Page 47 of The Pirate and the Pagan
The formal dinner had lasted two hours, so it wasn’t until after ten o’clock that the assembly moved en masse to the gaming tables to indulge their passion for cards. Soon the tables were piled high with gold coins.
Ruark gave his wife a small bag of gold, squeezed her hand, and encouraged her to sit with the ladies while he joined Jack and Bunny Grenvile at dice. The room was soon filled with laughter, the whisper of cards being shuffled, and the click-click of dice tumbling from their wooden casting boxes. The players moved from table to table, changing from bassette or whist to ombre or trick track.
Whenever Summer found herself playing beside a gentleman, he offered to let her play from his privy purse and she marveled at the easy and negligent way they gambled away their wealth.
Finally Summer found herself sitting at a table with Barbara Castlemaine, Anna Maria, Countess of Shrewsbury, and Lady Anne Carnegie, who, up close, was ridiculously overpainted. Barbara had a reputation for betting heavily and losing more than she won. “Gads, I swear I’m bored to death with this godforsaken country. I’ll be glad to get back to England, I’ll warrant you,” Barbara said, yawning.
Summer was stung and rose to the bait. “Cornwall is England, Lady Castlemaine. It was the only county to remain loyal to His Majesty.”
“Gads, that was all so long ago, but I swear ’tis all you hear about here at the back of beyond. Lady Anne, those are fine sapphires you are wearing tonight. Why don’t we play for our jewels instead of money, just to make the play the tiniest bit interesting?”
The Countess of Shrewsbury knew her friend Barbara was hardly interested in sapphires. No, it was Helford’s bride’s rubies she had her eye on. Barbara had a small collection of rubies and her fingers fairly itched to add to that collection.
After a very short time of play Barbara began to win every hand. There was absolutely no way Summer was going to lose the Helford rubies to Barbara, so she began to cheat blatantly. Barbara didn’t dare accuse her of dealing from the bottom because that’s exactly what she had been doing herself, though less skillfully.
After an hour’s concentrated play Summer became the new owner of Barbara’s topaz necklace, Anne’s sapphires, and Anna Maria’s pearls. Only Lady Anne looked worried. “What in blazes am I going to tell Lord Carnegie when he asks where my jewels are?”
“You know I rather like men, but husbands are a breed apart,” drawled Barbara. “Tell him what we all say when our jewels go missing … tell him they were stolen by a highwayman.”
“The practice is common enough he just might believe it,” agreed Anne Carnegie, looking relieved.
“Did you go to see Gentleman Jackson, the famous highwayman, hold court at Newgate last month?” asked Barbara. “I swear he had a greater audience than Charles that day. Gads, it was the drollest thing I’ve seen in an age and more than one titled lady gave him ‘come hither to bed’ invitations.”
Anna Maria’s coarse laugh rang out. “Perhaps I should give him a try. We’re all looking for that one man in a million who can produce the triple orgasm. How was that contortionist from the circus, darling?” she asked Barbara spitefully.
“Shut your mouth, Anna … anyway he was a trapeze artiste.” She changed the subject back to highwaymen. “Did you hear that the Duke and Duchess of Mazarin were stopped and the damned fellow took the duchess in the bushes. When he was finished with her, he relieved the duke of fifty pounds for doing his drudgery for him!”
Anna Maria’s great whoop of laughter rang out and she begged, “Stop it, Barbara, before I pee myself.”
Ruark and Jack Grenvile strolled toward the ladies. Jack said, “You’re a lucky devil, Ruark, she makes all the other women look well used and shopworn.”
Ruark stopped behind his wife’s chair and cupped her shoulders in his hands. “It’s after midnight, darling.”
“Gads, in London we’d just be starting to wake up. After we tired of gaming, we’d dance till morning,” complained Barbara.
“You forget, Lady Castlemaine, they are on their honeymoon.” Jack Grenvile laughed. Though he was her host, Barbara was none too pleased that he had been created Earl of Bath. “If Lady Helford is as good in bed as she is at bassette, then you both have the devil’s own luck,” Jack went on.
