Captive Pride (35 page)

Slowly Noah raised up above her, and bracing himself on his forearms, he stared down at her. How could it be that this woman had such a hold on his emotions? He didn't understand it, and right now he didn't even want to think about it.

“CC…” he said softly, “you feel so perfect to me….”

“Oh, Noah…” She blushed at his description and looped her arms about his neck to pull him down for a sweet, gentle kiss. “You feel good to me, too.”

His lips left hers to explore the sensitive flesh of her throat, and CC felt shivers of delight course through her.

“You know, we could stay like this all night….” he murmured. Moving even lower, he caught the taut crest of one breast gently between his teeth and nipped at it in a pain-pleasure caress that left her clutching weakly at his shoulders.

“Noah…don't…oh, Noah…” CC threw her head back, arching her breasts to him, wanting more even as she was frightened by her abandoned response to his sensual punishment.

What slight pain there had been turned to ecstasy as he drew the tender bud into his mouth and sucked gently.

“There's nothing I want more than to hold you and please you….” he swore against the soft flesh of her breast.

His lips and tongue were doing such marvelous things to her that she began to move restlessly beneath him. He stoked the glowing embers of her need to life again, creating a whirlpool of desire that swept her up in its power. CC hadn't meant to say it, had never wanted to reveal the truth of her need for him, but in a moment of mindless delight, she cried out to him, “Please, Noah…don't ever leave me….”

Noah stiffened at her words, and though he wanted to promise that he would stay with her forever, he knew it would be a lie. No matter how much he wanted her, no matter how much he craved the ecstasy of her lovemaking, he could not stay. Everything that was important to him was in England, and that was where he belonged.

When the heights of her ecstasy had passed, CC lay sobbing in his arms. His mastering of her senses had been complete, and she felt weak and well loved.

“Oh, Noah.” Gazing up at him, she sighed, the love she felt for him shining in the emerald depths of her eyes. “Being with you is so wonderful, I wish we never had to part.”

“I'm afraid that's not possible, my dear.” His tone was almost aloof as he shifted away from her.

The moment of true intimacy was shattered by his coolness, and CC stiffened, suddenly wary of him.

“You don't want me?” she challenged.

“Of course I want you,” Noah replied quickly, his gaze raking with scalding intent over her slender, supple form. He knew that it would be senseless to try to deny it after the passion they'd just shared.

“Then I don't understand,” she frowned, trying to figure out exactly what he meant.

Noah suddenly realized that the rest of his life seemed empty without CC, and he knew he couldn't possibly leave her when it came time for him to sail. He wanted her. He needed her. Noah thought of what a beautiful Lady Kincade she would make and how she would grace Kincade Hall, and he knew then that he wanted her to be his wife. CC would be perfect at his side. She was gorgeous, far more attractive than any of the women about the
ton
. She would do the Kincade name justice, and her father's reputation would put her in good stead with his peers, colonial or not.

“CC, you know that I'll be going back to England in the spring.” He met her gaze seriously. “Marry me and return with me.”

CC stared at him for a long moment in speechless disbelief. He had just proposed. It was what she had dreamed of, and yet, even as he had offered her marriage, he had made no mention of loving her. She had seen marriages undertaken without love, and they had seemed torturous for all parties involved. As much as she loved him, she knew it would be useless.

“No, Noah, I can't.” It broke her heart to refuse.

Her refusal stunned him. He had never proposed to a woman before, and he had never expected her to turn him down. Anger surged through him.

“Why not? Is it this damned cause you're so involved in? Walk away and leave it! As Lady Kincade, you would take London by storm….” he offered, not imagining the real reason for her rejection.

“Noah…” She spoke his name miserably as she waited for him to say the words that would win her heart and her undying love, but they never came.

“I could give you everything you've ever wanted….” Noah went on, thinking that the promise of riches would win her.

“I have everything I've ever wanted, thank you!” CC grew livid. He was making her sound just like a kept woman!

“But, CC, I could take care of you and protect you….” He was, after all, Lord Kincade, Noah thought with more than a little pomposity.

Her fury knew no bounds! So he wanted to take care of her and protect her, did he? He was just like John, only worse! John at least had professed to love her! Noah had told her only that he wanted her, nothing more. No doubt he wanted her only to be an ornament for him to put on display…to grace his life, to decorate his hall, and to warm his bed. He wanted her to become a mindless, simpering nothing, just like all the other aristocrats she'd ever met, and she wouldn't do it.

