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Holding herself above him, she teased his erection with a brush of delicate curls, while an impish smile tugged the curve of her mouth. “Two can play the game of torment,” she whispered as she bent down to nip his bottom lip.

Her arms quivered with the exertion of keeping out of his reach. But she was determined to continue her game until he would surrender. Leaning forward, she touched her breasts to his chest, aching inside at the exquisite torture of the subtle scrape of his chest hair against her sensitized nipples. She bit the inside of her mouth. God, she didn’t want to give in to her need.

Teasing him that way had been a big mistake.

She felt his erection poke insistently against the seam of her entrance. Ah, it would be so easy to just sink down on it and give in to the sensation of utter bliss.

He watched her through half-closed lids, suppressing a superior male grin. Ah, her emotions were so easy to read. She wanted him as much as he wanted her. It would be but a matter of lifting his hips and he could push home. She certainly seemed in a dilemma. Sacré, little did she realize that he could barely contain himself, when she did that little thing with her mouth.

He inhaled deeply, loving the scent of her. Playfully, to divert his own need, he let a hand venture in a light foray along her inner thighs, enjoying the silkiness of her flesh. Not a good idea. He almost came out of the tub, when his manhood reacted with a little dance of frustration. Bloody hell, the damned thing almost had a mind of its own. In fact, he was so hard and achy he could not keep a straight thought.

Just when he thought to give in, she lowered herself over his staff. With a sigh of pure pleasure, her eyes locked on his. “You win. Will we ever get tired of each other?” she rasped.

His eyes answered her question as his hands cupped her breasts. Kneading them gently, he rolled her sensitive nipples between his thumb and finger. He did not want to talk. He just wanted to feel. His mouth closed over her offered breast, suckling gently.

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Her reaction came instantly. She clenched around him, and holding onto the rim of the tub, she rode him hell bent for leather. His head lolled back against the tub as he let the sensations roll over him. At last he grabbed her waist to bring them to fulfillment together.

She collapsed on his chest with him still twitching inside her.

“To answer your question, I could make love to you forever,” he whispered into her ear, nipping her lobe with his teeth. “But we have to make an attempt of getting settled and giving the maids a chance to unpack our trunks.”

They spent the rest of the day exploring Greenbriar and its secret passages. With eyes only for each other, they retired early, their bodies throbbing with need.

The next morning, right after breakfast, André led her to the stable, where Noir and the horse she had come to call Sugarplum were already saddled. “I’ve always wanted to show you the rest of Greenbriar and a nice morning’s ride will do us both good.

By the way, the gelding’s name is Sugar, not Sugarplum. I only told you that to annoy you.” He ducked when she playfully made a swipe at him. “At the time I didn’t realize that I did it because I was annoyed with you. You already owned a corner of my heart and I didn’t want anyone owning any part of me, least of all you. I felt I had no right to involve anyone in my problems. But I guess life has a way of working things out. Snowden left of his own accord.

The magistrate restored my ownership to Greenbriar. But the best thing of all is that I have you.”

With a groan he dragged her against his broad chest to kiss her. There was nothing gentle about his kiss, because he loved her so much, he didn’t want to think that he had almost let her slip from his grasp.

“Here let me give you a boost into the saddle,” he offered, when he finally came up for air. He cupped his hands for her, but she grinned, shaking her head.

“When I am old and feeble, I’ll let you help me into the saddle. I am just glad that you have come to see reason and let me ride astride.” She put her foot in the stirrup and threw her leg across the saddle. With a cheeky grin, she kicked her heels into the horse’s flanks. Leaning low over his neck, she galloped out of the stables, calling over her shoulder, “Try and catch me.”

André swore under his breath. Noir would have no trouble catching up with her, but he didn’t like the idea of her riding into the countryside without him next to her. Her daring stirred his desire for her. He vaulted into the saddle and was out of the stable in seconds.

