Michael was asleep on the sofa just after midnight when the owner of Eden tied his horse to the hitching post outside. He entered the quiet house to find Michael still fully dressed, passed out cold, drooling onto the embroidered sofa pillow, and snoring like a lumberjack. A strange and unusual sight indeed.
The docks were abuzz with rumors of Michael’s recent nuptials to a young lady of exceptional beauty. Why then wasn’t he enjoying the fruits of his marriage? “Michael.” The stunned man shook his overseer vigorously in an attempt to wake him from his drunken stupor. “Michael, wake up.”
Michael opened one blurry eye and squinted when he saw two faces leaning over him. “Evenin’, boss.”
“And a good evening it is, Michael.” His boss grinned, although he was deeply disturbed by the sight of his overseer who was semiconscious at best. “For some of us at least.” He hadn’t known Michael to imbibe so heavily in years, not since the night his wife had died after a sudden illness. Then it was to be expected, but now? Surely his recent marriage hadn’t brought about such stress. “I hear that a celebration is in order. You finally tied the knot after all these years, did you?”
“Yes sher, I did,” Michael slurred the words, barely opening his eyes before passing out again.
Determined to get to the bottom of this charade, his boss shook him. “Michael, why are you turning to a bottle instead of your new bride? You haven’t forgotten what to do behind closed doors after so long a dry spell have you?”
Michael partially opened one eye, closed it again, and mumbled, “You cannot forget something that you never acquired knowledge of in the first place, now can you?” In his state of extreme drunkenness Michael was admitting more than he ever had before.
“What do you mean you never acquired the knowledge? Do you perhaps require a few pointers on the subject? It really isn’t that difficult unless she is of the unattractive sort then, admittedly, it can sometimes be a bit of a challenge to remain... attentive, shall we say. If such were the case, I might understand why you are drowning your sorrows in a bottle. However, scuttlebutt has it that she is anything but unattractive.”
Michael sighed. “She is the most beautiful woman I have ever laid my eyes on.”
“Then pardon me for sounding dimwitted, but your words make little sense to me.”
“I can’t make love to anybody!” Michael stormed. “Do those words make sense to you?” He sat up on the sofa too fast and held his spinning head in his trembling hands as he blurted out his sorrowful tale. “When I was just a boy, I entered the barn one morning to feed and water the horses. That was my chore. I had been tending them for years. On this particular morning, for some reason that I still cannot figure out, I startled Pa’s favorite stallion Samson and he commenced to kicking.”
Michael paused, scrubbing his hands over his face before continuing. “I often wonder how different my life would be if I’d just made a noise that morning, let Samson know that I was entering his stall.” He laughed harshly. “At any rate, old Samson took a deadly aim and kicked me hard, right square in my privates. They’ve been useless ever since.”
“I am sorry to hear that, Michael.” Some men would consider it a fate worse than death. “The little lady must be sympathetic to your unfortunate condition to have wed you anyway, knowing that you can never father her children.”
“She doesn’t know,” Michael admitted, hanging his head. “And she never will. She is probably upstairs now, imagining that I will soon join her and make passionate love to her for the remainder of the night.” He laughed bitterly. “I pray that she doesn’t hold her breath.”
“Let me see if I understand this correctly. You married a woman under the false pretense that you could make love to her and give her children?”
Michael nodded his head drunkenly. “I reckon that’s about the gist of it.”
“Then you are not Crystal’s father?”
“No.” He shook his head sadly. “Her mother was already carrying her when we married so I claimed the child as my own.”
“In my humble opinion you have done your new bride a dire disservice, Michael. Then you hurt her further by leaving her alone each night, believing that you don’t desire her?”
“I don’t desire her. Fortunately, I have never known the insatiable lust that drives so many of you to distraction.” Michael held his throbbing head in hands and eyed the empty whiskey bottle. “I married her to give Crystal a mother.”
