***
Louis sat reading the newspaper, relaxing after such a harrowing day, when a knock sounded at the door. The clock on the wall showed the hour to be late. Cautiously he opened the door to find Marian standing on his doorstep.
Fear seized him as his thoughts instantly assumed she’d found him out.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I came to talk to you about Philip,” she said, her gray eyes worried.
Louis glanced down the darkened street and, seeing no one, grabbed Marian’s arm and pulled her into his home and shut the door. She leaned against the door, staring at him with those smoky gray eyes. The urge to push her against the door and lean his body into hers almost overwhelmed him, but he resisted.
He released her and she glanced around the room nervously. “I came to thank you for bringing my son home. Philip told me what you did. I was so worried.”
Louis shrugged. “He’s a confused kid.”
She nodded as she walked around his small living room glancing around at his very masculine furnishings.
“He asked me about us.”
She raised her worried eyes to his. “Philip told me you said that we had kissed.”
“I wasn’t going to lie to him,” Louis said watching her. He saw the pain in her expression and wanted to comfort her, ease her hurting. “I told him I kissed you and would do so again. He asked me if I liked you now and I said yes, very much.”
She smiled at him, her eyes still worried. “You didn’t say anything else?”
“No,” Louis said with a frown. “Why would I?”
Marian shrugged and walked around the room, her hand lightly touching his books. “I don’t know. He seemed all right with the fact that you and I were kissing, yet he ran away. He’s still troubled about his father and his friends are teasing him about the Cuvier Widows.” She paused taking a deep breath. “I’m so worried about him. I’m such a terrible mother, Louis.”
“What makes you say that?” he asked.
She glanced at him her eyes troubled. “I didn’t know about the way his friends were treating him. I thought since the fight at school, things had gotten better. I feel so bad for not helping him and now he’s hearing gossip about the two of us.”
He stepped toward her, his voice gentle and soothing. “People have been talking about me for years. And frankly you’ve been the center of scandal since Jean’s death. You’re not a bad mother, Marian, you’ve just been preoccupied with the business and didn’t notice the absence of his friends around the house.”
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as if she were chilled. “But how could I do that to my son? My children have always been important to me.” She paused, gazing at him for guidance. “What am I doing, Louis? I’m losing touch with my children, yet I’m trying to earn a living for them. I’m so confused about what’s best for them, for me.”
Louis walked over to Marian and put his arms around her. It felt so right, Marian so warm and tender in his embrace. The urge to protect and shield her filled him and he knew this was where he belonged.
“You’re just worried because Philip was missing this afternoon. He’s a good kid. He understands what you’re doing, but he’s struggling with the knowledge that his father betrayed his family and that everyone knows his father’s shame.”
“But how can I protect him? He’s just a boy. He doesn’t deserve to be treated this way,” she said leaning her head against his chest.
His hand massaged her back in a circular motion, soothing her. “You can’t defend him from life, Marian, no matter how much you want to.”
She leaned back in his arms and gazed at him. “I know you’re right, but he’s my son. I want to keep all the bad things in life away from him. He deserves an innocent childhood and Jean has taken that away from him.”
“I know. But he has you and his sister to help him through this difficult time.” He paused. “And you’re working to keep a business for him. You can’t be all things to him.”
She sighed heavily and returned her head to his chest. “Since that trip we took to see your family, I can’t help but think that he may not want Cuvier Shipping at all. You don’t want your father’s business. What if I’m forcing my son into something he never wanted?”
“Then you sell it or you give the business to Renee. Whatever you decide, accept your decision and realize you are making the best evaluation you can at the time. Quit second-guessing yourself,” he said tenderly, enjoying the feel of her in his arms.
Leaning back in his arms, her hand reached up and stroked his cheek with her fingertips. “Why is it that you always soothe me and make me feel good about the decisions I’ve made? How is that?”
He placed his fingers beneath her chin and lifted it up to within inches of his lips. Gazing deeply into her smoky gaze he felt as if he were lost in the depths. “Maybe it’s because we’re good together. Maybe it’s because we complement one another. Maybe it’s because I care about you more than any woman I know.”
His mouth covered her parted lips seeking the soft, sweet recess of her mouth. Since the day that Marian came into his life, she had challenged him in ways that constantly kept him hurrying to keep up with her. Intriguing and interesting, she’d changed him. For only the second time in his life, he’d found a woman he could spend the rest of his life with.
He suckled her lower lip, teasing her mouth as his hands molded her body against his hard one. She pushed back and stepped out of his arms to stare at him, her gaze wary. “This is not another one of your pranks? Not another one of your attempts to acquire Cuvier Shipping?”
“God, no. No matter what happens, never forget I care about you. I’ve never felt so much fear as when they said that you were there in front of those strikers all alone.” He ran his hands through his hair; he should tell her about the sale, but not yet. He wanted and needed this moment with Marian. Not yet. Just a little more time.
“I was such a fool, Marian, for placing you in a position that put you in so much danger.”
He ran his fingertips down her arm and when his fingers touched her hand, he skimmed them across her palm and then entwined her fingers with his. He drew her to him and this time she leaned her body into his, touching him in all the pertinent places.
“I want you so badly,” he said putting his lips against her ear.
“God,” she said, with a sustained sigh. “You drive me crazy with need.”
Louis laughed, his lips brushing against hers. He’d tell her about the sale of Cuvier Shipping in the morning, just give him tonight.
Grabbing her by the hand, he began to pull her toward his bedroom.
“Where are we going?” she asked, her eyes shining with pleasure.
He raised his brows. “We’re alone and you’ve told me I drive you crazy with need. Now I need you to show me.”
