Improper Pleasures (The Pleasure Series #1) (34 page)

He crawled over her, covering her completely with the
length of his lean, well-muscled body. Astra sobbed at the contact, arching
toward him. His knees parted her legs, wedging his heavy cock between her
thighs.

She gasped at the sensation. Her sensitive nipples that
had begun to ache in the early stages of her pregnancy sent erotic pulses
dancing across her nerves at the brush of James’s hard chest. He groaned at the
contact, his breath against her neck, his masculine scent flooding her senses,
sending liquid heat to her sex. She undulated her hips to rub herself against
James’s length, coating him with her arousal. He gripped the back of her head,
gathering her against him for his spearing kiss.

Astra’s body coiled at his fierce reaction. She ached to have
him inside her, filling her so all her senses were overtaken by him. She wedged
her hand between them and gripped him in a firm stroke.

James grabbed her wrists and pulled her arms over her
head, pinning her beneath him.

“Not yet. I need to taste you to know you’re real,” he
said in a husky voice that was another rough caress.

Astra turned to warm honey at his words. James kissed a
trail down her neck and quickly found her nipple. She cried out when he sucked
her with passionate abandon. Her body tightened and she knew she would tumble
over the edge if he didn’t stop.

“James, please, make love to me.”

He continued his slow torture, ignoring her desperate
plea. His only concession to her obvious need was to slip a finger easily
inside her. Her slick passage clenched at the second finger. She bucked against
him, riding the sweet feel of him. Only a few thrusts of his hand, forced her
to cry out, unable to stop her intense spasms of release.

James didn’t slow his rhythmic manipulations, instead
increased them, giving her no chance to recover. He removed his hand abruptly.

“You’re way ahead of me, woman. But not for long.” He
guided himself to her entrance and slid inside her in one fierce stroke. In her
highly-aroused state, her body immediately clenched around his thick shaft,
poised to come immediately undone a second time. Astra gripped his shoulders,
trying to stave off the acute pleasure of his fullness. He panted near her ear
as he rocked against her in short serious thrusts. Not fully recovered from her
first orgasm, Astra’s body tightened and convulsed against her will. He must
have felt it because he gasped.

“God, you’re killing me.” He rasped, then groaned and
shuddered as he filled her with his seed.

Her own breathing ragged, she held him, comforting them
both, the connection between them solid, hot and unbreakable. He gently kissed
her forehead, her cheek, her eyelids.

“I love you,” he whispered huskily.

Astra tensed beneath him, not sure that she heard him
correctly. He braced himself on his forearms, staring into her face. She
searched his gaze. The flickering candlelight cast deceptive shadows, making
her believe he had said what she thought she had heard.

He grinned. “The appropriate response is “I love you,
too.”

“James,” she began.

“Admittedly, you were well within your right to remind me
of that a few days ago, but I’ve had a lot to contend with and—”

“There’s an account in my name for twenty thousand pounds.
Wesley funded it with money he stole from Eastlan.” She sighed. “And you.”

James did not flinch. He hardly moved a muscle. “How long
have you known about the account?”

“Wesley told me yesterday. But that’s not the real reason
why you fired him, is it?”

“What do you know, Astra?”

The way he said the words chilled her. She could see a muscle
flex in his jaw. He held her pinned beneath him, his body powerfully pressing
into hers. Though he was still inside her, she felt him soften. The fire
between them cooled with his sated lust. The forearm he braced beside her head
tensed, the motion pulling her hair that he had trapped there.

She swallowed, frightened by the seriousness in his eyes.
“I know that Wesley lost his position because of his affection for me.”

“And do you return that affection?”

“Yes!” she yelled, suddenly finding her voice and her
strength. “I return Wesley’s affection deeply but not in kind. I never meant
for him to become romantically attached to me, though I knew it was there.” She
sucked in a deep breath. “I used Wesley to secure my own ends. To lean on when
I had no one else. I valued his friendship and in return I let him destroy
himself as a sacrifice to his unrequited love. But I did not do that to you,
James, no matter what you believe. In fact, I have betrayed my dearest, oldest
friend. I’ve handed you the evidence you need to send Wesley to prison, maybe
even hang. I have not even allowed him enough time to leave England as he
asked. What he did, he did for me. He took money from your rents to provide my
inheritance, something which is due me, by the way.”

