The Abducted Heiress

Her hand was still pressed against his naked shoulder. She snatched it away, curling it into a fist she hugged protectively to her body. As her heartbeat slowed a little, no longer thundering in her ears, she realised Jakob’s breathing was also ragged.

For several long moments they remained frozen in the same position, neither making any attempt to speak. At last Jakob cleared his throat.

‘You were well named, my Lady Desire,’ he said hoarsely, a hint of wry amusement in his voice.

‘No!’ Desire threw him a startled glance, then scrambled out of his reach to the relative safety of the wooden seat opposite him.

‘My father desired a child. A child who would live,’ she said vehemently. ‘“Hope deferred maketh the heart sick,”’ she quoted furiously from the Bible. ‘“But when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” None of his other children survived. It was in gratitude to God’s mercy Father named me. Not…not…I am not wanton!’

‘I never said so!’ Jakob exclaimed. ‘It is the desire you arouse in others—in me—that I meant.’

‘Desire?’ Desire stared at him, startled and disbelieving. ‘You desire…?’

Her eyes dropped. She had lived a sheltered life for many years, but she still retained a vivid recollection of her mother’s account of a wife’s duties in the marital bed. Her knowledge of what that might entail had been greatly enhanced when she had arrived unheralded in the stables one day and discovered one of the grooms in an intimate embrace with a maid.

It was the last occasion for a long time she’d ever visited any of the servants’ quarters without making sure everyone knew about her plans in advance. But the incident had left her with a certain residual curiosity.

Was that…? Was there a greater bulge in Jakob’s breeches than there had been before?

Disconcerted, uncertain how to react, she pressed her hand against her lips.

She heard Jakob’s rough, disbelieving laugh and her eyes flew to his face.

‘Yes,’ he said.

‘What?’ Desire’s blush was so intense she was sure it covered her entire body.

‘My lady…’ He dragged in a lungful of air, and exhaled in a long, disbelieving breath. ‘You have discountenanced me,’ he declared. ‘What can I say?’

‘Nothing.’ Desire was burning up with mortification. ‘You are to say nothing,’ she ordered him in a strangled voice. ‘Take me to Arscott!’ She pointed an imperious finger in an entirely random direction.

‘Why? Do you imagine he will satisfy your needs better than I can?’ Jakob demanded, his voice suddenly harsh.

‘He’s my steward!’ she denied energetically. But she flushed with embarrassment at the objectionable image Jakob’s words called to mind. The growing threat of the fire had enabled her to delay giving Arscott a response to his proposal, but soon she would have to tell him she didn’t want to marry him. She hoped it wouldn’t create an awkwardness in their future relationship.

‘You do!’ Jakob’s voice emerged as little more than a growl. ‘Are you lovers?’

‘No!’

‘What then? Why did you flush when I—?’

‘I’m…I’m going to marry him!’ Desire interrupted, before Jakob could finish his dreadful accusation.

‘Marry him? When did you decide that?’

‘I…it seems a sensible solution.’ Desire lifted her head. It was far better for Jakob to believe she’d blushed because she was Arscott’s betrothed than that the steward was her lover. Besides, there might be some measure of protection in allowing Jakob to believe she was already promised to another man.

‘I’m sure Arscott will be an excellent husband,’ she said, putting as much conviction into her voice as she could.

‘Have you tried him?’

‘No!’

‘Then how do you know? What if he fails to rise to your expectations after the knot has been tied?’

Desire gasped. ‘You are crude and unmannerly. You should learn to control your tongue.’

‘You should learn to control your eyes.’

Desire gripped her hands together and locked her gaze firmly on her lap. Not because she was following Jakob’s advice. She’d temporarily run out of verbal ammunition.

‘When is the wedding?’ asked Jakob, with heavy politeness.

‘It has not…no date has yet been fixed,’ Desire replied stiffly.

‘Why not? You’re available. He’s available—and living under the same roof. Why delay even a day? Or are you waiting for his ailing wife to die first?’

‘He’s not married!’ Desire said indignantly. ‘I would never consider marrying someone who already had a wife!’

‘Hmm.’ Jakob gazed at her thoughtfully. ‘When did you first take a notion to marry Arscott?’

‘That is none of your business!’

‘Did he, by any chance, first mention it on Saturday evening, after I was dragged off to Newgate?’

Desire stared at him, startled by the accuracy of his guess. ‘How…? I mean, that is none of your business!’ she repeated, angry at finding herself discussing such a subject with her abductor.

‘It wasn’t my business until I was propositioned in a Dover inn,’ Jakob muttered. ‘If I’d known I was going to get thrown into gaol, nearly burned alive and abused by a hornet-tongued harridan for my pains, I’d have done more to suppress my chivalrous instincts.’

‘Chivalrous!’ Desire glared at him. ‘Hornet-tongued! You’re as gallant as…as a toad!’

‘That may be so. But why would you choose to marry your steward? A man far below you in rank and wealth, when you could have anyone—’

‘No, I couldn’t,’ Desire interrupted him, her voice raw with remembered pain. ‘I’m a harridan. You just said so! I can have any man who wants to marry a fortune—as long as he’s not already encumbered with a wife,’ she added as a bitter afterthought. ‘That’s what you meant, isn’t it? That I should buy a young, virile husband? Then pretend I don’t notice when he scorns me for a beautiful whore? Or pay him for every night he condescends to lie in my bed?’

Jakob didn’t immediately answer. The rowing boat had long since come to rest against the riverbank, and now they were attracting a crowd of curious observers. The sun had nearly set. Soon it would be dark and he knew they were vulnerable. He’d left the iron bar from the prison on Desire’s roof. He had nothing to defend them with but the oars and Desire had all but announced she was a prize worth taking.

He manoeuvred the boat back into the middle of the Thames, determined to get them to the safety of Kilverdale House without delay.

He understood Desire better now. She was sitting bolt upright on the wooden seat opposite him, her shoulders braced with pride—but her head was averted. He was sure she regretted her heated, unwary words. He wasn’t proud that he’d provoked her into humiliating herself. Despite her determination to stand up to him, it was obvious how little experience she had of the world. He remembered only too clearly how she’d turned her back on him when he’d first appeared on her roof. She’d never learnt how to guard her emotions behind a mask of sophistication. Everything she felt was written in her expressive eyes. Anger, fear, indignation, curiosity…

He had to suppress a disbelieving laugh as he recalled how her eyes had boldly sought for the tell-tale signs of his arousal. In another woman he might have interpreted such a blatant assessment of his condition as a saucy invitation to continue his seduction. Desire, he had no doubt, was simply too naïve to disguise her curiosity.

As she’d already discovered, she aroused more than his curiosity. He found her passionate nature fiercely attractive. She’d fought him with uninhibited vigour outside the boathouse. He’d been acutely aware of her terror. He’d done everything he could not to hurt her. But even then he’d been partially aroused by her unrestrained resistance.

He wanted her. He wanted to transform her resistance into desire. He wanted to feel her supple, passionate body beneath his as he roused her to a state of physical ecstasy. He wanted to grapple with her, feel her arms and legs convulsively gripping him, as he pushed her over the edge.

He tried to suppress the erotic images that crowded his mind. He needed to keep a clear head. He needed to remember that the woman sitting in frigid silence opposite him was more than a passionate, hot-blooded wench. She was also a very wealthy woman. And her fortune made her a target for the unscrupulous.