“I don't need you or anyone else to take care of me!” CC was seething as she moved jerkily away, standing up and beginning to pull on her clothing.

Her abrupt anger startled him and he stared at her in confusion, trying to understand her reaction to his words. “It's certain that you need
someone
to take care of you!”

CC regarded him sadly. His command of her senses had been total. His possession of her body had been powerful and exciting. Still, for all the wonder of having shared the delights of loving him, there had been no meeting of their hearts. It had only been their bodies that had touched, and CC found, to her despair, that she could not separate the two. What touched her physically also touched her emotionally. If she loved with her body, she also loved with her mind.

Noah, she understood painfully, made no such distinction. While their passionate mating had only succeeded in deepening what she already felt for him, it had only been another sexual encounter for him. She had thrown herself at him, and he had taken what she offered. The thought thoroughly distressed her, and she knew she had to get away from him.

“Since it's obvious that you hold such a low opinion of me, I see no reason for us to have any further contact,” she told him coldly as she quickly tugged on her breeches. “From now on, stay completely away from me.”

Noah, still dumbstruck by her manner, could only stare at her in mute surprise. Mistaking his silence as threatening, CC wheeled about to glare at him.

“I mean it, Noah. I don't ever want to speak with you or see you again if we can avoid it; do you understand? Whatever it was we shared, and I hesitate to call what happened between us a love affair, it's over…. You've always known how I felt about you. Why did you think I'd changed?”

“I didn't know that it was normal for a woman to make love to a man she despises.” Noah's gaze turned steely as he regarded her.

“As I said a long time ago, what happens between us defies explanation. That's precisely why I want you to stay away from me.”

“Believe me, my dear Miss Demorest, it will be my pleasure to avoid your chaotic company.”

CC slipped into her shirt and quickly buttoned it as Noah began pulling on his own breeches. He was still only partially dressed when she started from the stable.

“CC…where are you going?”

Her gaze glittered in furious defiance. “I told you before, Kincade, I don't need or want your protection!”

With that she disappeared out of the building and into the chill of the December night.

Noah was shrugging into his frock coat when the knock came at his door. “Who is it?”

“It's Marty from the
Lorelei,
m'lord,” the young cabin boy answered respectfully. “I've got a message for you from Captain Russell. He says it's important.”

“Come in, Marty,” Noah called out, glancing toward the door as the youngster came inside.

“Thank you, Lord Kincade.” Marty, a small, skinny lad raised in the slums of England, was in awe of Noah, and he bobbed a nervous nod in his direction. He found the fact that he was even speaking to the nobleman amazing, and he was determined to do a good job of it.

“What is it Captain Russell felt was so important?” he asked, picking up his greatcoat, ready to depart as soon as their conversation was at an end.

“He said to tell you that the
Sea Pride
has been sighted and that she should make port within three days.”

Noah smiled widely in confident satisfaction. “That's excellent news, and I appreciate your delivering it to me, Marty.”

“Yes, m'lord.”

“Take this for your trouble and tell your good captain that I will be speaking with him very soon.” Noah handed the boy a coin and then saw him to the door.

“I'll do that, sir, and thank you.”

When the young man had gone, Noah moved back to the washstand to check his appearance one last time in the small mirror there. Satisfied that he looked his best, he donned his greatcoat and started on his way to the Hammond house. Noah had been invited to dinner tonight in honor of Matt's birthday, and now it looked as if they had even more to celebrate. Within a matter of days his negotiations would be completed, and he'd be well on his way to rebuilding their lost fortune.

Noah's spirits were high when he arrived at their home, and he was welcomed warmly by Faith, Matthew, and Ruth. The meal was enjoyable and the conversation flowed easily as he and Matt both chose to avoid the issues that caused problems between them.

“I have news that will be of interest to you, Matthew,” Noah finally told him as they retired, alone, to the parlor after dinner. “Oh?”

“Just as I was leaving the inn to come here tonight I received word that the
Pride
has been sighted and is within three days of port.”

Matthew was pleased but solemn as he answered, “It's not a moment too soon, considering what's probably going to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“Since the ‘tea party' last week, rumors have been flying that there definitely will be reprisals against us. Dispatches carrying the news of our actions are already on their way back to Parliament.”

“Do you have any idea what might be done?”

“It's hard to say. Whatever happens, the colonists…” Matthew paused, realizing that he could no longer talk about the revolutionaries from an outsider's standpoint, for he was one of them now. “
We're
not going to stand for it.”

