Page 2 of A Season Beyond A Kiss (Birmingham #2)

Jeff tilted his head wonderingly as he tried to find a reason for the vivid blush now infusing his wife’s cheeks.

The fact that she was garbed in a gossamer creation and had made no effort to fly out of his reach gave him cause to think that he could woo her into his bed, if not this very moment then perhaps very, very soon.

Yet she seemed as nervous as a young chick looking into the greedy beak of a hunting hawk.

He suffered no doubt that she had been far less tense when she had voiced her decision not to go to bed with him.

“Considering my housekeeper’s fondness for children, ‘tis highly unlikely that Clara will be an only child,”

Jeff surmised, leaning near to sample his wife’s fragrance.

It was a very delicate, enticing essence, reminiscent of a fresh bouquet of spring flowers.

“It seems reasonable to assume that in a few years Cora and her husband will be needing quarters as large as the one that’s presently being built for them.”

Raelynn’s jitters had come back full force as she felt Jeffrey hovering near, and just as before, her tongue began racing off in nervous haste as she sought to hide her unease.

“Your rescue of Clara was certainly admirable, Jeffrey, but it’s my most fervent hope that I shall never have to witness such a daring feat again.

When I saw you running into that burning cabin with only a split wooden barrel shielding you from the flames, I was certain you’d be cindered right along with the house and the child.”

She smiled up at him nervously as he straightened.

He didn’t meet her gaze, but seemed oddly intrigued by the drawstring that kept her gown snugly closed at her throat.

“Truly, with everything that happened during the first days of our marriage, perhaps you can understand how grateful I am that in these past weeks I’ve been able to enjoy the serenity of your plantation.

My greatest fear is that it’s only a lull before a storm.

I know in time Gustav will try to

avenge himself for the shoulder you shat tered in spite of the fact that Olney Hyde was really the one at fault.”

“I wish I could remember shooting the scoundrel,”

Jeff murmured and ran his fingers reflectively over the scar that had been left in his scalp after Olney had shot him, an incident which had immediately caused his own pistol to discharge a leaden ball into Gustav Fridrich’s shoulder.

“Such a memory might help ease my irritation over the circumstances that have allowed Fridrich the liberty to continue his chicanery and, in spite of the warrant Rhys issued for Olney’s arrest, the fact that that young whelp is still wandering freely about somewhere.”

“You can be assured that Kingston hasn’t forgotten any of the particulars of that incident,”

Raelynn replied with a faint laugh and then scolded herself for not being more dignified and serene.

Her husband was completely self-possessed, which in comparison to her uneasy fits and starts left her feeling as awkward as a bumbling chit.

Even so, she rushed on, unwilling to give him time to dwell on her discomfiture.

“After suffering through the trauma of thinking that Olney had killed you, Kingston was nearly rolled back upon his heels when you revived.

The story seems quite humorous when he tells it, but I recall the horrible dismay I suffered far too vividly to even think of laughing over that dreadful incident.”

The only remaining impression Jeff had of those moments immediately following his return to consciousness was his butler’s slack-jawed astonishment.

That singular memory would likely abide with him for the rest of his life.

“I seem to remember Kingston saying something about an angel.

I suppose he thought it was some kind of miracle when I regained consciousness.”

“It was a miracle! If that shot had been any lower, Jeffrey Birmingham, you’d have had a large hole bored through your head, and I’d be standing here no less than a widow.”

The corners of Jeff’s mouth twitched with humor as he toyed with the delicate ribbon dangling from the bow at her throat.

“I wonder how many virgins in the last hundred years have been left bereaved by the untimely demise of their bridegrooms.

I doubt there have been many.”

A soft, fluttering sigh escaped Raelynn as he leaned forward and brushed his lips against her cheek.

From there, soft kisses trekked a leisurely descent along the creamy column of her throat.

Cautiously she laid a trembling hand against his steely chest and closed her eyes, nearly swept away by the languid caress of his mouth.

Beneath her palm, his heart nearly matched the swiftly thumping rhythm of her own, attesting to his growing involvement in his game of seduction.

“I can’t imagine that our situation is all that unique, Jeffrey.”

“Surely other men would think so, my sweet,”

he murmured, having wondered many times in the last fortnight if he was the only husband in creation whose wife was still a virgin.

Jeff marveled at her willingness to accept his warming attentions, yet he was still wary of being rebuffed.

Lifting his head, he searched her face for what emotions might be revealed in that sublime visage and was again impressed by her unparalleled beauty.

The texture of her creamy fair skin was as lush and smooth as satin.

A rosy blush infused her cheeks, brightening her aqua eyes until they seemed to glow with a brilliance of their own behind the thick, sooty lashes.

Her nose was pert and slender; her soft mouth winsomely curved and much in need of kissing.

In all of that wondrously fair countenance, Jeff could detect no slightest hint of diffidence.

Though her eyelashes fluttered downward as she shyly avoided his gaze, she remained well within his grasp, encouraging him to test her resistance as well as that of the silken cord.

A small gasp escaped Raelynn as she felt the nightgown sliding away from her throat and the placket widening between her breasts.

“Jeffrey, please ...”

Her whisper was hardly more than a soft exhalation of a breath.

Once more she found her wits scattered, her attempts to appear composed hopelessly frustrated.

Certainly what spilled forth in a hasty rush from her lips had no real relevance to what she had craved in her lonely bed.

Though outwardly her statement conveyed something else entirely, it had much to do with her own incertitude over the circumstances in which she had been cast.