She paused to take a breath and realized James had risen,
allowing her freedom of movement. He hovered over her on his hands and knees.

“Which you no longer needed once you married me.”

“Yes, exactly.” His making her point for her momentarily
set her off balance. She lifted herself onto her elbows to study him, seeing
what he was up to. His smug smile spurred unexpected anger. “Oh, we aren’t
going to bring that up again, are we? I can only say I’m sorry so many times.”

His grin widened. “I like it when you turn feisty.”

She pressed her hand against her forehead and fell back
onto the pillow, not allowing herself to forget her obligation to Wesley in the
warmth of James’s teasing charm. “James, this is serious. Please don’t
prosecute Wesley. I know you have the right to, and I don’t have the right to
ask you not to. But he did it on my behalf.” She spoke to the shadows on the
ceiling, unable to meet James’s gaze for fear she’d be deterred from what she
must say on Wesley’s behalf.

“Wesley did not tell me of his plans to mislead you
because he knew I would have none of it. You can have the money in my account.
I begged him to give it all back plus anything else he might have taken. He
does not trust you. Let me tell him you agree not to go to the authorities if
he returns everything.” She pushed up on her elbows again to gauge his
response.

“Tell him?” James had sat back on his knees, brushing his
fingers through his loose hair. The hint of his usually light-hearted mood
evaporated. “Do you have plans to see him again?”

“No, but I am sure he will be in touch with me eventually.”

“Come to me immediately if he tries to contact you again.
Do
not
speak with him.”

She sighed. “James, do you not know that you and only you
have, or have ever had, my love? I am grateful you are my husband. I pray that
someday you will be happy with us.”

“I am happy with us.” He dropped his gaze, obviously
contemplating something weighty before he glanced up at her, his earlier
seriousness returning full force. “I suspect Hutton poisoned me on our wedding
night.”

“James, you can’t be serious. I understand why you dislike
Wesley, but, if anyone poisoned you on our wedding night, it was you. You were
quite intoxicated.”

“No. I mean, I realize I was not the best judge of things
that night and if it were that incident alone I would think nothing of it. But
there have been other accidents.”

“Now you sound like you are talking about the Keane
Curse.”

“I think Wesley Hutton is the Keane Curse.”

“That’s as silly as saying I caused Lowell’s bouts of
sickness by my dread of becoming his wife.”

“Not if someone were poisoning him to ensure that happened.”
His earnest gaze forced Astra to sit up.

“I would never—”

“Not you. Wesley.”

“Lowell was his dearest friend. They were more like
brothers than Trent and Lowell ever were.” She tugged at  the sheet trapped
under his knees to cover herself.

“Wesley has been fanatically in love with you for years.” James
didn’t budge.

“I cannot listen to this.” Astra covered her eyes with her
hand to block out his serious gaze. “Lowell and Wesley were inseparable. Lowell
wanted Wesley to inherit.”

“So he said.” James shifted, bracing his back against a
thick post of the bed, obviously studying her reaction. “But English law is
hard to change. Believe me, I did my best to work around it when I first
arrived.”

“No, it was possible for Wesley to inherit.” Astra pulled
the sheet over her breasts, piling pillows against the headboard to support her
back. “Your father never responded to any of the inquiries from his family.
They all assumed he had died long ago. We had no idea there were any other
living male heirs. Wesley’s mother was a Keane before she married. Lowell
petitioned the Crown so Wesley could inherit the title through his mother, your
father’s sister. He even agreed to change his name to Keane.”

“Then he had even more reason to kill Lowell.” James
propped one knee up, apparently unconcerned about his state of undress. “Did
you know that a nickname for arsenic is inheritance powder?

Astra shook her head. The idea that Lowell’s crippling
bouts were not only intentional, but caused by the hands of his most trusted
friend was unbearable.
Arsenic
? The whole conversation sent a clammy
sweat over Astra’s hot skin.