“I understand your love for the child, but if you ask me that is a feeble excuse for a marriage. You owe her the truth.”
“I don’t owe her a damn thing!” Michael snarled. “She has a beautiful home, an attentive husband during daylight hours, and a child who adores her. That’s all any woman wants.”
“No, Michael, it isn’t.” The man shook his head sadly. “Most women are born with a mother’s instinct to nurture a child at their breast.”
“I’m going back to sleep now,” Michael mumbled. “We can continue this discussion in the morning if you feel the need, but I believe everything has been said.” Thus said, he passed out on the sofa and was snoring in seconds.
The man climbed the stairs, shaking his head in pity for Michael’s bride. She was waiting for a husband who would never come to her. First thing tomorrow morning he would have a discussion with the little lady and find out for himself if she was content with her current arrangement. It might not be any of his concern, but he could not tolerate the thought of the poor girl lying in her bed, in his house, prostrate with grief at having to bear the brunt of her husband’s deception.
At the top of the stairs he paused outside her door. He really shouldn’t get involved. This was between Michael and his wife. He should wait until morning, but as owner of the plantation he felt the need to right any wrongs being carried out under his roof.
Michael had said she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. That was intriguing, to say the least. One little peek couldn’t hurt. She had most likely cried herself to sleep hours ago.
Quietly opening the door, he saw the woman in question reclined on the bed in a sheer nightgown, peaceful in slumber. He moved closer to the bed to see her more clearly by the moonlight filtering through the open balcony doors.
A startled gasp filled the room as he whispered, “Michael was correct. You are beautiful indeed.”
The deep voice penetrated Lynna’s sleep drugged mind and caused her to awaken with a start. Believing that her husband had finally decided to join her in their marriage bed, she smiled seductively and murmured, “I was beginning to worry that you didn’t desire your bride.”
Reaching out to him, she pulled his face down as his lips found hers in a kiss that was filled with longing and passion. Lynna smiled as he swiftly removed her nightgown and sighed deep in her throat as he crushed her against his broad chest.
Thank God. She wouldn’t have to pretend to enjoy making love to her husband. His touch thrilled her, making her body squirm in anticipation.
Lynna turned on her side, pressing her soft, warm body against his. Wrapping her arms around his neck and her leg around his waist, she behaved like a woman starved, for she was.
Placing his hand on her hip, he gently pushed her to her back, nudging her knees apart with his thigh and entered her. Neither of them could hold out for more than a few strokes, and they clung to each other as they both found a glorious release.
After several minutes had passed Joshua rolled to the side and raised up on his elbow to bury his face in her hair. “Lynna, you don’t know how long I have waited for this moment.”
His voice immediately froze her ebbing passion. She knew the voice immediately. “Joshua? It cannot be…turn me loose and get out of my room at once!”
“Yes, my love. At long last, I have finally found you,” he whispered against her throat.
“Get out,” she cried, enraged that he would leave Suzanne’s bed and think to slither into hers. “I am a married woman, and if you do not leave this r
oom immediately, I will…I will scream for my husband.”
“Go ahead, my sweet, but neither your husband nor anyone else at Eden will come to your rescue, so save your breath,” he replied sharply, angered both by her rejection and hearing her refer to another man as her husband. “By the way, your dear husband is passed out cold on the sofa.”
So Joshua knew that her husband did not desire her and chose to callously throw it back in her face. She wanted to claw his eyes out of their sockets for the pain he had caused, and was continuing to cause her. “Do you want everyone in this house to know what a vile, disgusting cretin you are?”
“I care not what others think,” he answered harshly.
She opened her mouth to scream but he clamped his hand over her mouth and said in a voice of deadly seriousness, “I am going to make love to you, again, Lynna. I have thought of nothing else, and what just transpired was far too hasty for my liking.”
She glared at him, but her mind worked furiously. She knew she couldn’t depend on her husband to arrive and save her, he would be useless in his inebriated state. Nor was her strength any match for Joshua’s, but there had to be a way to stop him.