“I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”

Jeff managed a stiff smile as he straightened to his full height.

He had expected her to put him off, and though it was not at all to his liking, he was hardly one to fly into a raging fit when he didn’t get his way.

Still, if he could ascertain anything from her sudden nervousness, he’d be inclined to think that she wasn’t nearly as cold and aloof as her words had led him to believe.

A more careful testing of her rejection seemed in order, yet just as needful was a careful soothing of her qualms if he had any hopes of breaking through the thin barrier she had erected between them.

It seemed prudent to continue his manly assaults on her senses, but in a more subtle fashion.

In that endeavor, he turned her attention to another matter which in recent days he had begun to consider.

“How would you like to accompany me to Charleston today, madam, and order a new gown?”

Astounded by his invitation, Raelynn stared up at him as if he had just told her the moon had fallen from the sky.

Only when their combined presence had been requested at social affairs had he relented of his ongoing aloofness and escorted her to the port city.

During those outings, he had been very much a gentleman, yet she hadn’t been able to shake the feeling that he had also been anxious to put those events behind him, if for no other reason than to retreat from her presence.

But then, considering what she had demanded of him, she could hardly have blamed him.

As for ordering a new gown, she couldn’t imagine the cost of the finery he had already purchased for her.

Without a doubt, her new attire was of a quality that only the rich could afford.

Still, after being forced to endure both his stilted reticence and lengthy absences, she wondered how he could be so magnanimous as to suggest that she was deserving of any gifts.

“More clothes, Jeffrey, after everything you’ve already given me?”

His naked shoulders lifted in an indolent shrug.

“It’s only right that we should give a ball in honor of our marriage to allow our neighbors and my acquaintances from Charleston to meet you, madam.

Considering the length of time it has taken me to find a suitable mate, the event should be a grand occasion to attest to my delight in finding a bride so fair.

Such an affair warrants a gown as dazzling as yourself, and only my friend, Farrell Ives, can design one worthy of that distinction.

He’ll make you the envy of nearly every lady in the area....”

The blue-green orbs glowed at the pleasurable idea that she would at last be able to make a wifely claim on Jeffrey Birmingham in front of his collection of friends and acquaintances.

She was especially eager to demonstrate her ownership to all those well-garbed ladies she had seen either eying him covetously from afar or, at closer range, smiling up at him invitingly.

During those functions wherein he had done his husbandly duty by escorting her upon his arm, she had maintained a poised reserve, having sensed in him a polite, but stilted detachment that had discouraged wifely overtures, but he could hardly distance himself from her at a ball celebrating their marriage.

“I needn’t wear a sumptuous gown to elicit jealousy from all the maidens who’ve apparently tried to harness you into marriage in the past, Jeffrey.

I believe I became a full-fledged recipient of their envy the day we were wed.”

“You exaggerate, Raelynn,”

Jeff protested with a dubious chuckle.

“Were you not at the vanguard of the most sought after bachelors in the area?”

she probed, struggling to convey a teasing mood.

It was difficult to be lighthearted about all the other women who were enamored with him, for the thought of them made her think of Nell’s accusations, which always provoked her curiosity as to how many other women might have had him as their lover.

“Or have I wrongly laid the blame for the cause of the dejected stares that winsome young maidens are wont to cast your way whenever we’re in their midst? Is it merely disappointment I see, Jeffrey, or some stronger passion that likens itself to shrewish jealousy?”

“If you arrived at that conclusion because of Nell, my dear, please allow me to assure you ...”

“I try not to think of that little hussy any more than I have to, Jeffrey Birmingham, and I’d thank you not to remind me,”

she replied with far more sincerity than humor.

“Kingston has definitely lent me an earful while ranting to Cora about Nell’s audacity to accost you in your own bed.

It’s rather strange the way your butler’s conversations always shift to that little chit the very moment I come within hearing.

Evidently he thinks you’re innocent of Nell’s accusations and entirely free of any blame in getting her with child.”

Raelynn wished she could be so confident.

Still, the corners of her mouth curved upward enticingly as she settled a playfully baleful glare upon the handsome man.

“If I were of such a mind to be suspicious, dear husband, I’d think you’ve been coaching Kingston behind my back.”

“I’ll have to caution the man about being more discreet in the future,”

Jeff observed drolly, sweeping her with another divesting perusal.

He cupped a hand against her throat and watched her eyes grow increasingly limpid as he brushed a thumb caressingly along the underside of her finely boned jaw.

No smallest trace of reluctance or aversion could he discern in her expression.

Indeed, if he could perceive anything from the softening of her expression, he’d be inclined to think she relished his touch as some splendid enjoyment.

To test his theory more fully, he bent near and pressed a lingering kiss against her temple.

A trembling sigh escaped her, encouraging him to slide his palm downward along her throat until he reached its base.

Her nightgown had fallen away from that graceful column and posed no hindrance as he swept his hand outward across her shoulder, deliberately pushing the garment toward her arm.

As he neared the creamy precipice, he flicked a glance upward and found her soft lips parting in a way that likened itself to sensual pleasure.

It took no more than the lightest brush of his fingers to sweep the cloth over the edge.

A gasp escaped Raelynn as she quickly clapped a hand to the valley between her breasts, barely catching the falling nightgown, in so doing thwarting her husband’s efforts to lay bare all the delights hidden beneath the fabric.

Yet when Jeff noticed the depth to which her breasts were now exposed, his disappointment ebbed forthwith.