A sardonic smile curved Noah's mouth. “That's quite a change from the argument you gave me in the beginning about how I was betraying my country by selling war supplies to the insurgents.”

Matt knew he should be angered by his brother's sarcastic comment, but he chose to ignore it. “Yes, I suppose it is,” he agreed, “but I've learned a lot since then.”

“Such as?” Noah had thought Matt might argue with him, and his brother's capitulation surprised him.

“Such as, a man must have justice if he is to survive.”

“How noble,” he replied.

“I'm not being noble, Noah,” Matt stated sharply. “I'm being realistic. It's not fair for Parliament to try to keep such strict control over the growth and activities of the colonies. If the Crown decides to punish us for our attempts to put things to rights, then there will be trouble.”

“And you're now willing to take up arms for that cause?”

“Yes. I am,” he answered with firm conviction.

“I find it totally contradictory that you condemned me for selling the arms to the colonists, and yet now you're willing to make use of them yourself.”

“I am willing to fight, because I truly believe in what I am fighting for.” Matthew fixed him with a penetrating regard. “You, on the other hand, are making the sale out of a pure love of money, not for any finer moral principle. You profess to be loyal to the Crown, yet you show no hesitation in making a fast profit dealing in goods that will most assuredly be used against representatives of the very government you say holds your devotion. That was what I found distressing originally, and now that I know the truth of things here…”

Noah's gaze turned cold as he shrugged. “What is there about this movement that everyone is so ardent in its defense?”

“It's a matter of justice, Noah,” Matt replied slowly.

“For you maybe, but not for me,” he replied bluntly when Matt had finished speaking. “You know my only reason for coming to this godforsaken land was to recoup our losses. I am not interested in your cause. My goal has not changed, and I see no point in discussing this. We have agreed to disagree. We each have different goals in our lives. I have come to accept yours. I would expect the same consideration from you.”

“I don't like feeling that we're at odds with each other. I thought if you came to understand my…our point of view, it might help you to decide….”

“Decide?” Noah looked at him in amazement.

Matt looked him straight in the eye as he answered, “Decide to join with me and work for the revolution.”

“My life is in England, Matthew. You know that.”

“But it doesn't have to be! You could live here. We could continue Kincade Shipping on a small scale and work right here, out of Boston.”

“No.”

“Don't you care about anything except reclaiming our ‘lost' heritage? What about CC?”

“What about her?” He was suddenly on the defensive. He did not want to think about her or talk about her.

“I had thought that there was something between the two of you.”

“You thought wrong,” he answered harshly. “CC means nothing to me.” Even as he said it, he knew it was a lie, for CC was the first and only woman he'd ever actually asked to become his wife. The memory of her refusal still had the power to hurt him. “Nor do the colonies.”

His determined response quelled any hope Matt had of encouraging him to his own way of thinking, and he sighed deeply to himself, feeling more discouraged than ever.

“Now, back to the subject of business.” Noah quickly dismissed the other discussion, not wanting to dwell any further on their differences. “Since it's not safe for me to make direct contact with Graves or Smith, I want you to send word to them that the shipment will be here probably by the week's end. I expect the balance due me delivered before I turn over the supplies.”

“I'll tell him. Do you want CC to be the one to bring the payment to you at the inn again?”

“No!” Noah's answer was abrupt. He wanted to stay as far away from CC as he could. She was the last person in the world he wanted to see.

“No? Is there a problem?” Matt asked, wondering at his reaction.

Noah glowered at him. “No, there's no problem. I just think it's too dangerous for her to be involved. Have them think of another way to get the money to me, but I want to have it in hand before we go any further with this deal.”

“All right,” he answered, finding his brother's protectiveness of CC curious if, as he said, she meant nothing to him. “How do you plan to get the arms to them? Are you going to have them smuggled in?”

“Smuggling's no good. Demorest already knows that the
Pride
is due in port at any time and that she's carrying arms. I thought it would be more convincing if the goods were to be stolen off the ship while it's in the harbor. If the rebels were brazen enough to dump the tea, certainly they'd be willing to board a merchant ship carrying arms, don't you think?”

Matt nodded thoughtfully. “We'll just have to be very careful. Violence was avoided when we dumped the tea, and I want to make sure there's not any trouble when the arms are taken.”

“I don't foresee any problems.” Noah was confident that his idea would work. When all was said and done, he and Matthew would come out of it looking the innocent victims. “Just tell them to get the money to me, and I'll take care of the rest.”

