The jubilant trilling of birds nesting in the tall pine near the bedroom window awakened the newly wedded couple, rousing them to a delectable awareness of each other and the dawning of a new day. As her husband stirred against her back, Shemaine smiled sleepily, enjoying the feel of his hard, masculine form against her own. She lay on her side, nestled in the cradle of his naked body with his thighs tucked close beneath her own. After no more than a few moments of wear, her new nightgown had been discarded and draped over the same chair where his clothes had been left the night before. Only the bed linens covered them, and underneath, their bodies were as warm as their thoughts.
“As much as I desire to stay here and have my way with you once more, my sweet,” Gage breathed close against her ear, “I must leave this sweet haven and attend the morning chores.”
Shemaine snuggled back against him, reluctant to have him go. “We didn’t get much sleep.”
“Aye, we spent too much time dallying in the tub, but what does sleep matter when we enjoyed such bliss? I can still see your wet, lovely body in the candlelight, the glistening hills and the shadowed valleys, tempting me to touch and to taste.”
Even now the memory of his passionate fervor drew her breath out in a halting sigh. She had been no less intrigued by the sight of him. The tiny flames had bathed his glistening frame with a golden aura, highlighting the knotted sinews over his lean ribs and the long, flexing cords in his shoulders, thighs and arms, leaving her much in awe of his manly physique. “Never has a wedding gift been put to such amorous use, I think, and never again will I make the mistake of thinking that a couples’ bed is the only place where children are conceived.”
“If we’re alone together, madam, any moment is ripe, any place convenient for making love, whether it’s fully clothed or as bare as the day we came into the world. It doesn’t matter. When two are willing, there’s always a way.”
“I shall endeavor to look for such opportunities to challenge your statement, sir,” she teased, finding the idea of such a venture totally intriguing.
“Don’t be surprised if they come upon you unexpectedly,” Gage warmly advised, pressing himself against her buttocks to illustrate his statement.
Shemaine lifted a bare foot and stroked it along his hard calf. “As long as I can hear your footsteps, you’ll find me waiting in anticipation.”
His hand slid over the tantalizing curve of her hip and wandered downward along the side of her thigh as he leaned forward to caress her cheek with the gentle brush of his lips. “Will you wait for me here until I get back?”
Shemaine cast him a look of surprise over her shoulder. “Would you not rather have me cook you the morning meal? We hardly touched the food that Hannah sent home with us. She’ll be disappointed to learn how little we ate of it.”
Gage chuckled softly. “I’m sure Hannah would understand if we were to tell her, but I see no need of that, madam, do you?”
A sigh of delight slipped from her as his mouth slid down her throat and across her shoulder. “ ‘Twould only make Hannah wonder what we were doing.”
His laughing breath warmed her skin. “Considering the number of children she has given birth to, I’m sure she’ll be able to guess.”
Shemaine wondered if all couples were as active on their wedding night as they had been, but she immediately remembered that a few of her friends in England, after becoming brides, had voiced their aversion “to everything that went on in a marriage bed.” She, on the other hand, had been immensely thrilled and pleasured by Gage’s passion. “ ‘Tis best to be discreet,” she reasoned. “We wouldn’t want anyone to think we spent the whole night in a private orgy.”
“Ahh, but we did, madam,” Gage replied, his voice imbued with humor.
Smiling, Shemaine nestled in cozy contentment against him. “I know, Gage, but no one else need know that. They’d really be inclined to think you married a wanton.”
Her husband sighed, as if in rueful reflection. “It seems there’s no help for it. Truth has a way of coming out.”
Shemaine gasped in a feigned display of temper. “Oh, you cad! You English rogue! You use me and then abuse me! What a contemptible knave you are!”
Laughing in glee, she would have scrambled from the bed, but Gage flung out an arm and pulled her back. For a moment, they wrestled in playful abandon until he threw a thigh over her thrashing limbs. Spreading her arms out wide, he pinned her wrists to the mattress and rose above her.
“Did I not tell you how much I relish having a beautiful wanton in my bed?” he whispered, plying her soft mouth with sultry kisses.
“If I’m a wanton, sir,” she rejoined, readily adjusting herself to accommodate his encroaching weight, “then you’re the one who has made me insatiable for the delights to be had between a husband and a wife.” She spoke partly in jest, but mostly in truth, for he had aroused her ardor provocatively, sweeping her to heights of unimaginable ecstasy, making her eager for more of his attention.
