The Devil's Thief, page 27
He broke the kiss. “Julianna,” he said desperately, pressing kisses along her cheekbone and then her hairline. “Juli.” His voice was ragged. “You are the very air I breathe, the blood in my veins. All that is right in my world. If you ever do something so bloody stupid again, I will turn you over my knee and spank the living daylights out of you.”
Julianna burst into surprised laughter, but he could hear how shaky it was. “Promises, promises,” she whispered. “Perhaps you should teach me a lesson right now?”
Alasdair stepped back and reached for her hands. He moved backward, pulling her across the lawn, toward a soft patch of grass on the far side of the garden and beneath the overhanging branches of a willow tree. “Tomorrow, lessons will have to be learned. Tonight is for love.”
Alasdair sank to his knees and Julianna followed. “Did Shakespeare say that?”
“I have no idea,” Alasdair said, burying his nose in her neck, exposed by the open collar of her black shirt. “But he should have.”
Julianna sighed and ran her fingers through his hair. “So you want me here, in the grass? Right now?”
“Yes.” He did want her, and he wanted her right now, but not in the way she thought. He feared she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. Well, he’d make her, but she wouldn’t like it.
“Good.” Julianna sounded like the cat that had found the cream. “Do you want me unclothed? Because I am quite agreeable to it.” He smiled at her and she smiled back. “You’ve chosen a nice, soft piece of grass. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He pulled back a bit and surveyed her black clothing. “Naked is not necessary tonight. I find that I rather like this ensemble you’re wearing.” He turned a lascivious grin up to her. “You look like a brigand’s woman.”
Julianna lay back on the grass and pouted. “I want to be a brigand, too. Is there such a thing? A brigandess?”
Alasdair huffed in amusement. “If there is such a thing, you are indeed it,” he told her, lying down beside her and kissing her neck again. He let his hand wander over her breasts, then dip inside the shirt and her chemise to feel her velvet-soft skin and tight nipples. She arched in pleasure. “You did steal my pearl, after all,” Alasdair said.
She looked over at him contritely. “Oh, Alasdair, I’m so sorry. But at least you’ve got it back now.”
He shook his head, anticipating her reaction to what he was going to say. “No, I don’t.”
She blinked in confusion. “What? Of course you do.”
He shook his head. “No, I do not. The pearl is not in my possession.”
Julianna scrambled to her knees and pressed him down into the grass. She shoved a hand in his coat pocket and felt around for the pearl. Her actions became more frantic when she didn’t find it. “Alasdair! Where is it? What have you done with it? Did you lose it after everything we’ve been through?”
He was smiling as he captured her hands and shook his head. “No, my dear. The pearl is exactly where I want it.”
Julianna stared at him wide eyed. “But I know you had it, Alasdair. You had it in the carriage.”
He couldn’t tease her any longer. He let go of one hand and tapped her chest. “It’s here.”
Julianna dug her hand into her chemise and, with a look of utter shock, pulled the pearl from her bodice. “What on earth?” she cried out quietly. Alasdair pressed a finger to her lips.
“Do not wake the household, Julianna. I’m not ready to say good night to you yet.”
She shook her head, and when he took his finger away, she whispered urgently, “What is this about, Alasdair? You must take the pearl and put it in a safe place.”
She tried to press it into his hand but he made a fist and pulled it away. Then he stretched out on the grass and put his hands behind his head, effectively keeping her from giving him the pearl. “It is as safe as it could possibly be with you.”
She sat back on her heels and regarded him in bewilderment. “I don’t understand. I thought it was so important to you. Your family, your mother—”
“My honor,” Alasdair finished for her. “Yes, yes, I know. I did say all that.” He rolled over on his side to face her and came up on one elbow. “And I meant it. But you are my family, now, and I want you to have the pearl.” He could see he’d shocked her into speechlessness. “You are the new custodian of my family legacy. It is my wedding gift to you.”
“Alasdair,” she whispered, right before she covered her mouth with her hand and her eyes filled with tears.