“I discovered arsenic’s popularity in eliminating rich
relatives when I recently paid a visit to a French chemist who specializes in
testifying at murder trials for such things. He found my theory not only
plausible but quite probable. He said that arsenic poisoning might explain why
Lowell’s health would take sudden drastic turns every time he made progress in
his recovery.”

“I don’t believe it. Do you have a shred of tangible proof?”
Though, Astra also could not help but be struck by the eerie validity of
James’s story. Perhaps she was not the cause of Lowell’s abrupt declines.

“Not at the moment, but if we exhumed Lowell’s body—”

“We are not digging up Lowell!” Astra abruptly jumped off
the bed, sure she would be sick. She spied the chamber pot in the corner but
instead strode to the window and opened it. The cool night air and deep breaths
through her nose helped. She didn’t want to be sick in front of James for fear
she would be unable to explain herself. If she only waited, he could not deny
her pregnancy. Surely he realized he had not taken the precaution of pulling out
before his release tonight or the night they were caught in bed together. My
God, had not her schemes gotten her enough trouble? And then there was Wesley.

She turned to face James. “You can’t be serious. Lowell
had weak lungs since childhood. He could have easily succumbed to the slightest
cold. Wesley had virtual control of Eastlan as it were. Why would he do such a
thing?”

James got up from the bed, grabbing an afghan draped
across the chair in front of the fire. He wrapped it around Astra.

“You have goose bumps.” He eased her against his chest,
cuddling her in his arms. “Seeing how Hutton didn’t know about me, he thought
he would only inherit if Lowell never produced an heir. You aren’t the only one
who noticed Lowell’s bouts coincided with his amorous attention toward you.
Lark noticed as well.”

She tried to pull out of his arms. “You discussed this
with Lark?”

“I am not a complete imbecile when it comes to children.”
James kept her anchored against his warmth. “She was the one who came to me.
She feared my obvious illness the day after our wedding had something to do
with her spriggans.”

“She thinks everything has something to do with her
spriggans.”

“I won’t discount her sincerity or her fears.” James
squeezed her tight then loosened his grip to kiss the top of her head. “There
are too many coincidences, Astra. I’m going to summon the French chemist and
have him examine Lowell’s body. I know it will be difficult for you, but I will
support you through it.”

“Please don’t do this.” She squeezed the arm he had
wrapped around her. “Whatever it may have been, and I am positive it did not
include murder, Wesley’s plan failed. He’s a broken man, James. Let him go. Do
not pursue this further.”

“Are you forgetting that I’m the only one standing between
Wesley and his dreams? You might not think him capable of murder, but I know he
is.” James gripped her shoulders, turning her to face him. “This is serious,
Astra. I have to worry about taking a drink from a decanter in my own home for
fear it might be poisoned.” He shook his head. “I can see you still doubt me,
so let me lay out my suspicions for you. Since I’ve been at Eastlan, I have had
a broken saddle strap which resulted in my taking a tumble. Only my agile
balance from spending so much time at sea saved me from breaking my neck. My
bedroom fills with smoke while the door is mysteriously locked, and in light of
other evidence, I think I was drugged first.”

Astra watched him pace around the room, his voice becoming
more enthused. Clearly he was trying to convince himself as much as her.

 “You are getting yourself overly excited. Perhaps we
should sleep on it and discuss this in the morning. I’m quite tired.” Astra had
begun to feel light-headed even though she had been forcing herself to eat
little bits all day because of the baby. Still, her legs had become like warm
marmalade.

“Then, there was the duel,” James continued. “I can’t
blame that on Wesley, but I’d like to. My gut tells me otherwise, but I will
give you the fact that my illness after our wedding night might have been
self-induced. I refuse, however, to believe the stray shot that came very close
to my head was a hunter, or Blackmore out for revenge, no matter what Sherriff
Carter claims. I’d fired Wesley a few days earlier and his hatred was palpable.”

James stopped before her. “He’s been trying to kill me all
along. Now he’s desperate. He’s dangerous, Astra.”