Time After Time (50 page)

The pressure built until Camden knew she was riding the oncoming ripple of another orgasm. Her cries and moans were his undoing, and he groaned as his cock pulsed inside her. They rocked together, locked in wave after wave of pleasure, until they were both spent and breathless. Camden collapsed against her, his strength completely gone. When his senses returned and he realized he was likely crushing Del, he rolled to his side, taking her with him, and held her tightly in his arms.

Camden was still breathing heavily some moments later and he wondered if it would ever return to normal, if he would ever fully recover. Being with Del had changed him. It wasn’t just the physical coupling of their bodies — though God knew that was an amazing part of it — it was also the closeness he felt with her, the joy of knowing she was his and he was hers. He felt so happy and fulfilled that he didn’t think it would matter if he died right then and there.

He looked at Del lying sleepily against him and he was hit with such a strong wave of absolute joy and contentment, as though he were a pious man staring with rapturous devotion at his salvation, that he thought perhaps he already had.

• • •

Del lay in Camden’s arms, satisfied and drowsy, for an untold dozens of minutes. She was spent and sated, utterly convinced she would never again gather the energy to make love, but then Camden hardened and Del smiled, knowing she could never truly get enough of this man. She was surprised he needed so little time to recover, but then she realized this was just one of the many advantages of sleeping with a man still so young. He was engorged and ready, eager to please her and find his own pleasure in her body, and Del was more than happy to oblige.

He rose from the floor and picked her up, carrying her up the stairs to her bedroom. He laid her out on her bed and they began to explore each other again. Where before it had been fevered and desperate, this second time it was slower and more measured, each touch imbued with meaning, each thrust long and deep. They found release together and then lay exhausted in each other’s arms, recovering.

Del laid her head on Camden’s chest, listening to his quickened heartbeat, just now beginning to slow. Her own heart beat a heightened tattoo and her breathing was ragged. Despite the coolness of the autumn evening, they were both cloaked in a thin sheen of perspiration. She felt simultaneously languid and energized, as though their lovemaking had depleted her every reserve of hesitation, fear, and self-doubt, but then replaced it with desire, hope, and contentedness. She keenly felt both the loss and the gain.

Camden’s arms were around her and he ran his fingers along her back, tracing desultory circles on her skin. His breathing had become deep and even, his heartbeat finally regular, and Del knew he was a man satisfied and sated, about to fall asleep.

“Blakely came to see me this evening.” Del wasn’t sure why those words had come out; she hadn’t meant to engage in any conversation in particular right now, and certainly not one about another man. From the hitch in Camden’s breathing, she guessed her statement had taken him by surprise as well.

“Oh?” Camden sounded hesitant, cautious.

Del propped herself up on an elbow so she could look Camden in the face. He was still rubbing her back, and now he was looking at her with guarded curiosity.

“He wanted to know where I’ve been recently, why I haven’t seen him.”

“And what did you tell him?” Camden looked concerned, and Del stretched to lightly kiss his check, wanting to assuage his worry.

“I told him the truth. I told him I loved you and we are to marry, and I wouldn’t see him again.”

“How did he respond?”

“He was — disappointed, I suppose, but he took it well.”

“I’m glad you told me,” Camden said. Del hadn’t realized he had been so tense until she felt him relax.

“I wanted you to know. I don’t want there to be anything between us, no lingering doubts or suspicions — ”

“I’ve never doubted you, or anything between us.”

“I know,” Del said, placing another soothing kiss on his cheek. “But I wanted any old — attachments dealt with just the same. And I feel relieved. I wasn’t sure at first how it would go for me, how I would handle leaving my old life behind.”

“Are you feeling regrets?” Camden asked. He tensed again, looking vulnerable.

“None. I feel nothing but relief that the past is done and excitement for the future.”

Camden smiled, his masculine assuredness firmly back in place. Del snuggled back into his arms, her head on his chest. She listened to the beat of his heart and felt the rise and fall of his breathing.

Del took a deep breath, gathering the courage to ask something that had been weighing heavily on her. “Does it ever bother you?” Del asked, feeling timid and vulnerable. “What I — was.”

