Mishap Marriage

Chapter Three

Leaving the house and crossing the garden, Shona took a path that led into the forest. As she entered it she passed into a new, beautiful twilight world. Trees of enormous girth reared up two hundred feet in height, but their upper boughs could not be seen because they became lost in a smother of vegetation—a tangle of creepers which looped in all directions and cascaded down like green waterfalls, while others snaked upwards like green pythons. Mosses and ferns as large as small trees sprang out of the hollows, with stems as thick as a man’s arm. Many trees were loaded with fruit: green avocadoes, golden mangoes, wild apricots and limes.

The path wound downwards and, after five minutes, she emerged into an open space floored with an outcrop of rock. Water cascaded over huge boulders into a deep pool in the centre of the outcrop. On one side of this clearing a tangle of great boulders sloped up to a twenty-foot-high cliff, overlapped with verdure where the forest began again. On the other sides of the clearing trees again towered skyward and between them the dense vegetation cut out any view of the open space.

* * *

Zack arrived at the house for his meeting with Antony just as Shona left. From the open French doors he watched her walk into the woods. Moving to his side, Carmelita saw the way he watched her sister-in-law.

‘Shona is very beautiful. Do you not think so, Captain?’

‘I do agree.’

‘And—I suspect your visit is not just to see my husband?’

Zack’s eyes narrowed slightly. Leaving her question unanswered, he said, ‘I am here on your husband’s invitation to see the island.’

‘Then since Antony has been delayed at the mill and is not expected back for another half an hour, perhaps you would like to follow Shona. There is a creek where she likes to walk. It is very pretty. I am sure you would appreciate the view. Besides, for some reason she seems out of sorts today. Perhaps some company might cheer her.’

Zack was wary of her suggestion and felt that he was being manipulated in some way, but regretting his behaviour of the previous night and feeling he had to apologise to Shona for his harsh words and unable to quell the need to see her once more, he set off after her.

Her expression the quintessence of cunning, Carmelita watched him go. So far so good, she thought. By the time he reached the creek, Shona would have removed her gown and would be slipping into the deep waters. Having seen the lust burning in the depths of Captain Fitzgerald’s eyes whenever they had fallen on Shona over dinner the night before, she was in no doubt that he would be unable to resist her.

But showing him the bait was the easy part. Now she had to get him on the hook.

* * *

Zack followed the path Shona had taken. The most troubling thing of all was the intensity of his physical reaction to her. The lust. The rock-hard lust that turned his body into a single, painful craving to smell her scent, to touch her skin, to see her eyes soaking him up, to feel her taking him into her, looking at her face in pleasure, insanely, obscenely hiding nothing she was holding back.

This was no ordinary reaction to a woman. This shook him to the core and interfered with his thoughts, his life, tormented him, overpowered him. He didn’t understand why she had such a volatile effect on him, but he understood that he wanted her—he wanted her warm and willing in his arms.

In the dining room it had not gone unmissed that her sister-in-law’s sharp eyes were fixed on her the entire evening, which led him to believe that all was not as it seemed at Melrose Hill. It hadn’t been difficult for Zack to put the pieces together or to understand why Shona McKenzie had proposed to him afterwards. And he could sense her distress now as she sat at the side of the creek with her arms wrapped around her drawn-up knees, staring into the depths of the pool.

Zack distinctly felt his heart move and soften, then something speared him in the centre of his chest. She was a determined, wilful young woman, there was no doubt about that, but there was something vulnerable and sweet in her, something worth pursuing, something untapped, which she had allowed no one to see. He had been overwhelmed when he had left her the night before by the stunning realisation that this woman, if he didn’t take care, could mean something to him and he didn’t want it. He ought to stay away, he warned himself as he descended the path, realising Shona McKenzie spelled trouble and more trouble.

In this secluded place she had removed her dress. Her hair was wet and slicked back from her face, her petticoat clinging to her body. Her flesh shimmered in the light filtering through the treetops, making her appear as tantalising and as elusive as a woodland sprite. She was the lovely, young yet feisty, naïve young woman he had seen on the quay and he’d been unable to think of anything but her since last night. The sight of her hypnotised him and he felt the peace thread through his veins and stitch itself to his heart. Whatever the danger she posed to his sensibilities, he knew he could not walk away.

But that was a far cry from wanting to marry her. He had no wish to sacrifice his life as a freedom-loving bachelor and he already had one obligation along that line—an obligation that made it impossible to marry Shona McKenzie.

He had a daughter, a child he was unable to openly acknowledge, a child he loved fiercely. He had never expected to feel that way about another human being. When he last left England he would never have credited how profoundly he could be affected by a pair of innocent brown eyes and a dimpled smile from a small child. Nothing had ever claimed his heart like that before. Some day soon he would have to shackle himself to the mother in order to claim his daughter.

Occupied by her own thoughts, Shona didn’t hear him approach until he was directly behind her. She started and turned. Her heart gave a traitorous leap at the sight of him. Glancing up at him in alarm, she scrambling to her feet.