And what was he doing in Jamaica, anyway?
In this house?
How did he find her?
“After what we just shared you cannot deny that you still desire me, my sweet,” Joshua said upon seeing her open her mouth to dispute his words. “You cannot lie to me.”
“Joshua, I am a married woman now,” she whispered brokenly. “What gives you the right to take what belongs to another man?
“You belong to me,” he insisted, shaking her roughly by the shoulder with his emerald eyes blazing. “Don’t ever say otherwise. You have since that first night on my ship.”
“Joshua,” she began, but stopped, losing the will to fight. What was the point of trying to make him listen? “Then get it over with,” she snapped, close to tears. “Satisfy your lust and leave.”
“Satisfy my lust, indeed.” Joshua smiled wickedly.
He would enjoy making her beg.
As his kisses left a hot trail down Lynna’s neck, she knew she was fighting a losing battle and why resist something that she wanted so badly? Something that her body craved?
Kneeling beside the bed, Joshua leisurely kissed his way up her leg, feeling her tremble as he neared her tightly clenched thighs. She relaxed somewhat when his mouth moved down the opposite leg, only to draw in her breath sharply when his tongue flicked the tender spot beneath her ankle. She steeled herself against his sensuous onslaught, praying that it would be over soon.
Clenching her teeth, she remained perfectly still, willing her body not to respond as he left a burning trail across her stomach towards her breast. One traitorous moan escaped when his mouth traveled to her neck without touching her throbbing breasts. She willed her hands not to pull his head back to the rigid peaks.
Please.
Let me be strong enough to withstand this torture and not give in to him.
“Tell me you want me, Lynna,” he demanded huskily.
“Never,” she breathed. “I want only to be left alone.”
His tongue went to her ear, where he nibbled the tender lobe as his warm breath served to further weaken her resistance. But she would not admit defeat, even as she silently cursed her betraying body. His soft lips outlined her own, causing them to part, allowing his tongue to dart through her smooth teeth and bring the desired response. “Tell me you want me, Lynna.”
She cooled instantly. “I want no part of you.”
Grinning, he blew warm breath on the rosy peaks of her full breasts as she bit her lip to keep from crying out his name. He continued to explore her body for what seemed like hours. When his soft mouth at last closed over her hardened nipple, his teeth nibbling and tugging ever so gently, she lost the will to fight.
“Oh, Joshua,” she moaned. “I cannot stand another moment of this torture.”
“Tell me you want me,” he whispered.
“Yes,” she cried. “I want you, Joshua.”
Her body was on fire, every nerve alive to his touch. She arched against him as her hands moved to press him into her eager body. Her hands on his buttocks pressed harder still as their passion climbed before slowly and, oh so sweetly, they were wrapped in the dizzying aftermath of their love.
Joshua rolled to his side as a silent tear slid down her cheek. How could she be so wanton in his arms when she was wed to another? If only Joshua were her husband she would be the happiest woman alive. He was married to another, as was she, and this realization made her burst into sobs.
Her tears were too much for Joshua. “What’s wrong, darling?”
“How can you ask me that?” she cried, angry that he wasn’t as distraught over the situation as she was. “Do you have no feelings?”
“My feelings are too strong.” He brushed her tear away, caressing the line of her jaw. “I love you, Lynna.”
How she had longed to hear him say those very words, but they came too late. They were both wed to others and she would not fall under his spell again. This night of passion would have to last them for an eternity. “Did Suzanne present you with a son or daughter?”
“There was no child,” he answered testily.
“What do you mean there was no child? Did she miscarry?”
“There was never a child to miscarry.” Sitting up on the side of the bed, he struck a match to a cheroot. His fists were clenched as he ground out, “Suzanne fabricated the lie to coerce me into marriage. When she failed to conceive by her husband after the marriage, she turned to a few others.
Suzanne had lied about carrying his child?
