Forever My Love (Berkeley-Faulkner #2)(117)

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?”

“Yes. There isn’t enough room in the regular prisons to keep them.”

“But the article said that they are all packed on those ships, and every night the hatches are screwed down—how can those men even breathe? And what about disease and sickness, and what if a fire starts?”

“Only the strongest survive. There are many deathsin the hulks.” Alec shook his head slightly, losing interest in the cards and putting them facedown on the table. “And in the cases of the boys who end up there, it’s better to die than to become what they are forced to become. The only activities for them are gambling and bullying or slaying each other. Some of the larger ones are put to word dredging and cleaning the river, while others make convict uniforms.”

“And then they are set free,” Mira said, greatly perturbed at the thought.

“It’s just like Newgate—the hell of being imprisoned in such a place makes every man who is released determined to take revenge on the system and the society that put him there.”

“And that is why they all band together in these crime organizations? To take revenge on society?”

Alec nodded, and Mira suddenly thought of Guil-laume with a stab of sadness. She prayed that after they had parted company, her brother had not become a member of such a group. Although Guillaume had done many immoral and illegal things in his life, she hoped that there had been enough decency in him to help him avoid such a fate.

“What are you remembering?” Alec asked quietly.

“Nothing,” she replied with forced lightness, sending him a smile that he did not return. Alec’s expression was carefully blank as he tamped down an unexpected surge of frustration. When, he wondered bleakly, was she going to trust him? Would she ever? “I’m… I’m going to ring for some tea,” Mira said, standing up and pushing her chair back. As she moved by the table, the draping material of her sleeve brushed a large portion of the deck of cards to the floor. They fluttered downward like a flock of descending birds.

Alec stared at the cascade of fallen cards. A closed door in his mind was abruptly battered down. For a second Mira saw a flash of something like fear or horror darkening his eyes, and she was at his sideimmediately. He did not look at her but continued to stare at the floor.

“Alec? What is it?” she demanded, kneeling by his chair and looking up at him. He closed his eyes and turned his face away.

“God. I hadn’t remembered.” His voice was rough and very low.

“Remembered what? Why did you look at the playing cards like that?” Turning her attention to the offending objects, Mira scowled at them, scooped them up quickly, and shoved them out of sight.