He smiled. “I hope you kept Roger’s handkerchief, because I still haven’t got one.”
A weak laugh bubbled through her tears. She nodded.
“Good.” He lay back down and held his hand out to her. “Now, come here. I want to hold you.”
Chapter Twenty-two
Julianna scrambled over his lap to lie on top of him, nearly unmanning him. But when she laid pressed full length against him, he forgot any momentary discomfort. She fit perfectly there. He ran his hands down her back, from her shoulders to her bottom, and then squeezed those plump cheeks, wantonly exposed by the closely fitting breeches she wore.
“Mmm,” he purred. “Yes, I really like these on you.”
Julianna laughed again and she sounded as wanton as her breeches. “I’m beginning to see the advantages as well,” she replied softly as she spread her legs and hugged one of his thighs between hers. She raised her hand and opened it to show him the pearl. “But what should I do with this? I can’t hold the pearl while I ravish you.”
Alasdair moaned. “I love it when you talk like that. Keep going.”
“About the pearl or about more intimate things?” she teased. She reached between them and he felt her hand inside his coat pocket. When she pulled it out, she patted the pocket. “It should be safe in there for a little while.”
“A little while?” Alasdair asked in disbelief. “I plan to lay with you until the first rays of dawn force us from our grassy bower.”
“Now who is making love talk?” Julianna asked. She leaned down and nipped his earlobe, and it was Alasdair’s turn to arch his neck.
“You are,” he growled. “And I like it.”
He gently pushed her up until she straddled his leg. She leaned back, her hands resting on the grass behind her. The position thrust her breasts out enticingly, and he flicked open her shirt, exposing the way they curved in her low-cut chemise. The material stretched tightly across her chest, which is why the pearl had stayed where he put it. It also pressed her breasts up and together, creating a very arousing valley between them. Alasdair ran his finger across the tops of the pale, moonlit mounds and down into that hot, shadowed valley. He felt Julianna’s breathing hitch. He smiled at her and resumed petting her soft skin.
She was so gorgeous. And she was his. Only his. He gently caressed the outside of her strong thighs and looked up into her beloved face. “It was never about the pearl, Julianna,” he confessed. “It was always about you. I was desperate to find you, and when I did, I was desperate to have you again like that first night.” He wrapped his hands around those soft, warm thighs. “Like this.”
Julianna reached down and played with the buttons on his coat. “I felt the same way, Alasdair.” She kept her face down as if undoing the buttons took all her concentration. “I realized soon after, that it was never about the pearl for me, either. In my heart, I knew it was folly and that it wouldn’t solve the problems at the foundling home. I stole it because I wanted you to catch me. I wanted you to notice me.” She had his coat open now and looked up at him sheepishly. “Foolish, was it not?”
He shook his head. “No, not foolish. I was the fool for not noticing you before that. But you are all I have been able to notice from that night on.”
She leaned down and kissed him tenderly, then pulled away for just long enough to look into his eyes. “You say the most wonderful things,” she whispered. “But you are absolutely right. You were a fool for not recognizing your Juliet in the mousy young lady next door.”
He laughed and rolled over and she smothered a squeal as he knocked her off him. Kneeling on the grass, he beckoned her to him with one outstretched finger. She crawled over to him until their knees were touching, and he took her hands in his. “I was a fool about you. I’ve admitted as much before, and will do so again. Love is the culprit. It enjoys making fools of otherwise intelligent men.”
They had settled back, relaxed in their intimacy, their heads bent close together. “Do you suppose that will change?” Julianna asked hopefully. “After we are married?”
Alasdair kissed the palm of her hand. “You are going to marry me, then?”
“Only if you can promise not to be a fool for me.” Julianna’s devilish grin took the sting from her teasing.
Alasdair scoffed. “It is only love denied that produces foolish actions. All well-married men are wise.”
“Oh, are they?” she said, her skepticism apparent.