The women rejoined them then, and the conversation drifted to other things. Noah brought up the subject of the party to be held the following evening at Major Winthrop's home.

“We received the invitation before your elopement. Do you plan on attending?” Noah asked.

Matthew stiffened perceptibly at the thought of attending a ball in the home of the man who'd made so light of the attack on Faith. “Please extend our regrets.”

“You won't be going?”

“I wouldn't grace Winthrop's funeral with my presence,” Matt disdained. “I have little use for the man. He's an ass.”

“I find your assessment most accurate,” Noah commented dryly, “and would prefer to beg off myself, but image is everything at this point. I must show my loyalty to the Crown at every opportunity if the arrangement with the rebels is to come off smoothly. I certainly can't give the authorities any reason to doubt me, especially since we still don't know who it is who's having me followed.”

“I'm sure you haven't given them any reason to worry. I can't help but wish you had.”

Sensing another confrontation, Noah cut him off curtly. “Matthew!”

“Think about all I've said, Noah. My life will be here now.” He gazed fondly at Faith before looking back up at his brother. “I'd like yours to be, too.”

Noah stood up, “You know my plans. I don't intend to change them. If you'll excuse me? It's getting late.”

“Of course.” Matt realized that he had pushed him too far.

“I'll bid you all good night. Ladies…”

Matt did not regret his attempt to reconcile Noah to his own way of thinking, but he knew that he should say no more at this time. He walked with him to the door and watched as his brother pulled on his greatcoat.

“I'm glad you came to dinner, Noah.” It was a heartfelt statement.

“Thank you for the invitation.” His answer was brusque, the pressure he'd felt at Matt's effort to convert him from his own goals having taken the comfortable glow from the evening. “You'll be in touch?”

Matt nodded. “I'll give Graves the information as soon as possible and then get back to you with his reply.”

“I'll be waiting. Be sure he understands that time is of the essence. We have to work this right or all could be lost.”

“I'll tell him.”

 

Ryan Graves looked at Joshua Smith, his expression strained. “There's no way we can do it.”

Smith stared blankly at the closed door through which Matthew had just exited. “I know. I had thought there would be more time…. What can we do?”

“There's only one thing we can do, and that's ask him to let us take delivery on the arms and then trust us to come up with the rest of the money later.” Graves was desperate.

“Kincade's a hard one,” Smith observed. “He's not going to give a damn about our motives or our promises. He's already threatened to sell to the redcoats, and I don't doubt for a minute that he would.”

“If he does, we've lost everything…including the first half of our payment.”

“It was a dangerous agreement from the start.”

“I know, but I was so positive that we'd have the funds by the time the materials arrived.”

“What are you going to do?”

“There's only one thing I can do. I've got to go to him and ask him for an extension in the payback.”

“And if he says no?”

Graves looked defeated. “I'll worry about that when it happens.”

 

It was late, and the taproom of the Green Dragon Inn was almost deserted. Seated at a table in a secluded, dark corner, Noah faced Ryan Graves. His expression was stony as he regarded the rebel leader.

“Graves.” His tone was deadly. “We had an agreement. The balance was to be due and payable upon the delivery of the merchandise.”

“Yes, we did, Lord Kincade,” Graves agreed miserably.

“And now you're telling me that you can't meet those terms?”

“Not exactly…” he hedged.

“What, then, are you telling me
exactly
?”

“When we made the agreement, I thought there would be more time to get the money together.”

Noah was cold and indifferent to his problems. He wanted the cash due him, and he wanted it now. He had made the deal in good faith. “I'm sorry if I'm not particularly sympathetic to your problem, Graves.”

Graves paled at his statement. “Lord Kincade,” he began earnestly, “we will pay you the full amount due. You have my word on it.”

“I had your word before that you would have the money by the time the merchandise arrived,” Noah told him. “I'm afraid there isn't any reason to continue our discussion. The
Pride
will probably make port late tomorrow or Sunday. Have the money to me by then, or the deal is off.”

“But Lord Kincade…!”

Noah got to his feet, his gaze dispassionate upon the other man. “I expect to be hearing from you soon.”

Girding himself, Graves looked up. His eyes locked with Kincade's silver ones and he thought the nobleman's eyes the coldest he'd ever seen. “I'll do my best.”

With a curt nod, Noah left him.

 

Graves was a defeated man as he faced those gathered in the back room of the Green Dragon's stables the next day. “I have news for you, and I'm afraid it's not encouraging.”

Everyone turned their attention to him, wondering what terrible thing had happened.