He grinned, when he noticed that she looked back to see, how close he would be. Her hair flowed out behind her like a silken flag, but he didn’t like that she stood up in her stirrups, since the terrain was uneven and could prove dangerous.

They had barely gone a mile, André lagging purposely behind to let her think she was outdistancing him. A wicked gleam lurked in the depths of his eyes, because he already had a spot in mind, where he would catch up with her and teach her a lesson about leaving him behind.

He felt his shaft come to life.

A large thicket loomed ahead. The spot for a mid-morning tryst lay just beyond. André spurred Noir to a faster pace just as a shot rang out. He frowned. This was private land.

Hunting was only allowed by special permission, though he really didn’t begrudge a hungry family the occasional rabbit or partridge.

It happened so fast, it took him a moment to comprehend that Stormy had fallen off her mount. Worse yet, he couldn’t see where she was. His heart racing, he kicked Noir’s flanks to reach her. He found her sprawled on her back in a trench just deep enough to hide her from view.

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He jumped off the stallion just as another shot rang out and flew overhead. André didn’t care. Stormy was the only thing that mattered. His heart catapulted. God, this could not be happening.

He knelt, felt for a pulse at her throat and expelled a sigh of relief, when the beat pounded strongly against his searching fingers. Her eyelids fluttered open, though she appeared to be stunned. It took several seconds before her eyes focused.

When a wan smile tugged at her bloodless lips, it ratcheted his heartbeat up several more notches. God, please don’t let me lose her just when I have found her.

“What

happened?”

André had never been so glad to hear anyone utter anything. He still had not figured out whether she’d been hurt. “Lie still. I have to check you over to see, if you were hit by a stray bullet.” He cast a furious glare at the thicket. “Whoever shot this way is going to pay for it dearly.” But he knew the shooter was probably miles away by now.

He carefully turned her on her side and then he saw the wound. It was nothing serious. It had only grazed her upper arm. But it certainly needed attention, since it bled profusely. His shrill whistle brought Noir to their side. The stallion stamped nervously, but he sensed the urgency of his master, so he stood perfectly still, when André lifted Stormy into the saddle. Still spooked, Sugar followed slowly in their wake.

Cradling her close to his chest, he rode home as fast as he dared.

* * * *

Thomas had ridden over to welcome them home. He blanched when he saw André hugging his new bride to his chest, the blood staining his hands and the front of his shirt. His grim expression said more than words.

Thomas needed no bidding. He rushed to his side to take Stormy from him.

“Take her upstairs. I believe the wound has stopped bleeding already, but I think she suffers from shock.” He handed Noir’s reins to a waiting groom and hurried after his friend.

Thomas carried Stormy upstairs and gently put her on the bed. Both men were adept at treating gunshot wounds. Without a care they tore the sleeve of her riding habit and set about cleaning the injury, then dressing it with the help of Mrs. Dunnen, who had come running after them.

André fussed over her like a mother hen. She obediently drank the dram of brandy he insisted on, and she admitted that it restored her spirit. Still, she was glad when they all finally left.

Stormy needed time to think. She could not believe that someone had tried to shoot her.

And there was no doubt in her mind that it had been deliberate. She had caught a glimpse of the sun reflecting of the barrel of a gun and she had instinctively ducked a second before the shot rang out. It had been no accident or someone shooting at game. Whoever had been out there had been aiming at her with the intent to kill. But how would the shooter have known she was coming? She shrugged inwardly. As soon as she felt better, she would investigate herself. She would not worry André about her observation. He had enough problems to deal with.

Once André had her settled in their bed, he walked down the stairs with Thomas. “I wish I had someone who could check on the thicket. Maybe whoever had been lurking in that stand of trees has left a clue.”

“Do you think it was an accident?”

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“I can’t be sure. No one could have known we were going to ride out this morning. I’d say it was a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Still, I would like to know who was responsible.”