“Mmm,” Alasdair hummed as he gathered her close and nuzzled her hair. “I choose to begin deluding myself now.” He kissed her then, a tenderly passionate promise between his lips and hers. But before they got carried away, Alasdair broke the connection.
“Juli, I’ve gone about this all backward,” he told her fervently as he closed her shirt, covering her most tempting assets. “I nearly lost my treasure because I didn’t take proper care of it. I won’t let that happen again. Until the wedding, there will be only wooing, and no bedding.”
It was endearing, the way she looked at him with complete confusion. “What?”
“I treated you like a lover when you were a stranger, and I treated you like a stranger when you were my lover.” He shook his head at his colossal ignorance. “If I’d done it right, none of this would have happened, don’t you see? Everything—the stolen pearl, Blackman, Wiley, tonight—it was all my fault.”
Julianna’s look had turned into one of alarm. “Now don’t be hasty, Alasdair,” she argued. “Why, the very notion that this was all your fault. I stole the pearl.” Her grip on his hands tightened. “I want you for my own, Alasdair.” She chewed her lip nervously. “I’ve never really had anyone of my own, you see, not really. Now that I have you, I … I can’t bear to lose you, even for a short while. I don’t need wooing. Really, I don’t.”
“Foolish girl,” he whispered, kissing her again just because he could. “You can’t lose a part of yourself. My heart is yours, don’t you see?” He cupped her cheek. “That first night you said something similar to me. You told me that you’d never had a chance to be yourself. We’re going to talk more about that tomorrow. But, you see, I’m trying to give you that, darling. I want you to have the chance to be wooed for who you really are, the Juliet I met the first night, the Julianna I love now.”
“Is this where you quote Shakespeare again?” She sniffed loudly.
He laughed out loud. “I don’t need the bard anymore, not when my heart is full of words of love for you.”
“You are very good at this wooing business,” Julianna said. She pulled open her shirt again. “Take me. I’m yours.”
Alasdair rolled his eyes at her. “Julianna,” he said, clearly exasperated. “Are you always going to make it hard for me to do the right thing?”
“When the right thing involves you and me in separate beds, yes.”
“Juli, please try to understand,” Alasdair said quietly. “I need to do this for me, too. I need to know I’m the kind of man who values what he has. I need to know I’m capable of being that man, anyway.” Her heart broke for him a little then. She’d never imagined that Alasdair might suffer from self-doubt. She nodded, afraid to trust her voice.
“Are you all right?” he asked quietly, lacing the fingers of one hand with hers.
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m just not very good at this being-in-love business, you see. You must give me time to learn how to go about it.” She tried to move away, to give him the space he needed, but he wouldn’t let her.
“We are in quite a bit of trouble, then, I’m afraid. Because I certainly don’t know a blasted thing about it.” She gave him a watery little laugh. “I’m sorry,” he continued softly, “I shouldn’t have rushed you into this conversation. Not after what you’ve been through tonight.”
“Are you mad?” she said in disbelief. “Of course you should have. There’s still a great deal we need to discuss. I want to make things right between us, Alasdair. I want this.”
“You may want it,” he replied ruefully, “but what we want isn’t always what’s good for us.”
Julianna moved into his arms, understanding now that in spite of his self-confidence sometimes he needed reassurance. “You are good for me,” she said softly, and then she kissed him, pouring her heart into that kiss, telling him everything she couldn’t find the words for.
“Julianna?” Her father’s voice cut the night like a rapier, thin and angry. “What is the meaning of this?”
Alasdair jerked back as if he’d been shot. His back was to the door, his eyes wide with dismay. Over his shoulder Julianna could see her parents standing on the stoop, Handley hovering behind them with a candle. Her father was barefoot and still wore his nightcap and shirt with his trousers, and the baroness was clutching the lapels of her ivory night robe, a cap covering her short hair. Julianna couldn’t help it; she had to laugh at Alasdair Sharp looking like a naughty child caught by her father.
“I am in love, Papa,” she called out, smiling at Alasdair like a fool.
