Page 4 of A Season Beyond A Kiss (Birmingham #2)

ELEGANT LITTLE SHOPS ABOUNDED IN C HARLESTON , proclaiming its wealth as one of the most important ports along the eastern seaboard.

It was a gracious city, well maintained by its residents, and rightly known for its charming atmosphere.

Its streets bustled with activity, its docks the same.

Jeff’s shipping company was located near the wharf.

It, too, was a busy place with ships either being loaded or unloaded nearby and six-in-hands in the process of returning or pulling large wagons brimming with cargo to other vessels docked in different areas of the port.

It was in the shipping yard where the Birmingham carriage made its first stop, allowing Jeff to drop off the recently reviewed ledgers to his bookkeeper.

“I won’t be but a moment, my sweet,”

he assured his wife, squeezing her hand affectionately before stepping down from the black landau and striding toward the three-story brick building.

Raelynn watched from the window of the conveyance as her tall, nattily garbed husband made his way past workmen who called out a cheery greeting or waved to him from afar.

His affable responses and ready repartees to humorous comments or teasing banter, which met him along the way, affirmed that Jeffrey Birmingham was well-liked among his employees.

He even paused to speak with a man of middling years from whom he parted a moment later with a handshake and a mutual chortle as well as an enthusiastic pat on the back bestowed upon him by the brawny fellow.

Smiling in secret pleasure, Raelynn settled back against the landau’s cushioned seat to await his return, hardly begrudging the time she had been given to relish the memories they had made together earlier that morning.

In the hours that had since elapsed, one truth had become strikingly clear; she was immensely satisfied, even delighted with the choice she had finally made in yielding herself to Jeffrey’s husbandly initiation into marital intimacy.

What had followed their union had further solidified her belief that she had chosen wisely.

Even the simple acts of bathing and dressing had proven infinitely more pleasurable with a bold, handsome participant, who was not above indulging in some frisky horseplay.

Indeed, until this day in history she had remained ignorant of the attention-getting results of a linen towel being popped against a naked backside, but when she had returned the favor, she had suffered some surprise, learning very quickly that Jeff’s attack had been much more gentle and

playful, for in slapping him she had left a red welt upon his buttock that had, in the making, drawn a genuine “Ouch!”

from him.

Her worried apologies and soothing strokes had soon led them into more kissing and fondling, which they had later deemed well worth the initial pain.

In every respect Raelynn was feeling as happy and content as any young bride who was thoroughly entranced with her amorous husband.

Jeffrey Birmingham’s manly appeal was like a strong magnet, to which heretofore she had found herself being drawn closer with each passing day.

In the last few hours, however, that progression had advanced by mind-staggering degrees until she was led to think that she was even more susceptible to his physical appeal and winning ways than Nell or any of the other hopefuls who had once yearned to have Jeffrey Birmingham for a husband.

She had never deluded herself into believing she was the only female in Charleston or the surrounding area who had become thoroughly infatuated with the man.

He was too handsome for any woman to entertain such a notion.

The only difference between all the other maidens and herself was Jeff’s own preference in choosing her, and she was infinitely glad he had.

A shadow passing alongside the landau made Raelynn glance around in time to see a roughly garbed man strolling past the last window.

She barely caught a glimpse of the back of his hat-covered head before he moved beyond the opening, but she had no real reason to lend the fellow further heed.

Considering the fact that she was a complete stranger to most of the city’s populace, she felt no curiosity as to his identity or appearance.

In the next moment she wished she had been more inquisitive.

At least, if she had, she might have had time to flee the carriage and find her husband.

As it was, she was without benefit of Jeffrey’s comforting presence when Olney Hyde stepped back to the window and tilted his head aslant to peer in.

“Why, if’n it ain’t Mrs.

Birmin’am, all decked out like some gent’s birthday present,”

the curly-haired scamp drawled, displaying a poorly contrived surprise as he dragged off his cap.

No less cocky than he had been in Gustav’s presence, he swept his gaze from her pert bonnet down to the pale peach floral muslin gown covering her soft bosom, where it lingered overlong.

Raelynn was grateful her square, lace-edged neckline was demure or she might have found herself blushing even more than she was.

Whereas Jeff’s perusals evoked a sensuality within her that was hard to ignore, she was highly insulted by the brazenness of this rascal’s scrutiny.

