Payton's Woman (20 page)

His words didn’t startle
her, but the sound of his breath next to her ear made her shiver. She turned
her head slightly to move her ear from his lips and attempted to look at his
face.

“Are you shocked?” he
asked.

“Merely surprised. I
wasn’t certain how you felt about me. You’ve changed these last few weeks.”

When he made a murmuring
sound of question, she tried to clarify. “You haven’t tried to kiss me once.”

His lips glided down her
cheek and pressed at the corner of her mouth. “That’s because when I kiss you,
I never want to stop. And since you seemed to believe the only thing I want
from you is to get you into my bed, I wanted you to see for yourself that wasn’t
my only goal.”

He turned her in his
arms so she faced him. “I also wanted to prove that I could be the kind of man
who could earn your brother’s approval and, if he were alive, would allow me to
court his little sister.”

“Oh, Payton.” She moved
her hands up his arms to his shoulders. “If only you could’ve met Reggie. He
was so wonderful. I know he would’ve approved of you.”

“What about your
approval?”

“You must know you
already have it. Every moment I’ve spent with you has been marvelous. It’s been
a long time since I’ve been this happy.”

“I’ve been happy, too. I
don’t want it to end.”

She could feel the
warmth of his body, see the heat in his eyes. He bent over her. His mouth moved
towards hers. She didn’t want this to end either, but they stood in someone
else’s yard.

“It’s going to have to
end for tonight.” She tried to put some levity in her voice so he wouldn’t
notice her longing. “Mrs. Collins said she’d be ready to leave in fifteen
minutes. We’ve been out here twice that long.”

Reluctantly, he relaxed
his hold of her. “I’ll meet you in the park tomorrow.”

“I can’t. Tomorrow
afternoon is the garden party. I’ll be much too busy to get away.” She glanced
at his face. She wanted to memorize his every detail so she could recall him
when they were apart. “When I addressed the invitations, I noticed your name
wasn’t on the guest list. That means we won’t see each other until the next
day.”

“The next day?”

An odd note sounded in
his voice. She listened intently to his words.

“I don’t think that will
be possible. I wanted to put this off until tomorrow, but I suppose I’ll have
to tell you now. Something’s come up, and I have to leave for awhile.”

“You’re getting command
of a ship?” All the breath left her body.

“No, that’s not why I’m
leaving. There’s something else I have to take care.”

“It doesn’t matter. I
always knew you’d leave.” She steeled herself so her emotions didn’t show. She
lifted her chin, squared her shoulders, and forced herself to speak calmly. “I
guess this is goodbye. I wish you a safe voyage, captain.”

“Julia.” He gripped her
arms when she tried to turn away. “I’ll be back.”

“When? In a year or two.”

“I’ll only be gone a few
days, maybe a week. There’s some business I have to attend to.”

“But you’ll leave
eventually. You can’t afford not to work. You’ll get a ship, and then off you’ll
sail.”

He shrugged at the
inevitably of her statement. “Aye, but not right away.”

“It doesn’t matter when.
You’ll still be gone.” She put her fingers to her lips when they began to
tremble, but she couldn’t prevent the sob in her voice when she spoke. “Why did
I let you do this to me? Why couldn’t you have left when I first asked you? Why
did you have to wait until I fell...”

“Before you what?” He
held her tighter when she struggled to pull away from him. “Fell in love with
me?”

“Please, let me go.” She
twisted out of his grip. “I don’t want to discuss this now. You said you’d be
back in a few days. We can talk then.”

As soon as he released
her, she darted through the double doors that led into the ballroom. Sylvia
appeared out of nowhere and followed her.

“Do slow down, Julia. I
can’t keep up with you.” She talked as fast as they walked. “What is it? A
lover’s quarrel? No, it can’t be that. You’re not lovers. It’s so obvious. You
still have that innocent look about you. I admire you for wanting to stay a
virgin until you marry, but what will you have to compare your husband to if
you never experience other men?” She glanced over her shoulder to where Payton
stood next to the double doors. “Although with some men, there may be no equal.”

