Souls Aflame (41 page)

“It was a bird. I know damned well it was a bird.” He slapped his hands angrily against his thighs. “I didn’t doze off. I’ve been awake all night, and I know I wasn’t hearing things. I heard a bird cry.”

Julie yawned, rubbing her hands against her bare shoulders, grateful for the chill. Soon the sun would rise and the unbearable heat would be upon them to blister and burn them once again. “What difference does it make, Derek? How is a bird going to help us unless he happens to land and we can eat him.”

“I’m hungry enough to eat one raw, that’s for sure,” he said. “But a bird means land is nearby, Julie.”

“Oh, praise God!” Now she shared his excitement, and they sat very quietly, listening, and then they both heard it and screamed in delight.

“There!” Derek was yelling, and she could barely make out where his arm was extended, pointing.

“Land. An island. I can just see it. And we’re drifting toward it. Paddle, Julie. Use your hands and paddle so we don’t get washed out to sea should the tide start to change. We’ve got about a mile to go. We can make it. I know we can…”

She followed his lead, thrashing her hands wildly in the water in a rhythmic motion to match his. Slowly, steadily, the wooden crate began to move toward the island. And as the sky grew rosier and it became lighter, they could see that it was indeed a small island. And there were trees. When they came closer, Derek commented that there would probably not be food, “But God, we’ll eat leaves, roots, anything. I’ll wade out and catch fish with my hands if I have to. We can’t just keep drifting. This is a chance, Julie. It’s our chance to live…”

It seemed to take forever, but then all of a sudden the crate hit a sand bar. Derek leaped over the side, and Julie could see that he was standing thigh-deep in the water. He held out his arms to her and she fell into them, laughing and crying all at once. They began to wade toward the island, but then Derek turned and clutched at the crate, saying they had to drag it with them.

“I don’t know what’s in the damn thing. Maybe it’s something we can use.”

Together they struggled to pull it along with them. Once they reached the sandy beach, Julie fell onto the sand, clutching the precious grains in her hands, laughing with the delight of a child as she watched them dribble through her fingers. “I never thought I’d touch land again,” she cried. “Oh, Derek, we are going to make it. I know we are.”

But he was not listening to her exuberant talk. She looked up to see him running up the beach to find what vegetation existed. “There’s not a lot here,” he yelled back. “But we can suck on leaves for water. We can chew bark if we have to. And I’ll find dry wood and be ready to start a fire if we sight a ship.”

He turned back toward her, and she watched him running naked, his body a pinnacle of proud, masculine beauty as he exuded strength in his every movement. Whisking her into his arms as easily as though she were no more than a seashell, he whirled her around and around, and they laughed together joyfully, thankful for this much good fortune, at least.

Then, slowly, he stopped turning about, setting her on her feet but still holding her close. They were naked, bodies touching, her nipples brushing against the thick, dark down on his massive chest.

His hands moved down her back to cup her firm, rounded buttocks and press her against him. Lifting her slightly so that she stood on tiptoe, his erect shaft slid between her thighs, and she sighed aloud as he touched the special place that sent sweet-hot fires dancing through her loins.

Gently he lowered her to the sand, easing his body down upon her. His mouth crushed against hers as she opened her legs to him, thrusting her buttocks upward to meet his first thrusts into the velvet recesses of her body.

“How I have dreamed of this moment, this time,” he murmured, his lips barely touching hers, his tongue moving to and fro, flicking at hers to tease her into a frenzy as his manhood pushed in and out. “There’s never been a woman like you, Julie. There’s never been a body like yours. It’s like drenching myself in scalding honey and absorbing the sweet nectar into every pore of my body…”

And she received him, all of him, marveling that her tiny body could accept such a magnificently built man. Her legs wrapped around his back to hold him even closer, wanting everything he had to give. That he should find her so attractive, so desirable, was beyond her realm of understanding. Any woman would revel in his embrace, but for the moment he was hers, every glorious inch of him, and she wanted this hour, this time, to continue for all eternity…just as relentlessly and unendingly as the foaming breakers crashing upon the shore…

She felt the crescendo building from within the confines of her belly, and Derek felt it also, and he drove even harder into her. Her lips parted in a scream of ecstasy, and he shifted his weight so that his hard, muscular shoulder was pressed against her mouth.

“Let me feel it,” he commanded. “Let me feel your glory, Julie…”

And her teeth sank into the firm flesh, biting harder as each wave of passion shuddered through her body, and then he was crying out loud in ecstasy as he ground mercilessly into her, driving her buttocks into the rough sand, filling her with the glory of his seed.

They lay together, neither wanting the moment to end. The closeness, the wonder of it all, was too overwhelming for either to comprehend.

At last Derek rolled to his side, still penetrating her, holding her tightly. His lips mere inches from hers, he murmured, “Love me, Julie. Love me for all time, because now that I’ve found you, I’ll never let you go again…”

And then he was gently probing at her again, and the sweet passion was returning, dimmed for Julie only by the gnawing realization that he had demanded that she love him for all time—but he had professed no vows of undying devotion…he was taking, not giving, and despite the ecstasy that flowed through her veins, her heart shuddered with an unfamiliar sadness.

Chapter Nineteen

Time seemed endless. Their world consisted of the sand, the sea, the stars, the sun…and the joy they found in each other’s arms. It was as though life had no beginning, no end; there was only the sweet bliss of endless passion.

The surf broke high, rolling over into tunnels and flashing in the sunlight as its froth crept along the shore. The sea oats blew lazily in the breeze.

Julie liked the mornings best of all, when she would rise sleepily to the red sunrise, the sea looking like molten bronze. And each night she opened her thighs to meet Derek’s deep thrusts with all the strength and vigor her body had to offer, holding nothing back. They became one entity, possessing all of each other, giving, taking, belonging only to one another.