‘Captain Fitzgerald,’ she gasped, extremely uncomfortable with the dark way he was regarding her, his gaze narrowed and assessing. Her hand crept to her throat. Her state of undress embarrassed her and she was mortified that he should see her thus.

Zack met her searching gaze with an amused smile, momentarily awed by her eyes as they caught a shaft of light from the sun. For the moment, they looked similar to emerald-green crystals, but then they seemed to change colour in the shifting light. He was awed by the exquisite creaminess of her complexion and the softness of her eyes. Slim and graceful, there was an air of lightness about her, as if at any minute she was about to break into a sprightly dance. With some difficulty he dragged his mind to full attention. He knew she was upset that he should see her in a state of undress and pondered how he might soothe her.

A smile tugged at his lips. ‘I’ll close my eyes if it makes you feel better,’ he said softly, his voice imbued with warmth and humour.

‘No,’ she groaned. ‘It’s too late now. You’ve already seen me.’

‘Believe me, Miss McKenzie, I am no lecher...’

‘Neither are you blind!’

‘Nay, I am not blind,’ he admitted with a chuckle, ‘and I cannot deny that I am pleasured by the sight of your perfection.’

‘Under different circumstances, I would thank you for the compliment. But standing before you with half my clothes missing, I find it would be inappropriate.’

‘So would you mind if I stayed?’

‘I don’t mind at all.’

He laughed. ‘But you are very serious. You don’t really want me to stay. You are still cross with me.’

‘If I was, I would say so. What are you doing here?’

The corner of his mouth twisted wryly in a gesture that was not quite a smile. ‘I saw you leave the house. I wanted to apologise for my behaviour last night. I should have known better than to speak so harshly and to say the things I did.’

‘Really? You mean to say you followed me all the way here to do that? I am surprised. No one ever comes here.’

‘Your sister-in-law told me where to find you.’

‘Did she?’ Shona’s lips twisted with scorn. ‘Now, why am I not surprised? As you see, I came here to bathe. I’m quite amazed that, knowing this, Carmelita would suggest you follow me.’ Although, she thought, turning from him and sitting back down on the rock, Carmelita did want rid of her. Seeing Captain Fitzgerald as a possible suitor, she would do her utmost to throw them together.

Feeling the heat of the afternoon sun, shrugging himself out of his jacket, Zack hunkered down beside her. ‘I get the impression that the two of you do not get on.’

Shifting her gaze over the water to the feathered palms on the edge of the creek, she said quietly, ‘I have no great love for my sister-in-law, Captain Fitzgerald. We tolerate each other only because the situation demands it. In fact, we seem to exist only to antagonise each other.’ She tilted her head. ‘You look worried, Captain. You needn’t. It wasn’t particularly flattering for me to have to plead with you to consider marrying me and now I can only regret my foolishness in doing so. I’m not fool enough to repeat what I asked you last night.’

‘I suppose that’s a relief. Although being proposed to by a beautiful young lady was a unique occasion for me. You have a way of knocking a man between the eyes.’

‘Sometimes it means grasping opportunities even though we might be making the greatest mistake of our lives.’

‘What matters is that we learn from our mistakes and not to stand about licking our wounds. You don’t want to be my wife, I assure you.’

She shrugged, tossing her hair over her shoulder. It was already drying in fine wisps and floating back to caress her bare shoulders. ‘Perhaps you’re right.’ Turning her head, she looked at him directly. ‘You don’t want to marry me. I do understand.’

‘You do?’ He studied her face. She was no fool—her eyes were bright with an unexpected intelligence he had recognised from the first. Involuntarily, he dropped his gaze to her mouth. It was a tantalising mouth, moist and carnation-pink and made to be kissed, generous, with a lush bottom lip that begged for a man’s caress.

Shona nodded and caught her breath. She felt the impact of his gaze as she realised how intently he was studying her face. Around his neck there was a silver chain—what was suspended from it was hidden in the folds of his shirt. Did he perhaps wear a crucifix? She wanted to touch him very badly, to feel under the pious necessity of finding out what it was that was hidden. He was too close, she thought suddenly. Too close and too masculine. She could feel his warmth, could feel the vital power within him. His potent virility made her feel entirely too vulnerable and more than a little afraid. But for some reason she could not explain she did not want to move.

‘I would appreciate it if you would refrain from mentioning to anyone what I proposed last night. Unless you already have...’

‘No,’ he answered quietly. ‘It remains between ourselves. I won’t marry you. I can’t.’

‘But—you told me you are not married.’

‘True,’ he said, looking beyond her and squinting his eyes in the sun, ‘but back in England I have a duty I am obliged to fulfil.’

‘I see. As I said, I understand. We are strangers, Captain. You do not have to explain anything to me.’

