Rake #3 

The Desperate Love of a Lord ~ A second Free Novella #3.5 

The Scandalous Love of a Duke #4

The Dangerous Love of a Rogue #5

The Jealous Love of a Scoundrel #5.5

The Persuasive Love of a Libertine #5.75  now included in Jealous Love, (or free if you can persuade Amazon to price match with Kobo ebooks) 😉

The Secret Love of a Gentleman #6 

The Reckless Love of an Heir #7

Jane’s books can be ordered from most booksellers in paperback and, yes, there are more to come   

Go to the index

For

• the story of the real courtesan who inspired  The Illicit Love of a Courtesan,
• another free short story, about characters from book #2, A Lord’s Scandalous Love,
• the prequel excerpts for book #3  The Scandalous Love of a Duke

Jane Lark is a writer of authentic, passionate and emotional Historical and New Adult Romance stories, and the author of a No.1 bestselling Historical Romance novel in America, ‘The Illicit Love of a Courtesan’.Click here to find out more about Jane’s books, and see Jane’s website www.janelark.co.uk to learn more about Jane. Or click  ‘like’ on Jane’s Facebook  page to see photo’s and learn historical facts from the Georgian, Regency and Victorian eras, which Jane publishes there. You can also follow Jane on twitter at @janelark