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“Ru
“But I didn’t realize captains did that. I assumed you had young boys to climb up the masts for you.”
“I did, of course. Some officers give it up. I never did because I enjoyed it. There’s nothing like riding the give and spring of line rigging to make you feel like a boy.”
“Let me see if I can make you feel like a man.” She led him to the bed, where her own clean linen sheets were turned down. But they did not crawl under the covers. Willie lay on top of them and pulled Sam down to her. He took her in a torrid kiss, while she entwined her legs with his, putting every possible inch of her skin in hungry contact with his.
They kissed for long moments, and then Sam broke the kiss and looked deep into her eyes.
“You terrify me, Willie. I want you so badly, but I keep thinking of all those other men-”
She pushed him away, frowning. Hell and damnation. She had known in her gut that this was wrong. She should have listened to that nagging voice in her head. “Don’t,” she said, moving away from him. “This will never work. It was foolish of us to think it could. You will never be able to forget or forgive who I’ve become.”
He tugged her back to him. “Silly woman. I’ve told you more than once that I understand about all that. I stopped blaming you years ago.”
“And yet you can’t stop thinking about all those other men. I’m sorry, Sam. This won’t work. We can’t be together again. It sounded like a terribly romantic idea, but it’s too late for us.”
“It’s not too late. We have to try, Willie. If we don’t do it now, when at last we’re both alone and unencumbered, we may never get another chance. And it is romantic. Two lovers sharing passion again after all these years.”
“How can we, when you can’t stop thinking about all those other men? And how they made my life a disgrace in your eyes?”
“It’s not the other men in your life I’m worried about, my dear girl. It’s the life in this man. I fear I may not measure up to your worldly expectations.”
Her anger and disappointment evaporated in an instant. “Ah, Sam. You could never disappoint me.”
And he didn’t.
He loved her with hands and mouth and tongue as skillful as the most practiced London rake, without the edge of cynical hedonism. He gave pleasure and took it, in an honest expression of passion and desire. This was not the remembered i
Sam’s lips trailed down her neck and along her shoulder, and lower still to the curve of her breast until, finally, he took her nipple into his mouth and curled his tongue around it. Her low moan of pleasure echoed through the room. Sam’s mouth became hot and greedy in response. His hands skimmed over her bare flesh, creating little sparks of erotic fire everywhere he touched. Wilhelmina kneaded his back and shoulders with restless desire, and in turn explored him more intimately with lips and teeth and tongue.
When at long last he drove himself into her in a single deep thrust, she welcomed him with i
There was no awkwardness between them, even after all these years. There was only ease and rightness as their bodies joined. Wilhelmina could not be certain what his thoughts were, whether or not he was still thinking of all those other men, but her thoughts were on Sam alone, and no one else. A potent warmth rushed through her, welled up, and filled her. She almost became lost in the drugging sensuality of his powerful thrusts, the way he lifted her hips for deeper access, but she never forgot that it was Sam who was inside her, Sam who was loving her.
He prolonged the loving, keeping himself in check, sometimes stilling inside her with a visible effort not to climax before she did. When her body finally stiffened, then convulsed into a succulent crescendo of passion, he followed close behind with his own release. Burying his face in her shoulder and his hands in her hair, he pumped faster and faster, calling out her name, until he collapsed on top of her.
Panting and wet, they melted into each other in sheer satiated bliss. After several long moments, Sam rolled off her and gathered her against him. He kissed her so tenderly, it made her want to weep. Within a moment, he fell into a deep sleep, but not before whispering in her ear: “I love you, Willie. I’ve always loved you.”
The cock’s crow woke him. Or maybe it was the barking dogs or the church bell. Sam soon became aware of a morning’s chorus of activity. The clank and clatter of harnesses being set to teams. The crunch of wheels on gravel. The whi
Sam was exhausted, but sublimely happy. Willie was snuggled beside him, still sound asleep. There had been little sleep for either of them last night. They had made love three times during the night, something he’d not done since he was a very young man. In truth, he felt like a boy this morning, ready to take on the world. With Willie at his side.
Sam thought of kissing her awake and making love to her in the golden light of morning, but it seemed greedy and selfish. They would have a lifetime of mornings. Instead, he would let her sleep a while longer.
He slid carefully out of bed-dear God, he could easily get used to those crisp linen sheets-and found a pitcher of water on a washstand. It was freezing, but he splashed his face and washed up a bit before unearthing his clothes from the heap on the floor. He was almost dressed when he heard Willie stir. He sat beside her on the bed and kissed her.
“Good morning, Willie girl.”
“Sam.” She sat up and smiled, but her eyes seemed wistful and almost sad. “Thank you for waiting to say good-bye.”
A tiny knot twisted in his gut. Good-bye?
“Last night was wonderful. Glorious. It has been such a pleasure to see you again, Sam, and to talk out all that was between us. And to make love with you. What a night you have given me! I will never forget it.”
Her smile became a bit unsteady and her eyes looked over-bright. But her voice was even, and her intent clear.
“Thank you, Sam. And God’s speed to you.”
Did she really think he was going to leave her after finally finding her again? After loving her again? “I’m not going anywhere, Willie.”
“Yes, you are. You must go to Clophill and the Fullbrooks.”
He took one of her hands and caressed it. “Do you think I can walk away from you after last night?”
“Yes. You must.”
“No, I must not.” Sam could not understand why she was saying such things. After she’d slept naked in his arms. “God, Willie, I want to marry you. I want to spend my life with you. I was your first love, my girl, and I want to be your last love.”
She sat up straighter, wrapping the coverlet around her breasts. “What we had together back in Porthruan, the love we shared, was a very special thing, Sam. But what I did-”
“Willie, stop! I don’t blame you for-”
“-what I did with my life changed everything, irreparably. I am not the girl you once loved and never can be. We ca
“Then let us go forward.”
“We can’t. There’s too much behind us.”
He took both her hands in his, willing her to trust him. “Willie, sweetheart, this could be a second chance for us. We don’t often get second chances in life.”
“I’m sorry, Sam, I can’t. It won’t work. There are no second chances. I’m sorry.”
The stubborn woman! Why was she being so difficult? He made an effort to keep anger and frustration out of his voice. “Why? Why won’t it work? It may have been impossible once, when there was too much guilt and pain, on both sides. But that’s long past. There is nothing now to keep us apart.”