Zack gritted his teeth. She was a glorious creature, lovely and demure in her clinging wet petticoat. It moulded every line of her shapely body. She was cool and virginal and stunningly arousing, yet with a mysterious allure he found hard to ignore. He could feel himself responding, a fact that only inflamed his ardour. He searched the flushed contours of her face, the thick crescent of her lashes and the fine line of her eyebrows for a long moment, then reached up to gently touch her chin. He felt it tremble slightly beneath his finger.

‘Shona,’ he murmured, addressing her by her Christian name for the first time, liking the feel of saying it on his lips. ‘If I were free, I really think I might be tempted.’

She forced a smile at his gallantry, but couldn’t manage an answer. Instead she slipped away from him into the pool. The water had an iridescent green glow. It was warm and welcoming, the gentle swell sending her petticoats swirling around her thighs. Stretching out her slender legs behind her, she glanced up at him, finding him watching her intently with a smouldering silver glow in his eyes. She swam across the pond and back again, disappearing now and then beneath the surface. After a moment she hoisted herself out of the water on to the rock beside him, dripping water. Leaning over, she wrung out her long, heavy hair before tossing it back. She stretched out her long legs beneath the wet petticoats, her feet small and perfectly shaped.

Zack continued to watch her, devouring her with his eyes, having resisted the temptation to fling off his clothes and join her. The mere sight of her abandonment had left him throbbing for her like a youth hungering for his first woman. Yet there was little he could do to control either the lust licking at his veins or the disquietingly tender feelings that were prodding at his heart. Something in his chest tightened.

‘You are competent in the water,’ he remarked. ‘Do you often come down here?’

‘Every day. I come here to swim and to cool off.’

‘And, I suspect, to escape your sister-in-law.’

She laughed. ‘Something like that. I look on the creek as my own special place. It’s private, so I have it all to myself—although today is an exception.’

‘Do you mind? It wasn’t my intention to intrude. When I arrived at the house, your sister-in-law informed me your brother had been delayed. You were just disappearing into the trees and she suggested I might like to walk with you. I wanted to see you anyway—as I said, to apologise.’

Shona scrambled to her feet. ‘There really was no need.’

Zack stood up and stepped towards her and as she turned to retrieve her dress, he caught her arm and turned her back to face him. ‘Yes, there was.’ His other hand rose and he gently took hold of her chin. ‘I couldn’t leave things as they were.’ Releasing her chin, he dropped his arm, his fingers, just like last night, unintentionally brushing her breast. He was instantly aware of the contact. And so was she.

It was an intense moment for Shona. Her breath caught sharply in her throat. Suddenly he seemed enormous and very near. His powerful body emanated heat, matching the heat that was rising in her cheeks. She attempted to ignore the effect of his unintentional caress. ‘Would you please not touch me?’

It was a supremely proper response, just the kind Zack would expect from a woman of her innocence and reserved manner. But her reticence to let him touch her and the state he was in were like a red rag to a bull. ‘Had I agreed to wed you, Shona, you would have to accept my attentions.’ When she did not move away he lowered his head, his face close and threatening. ‘Shall I show you what you could expect?’

‘I’d rather you didn’t,’ she said breathlessly. His suggestive tone made her uncomfortably aware of the raw sensuality emanating from his long, muscular frame outlined in the closely fitted breeches and white shirt, open at the throat. A muscle throbbed in his neck. A shudder ran through her as his gaze moved over her face, lingering on her soft full lips, before dropping to leisurely study the thrusting curves of her breasts beneath the clinging fabric of her petticoat. She was unable to move away as his fingers gently brushed the droplets of water away from her cheek.

Running his hands gently up her arms, quietly, he said, ‘Come now. A kiss is all I want. I would be as gentle with you as you wish me to be.’

Shona turned liquid inside at the meaning she read into his words.

‘Am I bothering you, Shona?’ he asked in a husky whisper.

‘You know you are,’ she murmured before she could stop herself. She heard his satisfied chuckle and turned her head away from him. ‘You’re doing it on purpose and it’s making me nervous.’

‘In that case, try to relax.’

Without giving her time to protest, he lowered his mouth and assaulted her lips with a controlled expertise that left her gasping. It was a warmly seductive, lingering kiss that bestirred some strange, unexplainable pleasure in the pit of her womanly being and sent her vow not to wed Captain Fitzgerald soaring into the wide blue yonder. It was a heady brew that sapped her strength from her limbs and made her head swim and her heart race wildly out of control. When he raised his head, he slipped his arm around her waist and drew her closer still. Again his lips descended to hers. She gave herself up to him, completely abandoned, clinging to him as ivy might cling to oak, and the strength in that hard, lean body gave promise of pleasure she had never imagined.

Their kiss seemed to go on for ever, became more passionate, arousing Shona’s blood to madness. She was no longer aware of what Zack was doing. It was not until his lips left hers and he buried his head between her breasts that she remembered she was half-naked in his arms. But the sight of her own flesh, rosy in the heat of the sun, still rosier in contrast with the dark hair brushing her face, did not embarrass her in the least. It was as though, from all eternity, she had been created merely to give herself to this man, as though she had been made for him alone.

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