“Goodnight, Sylvia.”
Julia struggled into her cloak.

“Don’t worry about the captain,
darling.” A sly look developed in her eyes. “I’ll take good care of him after
you’re gone.”

Chapter Eighteen

Julia wiped at the tears
with the sleeve of her nightgown before looking at her reflection in the tiny
mirror. Her eyelids were puffy and swollen. She shook her head in disgust. This
crying must stop. To busy herself, she picked up a brush and stroked the
bristles through the tangles in her hair.

Once more, she called
herself every kind of a fool for allowing Payton to work his way into her
heart. She needed this she told herself in consolation. His departure would rip
out what remained of her heart and leave her without any emotion. Then she
could continue with her plan with nothing left to stop her.

His feelings for her were
strong, but after he went to sea, those feelings would fade. Then perhaps he
wouldn’t suffer too cruelly when he learned of her fate, for she’d never
deceived herself about the possible outcome of her plan.

Her search for Lawrence
Dunbar carried dangerous consequences. She wasn’t physically strong, nor was
she skilled with weapons. If she ever came face-to-face with her brother’s murderer,
she could end up being Dunbar’s next victim.

A single knock at the window
startled her from the morbid thinking. The noise sounded like someone tapped on
the pane, but she knew that couldn’t be possible. Her small room perched on the
third floor of the house.

The rap came again—a light
clinking against the glass. The dressing table set near the window. She stood
and looked out, but the candlelight caused a glare and all she saw was her reflection.

She pulled back the
curtains and lifted the sash. Cautiously, she peered out into the night.

The partial moon
illuminated the yard below. Near the edge of the neatly trimmed lawn stood the shadowy
figure of a man. The exposed front of his white shirt glowed in the moonlight. She
couldn’t distinguish his features, but she recognized him.

“Julia,” Payton called
out in a hushed voice. “Come down here. I need to talk to you.”

“Go away. I can’t talk
now.” She didn’t want to see him now that she’d just convinced herself he’d be
better off without her.

When she closed the
window, he threw a tiny pebble against the pane. She opened it again and stuck out
her head. “Stop that. You’re going to break the glass.”

“Come down.”

“I can’t.”

“Then I’ll come up.”

“That’s not possible. The
house is locked.”

“This is your last
chance.” He planted his fists on his hips. His feet spread apart in a defiant
stance as he looked around at the back of the house. “Come down, or I’m coming
up.”

He might be determined,
but so was she. “I am not coming down.”

In an angry stride, he headed
to the back of the house. He stripped away some of his clothing as he walked. His
dinner jacket, vest, and tie lay scattered across the lawn where he tossed
them.

When he reached the porch-covered
back entrance, he put his foot on the top of the rail and climbed up. He lunged
upward and grasped the edge of the roof with both hands. In one powerful motion,
he pulled himself up onto the slightly pitched roof.

In that same determined
stance, with his fists planted on his hips, he looked at her. “Are you coming
down here, or do I climb up the rest of the way?”

She turned away from the
window. Her gaze darted around the room as she searched for some way to
discourage him from coming to her room. Her door had been bolted, but if he
crawled up the back of the house, a locked door wouldn’t matter.

Her heavy walking boot
peeked out from under the bed. She grabbed it and returned to the open window.

“I said go away.” She
hurled the high top boot.

He ducked, avoiding the
flying projectile. One arm came up to shield his head. The boot bounced off his
elbow with a thud.

She pressed her hand
over her mouth to muffle a gasp. She hadn’t intended to hit him.

A string of swear words
and dire threats tumbled from his lips as he stomped across the roof to the
side of the house. He stepped onto the small, decorative ledge attached to the
house that separated the first floor from the second. His toes barely fit the
protruding board. He edged his way along the side of the house, grabbing the
window frames with his fingertips by balance.

Leaning out as far as
she could, she watched in growing horror as he crept along the ledge. He grabbed
the eave and swung up onto the roof. Hunched over, he walked up the steep
incline toward the small gabled structure that protruded from the roof.