“On the other hand, it is almost a sure bet that you would take your bride on an early morning ride, when you have just arrived back home. No matter, I’ll send the boys out to scout the area. Both are expert trackers. What do you aim to do, if you find the poacher?”

André quirked a dark brow in his friend’s direction. “I wouldn’t trust myself with anyone right now. At this moment I would beat the culprit within an inch of his life. Stormy is my soul mate. I can’t imagine living without her.”

Thomas grinned. “I never would have thought that love would hit you so hard. You were always the man about town, the laissez faire, laissez passer kind of guy. Love them and leave them, we used to call you.”

André exhaled a pained breath. “Well, I would have never believed myself that I would find someone so unexpectedly or so unconventional.” They both laughed at that and headed for the library to indulge in a glass of brandy themselves.

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Stormy smiled into André’s eyes. “Honestly, I feel quite all right this morning. I admit that my arm still hurts, but that is nothing to be concerned with. It’s healing, thanks to Mrs.

Dunnen’s salve. I want to get out of bed.”

“And I think you should stay in bed another day.”

She pouted, then tilted her head, her eyes sending a suggestive message his way. “Okay, I’ll stay in bed, but only if you join me.”

André flushed. His brows drew together in mock annoyance, not so much at her as himself. Bloody hell, one small gesture and he was ready to bury himself deep inside her.

“If I felt the slightest bit ill, I would let you know.” She threw back the covers and swung her long legs over the side of the bed.

Defeated, André conceded that it might be okay for her to sit on the balcony for a short while. “I’ll have Mrs. Dunnen bring up hot chocolate and scones with strawberry jam, and we’ll have a picnic out there.”

He bundled her into a feather quilt and carried her out, then settled her carefully on the fainting couch he had pulled outside for that purpose.

“Greenbriar is lovely. I so enjoy the view of the gardens and the green meadows beyond.” Her face turned wistful. “But I do miss Dreamscape. I wish to show it to you some day.”

It cut him to the quick that they could not sail right away. Too many problems had to be settled before he could leave Greenbriar. “If all goes well, we might set sail in the spring. I would love to see your parents’ plantation. But it’s impossible right now. I have holdings in France and Greenbriar will need some sort of management as well.”

She opened her arms to him in a silent plea that he would come to her. And he obliged.

“I may miss Dreamscape, but I will always feel at home, wherever you are, André.”

He kissed her gently at first, and then more fervently. “I promise I will make you happy, Stormy.”

Tommy and Brent found nothing that would yield a clue when they searched the thicket.

“Whoever shot at Stormy made sure he didn’t leave any clues behind. He even brushed the area with a tree branch, which makes us think that it had been a deliberate shooting.”

“Bloody hell, who would wish to hurt her? I’ll have to keep a closer eye on her. The trouble with Stormy is that she is headstrong and you never know when she will take it into her head and go for a ride.”

“I think you need to talk to her,” Thomas cut in. “She is more worldly wise than our women. She won’t wilt, if she’s told that the incident had been an attempt on her life. As Trevor said, the colonies are fraught with danger. Most of their women can shoot as well as men.”

“They also fence well. I can attest to that,” André countered with a lopsided grin.

Over the noon meal, André addressed the subject of her safety. “I had Tommy and Brent search the area, where you had been shot.” He toyed with a spoon, not daring to look at her.

“We think someone set out to hurt you. It was just lucky that you fell off Sugar and the shooter only grazed your arm.”

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He looked up in time to see something like hesitation flit across her face.

“I did not fall off Sugar, I let myself fall.” She allowed that remark to sink in. “You see, seconds before the shot rang out I saw the sun glint off the barrel of a gun, and I instinctively knew it was aimed in my direction. I didn’t want to bother you with it, because maybe at the last second I rode into the hunter’s sight.”

“Stormy! How could you not tell me? And don’t make excuses for the scoundrel. I have no idea who would mean you ill, but some people do not need a valid reason to hate someone.”