Ruark’s manners were impeccable. Not for the world would he make a surly remark to mar the hospitality of his host and friend. He drew Summer from her chair, bowed low to the ladies, and bid his friend good night.
Just as they were about to ascend the stairs Summer spied Lady Anne Carnegie looking rather woebegone. On impulse she took the sapphires from her bag and handed them back to the overpainted young woman. “I would not like to cause trouble between a husband and wife,” she whispered.
Lady Anne, her mouth open, was bereft of words, but her eyes bespoke her gratitude. Summer felt much better about the whole thing. Her own relationship with her new husband was almost perfect and she could not bear the thought of causing angry words between another husband and wife.
The maid and manservant sat awaiting them in the blue and gold chamber. Summer wanted to dismiss them immediately, but Ruark was busy giving his valet instructions about which clothes to lay out for morning, so she did the same and told her maid she would be wearing her cream velvet walking suit, trimmed with black braid. She would also need the matching hat with its sweeping black ostrich plume and the fur muff. She would not bother with a face visor which she rather thought was an affectation of London. She heard Ruark tell his man that he would need his magistrate’s wig and robes packed, then he poured them each a glass of white Rhenish and waited rather impatiently for the man to finish his duties. When the maid began to take the pins from Summer’s hair, Ruark dismissed her with three words. “I’ll do that.” The valet set the traveling case beside the door, and Ruark slipped a couple of gold coins into his hand then turned to smile at his wife.
Summer’s conscience had begun to nag at her. “Ru, there’s no need to go all the way to Plymouth tomorrow if you’d rather be here with your friends. I suddenly find extravagance fills me with guilt.”
“I’ve had word that I must go to Launceston Castle for the assizes tomorrow. The town prison is inside the castle and at the moment it’s holding some very important prisoners. You can watch me hold court tomorrow if you like. After we’re done it’s just a short sail down the Tamar River to Plymouth.” He drained his wine and came to stand before her. “You are so unearthly fair.” He bent to brush his lips across hers and her mouth opened slightly to receive his kiss. “You are generous enough to give me everything I desire,” he said huskily, removing the pins from her hair so that the silken mass fell over his hands, “so why shouldn’t you have everything you desire?”
She sighed. “I think perhaps I already have that.” Her head fell back in sweet invitation. Never had he felt a desire like the one that overpowered him now. He wasted no time removing his clothes then he lifted her dress over her head and buried his face in the exaggerated upthrust of her breasts before he removed the tiny busk. He lifted her onto the bed, still adorned in her rubies and her lace stockings and garters, and murmured thickly, “You may keep your stockings on now to make up for this morning when I robbed you of them.”
He towered above her, gazing down at the desirable picture she made against the silken sheets. “You look absolutely decadent making love in your jewels and lace like some goddess queen.” His lips traveled to all his favorite places until her skin became so sensitive his mouth felt as if it was burning her, setting her whole body ashiver. He lifted her breasts with his palms and his tongue teased her ruching nipples, then licked the silken skin beneath each delicious globe. His lips traced her rib cage, and his hot mouth trailed down across her belly to tongue her navel. Then he kissed her lacy knees and traveled up to the bare expanse of thigh where her stockings left off. Finally he rained kisses on her swollen mons, his lips teasing the dark curls between her legs.
“Ru!” she cried in protest. His head lifted and he raised himself above her so his mouth could plunder her lips again and taste his name, which she cried out with such yearning.
Their needs became a greedy search for more and her heart cartwheeled over as his plunging hotness penetrated her like a flaming blade. With avid arms she pressed him close, then her hands slipped down over his hard flexing buttocks and her mouth sought out his small, flat nipples and sucked until they became diamond hard.
His body was fiercely demanding and his blood sang with delirious excitement. She cried out as she reached her climax, but Ruark ignored her plea for him to stop. He scythed deeply in and out until she thought she could not bear it, then miraculously she began to build again. Her cries of “stop” changed to cries of “please don’t stop.” He urged her on with heated love words, blushingly intimate and explicit. Now his hands reached beneath her to perfectly cup her bare bottom and help lift her to meet his savage downward thrusts and she cried out into the velvet darkness as she peaked again. He was teaching her boldness.