Gage braced on his elbows above her, and his brown eyes burned with a consuming fire as they caressed her face. “Think of what we can learn together, my sweet.”
“You mean there is still that which you do not know?” Shemaine asked in amazement.
Gage was amused and yet a bit staggered by the idea that his bride thought him completely knowledgeable about women. “There is much I have to learn, my sweet, especially about you. If we’re fortunate enough to live out our lives together, then I’m sure you’ll come to read me like an old book that you’ve memorized over the years. I hope you won’t become too bored with me.”
Shemaine scoffed in light-hearted skepticism. “Hardly that, Mr. Thornton! Truly, I fear the reverse may prove true.”
“Never!”
“The morning sun is rising,” she reminded him softly.
“Aye, I know, and I suppose I must let you go, but only if you promise not to get dressed,” Gage bargained. “That first morning you were here, when you were scurrying around in the kitchen, trying to cook us a meal, I have memorized the way you looked then, all soft and unfettered beneath your nightclothes. I tell you truly, madam, my senses were besotted with the way your garments clung to your backside and breasts. Your nipples seemed eager for attention, and I was even more eager to give it.”
Shemaine moaned, recalling her own disquiet that morning. “So that’s why you were looking at me so hard.”
Gage slid his hands from her wrists inward along her arms and then downward over her breasts. “You were so alluring, I wanted to have my way with you then and there.” He grinned as he added, “And many times thereafter.”
Shemaine lifted a hand and threaded slender fingers through his black, rumpled hair. “If I had known what awaited me, I would have been eager to wed soon after we left the London Pride. You do have a way about you, Mr. Thornton. Truly, when I think of what I’ve been missing, I wonder if I should feel envious of all the women you’ve made love to over the years.”
A dark brow twisted upward dubiously. “What do you think me, madam? A rapacious libertine? Have I not assured you that I’ve been selective with the women I bed down with?” Lifting himself off her, he snuggled alongside and braced up on an elbow to grin down at her. “Besides, when I first started searching for a mate, you were not old enough to catch my eye. Why, you’re no more than a babe now.”
“Do I look like a babe?” Shemaine queried, feigning a pout. Stretching sensuously for his consideration, she won his unswerving attention.
“Nay, madam, and that’s a plain fact.” The amber-lit brown eyes blazed with fiery warmth as he watched her pale body writhe invitingly upon the bed. “Has anyone ever told you how perfectly beautiful you are without your clothes? Especially this delectable portion here.” He was caressing her breasts and was struck by the sharp contrast between their fairness and his sun-bronzed hand. The morning light streaming in through the pine boughs outside the window gave the luscious globes the look of alabaster. The lure of such perfection was irresistible, and he leaned down to savor the delectable sweetness of a pale peak, branding her with the white-hot heat of his mouth and halting her breath with the warm caress of his tongue.
“If you continue along this path, sir,” she whispered tremblingly, “be assured that I’ll be unwilling to let you go until you finish what you start.”
Gage was also having second thoughts about leaving and would have proceeded with his manly bent except that his wife’s stomach growled, making him cognizant of her lengthy fast. “I suppose you’re hungry for food.”
“I’m famished,” Shemaine admitted, and then giggled as he growled in mock anger and threatened to take a playful nip out of her breast. “I can’t help it! You’re a slave driver.”
“Slave driver, eh?” His laughing breath brushed her ear. “And here I thought I was being lenient with you. Should I show you what demands I’d make if you were not still tender?”
“Oh, yes!”
Her enthusiasm made him laugh with hearty mirth. Thus far, he had found no hindrance to his incessant demands. Nor would he, it seemed. “I will, my sweet, but you’ll need nourishment to give you strength. So, my little bird, it must be after you’re fed. Now get you up, wife, and cook a meal fit for your husband.”
Shemaine gasped in surprise as he whipped the covers back, leaving them without a stitch. Laughing, she scrambled across the mattress, only to find him moving quickly after her. As she came to her feet, she realized he was already rising behind her. Catching hold of the corner post, she sought to swing herself around it, but she could not escape his reaching arm and was promptly swept backward to that wonderfully exciting form.
“You shan’t escape me, vixen,” Gage rasped near her ear as his hands moved over her body in slow, provocative caresses. He turned her, and his descending mouth snared hers as he clasped her tightly to him. Shemaine answered him with quickening passion, eagerly pressing her soft curves to the steely hardness of his, but it soon became evident to them both that if they did not desist posthaste, the chores would never get done. Reluctantly Gage set her from him.