Though probably as much as five years her senior, Olney seemed much younger, especially in comparison to her husband, but she hardly considered that fact a compliment.

To her, he seemed the epitome of a naughty young tough, whom she really didn’t care to confront on any terms, let alone now when she had no one but an aged driver to serve as her protector.

Still, she managed to gather a fair measure of bravado and gave snide retort to the scamp.

“Well, Olney, I’m rather surprised to see you walking about so blatantly on the streets of Charleston. I thought you’d be skulking around in some dark, dank alleyway somewhere. Sheriff Townsend will certainly be interested in hearing that you’re still in the

city.

As you probably know, he has been searching high and low for you.

I’ll be sure to tell him I saw you just as soon as I can.”

“Aye, ye do that, Mrs.

Birmin’am, an’ whilst ye’re doin’ it, I’ll be tellin’ Mr.

Fridrich how fetchin’ ye’re lookin’ nowadays, a damned sight fancier than when he last saw ye.

Ye know, he really regrets my not makin’ ye a widow that night I accidenta’ly shot yer husband.

He ain’t ne’er had nothin’ taken from him afore, leastwise a wench.

O’ course, most o’ the ones what he’s had o’er the years ain’t been nearly as high-falutin’ or, for that matter, half as enticin’. Ye might say that losin’ ye has set his temper awry, ‘specially since he gots only one arm what’s o’ any use now.”

Raelynn scoffed at the rogue’s claim.

“Accidentally, ha! From what I’ve heard from Kingston, you took deliberate aim, fully intending to kill my husband, no doubt for the purpose of appeasing your employer.”

Olney shrugged his brawny shoulders indolently.

“Well, now, a bloke’s got ta peer down the sights o’ his pistol real careful-like when he only means ta crease a fella’s scalp.

I’m a fair shot, that I be, but ‘ere are some things what just takes time an’ attention.

I bet yer Mr.

Birmin’am could na’ve done any better if’n he’da’ve taken aim.

He might’ve missed Mr. Fridrich completely if’n he’da’ve really meant ta shoot him.”

“My husband would never consider doing such a thing unless forced to defend his home or his family! He doesn’t go around shooting people simply because he takes a notion, as you seem capable of doing at the slightest provocation, Olney.

As to that, I remember quite distinctly when you held a pistol to my head and threatened to do away with me if I didn’t conform to Gustav’s dictates.”

“That was only ta make ye awares o’ who was boss.

Mr.

Fridrich was in some kind o’ awful misery wit’ his arm an’ all, an’ ‘ere was Doc Clarence needin’ yer assistance.

But no! Ye were a-jeerin’ at Mr.

Fridrich like the cold-hearted bitch ye are.”

He shook his head in exaggerated bemusement.

“I swear, I don’t know what Mr.

Fridrich sees in ye.

I’ll grant ye, ye’re a winsome li’l thing wit’ a shape ta match, but as for meself, I likes women wit’ some heart ...”

his pale gray eyes danced with prurient amusement as he dropped his gaze to her soft bosom again and held his cupped hands out away from his own male breasts, “an’ melons as big an’ ripe as ...”

“Don’t be vulgar, Olney,”

Raelynn snapped, highly miffed.

“It shows your lack of breeding.”

His lips twisted in a derisive smirk.

“Oh, I suppose a fancy liedy like yerself would be more interested in a bloke’s breedin’ instead o’ what’s in his breeches.”

Raelynn’s eyes flashed indignantly.

His lewd talk was getting to be a bit more than she could handle.

It was one thing to converse with Jeff about body parts, but quite another thing entirely to endure obscene references to those same areas when they came from a wily rapscallion.

“You’d better be on your way, Olney, before my husband returns and finds you here.

Or you’re going to wish you had.”

“I ain’t worried none ’bout that ‘ere rich gent ye married.

Why, I could best an ol’ buck like him any day o’ the week.

‘Sides, I knows how ta keeps meself safe an’ out o’ the reach o’ his sort.

Me folks packed up ta sail here after leavin’ ‘ose filthy tenements o’ Southwark.

Indentured themselves ta do it, they did.

Now that I thinks o’ it, maybe we didn’t live so far away from that highfalutin London mansion where Cooper Frye said ye were born.