Camden looked at her wordlessly for a moment, and Del felt her heart sink. Then he took her face in hands and looked deeply into her eyes, as though he wanted to make sure she would not mistake the meaning of his words. “No,” he said firmly. “There is nothing about you that could ever ‘bother’ me. Everything you’ve done, the choices you’ve made or been forced to make, has gone into making you what you are now. Your past, your present, our future together, all of it is part of the woman you are, and I love you for all of it. Nothing will ever change that.”

Del looked down, overwhelmed by his love and acceptance of her. He put a hand under her chin and nudged her to look at him. “I mean it,” he said.

Del nodded and kissed him, relief flooding her. “I love you too,” she said.

She laid her head back on his chest, and they relaxed, enjoying the feel of each other.

“Since we are disclosing awkward conversations,” Camden said after some time, “I spoke with my father this evening.”

Del’s breath hitched. “You told him of our engagement? What was his reaction?”

Camden’s breathing quickened slightly, almost imperceptibly, but Del still noticed. He didn’t answer her immediately. She gathered the sheets around her and sat up. “I take from your silence he did not react positively.”

“It wasn’t exactly positive, but nor was it overtly negative.”

“Will he approve the marriage?”

“I’m not sure,” Camden said. “I am as confused as you are,” he added quickly, and Del knew her frustrated emotions were showing plainly on her face.

“What did he say, exactly?”

“He said very little, actually. I went into his office and told him I had asked you to marry me. He stared at me, looking not completely surprised, and then said, ‘I see.’”

“That’s all he said?”

“Yes, at first. He tensed a bit and it seemed as though he wanted to say more, but he did not. I said I knew he had been skeptical of our relationship in the past, but he only needed to see us together, to spend time with you, and he would know how much we loved each other and how
right
this marriage is.”

“Do you think he was convinced?” Del asked. Not knowing the elder Camden, she wasn’t in a position to interpret his reactions. It frustrated her immensely, that this cruel and overbearing man who did not know her held so much of her happiness in his hands.

Camden reflected on her question for a moment. “I cannot say with certainty. He didn’t say outright that he disapproved or would attempt to halt the marriage. But he did not give me his blessing, either. He merely asked — admittedly rather tersely — if I was sure this was what I wanted, and when I told him it was, he said he needed to return to his work and motioned me out of his office.”

“What does this mean? Do you think he will not object?”

“I think he just needs time to accustom himself to the idea. He did not become immediately angry, or declare that he forbade our match, or shout, or throw me bodily from his office, so we must conclude he is not outright opposed to our match. In time, he may fully embrace us.”

“And if he does not? What will we do if he doesn’t consent to our marriage?” Del tried to remain calm, but she heard the note of panic in her voice. Now that she knew, without reservation, what she wanted, now that she had finally admitted to herself what Camden meant to her, she was terrified that outside forces would conspire to keep them apart.

Camden sat up and took her face in his hands. “It wouldn’t matter. My father might want to choose my spouse based on who would best serve his aims to move up in society, but I am of age and can marry whom I love. I do not actually need him to approve.” He spoke confidently, reassuringly, but Del still heard the barest hint of doubt in his words.

“Could you really do that? Could you really go against your father, risk your livelihood and inheritance?” She knew what this meant to Camden. It was one thing to declare in the abstract that he cared nothing for the financial riches his position in the shipping company afforded, that he would walk away from it all on principle; it was quite another to entertain the cold reality of it. And no matter how complicated and fraught his relationship with his father was, no matter how grievous the man’s abuses against his son, Del knew it was no simple matter to defy a parent and potentially fracture the relationship beyond repair.

“You are what matters to me now,” Camden said. “Of course I would rather proceed with his blessing, but I will marry you no matter what.” He bent down and kissed her forehead. “I will do whatever necessary to ensure we spend the rest of our lives together.”

“Even if it means defying your father?”

“No matter what it means.”

Del sank back into the bed. Camden followed, gathering her into his arms. They lay together, talking and touching until the first rays of dawn began to lighten Del’s bedroom.