“Alas, I must milk the poor cow ere she bursts.” Yet his hands came up to leisurely stroke her bosom while his eyes caressed and admired the tempting roundness. “Though I’d much rather stay here and milk the sweet nectar from these pale breasts.”
Sitting back upon the bed, Gage pulled her close between his thighs and hungrily mouthed the luscious fullness until Shemaine’s strength waned. She melted against him with no more resistance than a rag doll. His own driving need began to goad Gage, and he gave up trying to resist, becoming more purposeful as he pulled her silken thighs across his.
“Did you always ride sidesaddle when you raced your stallion across the fields?” he whispered huskily.
Somewhat confused, Shemaine searched his face. “Not always.”
Gage’s lips curved with seductive enticement. “I know you’ve ridden astride. Does it pleasure you to do so?”
A glimmer of understanding dawned, provoking a responding smile from Shemaine’ s lips. “Aye, when I have a fine stallion beneath me.”
“What think you of me, madam?”
“The very best, I trow,” she sighed, sweeping her hands admiringly over his chest as he leaned back upon the bed. He moved effortlessly, carrying their weight to the center of the bed, and smiled up at her with glowing eyes as he joined himself to her.
“Ride to your heart’s content, my lady fair.”
No other stallion had ever served her as well as this muscular, bronzed-skin Hercules who raced beneath her. Sweeping her ever onward, he drew her breath out in panting gasps with his thrilling boldness, surging upward to meet her and touching her in ways that made her shiver with delight. Scintillating excitement washed over her, as if she raced through the breakers crashing upon a beach. She could almost feel the wind swirling through her hair, the salt spray snatching her breath and misting her naked body with tiny droplets as her hips stroked with quickening intensity the sleek, sturdy loins rising up beneath her own. The ride became more dedicated until the billowing spasms swept over them, bathing them in joyful rapture and sweeping them out into a sea of ecstasy.
Time ceased to be as they drifted ever so slowly back to shore, where they lay locked together in sweet repose. It was some moments later when Gage finally left his bride. Curled languidly upon the bed, Shemaine watched with curious interest and pleasure as her husband took buckskin britches from the armoire and yanked them on. He fastened them, pulled on a pair of soft hide boots, and then came back to the bed. Smiling down into her glowing green eyes, he spread a sheet over her lovely body.
“You were right, my sweet.”
A slight twisting of her brow conveyed her confusion.
“You do ride well.”
The corners of Shemaine’s lips turned upward enticingly. “I had an excellent steed, the finest I’ve ever ridden.”
Gage dipped his head in acknowledgment of her compliment and then asked, “Would you care for a dip in the stream after we eat?”
His wife shivered at the thought. “Too cold.”
“I’ll keep you warm,” Gage coaxed.
Shemaine raised a wondering brow at him, realizing he was serious. “The sun is up. Anybody who happened by could see us.”
“I warned my men to stay away. They wouldn’t dare intrude upon us.”
“And Potts? What of him?”
“Until his wound heals, ‘tis unlikely he’ll have the endurance to come this far from the hamlet, even if he’s there.” Gage canted his head and gave her a beguiling smile. “I can teach you some things we haven’t done yet.”
Shemaine pursed her lips in a coy pout. “ ‘Tis unfair the way you bribe me.”
“Aye, I know,” he replied with a chuckle.
“Go get your chores done, my handsome husband,” she urged with sudden enthusiasm. “And be quick about it. As for me, I’ll see what I can cook up for us in a hurry.”
His laughter accompanied his exit, and Shemaine found herself smiling dreamily at the ceiling as she recalled the night of passion they had shared together. She was now convinced that Gage Thornton was far more clever at making love than he was at building furniture, and that profession, to be sure, he excelled at.
The moments passed swiftly as they completed their separate tasks, and an hour aged into two while they broke the morning fast together. Seated on the same bench, they shared their food as willingly as they shared each other, feeding and being fed, kissing and caressing, fondling and stroking as if they couldn’t get enough of each other.
Shemaine was garbed in nothing more than a dressing gown when she followed Gage across the front porch and accepted his helping hand in descending the stairs. At the water’s edge, she was timid about discarding the robe and exposing herself to the uncertainty of her surroundings, but after watching Gage strip to the buff and plunge into the water, she finally relented.