“I can’t believe that even Suzanne would stoop so low, or be so devious.”
Joshua only shook his head. “Your eyes do not deceive you, Lynna.”
“You saw her?” Lynna cried with stunned disbelief. “With your own eyes?”
“I caught her with the stable boy. She cried rape, but I had been following her for days.” His voice was cold, unforgiving. “I gave her an ultimatum. She could either grant me an annulment, or I would guarantee her a scandal the likes of which her family would never crawl out from under.”
Joshua was free from his vows to Suzanne and he loved her, but she was no longer a free woman. Lynna’s tears flowed in earnest as she pondered this wicked turn of fate.
“Dry your eyes and come here, darling.” Joshua cradled her head on his chest and stroked her hair. “Do you love me, Lynna?” he questioned, catching her off guard.
“Joshua, I...” she faltered.
“Answer me truthfully, Lynna,” Joshua insisted. “I must know the truth.”
“Yes, Joshua,” she cried brokenly. “Yes, I do love you. I have always loved you. I would have never married Michael had I known of Suzanne’s lies and treachery. But it is too late…”
“No, it is not too late. You love me. That’s all that matters.” He hugged her so hard she thought her ribs might crack.
They slept then, holding each other close, afraid to let go. Each afraid that the other might disappear with the bright light of morning.
Sometime in the early morning hours Joshua’s voice penetrated the fog of her deep, satisfied sleep. “I will wait for you to come to me tonight.
She mumbled sleepily, “You, sir, will have an awfully long wait.” Snuggling deeper under the covers, she returned to her dream world, not sure whether his rumbling laughter had been real or imagined.
When she woke up the next morning, Sadie, the cook, reported that Michael had taken an overnight trip into town. She found Joshua and Crystal on the verandah chatting as if they had known each other for years. “Good morning, Lynna,” Crystal chirped.
“Good morning, my…um…Lynna.” Joshua beamed as his eyes swept the entire length of her.
“Good morning, Crystal,” Lynna beamed. “Joshua, I see you have met my adorable stepdaughter.”
“Uncle Joshua al
ready knew me,” Crystal laughed merrily. “He didn’t just meet me.”
“I see,” Lynna said, puzzled. “Evidently you have visited Eden before, Captain Jordan?”
“Uncle Joshua doesn’t visit,” Crystal giggled, finding Lynna’s questions hilarious. “He owns Eden.”
“You own Eden?” Lynna was so caught off guard by the child’s statement that she almost dropped her coffee cup. “But…but… how can that be?”
“I purchased the plantation several years ago at auction. Michael was already the overseer so he continued under my employ, him and this little cherub.”
So, Joshua was the owner that Michael often railed against.
“What did you bring me, Uncle Joshua?” Crystal wheedled, throwing her arms around his neck in a tight hug.
“As a matter of fact, there is a box on my bed that I brought for someone, but I cannot for the life of me remember who?” He placed a finger on his chin pretending to ponder. “Let me see, if I think hard enough perhaps it will come to me.”
“It was me.” Crystal squealed with delight and took off running. “You brought it for me.” The door slammed loudly behind her.
“You never mentioned that you owned property in Jamaica,” Lynna said, after the elated child had raced up the stairs.
“You never asked.” He winked seductively. “There are still a few things about me that you have not yet discovered, my love.” Then, he was too busy listening to the squeals of delight erupting from Crystal to finish their discussion. The child immediately plopped down on his lap, opened the box filled with a paper doll and numerous paper dresses, and consulted Joshua’s opinion on which frock the doll should be attired in for the noontime meal.
After over an hour of play, Crystal asked, “Uncle Joshua, will you come to the beach with Lynna and me today? Pretty please?”
“I can think of nothing I would enjoy better than spending a day at the beach with my two favorite girls.” He laughed as he lifted her in his arms. “Let’s go ask Sadie to pack a lunch and we will be off.”
Chapter 30