M’liedy High An’ Haughty, that’s what ye be.

But I’ve been in this here area since I was knee-high ta a duck an’ can tromp through Carolina swamps wit’ as much ease as some folk stroll along Church Street.

Thoughs ta tell ye the truth, I ain’t afraid ta prance meself along any boardwalk in Charl’ton an’ thumb me nose at yer Mr.

Fancy Breeches or that ‘ere ploddin’ sheriff friend o’ his.”

Raelynn caught a glimpse of a familiar figure emerging from the upper office of the warehouse and turned a confident smile upon her antagonist.

“You’ll have a chance to do just that in another moment, Olney.

That old buck, as you call him, is coming back this very moment.”

In spite of his boastful claims, Olney took his leave with undue haste, but in fleeing the landau, he captured the attention of the one who was presently descending the back stairs of the warehouse.

Jeff had no trouble recognizing the curly-headed blond and immediately gave chase, wrenching a frightened gasp from Raelynn, who scrambled down on trembling limbs from the conveyance.

“Jeffrey, come back!”

she cried in spiraling apprehension.

Her husband made no effort to comply, but with coattails flying out behind him, raced after the stockier, shorter-legged man, by swift degrees closing the distance between them.

Raelynn clasped a hand to her swiftly beating heart and tried once more to persuade him to give up the chase.

“He may have a pistol, Jeffrey! Please! Come back!”

A briskly approaching six-in-hand of stout drays hauling a heavily weighted wagon brought Jeff up short in the middle of the street.

By the time he skirted around it, he faced a hired livery passing in the opposite direction.

As for Olney, he was nowhere in sight.

Determined to find the young tough, Jeff ran along the thoroughfare for several blocks, hurriedly glancing down alleyways and into open doorways of shops.

He found no evidence of the young miscreant.

What was worse, he had no idea in which direction Olney had gone.

Frustrated and angry with himself for having let the brigand escape, Jeff gave up his pursuit and strode back toward the carriage, pausing briefly at the entrance of his shipping yard where he picked up his top hat from the dust.

Brushing it off, he approached the landau and gave his wife a rakish grin as he settled the topper jauntily upon his head.

“Good as new.”

“That may be all well and good for your hat, Jeffrey Birmingham, but I’ve aged considerably in the last few moments,”

Raelynn quipped in exasperation.

“I wish you wouldn’t scare me like that.

Olney has already proven himself capable of shooting you for his own gain.

You have a crease in your scalp to confirm that fact.

Running after the rascal is an open invitation for him to make another attempt on your life.

And just think how delighted Gustav would be if Olney managed to kill you.”

Jeff was keenly aware of the German’s desire to claim his wife in any manner he could, which did much to nettle his temper whenever he thought about it.

“I can imagine the height of that oaf’s elation should such a fate befall me, my pet, but I have no intention of letting Olney kill me, at least not while I’m facing him.”

His eyebrows shrugged upward briefly.

“My back is a different matter entirely.”

Slipping a hand beneath Raelynn’s arm, he assisted her into his carriage as he muttered, “I just can’t abide the idea of that toad roaming free after he nearly killed me and threatened to do the same to you while you were in his clutches.”

Pausing to glance toward the driver’s seat, Jeff gave directions to the smartly liveried black man sitting there.

“If you please, Thaddeus, kindly take us around to Ives’s Couture.”

“Yassuh, Mistah Jeffrey.

Ah’ll be doin’ that very thin’ just as soon as yo’ get lit, suh.”

The conveyance swayed slightly as Jeff climbed in and settled into the seat beside his young wife, who eagerly scooted closer.

Grinning down at her, he threaded lean fingers through hers and diminished the space between them until their hips were nigh joined and his shoulder overlapped hers.

“Now tell me, my sweet, what did that rapscallion say to you?”

Raelynn complied, sparing none of the details of Olney’s callousness, though by the time she had finished informing Jeffrey, her cheeks were hotly flushed.

“In spite of that oaf’s pompous boasts, the sight of you completely shattered his bravado.

He lit out like a singed rabbit in his haste to get away.

Perhaps next time he’ll think twice before calling you an old buck.

‘Tis evident you can easily outdistance him.”

“ ‘Twould seem that Olney isn’t the bashful sort in spite of Rhys’s attempts to find him.