“I must go,” Camden said reluctantly. “I am expected at the shipping office shortly.”

“Stay,” Del said.

“I wish I could, but I’m expected at the offices and I’m trying to stay in my father’s good graces. I want to speak with him again, as well.”

Del gave him a playful pout. She put her hand behind his neck and pulled him to her, kissing him hungrily while she pressed her naked body against his. “Stay,” she whispered.

Camden groaned. “Have mercy, woman.” He rolled on top of her, supporting his weight with one hand while he slid the other underneath her. He kissed her, hard, and slowly let more of his weight rest upon her.

“I thought you were leaving,” Del teased between kisses. Satisfied that she was the victor — she had enticed him into staying — she would magnanimously release him to his duty.

“You are going to be the death of me,” Camden said. He leaned down to kiss her again, clearly loath to let her go.

Del pushed lightly against him. “You mustn’t be late,” she said.

Camden rose from the bed and went to collect his clothes from downstairs. He returned with them heaped in his arms and Del watched as he dressed, admiring the way his naked body moved in the cool light of dawn. His muscles rippled and flexed as he stepped into his trousers, and Del liked the way the fabric clung to his narrow hips. He was all long, lean lines and hard angles, and the mere sight of him sent waves of desire through Del. He glanced at her and gave her a wolfish smile, and Del knew her lust was visible.

Once dressed, Camden knelt on the bed to kiss her goodbye. Del grabbed a fistful of his shirt and contemplated seducing him again.

“See you this evening?” Camden asked.

Del nodded, lips swollen, lids heavy. Camden gave her a look that suggested he too was considering ravishing her again, and Del knew she must shoo him away before they both gave in to temptation.

“Yes, I will see you evening,” she said. She pulled him in for one last kiss and then released him, motioning him to hurry out the door. She heard his heavy footsteps going down the stairs, and then heard the front door opening and closing. She was alone and acutely aware of the empty space beside her.

She used to revel in it, that notion of unattached independence.

Now she felt bereft.

She rose from the bed and stretched, wondering what she should do with day. She reflected on this as she dressed, how unusual it was to have so many free hours before her and so little sense of obligation in how to fill them. She decided to eat a decadent and leisurely breakfast and then go visit Jane. She had had precious little interaction with her friend in the past few days, and Del missed her fiercely. They had so much to catch up on, with the betrothal and wedding details and the conundrum of Camden’s father.

She was padding across the downstairs foyer, dressed but still barefoot, when she heard the clank of the brass knocker on her front door hitting the strike plate.

“Unable to stay away, Camden?” Del asked as she swung the door open.

Neither of the men who stood on her stoop were Camden, however, and Del froze in surprise for a moment when she realized it. They were, in fact, the physical opposites of him, short and squat, with the physiques of a scruffy bulldog. They both had lined, weathered faces sporting hardened expressions, and they looked and moved so much alike Del knew they were brothers, if not twins. Their clothes were simple yet clean and serviceable, but they looked strange and uncomfortable in their outfits, as though they had been forced to look presentable when they would much rather be dirty and unkempt.

“May I help you?” Del asked, politely yet firmly, finally overcoming her shock and finding her voice. Though not exactly fearful, Del was uneasy about the situation. The men, while not overtly hostile, had a sufficiently strange out-of-place aura about them that made Del nervous.

“Adele Beaumont?” one of them asked, though his voice suggested he had no doubts as to her identity.

“Yes?”

“Have a message from George Camden. We come in?” The man’s gruff tone of voice added to his use of truncated sentences gave the impression he had little patience for interpersonal communications of the speaking sort.

“I — it’s not really a good time. I was just on my way out.” Del took a step back, retreating a fraction further into her townhouse. She wasn’t sure what kind of message the elder Camden had for her that necessitated sending two men who looked like barely tamed brutes to deliver it, but Del felt, with rising certainty, that it wasn’t pleasant. There was still no overt threat, but every instinct Del possessed, honed over years of vulnerability and hardship, told her to dispatch the men from her doorstep immediately.