His hand stroked down the satin skin of her hip. “There are far more pleasurable means of passing the time than arguing over your father.”
Philippe heard her breath catch at his bold caress, but she instantly battled against her ready response.
“You promised I could write to my father. He will be worried.”
With a smooth motion he rolled on top of her slender form, his own body already hard with need.
“And so you shall,” he murmured as he nuzzled at the small hollow below her ear. “But first I have another lesson in the art of being a proper mistress.” Taking her hand in his own, Philippe pulled it down to his throbbing shaft. A moan shook his body as her fingers closed hesitantly around him. “Oh, yes, meu amor. Do not stop. Meu Deus, do not stop.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
AS NIGHT SLOWLY DESCENDED, the fog swirled over the docks and at last gathered its strength to blanket Dover in a silver dampness.
Still, Philippe waited until most of the good citizens had returned to their homes and were huddled by their fires before he at last commanded their belongings to be loaded in the carriage.
It took only a few moments for them to arrive at the docks, but the carriage never slowed as they traveled past the looming ships and instead turned toward a rarely used road that wound its way out of the city and then turned back toward the water.
Within a very short time the carriage was shrouded by the fog and there was nothing to be heard but the clatter of the horses’ hoofs and the soft lap of water against the rocks. They might have been alone in the world, he thought as he glanced toward the woman at his side.
In truth, it was a pity they were not.
Tonight Raine was warmly dressed in one of her new gowns with the heavy cloak around her and the hood pulled to hide her face in shadows. It was impossible to determine more than a vague hint of her slender curves, and yet he instantly felt a familiar flare of possessive pleasure rush through him.
She could be wrapped as tightly as an Egyptian mummy and he would still recognize her. The warm, sweet scent of her skin. The unconscious elegance of her movements.
He would not mind disappearing into the fog for the next few months, just so long as Raine were there with him.
Unfortunately, the world refused to vanish into the mist and all too soon the carriage was slowing to a halt.
With a faint sigh of regret, Philippe assisted Raine onto the road, commanding her to wait for him. Then he cautiously made his way down a steep trail toward the nearby water.
He was halfway down the path when he caught the faint scent of a cheroot that had recently been snuffed out.
Coming to a stop, he leaned against the large rock that jutted from the ground and folded his arms over his chest.
“Good evening, Captain Miles,” he drawled.
There was a brief pause before a string of muttered curses filled the air and a short, stocky man with a battered countenance and rough wool clothing stepped from behind the rock.
“How the bloody hell did you know I was there?” Miles growled. “’Tis unnatural.”
Philippe merely smiled as his gaze shifted to the two shallow rowboats that were waiting on the beach.
“Any troubles?”
“There were a few officers who were snooping about earlier, but I had Ranford give them something to chase. No doubt they are halfway to London by now. ’Course, there are always more of the bloody demons lurking about.” There was an awkward pause as the captain turned his head to study the frail figure that waited at the top of the path. “Yer companion won’t be attracting any unwanted attention, will she?”
Philippe chuckled as he recalled his heated skirmish with Raine when he warned her that she would have to obey his every command without question, and without hesitation, if they were to slip past the port authorities unnoticed.
“No, I can assure you that she will be as quiet as a mouse.”
Miles turned his head to spit on the ground. “Christ, the day any woman is as quiet as a mouse is the day hell will freeze over. Never can keep their mouths from flapping.”
“This one will, I assure you.”
Miles spit again. “Mayhaps, but I don’t like this, I don’t mind telling you. ’T’aint right to have a female on the ship. Bad luck. Everyone knows that.”
Philippe leaned forward, his expression cold and lethal enough to make the hardened seaman stumble backward.