“You lock that,” he said,
when she tried to close her window, “and I swear I’ll break it.”

She moved back and
waited for him to crawl through the opening. Nervously, she pulled at the
neckline of her nightgown until he stood safely in her room.

“What do you want?” she
demanded in a low voice.

“I wanted to talk to
you,” he said between clenched teeth. His hand rubbed at his elbow. “Now I’d
like to turn you across my knee for a good spanking. My entire arm tingles from
where you hit me with that boot.”

“It was your own fault. You
really showed a lack of intelligence crawling around on the house like that. You
could’ve fallen and killed yourself.”

“Not bloody likely. I’ve
been climbing around on masts and riggings all my life with things far more
dangerous than ladies’ slippers being hurled at me.”

Her anger waned. She
hadn’t meant to cause him pain. “If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t mean
to hurt you. I generally have such poor aim that if I’d actually tried to hit
you, I most likely would’ve missed the porch entirely.”

“If that’s an apology, I
accept.”

“It’s not. You shouldn’t
have come up here. With all your climbing and thumping around on the roof, you’ve
likely woken everyone in the house.”

“It was the only way I
could get you to listen to me.”

“It appears as though I’m
your captive audience now.” She crossed her arms under her breasts. “So say
whatever it is that’s so important that you thought you had to risk your life
in order to tell me.”

The muscles bunched in
his jaw as he stared at her. “I can’t say it now, not with you in this kind of
mood.”

“My mood isn’t likely to
change anytime soon, so if you can’t tell me, you might as well leave.”

He folded his arms over
his chest, imitating her annoyed stance. “You keep telling me that, and one of
these days I will leave—for good.”

In the brief time she’d
known Payton, she’d been happy. When he left, and he would eventually, whether
she told him to or not, her heart would break. She closed her eyes, for the agony
she felt seemed like a knife twisting in her chest. She didn’t know why he’d
come here tonight, but if she only had this one moment with him, she’d take it.
Only the memories remained of those she loved. She would gather as many as she
could with Payton. Then perhaps one day, when she sat alone in her room, she
could recall these stolen moments and use them to console herself.

He turned away from her
and stuck one leg out the window. She grabbed his arm before he crawled out.

“Don’t go. Not just yet.”
She wanted to feel the heat of his body, breath in his masculine scent, and
savior the taste of his kiss one last time.

Her arms slipped around
his neck. She pulled him to her. Her lips pressed against his mouth in an
urgent kiss.

“Easy, Angel.” His hands
clasped her waist, and he eased her back from his body. “I didn’t come here to
seduce you.”

“Then I’ll seduce you.” Her
fingers threaded through his dark hair. She tightened her hand into a fist and pulled
him closer.

Payton didn’t need
further encouragement. His arms encircled her waist. He pulled her against his
aching body. His mouth pressed against hers with the same urgency. The moist
heat of her mouth engulfed him for a moment before he slipped his tongue
between her lips and stroked across the hot, velvety surface of her tongue.

His hands skimmed down
her back to her firm, round bottom, and he cupped her with both hands, lifting
her to him. She twined one leg around his thigh. He lifted her higher so her
other foot came off the floor and both legs wrapped around his waist, locking
her to his throbbing arousal.

One hand held her bottom
for support while his other wandered over her body to her breast. When his
thumb brushed at her nipple, he felt it harden beneath the cotton cloth, but he
craved warm, naked flesh against his fingertips. He found the opening of her
nightgown and unfastened the four tiny buttons that hid her body from his view.
He tugged the material from her shoulder, baring her breast.

His mouth moved from
hers, and he placed nibbling kisses down her neck and over her collar bone. He
brushed his lips over her breast and stroked his tongue across the taunt peak
just before sucking her nipple into his mouth.

Gasps of pleasure
slipped between her clenched teeth. She grabbed at his shoulders and pushed
against him, lifting higher so her breast pressed more fully against his mouth.

Her back arched, making
her long, blonde hair flow around her like a waterfall of golden honey. She
turned her head from side to side as though lost in the moment.