Derek had been disappointed to find that the crate contained only coffee taken aboard for the crew, but ruined by the seepage of sea water. He became adept at catching the small fish that swam in the surf close to the island. He caught some with his hands, but he also fashioned a crude spear from a piece of driftwood and a sharp conch shell. When the rains came, he and Julie would spread out the larger shells as cups, to catch the fresh water for drinking.

Together they spread palm fronds from the trees to make a crude shelter, but as always, Julie felt completely protected with Derek’s strong arms about her, had a secure sense that no harm could come as long as he held her against him.

“Love me…” he would command as he took her, seemingly without end.

And she obeyed, whispering the words he wanted to hear and realizing with each passing day that she meant them more and more.

“What if we’re never found?” she asked him one day as they frolicked together in the turquoise waters, their skin long since bronzed by the sun. “What if we have actually died, and this is our heaven, our Garden of Eden, to live in through all eternity?”

He laughed, raising an eyebrow as he looked at her with fond amusement. “Would you really mind? You seem quite happy, misty eyes.”

“I would be,” she said wistfully, “if it weren’t for worrying about Myles, wondering if he’s even alive and still in that miserable prison. We don’t even know how long we’ve been
here
. Maybe the war is over.”

“I hope it is. There’s been enough suffering on both sides.”

“At least we don’t suffer. I’ll admit I get tired of eating fish all the time and chewing leaves and bark, but we are managing to survive. We aren’t skin and bones
yet
.”

His eyes raked over her, and as he led her from the foaming waters, she saw that he was aroused and knew that he wanted her again. Would he ever tire of her? She admitted secretly that she never ceased to thrill to his endless lovemaking; but then, he seemed to be a skilled, perfect lover. What woman could ask for more? But, she worried, for all she knew, he had taught her, and perhaps, after a time, he would become bored.

He lowered himself onto the sand, lying on his back, arms folded behind his head, knees bent. The weather was warm, and they did not try to cover their nakedness with palm fronds.

She stared down at him, marveling once again at his gloriously formed body. How could any man be built so perfectly?

“Sometimes I hope we’re never found,” he murmured huskily, reaching to pull her down beside him, “because I can’t get enough of you. And if we ever do get off this blasted island, you might want to leave me, and I don’t want that to happen.”

“Derek, I don’t want to leave you,” she whispered, her fingers dancing through the thick, dark hairs that covered his chest.

And then she lowered her head between his thighs to receive him in the way she knew would drive him into writhing, moaning ecstasy.

Yes, he had taught her this too, and she reveled in the knowledge that she could give him so much pleasure. Did he know that she had fallen in love with him, that the words he asked her to speak came truly from her heart? She prayed that it was so.

But did he return that love? He never said the words, and when he looked at her in that arrogant way at times, white teeth flashing, as though he were so confident that he had mastered her spirit, she wondered if it were all a game for him to wile away the lonely hours.

Aroused to near insanity, Derek reached down and grabbed her about the waist and slung her roughly upon her back so that he could plunge himself deeply into her. Again and again he entered her, and when at last they were both spent, they lay side by side on the warm sand, faces lifted to the azure sky.

Suddenly Julie spoke the words that had been burning within her for so long. “Derek, do you love me?”

She heard the quick intake of his breath, and he was silent for so long that she had to fight the impulse to leap to her feet and run away lest he reject her in his usually blunt manner. She could feel the tears stinging her eyes, and did not want him to see her cry.

But she forced herself to lie still and wait, praying all the while that he would speak the words she longed to hear.

“Julie…” He said her name in a sigh. “I’ve never felt this way about any woman. You mean a great deal to me. But to speak of love—”

“You demand that I speak of it!” she snapped, unable to hide her bitterness. “Every time you take me, you ask me to say that I love you.”

“I want to hear the words. I like to think you mean them. But you don’t. In your own way, Julie, you’re using me. You enjoy what I give you, just as you take pleasure in what you give me. There’s no one else for either of us right now, but when this is all over, what then? You’ll expect me to help you free your brother, if he’s still in that prison in Richmond.”

“Yes, I suppose I do expect that,” she said candidly, moving out of the circle of his arms. “But you can afford to promise me that you will help me, because we both know there’s a chance we may never leave this island.”

He nodded. “That’s true. But let’s suppose we do get off, and I help you rescue your brother. What will you want of me after that?”

“I told you that I love you, and whether you believe me or not, Derek, I mean it.”

She flung herself across his chest, loving the feel of his body, the way he tensed as her fingers trailed downward to toy with the thick mat of hair about his manhood. “When Myles is free, I still want to be with you.”

“As my mistress?” He gave her that arrogant smile she hated.

She jerked away once again, suddenly angry. “Would you love your mistress as you would love a wife?”

He laughed, and that angered her even more. She tried to scramble to her feet, but his hand shot out to fasten around her arm, and as always, she was helpless in his powerful grasp.

“Look, Julie, I never intend to marry any woman, no matter how beautiful she may be or how much she pleases me with her body. I’ve told you that I desire you more than I’ve ever desired any woman. I want to keep you with me always. More than that I can’t and won’t give. That has to be enough.”

Her angry eyes flashed and sparkled with red fires in a mist of green. “And if it isn’t?”

“It has to be,” he said simply. “For now, we’re together. If we ever get off this island and you do leave me, then it’s over. You know I could never hurt you, although I’d probably want to if you left me. But if you go, then I’d just forget I ever knew your name, your face, and your beautiful, desirable body.”

He released her and she scrambled to her feet, still incensed by his bluntness and mirth.