She kept her arms wrapped around his neck while he desperately tried to disengage her. Julianna was quite sure it was too late.
“What are you wearing, darling?” her stepmother asked curiously. She didn’t sound the least bit upset.
Julianna laughed again, not sure when she’d ever been so happy. “It is a very long story, Stepmother,” she called out.
“Juli-anna,” her father said ominously, “what have you done?”
Alasdair gave her a crooked smile. “She just stole my pearl, sold it to a disreputable receiver, tried to steal it back, nearly got killed, and promised to marry me.”
It was Julianna’s turn to cringe. She snuck a peek at her father and was not reassured by the thunderous look on his face.
“I do not wish to hear about it now, in the middle of the garden and the middle of the night,” he said in a tightly controlled voice. “It will be soon enough when Mr. Sharp calls early tomorrow morning.”
“Now that was a summons,” Julianna whispered to Alasdair.
“Yes, sir,” Alasdair called out. “I believe we have much to discuss.” He turned to look at her father. “Including anything else from your past that might mar our future.” Her father had the grace to look chagrined.
“I think the wedding will be sooner than we thought,” the baroness said to her father with a smile in her voice.
“Yes, ma’am,” Alasdair agreed, smiling at Julianna. “I think that would be a very good idea.”
They rose awkwardly; surreptitiously checking each other’s clothing to make sure they were presentable. Alasdair walked her over to the stairs under the watchful, reproachful eyes of her father. He did not let go of her hand.
“Perhaps we should leave them alone to say good-bye,” her stepmother told her father quietly.
“Oh, no,” Alasdair said in alarm. “I’m no angel. You’d best take her with you.”
“Well, neither am I,” Julianna said drily.
Alasdair shook his head. “I know, and I can only take so much temptation.” When they reached the bottom of the stairs, he pulled the pearl from his pocket and, turning her hand in his, set it in her palm. Then he closed her fist around it and kissed the back of her hand.
“That’s my promise,” he whispered. “I promise never to lose sight of what’s really important.”
Julianna stepped closer and kissed his cheek softly. Her father started to protest but the baroness shushed him.
“And I promise never to do something so stupid again,” she whispered back. “I mean it, Alasdair. I will never steal another thing as long as I live.”
He laughed quietly and gathered her into a fierce hug. “Oh, I hope you do, little thief. I hope you steal my heart again every night for the rest of our lives.”
Don’t miss the next story in Kane’s The Saint’s Devils series, coming soon
Tempting a Devil
by Samantha Kane
“Why don’t you name some of the men you were considering, and I’ll tell you if they’re a good idea or not.” Roger seemed very pleased with his suggestion.
“Roger,” she said impatiently, “I told you, I don’t know anyone in London yet. I’ve only just arrived. This is my first time in town.”
“You’ve never been to London?” Roger frowned. “How is that possible?” He looked her up and down. “I can see your pockets aren’t to let, so you must have married well. And since you were invited here this evening, you must have some connections.”
“My late husband despised London. He refused to bring me. His sister, Lady Lockerby, however, has been helpful with introductions since my arrival.” Harry refused to discuss the subject further. “So you must guide me in my choice, Roger, or you must be my first lover, which, really, makes perfect sense.”
“No, it does not. Why are you so eager to take me as a lover?” Roger asked, his earlier suspicion rearing its head. “We haven’t seen each other for years. You’d all but forgotten my existence until a few moments ago. I agree I have a certain charm, but hardly enough to warrant this dramatic seduction scene.”
“I haven’t perfected my performance yet,” she said as she stood. Clasping her hands behind her back, she began to pace in front of him, apparently giving up her pursuit of him for the moment. Roger was glad. He’d felt a little foolish playing a grown-up game of here-we-go-around-the-bramble-bush as she’d stalked him around the clearing. “Truly, Roger, I’ve only just arrived in London. I don’t really know many people here. I’d never met Dumphrees until this evening.” She stopped and met his gaze. “I am desperate for a lover, Roger. Surely it wouldn’t be too awful for you?”