I imagine the scamp has been enlisted to carry out his employer’s mischief, at least until Gustav fully recovers from his shoulder wound.

There’s no predicting where Olney may be in weeks to come, but I’d like to be prepared the next time we meet up with him.

I should’ve been more wary this time and not left you alone in the carriage.

I shan’t be so foolish again, madam.”

Raelynn stroked the arm that rested casually against her breast.

“I wasn’t alone, Jeffrey.

Thaddeus was here.”

Jeff gently scoffed.

“My dear, Thaddeus is nearly twice as old as I am, which makes that scamp a mere pup to him.

Olney could have carried you off and left the old man scrambling vainly in his wake.”

A pensive sigh escaped Raelynn.

“I’d certainly feel a lot safer if Sheriff Townsend could lock Gustav and Olney behind bars for the next ten years.”

Her fingers traced the tendons and veins etching the lean hand that clasped her own in her lap as she remembered the grief that had nearly over whelmed her when she had thought that Olney had killed Jeff.

Lifting her eyes to admire her husband’s handsome profile, she murmured softly, “I lost both my parents within the past seven months, Jeffrey, and not too many weeks ago, I thought I had lost you, too.

I couldn’t bear it if you were slain.

I beg you, please, please spare me such anguish.

Leave the arrest of Olney to your sheriff friend.”

Relenting with a chuckle, Jeff brushed the back of his arm teasingly across her soft bosom before his hand left hers and clasped the side of her far thigh.

“All right, madam, stop your fretting.

I’ll try to refrain from frightening you overmuch.

From now on, I’ll just have to ignore those two culprits while you’re with me.”

“And what will you do when I’m not?”

Raelynn asked and then gently scoffed.

“In the short time I’ve known you, Jeffrey Birmingham, I’ve come to the conclusion that you’re a force to be reckoned with.

I just can’t believe you could blandly ignore the presence of those two men even when I’m with you.

I sense that you can be quite tenacious when you get your dander up.

Indeed, the Corsair pirates would be hard-pressed to deal with you should they ever capture one of your ships and ransom it for booty as they’ve recently been doing to other American ships.

No doubt, you’d sail off to confront them with cannons blazing and cutlass at the ready in much the same fighting spirit as you exhibited during my rescue.”

Jeff laughed in amusement at such a farfetched notion and shook his head.

“That sounds like something my brother would do, my pet, not me.”

“I perceive that you and Brandon are more alike than either of you realize, Jeffrey.”

“How can you say that, madam?”

her husband challenged, tossing a grin over his shoulder.

“You’ve known us hardly more than a fortnight.”

“Nevertheless, when Dr.

Clarence drew me out of Gustav’s warehouse that night and I realized what you were planning to do with the aid of Brandon and your friends, I came to the conclusion that you and your brother were much in accord.

At the time, you both seemed eager to launch the attack against those river rats in spite of the odds against you and the others who were with you.

Even considering all the men Gustav has in his employ and his well-stocked arsenal, he really didn’t have a chance against the lot of you.”

“Gustav deserved everything we managed to do to him, Raelynn,”

Jeff stated with conviction.

“In my estimation it wasn’t nearly enough.”

“I agree, sir, but it’s not very heartening for a wife to realize that her husband enjoys a battle as much as a well-versed cavalier.”

Jeff’s eyebrows flicked upward briefly as he offered a different opinion of himself.

“I’ve always considered myself a rather peaceable sort.”

When he turned his head to look at her, Raelynn had a chance to search his face and the sparkling green eyes.

Lifting a hand, she lovingly stroked her fingers along his cheek, tracing one of the handsome grooves that always appeared whenever he smiled.

“Aye, you truly seem to be that, Jeffrey Birmingham ...

at least until you’re riled.”

“I can’t deny that I was enraged by your abduction, my sweet.

It was my most earnest desire to negate the possibility of another such occurrence.

You can hardly blame me for making an attempt.”

“You mistake me, Jeffrey.

I’m not reproaching you for leading an attack on Gustav’s warehouse, only saying that it’s a little frightening for a wife to discover that underneath her husband’s debonair charm there beats a heart of a warrior.”

Jeff was intrigued by the tempting softness of his wife’s lips and lowered his head to hers, prompting Raelynn to clasp his arm tightly against her bosom.