Just as they reached his bedroom, he pulled her tightly against him securing her hips with his. She felt his passion, her eyes widening in surprise.
She glanced at his plantation bed in the center of the room. “You do have good taste in furniture.”
“I’ve dreamed of you lying in that bed. Now we’re going to experience it,” he said, as his lips savored hers once again, pouring out his passion, making her his. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she hung limply onto him, his fingers moving over the buttons on the back of her dress.
She clung to him, her hands reaching up to run her fingers through his hair. She gripped his head, pressing his obliging lips against her own.
Kissing had always been something he’d done mostly to lead women to bed, but with Marian, he craved the taste of her. He longed for the touch of her sweet lips and he found in them his claim of absolute possession.
They broke apart and for a moment stared at one another, their breath sounding harsh in the darkness. Without a word they begin to shed clothing, hurrying to feel fevered skin against skin once more.
She turned around and he undid the bu
ttons on her dress, his fingers shaking as he hurried. When all the buttons were freed, he tugged on the shoulders of her dress, which fell to the floor in a puddle of cloth. She turned to face him and he gazed at her soft curves outlined by her camisole, shadowy in the moonlight. He bent over to put his lips to the material and suckled her sweet bud, loving the way her nipple puckered in response. He laved her breast, holding it soft and heavy in his hand.
She pushed him away pulled her camisole over her head, standing before him in her pantaloons, corset, and chemise. She turned her back to him, so that he could untie her corset.
He hurried with the lacing, his fingers fumbling in his haste. And then he slipped the garment from her, followed by her chemise, and last her pantaloons. The pale moonlight streamed through the window exposing the supple gleam of her delicate back, and he pressed his lips along the soft curves. Shudders rippled through her as he worked his way up her spine to the top of her shoulders, where he gently nibbled on the long column of her neck.
She moaned and turned toward him, slipping her arms around his neck, pressing her breasts against him. His lips covered hers in a slow endless kiss as he gently propelled her backwards toward the big bed waiting for them.
How many times had he dreamed of her in this very bed? How many times had he pictured her naked and wanton between his sheets?
When the back of her knees touched the bed, he broke free of the kiss, his breath rasping with need. He stepped back and while she watched him, he removed his underpants and shirt. When he’d shed the last of his clothing, he moved toward her and pushed her down upon his bed.
His leg touched her smooth satiny leg and he couldn’t help but think it felt so right to have her in his arms, in his bed. He covered her with his body, his hand caressing the side of her face, brushing back her hair.
“God, you are so beautiful.”
She smiled, her hand reaching for the part of him that throbbed thick and unyielding.
Her hand closed over him, enclosing the fierce heat he felt building within his body and she stroked him, fanning the flames into a raging inferno.
He laid back and she half covered his body with her own as each long, slow stroke of her hand was a scalding caress that took him closer and closer to the edge. There was no guarantee of tomorrow, they only had this moment and he reveled in her touch, in the soft sighs of her excitement. Nimble fingers explored him, coaxing and probing his arousal as she clasped his erection within her fingertips.
Finally, when he could stand it no more, he flipped her to her back and put his mouth against her breast, his fingers seeking between her thighs. Gently he cupped her, stroking her moistness, wanting to give her pleasure.
Marian had made him realize his life was empty and meaningless. She had shown him the importance of family and honor. Her courage and strength had made him stronger and now because of her, he was a better man. No woman before her had ever made him feel so complete, so strong and yet so vulnerable at the same time. He pleasured Marian, needing to hear her cry out his name, wanting her more than anything he’d ever wanted in his life.
In the soft light he laved the pebbled kernel of her nipple. Soft sighs and murmurs came from her as he circled the hardened nub of her breast with his tongue. He pressed his hot flesh against the warm expanse of her skin, needing to get even closer to her, to be inside her.
“Louis,” she gasped, her breath raspy, her voice husky.
“Yes, love?” he asked, his hand closing over her tremulous breast.
“Now!” she said, her lashes fluttering open.
He chuckled at her impatience and brushed his lips across her breast He rolled until his body covered her own, careful not to press his full weight onto her.
But instead of giving her the satisfaction she craved, he lingered, his lips covering hers in a long kiss that swirled him closer and closer to the edge. He wanted to prolong the moment, he wanted to resist as long as possible and give her more pleasure than she’d ever experienced, but it was becoming more than he could bear.
Breaking the kiss she begged, “Louis.”
Louis couldn’t wait another minute. He plunged into her slick body, the feel of her tight and snug around him, consuming him. Sensation whirled around him expanding his perceptions as he covered her lips with his own. He wanted to be inside her forever. He wanted to have her wake up with him each morning, and go to bed beside him each night He wanted her with all his heart and being, until they were old and gray, until death separated them and eternity brought them back together again.
He needed her, more than he’d desired anything in his life and this moment, plunging into her warm body, he knew nothing would ever make him as happy as being with Marian.
“Louis,” she cried, her body tensing around him. With each stroke, he sealed their fate until she clung to him, shudders racking her body, and his own climax came in a swift surge of power coursing through his body.
Together they clutched one another, letting the night soothe their racing hearts, their breathing ragged and choppy.
After several minutes of just holding one another, Louis slid down onto the bed beside Marian and pulled her tight against him, patting her gently. Feeling warm and responsive, her fear of lovemaking had disappeared.
He kissed her softy on the lips. “I meant what I said earlier, Marian. I care for you more than anyone ever before. I want to marry you and spend the rest of my life at your side.”
She paused, gazing at him, her eyes luminous in the darkness, her face rapturous yet contemplative as she stared at him. Minutes passed and Louis was beginning to fear her response.
“All right, Louis,” she said. “I’ll marry you.”