“Oh, it’s cold!” she complained, wading through the shallows.
“Refreshing and invigorating!” Gage corrected with a chuckle, feasting his gaze upon her soft curves as he ran his fingers through his wet hair.
“Chilling and frigid!” Shemaine insisted, shivering as the water came up around her thighs.
“Come, love, I’ll warm you.” Spreading his arms invitingly, her husband beckoned to her with a luminous smile. “Only a little bit more and you’ll be in my embrace.”
Shemaine gritted her teeth and forced herself through the deepening stream until Gage reached out and pulled her to him. Drawing her arms around his neck, he smiled and folded his own about her.
“You’re warm,” Shemaine murmured in admiration.
“Aye, just looking at you does that to me,” Gage admitted, lightly caressing her parted lips with his own. Her nipples were cold and hard and seemed to bore twin holes in his chest as he clasped her close against him.
“I like the way you look at me,” Shemaine whispered beneath his kisses. “And I like what I see when I look at you. I enjoy watching you dress, too. I’ve never seen a man clothe himself before today.”
“You’ll grow tired of looking when I’m old and feeble.”
“Doubtful,” she sighed with a smile.
“At least you’re no longer afraid of looking at me.”
“I never was.” Shemaine waited for his response and laughed softly when he drew back with a skeptical brow elevated. “I was only fearful of you catching me at it.”
Enlightenment dawned, wrenching a grin from Gage. “You may look at me to your heart’s content, madam. I’m yours, to have and to hold.”
“To have and to hold,” she repeated softly, slipping her hands upward over his hard chest and then around behind him to his firm buttocks. “Such a delectable thought, to know that you’re mine and I can freely touch you whenever I want. You have such gratifying places to caress and fondle.”
“No less than you, madam,” Gage muttered against her throat as he reciprocated in kind.
Shemaine turned her face toward his cheek and brushed the tanned skin with her lips. “Do what you promised before you went out to gather the eggs,” she breathed. “Teach me something new.”
Lifting her against him, he slipped a hand between them to make them one, drawing a trembling sigh from her.
“Do you like that?” he rasped, resettling his hands beneath her buttocks as she twined her limbs about him to secure their bond.
“Oh, yes!” She was breathless with bliss. “I like everything you do to me.”
“Disgusting!”
The word shattered their passion instantly, breaking them apart in acute surprise. Almost in unison they looked around to find Roxanne standing in rigid disdain at the edge of the glade. Mortified that another had intruded into their intimacy, Shemaine folded her arms over her bosom and collapsed against Gage as he drew her back to him.
“What in the hell are you doing here, Roxanne?” he barked. The realization struck him that she looked as wild and savage as a fair-haired witch. She had not taken time to comb her hair, and with the breezes, the snarled strands seemed to fly about her face and shoulders as if charged by her own fury.
Roxanne glared at them, conveying the venom that roiled within her. With a defiant toss of her head, she sneered at Gage. “I heard this morning that you had married your bitch of a bondswoman! But I had to come see the truth for myself, because I had difficulty believing you could be so foolish.”
“Why? Because I didn’t marry you?” Gage asked caustically.
“No!” the woman shot back. “Because you were foolish enough to take another wife after you were almost hanged for killing your first one!”
Shemaine’s startled gasp wrenched a chuckling smirk from Roxanne, but Gage’s roar of denial came swiftly to negate her claim.
“That’s a bloody lie, Roxanne, and you know it!”
The blonde bestowed her pitying gaze upon Shemaine. “He’ll kill you, too, just like he killed Victoria. . . . When your husband grows vexed with you, that’s when he’ll do it.”
“I will tolerate no more of your vindictive accusations!” Gage bellowed. “You know better than anybody that I didn’t kill Victoria, but you came out here to deliberately frighten Shemaine with your malicious lies!”
Shemaine’s mind whirled in sudden confusion, and she shivered against her husband, wondering if the woman’s allegations had any merit. But then, why would Roxanne be so eager to have Gage for her own if she thought him capable of murder? If the woman truly believed what she said, wouldn’t she be afraid to come near him? After all, if he had killed before, he could do so again. What would prevent him from flying into a rage and snuffing out another life, just as he had Victoria’s? Yet Roxanne had been thoroughly committed to winning him for herself.
Bracing up her chin, Shemaine glared back at Roxanne, refusing to give their adversary the satisfaction of seeing her draw away from Gage. “I don’t believe you, Roxanne. My husband wouldn’t kill anyone!”