Completely engrossed in consuming the honeyed sweetness of her mouth, he probed its depths with the fiery brand of his tongue, at first gently and then with quickening fervor.

Raelynn all but groaned in disappointment as he drew away.

“You shouldn’t kiss me like that when there’s no privacy to be had nor a bed conveniently near.

You must be aware by now what your kisses do to me.”

Jeff leered at her.

“I know of a nice hostelry where we might linger for an hour or two.”

“You’re only teasing me,”

she fussed, dimpling prettily.

His broad shoulders lifted briefly.

“Even if I were, the notion is tempting enough for us to consider.

Don’t you agree, madam?”

Raelynn rolled her eyes, thinking of the outlandish rumors they’d likely garner from such an interlude.

“Just imagine the stares we’d receive if we checked out an hour or so after registering.

The whole town would be abuzz.”

“Aye, but think how well we’d enliven the gossips’ rumors for a day or two, my sweet.

They’d be ever so grateful.”

“No doubt, but I prefer to be a bit more discreet.”

Jeff heaved an exaggerated sigh of disappointment.

“As you will, madam.”

Raelynn perched her chin upon his shoulder, admiring his aristocratic profile.

“Would you be at all averse if I were to touch you now?”

His brows gathered in bemusement as he scanned her fine visage.

“In what manner?”

Her eyes dipped to his lap, marking the area she was most interested in exploring.

“In a wifely manner, sir.”

Jeff almost gasped at the sudden thrill her request elicited.

After enduring a lengthy celibacy, he had begun to fear that his wife wasn’t nearly as appreciative of the delights to be found in a marriage bed as he had first hoped.

Since their morning activities, however, he had been greatly heartened.

Her latest petition brightened his expectations even more.

Sweeping off his top hat, he held it protectively over his lap as he captured her hand within his and molded it around the manly protrusion.

“Does this attest to my eagerness, madam?”

Cooing softly in admiration, she inspected him through the closely fitting garment.

“Your trousers leave much to the imagination.”

Lifting his brow, he eyed her askance.

“You can unfasten them as well as I, my pet.

I give you leave to do so.”

She peered up at him, but could read nothing in his handsome profile from the angle at which she sat and finally tilted her head inquisitively.

“Would it unsettle you if I were to be so bold when the carriage is passing through the middle of town?”

“You’d disappoint me if you weren’t.”

Raelynn grinned like a child who had just been given a new toy.

The fact that he welcomed her overtures assured her that she hadn’t shattered any rigid marital standard.

What they did between them was suitable as long as they were both in accord.

“I’ll see what I can do about working you free, sir.”

As she sought to pry the side placket open, she was led to tease, “You know, Jeffrey, you’re not making this any easier.”

Tilting the topper upward, Jeff considered the telltale bulge beneath the costly trousers.

“Such are the hazards of being a wife, my dear.

You can hardly expect me to sit here unaffected when you’re trying to get into my underwear.

As you can see, I’m eagerly anticipating your attention.”

She finally plucked free a packet, and soon her small hand was slipping inside to make her claim upon the warm flesh, snatching Jeff’s breath inwardly for a blissful moment.

During the ensuing inspection, he strove hard to remember to breathe.

It gave Raelynn a strange sense of wifely satisfaction to be able to elicit the molding of his male flesh.

When she could affect a man of his maturity and experience in such a way, she didn’t feel nearly so self-conscious about her naiveté or her youth.

Indeed, she found it immensely pleasing to see just how completely absorbed her husband became while relishing her caresses, for he sat as one completely en thralled, basking in the titillation as if it had been years instead of hours since he had had the like.

It came as something of a surprise, but she realized that she found it just as thrilling to please him as it was for her to be on the receiving end of his rousing stimulations.

Having been keenly attentive to his instructions earlier that morning, she tested her newly learned knowledge with an enthusiasm that marked her own growing interest in their mutual familiarity.

Caught up in the sensual headiness of his wife’s caresses, it was a long moment before it dawned on Jeff that they were approaching their destination.

Clearing the thickness from his throat, he leaned forward and opened the tiny door behind the driver’s seat.

“Thaddeus, forget about the couturier’s shop for the moment.

Take us on a short tour of the city instead.

I’ll tell you when we want to come back to Mr.

Farrell’s.”