same. It hurt.
He thumped the lid on the chest shut and turned to face her, leaning with his back against the edge of the bunk and his arms folded across his chest, studied nonchalance that was totally feigned. “Tell me, Miss Sparhawk. When you searched through my belongings at the inn, was it only from idle curiosity, or did you simply find nothing worth your time to steal?”
She gasped, shamed by what she’d done and that he’d noticed. “I didn’t take a thing!”
“Then your purpose was idle amusement, not theft. How charming, ma chère.” He didn’t give a damn that she’d searched through his saddlebag. He’d certainly done worse himself. But the pain of seeing her smile for another man was making him look for ways to lash out at her, and though he hated himself for sinking so low, he couldn’t help it.
“As long as we must share these quarters, Miss Sparhawk, I’ll thank you to find other ways to entertain yourself. Just as I advise you not to look to our fair English mate for amusement, either.”
“Is that what this is about, then? Your own inexplicable, unfounded, ridiculous jealousy?” She stared at him with furious disbelief. Because of the cabin’s size, they stood no more than an arm’s length apart, close enough that she could feel the force of their emotions roiling like a physical presence between them.
“I’d call it caution, not jealousy. I’ve no wish to have to kill any more men on your behalf.” As if to make his point, he pulled the pistol from his belt and tossed it onto the bunk.
Jerusa gasped again, this time from outrage, not shame. “There is absolutely no reason why I should not speak with Mr. Hay if I wish to.”
“Hay smiles too much, ma mie,” said Michel softly. “He smiles too much at you.”
By the shifting light of the lantern his eyes had narrowed to slits of glittering blue, and if she hadn’t been so angry herself she would have seen the warning of what would come next.
“Dear Almighty, is that all?” she cried. “Because he smiles? At least he is a gentleman who knows how to address a lady with respect!”
“Is that what you wanted from me, Rusa? Respect and decency?”
“It’s what a lady expects from any gentleman.” Her heart was pounding, her whole body tensed, yet still she held her head high. She knew his quiet was deceptive. The danger was there. “Not that you would understand.”
“Oh, I understand, Rusa. I know what you want better than you do yourself.” He pulled her into his arms, instantly dissolving the distance between them. “And what you want, chérie, ah, there’s nothing decent about it.”
Chapter Thirteen
Michel’s mouth closed down on hers before Jerusa could protest. With a smothered cry that was lost between them she struggled to break free, her hands pressing hard against his chest, but his arms were stronger and he held her fast, until he wasn’t sure he could have surrendered her then even if he’d tried. This was the one way he could prove that he was worthy of her, that she needed him as much as he did her.
And God help her, she did. She couldn’t help it. The more his lips moved over hers, teasing her, coaxing her, tasting her, the less she fought against him. The slow fire that had been lit between them the first time they’d kissed had had days and nights to smolder and build, until now, when they touched again, it burned white-hot, hot enough to melt away their differences and leave only what they shared.
Her palms on his chest relaxed, sliding across the hard muscles and planes of his arms and shoulders until they linked behind his neck. His hair was silky across her skin, curling around her wrists like another caress.
Confident now that she would stay, he broke away long enough to tear himself free of his coat and waistcoat and finally his shirt. In his haste a button popped off the waistcoat, rolling in a crazy circle across the deck, and Jerusa laughed, deep yet giddy, and wholly captivating. When he reached for her again, she came willingly, her eyes widening as her hands explored the different textures of his skin and the dark gold whorls of hair that patterned it. He whispered her name as his lips grazed the sensitive place behind her ear, words he’d never said to another.
Recklessly she let herself sway against him, her whole body arching with the pleasure that his kiss brought. As she moved against him she felt her breasts tighten and ache from the friction, and, as if she’d begged him, his hand slipped between them to undo the hooks on her bodice. She gasped as his fingers touched her breast, raised by the stiff whalebone stays like an opulent offering for him alone. Deftly he eased her full flesh free of the stays, teasing her nipples with his rough, callused palms until she thought she’d melt with the pleasure of it.
But it was her little moan of desire that changed everything for him. He’d never been with a woman who responded so completely to his kiss and his touch, scorching them both with her fire, and knowing he was the first to awaken such passion in her left him shuddering with the force of his own need. He was the one she wanted: he, Michel Géricault, who had never been wanted before by anyone, let alone a woman as blessed as Jerusa Sparhawk.
His hands slid down the length of her spine, kneading the soft curve of her hips and buttocks as he lifted her against the hot proof of his own want. His world had narrowed inexorably to the girl in his arms, and nothing in his life had ever mattered more than making her his.
Hungrily Jerusa opened her mouth as he deepened their kiss, her fingers digging into the muscles of his shoulders. She had never behaved so wantonly with Tom, but then, Michel tempted her in ways Tom never had. Marveling at how well their bodies fit together, she finally understood all that Mama had so carefully explained to her on the day of her wedding. Passion and love, declared Mama, were among the most wondrous gifts a man and woman could share, and now, here in Michel’s arms, Jerusa realized exactly how wise her mother had been.
Strange that she had discovered it not with the man she was to marry but instead with the one who’d kidnapped her, and stranger still to realize, as she suddenly did now, that she loved him. She loved him.
She closed her eyes and smiled as he murmured to her in French, his breath warm on her skin. It didn’t matter that the words meant nothing to her; it was the way he said them that touched her most. Of course he must love her as she loved him, or else how could they be discovering such unbelievable pleasure together? Hadn’t Mama promised that that was the way it happened?
Yet she shivered as he lifted her onto the edge of the bunk, pushing his way between her thighs, and though still she clung to him, her heart pounding, the first flutter of apprehension rose up through her pleasure. He was shoving her skirts high over her legs, above her garters, above her knees, to let his large hands caress her white thighs with long, intoxicating strokes that left her breathless and dizzy with need.
“Ma petite amie, ma chère Jerusa,” he said, his voice rough and his breathing harsh. “Are you ready for me, my own darling Jerusa?”
Impatiently his hands roamed higher, around her hips, as he pulled her closer to the edge of the bunk. She knew what would happen next, for her mother had told her that, too. But when she felt him touch her there, that most secret place between her thighs, she stiffened and instinctively tried to retreat.
“You know I won’t hurt you, Rusa,”