“Wouldn’t he?” Roxanne simpered smugly as she strolled to the edge of the pool. The stream-fed pond was clear enough to allow her to see a vague blur of their pale bodies as they clung together. The sight cut her heart to the quick, deepening her hatred for them both. It was what she had feared the first time she had laid eyes upon Shemaine. What man could resist such beauty? Certainly not Gage, she mentally jeered. He had always had an eye for beauty! Victoria had once been proof of that. Now this hussy who had lured him into marriage with her liquid eyes and sultry ways verified the fact again that Gage Thornton would never have considered taking a plain-faced woman to wife. But she meant to have her revenge upon them both! Gage couldn’t toss her aside a second time and not feel the brunt of her rancor. “Everyone around here knows what a vicious temper Gage has, and Victoria fell prey to it.”
It was Gage’s turn to scoff harshly. “Do you think anyone will listen to your lies after you argued so vehemently that I was innocent of any wrongdoing? Besides, if you were really convinced of the readiness of the townspeople to believe your change of story, why didn’t you tell them differently after you came out here the last time? But as far as I know, you said nothing. I don’t think you expect anything to come of this! All you want to do is frighten Shemaine.”
“Do you honestly think I’m going to keep quiet for another season or two while you bed your filthy little convict?” the blonde countered sharply. “Do you expect me to wait around until you grow tired of her like you did Victoria?” Roxanne drew her lip up in a bitter sneer. “Never! In fact, the thing you really should be concerned about right now is what you’ll have to do to save your family once it gets out that you killed Victoria. I warned you that you wouldn’t be able to hide behind my skirts anymore, and now I’ll be telling everyone what really happened.”
“Aye! Do that!” Gage challenged sharply. “Tell them what part you played in my wife’s death, because you were there when she fell! I wasn’t!”
“Victoria was dead when I got here!” Roxanne protested.
Gage jeered. “I doubt that seriously!”
“Are you saying that I was able to lift your wife over the prow and throw her down? Am I so strong?” she derided. “And are you so desperate to lay the blame on another that you’re willing to toss all reason aside and claim that I could have actually overpowered Victoria? Don’t you think she would have fought me tooth and nail to keep me from throwing her off the prow?”
“Perhaps you were able to surprise her,” Gage suggested brusquely. “Perhaps you pushed her from behind.”
“Come now, Gage,” Roxanne chided. “Be logical. You know well enough that Victoria would have seen me coming up the building slip. In fact, she probably would have come down to meet me. We were friends! Or have you forgotten?”
“I don’t know how you could have managed such a feat, Roxanne,” Gage acknowledged. “All I know is that you were driven by an unreasonable jealousy from the first day I started courting Victoria. And now you’re being goaded by envy once again. Your unreasonable jealousy attests to the fact that you’re the only one who had a motive for killing Victoria.”
Roxanne jeered scathingly. “What vile rage took hold of you that day that made you murder the mother of your child, and Andrew barely weaned?”
Shemaine promptly decided she had had enough of the shrew’s assertions. Perhaps her own knowledge of love and jealousy were seriously limited, but she could not believe any woman of rational temperament would continue to chase after a man whom she seriously suspected of murder. Roxanne, however, had made it obvious just how desperately she had wanted Gage and had been in such a turmoil after he had gone to the London Pride that she had been on the verge of losing control. Apparently she hadn’t been so terrified of him that she feared rousing the temper that she now claimed was so vicious.
Slipping a hand behind Gage’s neck, Shemaine pulled his head down and, ignoring his surprise, placed a loving kiss upon his lips.
“I’m cold, and I’m tired of listening to this woman’s inane prattle,” she announced loudly for Roxanne’s benefit. “I’m going back to the cabin to take a warm bath. If you’d care to join me, perhaps we’ll have some privacy there and can finish what we started before we were so rudely interrupted.”
Gage felt his jaw sagging in astonishment. Of all the reactions he had expected from his bride, he had never anticipated a fierce, unswerving loyalty in the face of Roxanne’s malicious allegations. He watched in awe as Shemaine turned and slowly waded out of the pool, making no effort to cover her nakedness as she emerged from the water. Climbing on the rock where she had left her robe, his wife picked it up, laid it with deliberate care over her arm, and then turned to face him in all the glory of her naked beauty. It was a bold, proud statement she made to the other woman as she smiled at him invitingly.
