She nodded and tried to blink the tears away. In that second she was overwhelmingly tempted to unburden herself to him. More than anything, she wanted to tell him every detail, every secret of her past. It seemed perfectly natural that only now, in this moment of closeness, could they share their very deepest thoughts. The words hovered on her lips, struggling to escape the tight rein of silence.
No. She would not tell him now. She could never tell him. "Don't ever leave me," she whispered.
"No, I won't." Tenderly he kissed the dampness from her cheeks.
"I'm afraid for you. I don't want you to become more involved in looking for Holt's murderer with Carr—"
"I have to."
Her gaze was wet and bittersweet as she looked at him. "I won't let you go easily, Alec."
"I'm not going anywhere for several days."
"I will make a dreadful scene when you do leave."
He chuckled at her threat, dropping several kisses on her face and throat. "Just as long as you take me back when I return."
"I'll take you right now," she said in a muffled tone, and he grinned. His lips lingered on hers leisurely; his hands wandered over her body and pulled her further beneath him.
Mira had assumed that after their marriage she would come to know and understand her husband thoroughly. After all, living together as man and wife would en-gender complete familiarity between them, and she would be able to learn almost everything about him. However, she soon found that he was a more complicated and multifaceted man than she had guessed. She never knew which Alec she would climb into bed with at night—the tender lover or the earthy, lusty one… the flirtatious rogue from London or the seductive scamp who would not let any part of her body remain secret from him.
Most of the time he was given to spoiling her outrageously. He covered her with jewels, silks, and satins, took her dancing and kept her up until the sun rose, whispered nonsensical bits of poetry and extravagant flattery in her ear. At other times, he would encourage her to ride with him and romp through the woods like a hoyden, and she would tease him with glimpses of her bare legs as she waded in the bubbling current of a brook and scampered through sunny forest clearings.
One evening after her bath was readied, she sank down into the steaming water and immediately fought to evade his questing hands, for bathing her was one of Alec's favorite activities. "Let me alone—you nearly drowned me the last time," she accused, splashing him playfully. In response he plied his slick hands to her body lustily, at first drawing forth giggles and squirming struggles from her. But after a few minutes of such play, she leaned her head back against the rim of the porcelain tub and said his name, her breath coming fast between her lips. His soap-lubricated hand slid up along the inside of her thigh, and her legs parted underneath the water as he caressed the softest part of her. Kissing her warmly, he smothered her tremulous sounds and delighted in the tumult of her passion.
As she was learning quickly, making love with Alec was always pleasurable… but not always undertaken seriously. In bed he could be ardent and eloquent, but sometimes he was playful and surprisingly earthy. Hewas a supremely unself-conscious lover, and he tore down her inhibitions one by one, making her aware that the act of love was an art as well as an expression of emotion.
In turn, Mira plied the lessons she learned with a skill that never failed to surprise Alec. When they were in the company of others she played the highborn lady flawlessly, quiet and demure, with just the right amount of shy wit. But when they were alone, she was free and open with him, capable of brazen seduction or radiant tenderness, capricious one moment, cool and sharp-witted the next. They argued about politics and traded insights in a way that neither had experienced before with a member of the opposite sex. One of the topics that they discussed frequently was the growing amount of crime in London, not only because several popular debates about crime were currently taking place in the houses of Parliament but also because each of them had his own personal and unspoken reasons for having an interest in the subject.
"Did you read the article in the Times this morning about the hulks?" Mira inquired as they played cards after supper in the zodiac room. Evening shadows collected in the corners of the octagonal room and darkened the fanciful astrological signs carved into the woodwork. The table was flooded with light from a brass chandelier.
"No, I didn't." Thoughtfully Alec studied his cards.
"Is it true that almost five thousand prisoners are kept in just ten ships that are all moored in the Thames?"