ROMANCE: His Reluctant Heart (Historical Western Victorian Romance) (Historical Mail Order Bride Romance Fantasy Short Stories) by Jane Prescott Read Free Book Online Page B

she was not yet allowed up and about the ship, she whiled away the hours daydreaming about the smell of Edwin’s skin, the masterful way he bent her over the edge of the bed and stroked the length of her creamy white back in tandem with the rocking of the ship over the waves. 
                  Every conceivable position had been explored after Meg overcame her natural shyness.  Edwin had taught her to ask for exactly what she wanted, no matter how strange it may seem; he said he preferred to know if there was anything he could do.  The hardest part of all for Meg was to trust that Edwin wanted her as much as she did him.  Of course, it was clear to the rest of the crew that their captain was head over water wheels for the genteel lady on board.  Captain Edwin had sailed miles off of their charted course and they had not had any looting in weeks.  There was a rumbling on board, talk of the captain having his wits wiped by a woman, and how it was bad luck to have a female on board at all.
                  But Edwin paid no attention to any of this.  His efforts were concentrated on getting Meg to come out of her shell.  For some reason, the silly girl had no idea how wild she was driving him.  He had never felt this way about a woman before, but perhaps it was because he had never been with a woman this enchantingly innocent.  The way she held her bottom lip between her teeth when he buried his face between her thighs and grabbed the sheets below her haunted his passing hours; instead of the horizon before him, instead of the ship splitting the waters, he Meg on her stomach, asking him to cover her with his body, to enter her the way only boys are entered, driving him crazy with the intensity of her sweetness and the wantonness she kept so close to her heart.  How he wanted to realize her true potential as a seductress!
                  Which is why the punishment he had devised for the mutinous crew member was a special one.  He had discovered the man leading a covert meeting down below the galley and had dealt him one swift blow to the ear that had knocked him right off his feet.  He recognized him as Sean McSully, the youngest and most hotheaded of the crew; the boy was barely nineteen but had the long, rangy muscles of a man who has worked his life on a ship, and with just the right amount of scars left over from tavern brawls to give his face character and an air of danger.  Add to that steely gray eyes, a mop of long blonde hair, and what Edwin judged to be a cock of enthusiastic youth, and oh yes, Sean would fit the bill quite nicely.
                  Once he had picked himself up off the floor, Sean tried to lunge himself at Edwin, only to be soundly rebuffed by a swift blow to the stomach just above his groin.  Meg heard herself gasp with shock; she had never seen the violent side of Edwin before.  It had been so easy to imagine him as the tender, masterful lover rather than a captain of a rough and rowdy crew that needed to be soundly checked at every juncture.  She saw Sean rise repeatedly, only to find himself licking Edwin’s boots every time he tried.  Finally, snarling, Sean retreated to the corner of the room where he looked at Edwin with murderous eyes.
                  “I’m glad you know your place now, Sean.  Because if you try to attack me again, I’ll leave more than just your lip bleeding,” Edwin told the enraged youth who was wiping his mouth.  “Meg,” he said, turning to the nude woman in his bed, his tone considerably gentler.  “Help our young usurper to a chair, will you?”  Meg reached for her gown where it lay on the silken chair next to the bed, but Edwin stopped her with a glance.  “Do it as you are now.”
                  Cheeks burning with the shame of another crew member seeing her this way, Meg rose from the bed, the gentle curves of her body drawing the eyes of both men.  She reached her