“Coming, my love?”
Gage felt his heart soar, and in a voice fraught with emotion, he answered, “Aye, love, as soon as our visitor leaves . . . unless you’d rather I come now. . . .”
“Nay, husband,” Shemaine replied emphatically. “I would not share even a glimpse of what is mine with another woman. Come when you can. I’ll be waiting for you.”
Though Gage could not resist admiring her nakedness as she strolled up the trail to the cabin, he cast a glance askance at Roxanne and felt jubilation rise up within him when he found her gaping in slack-jawed astonishment at his wife’s departing form.
“Would you mind leaving now?” he invited sharply, folding his hands deliberately over his manhood. He couldn’t be sure just what Roxanne was able to see through the water, but he’d be damned before allowing her even an obscure glimpse of what Shemaine had claimed as hers. “I’m cold, and my wife is waiting for me.”
Roxanne faced him with gnashing teeth. “You haven’t heard the last of this, Gage Thornton! You’ll be sorry you tossed me aside and married that bitch!”
“I don’t think so,” Gage said with a calm assurance that had settled over him only a few moments ago, after his wife had declared her trust in him. “In fact, the more I’m around Shemaine, the more I believe I’ve found an exceptional woman. Indeed, if I could accurately discern the feelings I have for her right now, I’d say that I have come to love her very much.”
“Aaarrrghh!” Roxanne’s snarl of rage seemed to fill every hollow and rill around them with deafening sound, startling shrieks and squawks from nesting birds and sending them flying chaotically into the air. Amid the confusion of their darting flights, Roxanne whirled and scrambled back toward the riverbank from whence she had come.
Gage waited until he heard the oars bump against her father’s boat before he waded to shore. After donning his breeches, he picked up his boots and meandered barefoot up the trail to the cabin and quietly made his entrance. Shemaine had garbed herself in a robe, which she clutched closed at her throat with one hand as she hastened toward the new bathing chamber with a bucket of hot water. She cast him a shivering smile of greeting.
“If y-you help me carry the w-water,” she said through chattering teeth, “we’ll be able t-to get w-warm sooner.”
“I’ll get the water,” Gage said, tossing aside his boots. “You’d better stand by the fire until I fill the tub for us.”
His wife halted and looked at him as if he had taken leave of his senses. “A-aren’t y-you c-cold, too?”
A smile curved his lips. “I’m used to it.” He shrugged. “Perhaps you’re not as cold, Shemaine, as you are upset.”
“Roxanne upset me, all right!” Shemaine affirmed testily. “The gall of that woman, thinking I’d believe her!” Her anger dwindled rapidly, replaced by a painful chagrin. Her face threatened to crumple as tears brightened her eyes. She made an earnest effort to bolster her mettle, but as her husband stepped near and took her in his arms, she began to weep in embarrassment against his chest. “I disgraced myself! And I disgraced you, Gage! I allowed that woman to provoke me until I dismissed everything I had been taught about common decency and propriety! The way I flaunted my nakedness before you both, I’m sure Roxanne has no doubts about me being a trollop now!”
“Whoa!” Gage chuckled. Pulling away from her, he searched her teary eyes. “What are you more upset about, Shemaine? The accusations Roxanne made against me? Or the fact that you pranced up here stark naked?”
New tears sprang forth at his candid question, and in renewed agony Shemaine muttered a question. “Did I embarrass you terribly?”
“Good heavens, woman! Banish the thought!” Gage urged with hearty laughter. “I nearly hooted with glee!” He clasped his wife to him again and rested his cheek against the top of her head. “Shemaine, do you not realize what pleasure it gave me when you declared your trust in me? It was like heaven opening up and shining down upon me. Truly, my love, I felt much like an emperor being restored to his kingdom after years in exile and prison. The joy I experienced was beyond measure. I could not have imagined that you would remain unaffected by Roxanne’s malevolent charges. The experience left me overwhelmed . . . and a bit amazed at your confidence in me.”
Shemaine was perplexed by his reaction to her shameless display, but after reaping the dire fruits of a thieftaker’s allegations and finding no one who had cared enough about compassion and human decency to consider that she might have been innocent, she could well understand another’s fervent desire to be believed and trusted. In some surprise she realized she was no longer shaking. Snuggling against her husband, she giggled.
“I was terribly wicked, wasn’t I?”
Gage chuckled and held her wonderfully close to his heart. “Absolutely depraved, my love.”