“Just one.” She lifted the last, the drawing that showed James crying as he was taken away from her. Caleb took it and let out a slow breath.
“Bridget, I’m so sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“It was. I swear to you, this will never happen again. I’ll make sure you always have funds.”
“I’ll be fine. I have my position at the academy and students waiting for art lessons. James and I will be fine. I don’t need your money.” She took the drawing from his hand and placed it with the others back in the box. “I just need you.”
Still on her knees, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him. If she was not to see him again, then she wanted one last night to remember him by. He kissed her back, tentatively at first and then with more passion. She pulled his coat off and unfastened his neckcloth, making it clear she wanted more than his hand on her tonight. She wanted all of him.
“Are you certain?” he asked when she reached for the placket of his breeches.
“Absolutely certain.” She loosed the breeches and took him in her hand. He was warm and hard, the weight of him familiar. She stroked him, then pushed him back on the bed and lifted her skirts to climb on top of him. He grasped her waist, staying her.
“If we’re to do this, I want to do it right.”
She raised her brows. “I thought I was doing it right.”
“I want you naked. I want to see you.”
“Then undress me.”
He lifted her off him and stripped his own clothes off first. Bridget’s throat went dry at the sight of him—his long, muscled legs; his broad shoulders; his corded arms.
He started with her hair, plucking pins from the simple upsweep until it all tumbled about her shoulders. Then he unfastened the bodice of the dress, slid the skirts and petticoats off, and gave her a long look as she stood in only her chemise and stays.
“Are you tired already?” she asked.
“Just trying to decide what to take off next. I could remove your garters and stockings, but perhaps I should leave those for last and divest you of your stays and shift first.”
She stepped out of her shoes, pushed them aside, and put her arms around his waist. His hard member pushed against her belly, and he inhaled sharply when her hands squeezed his buttocks. “Or you could just take me now and worry about the clothing later.”
“Tempting as that sounds, I want to see all of you. Stays first, I think.” He pushed her gently back and unlaced her stays, then tugged at the hem of her chemise. Pulling it over her head, he dropped it on the floor. She felt suddenly self-conscious, standing there in nothing but her stockings and garters, but as soon as she looked at him, all traces of embarrassment fled. There was nothing but desire and heat in the way he looked at her. His gaze was almost reverent.
“Let’s get those stockings off,” he said, voice husky. He took her hand and led her to the bed. She sat, and he spread her legs, kneeling between them. He took one foot, lifted it, and slid his other hand up her calf to just above her knee where her black garters secured her white stocking. He lowered the garters, then rolled the stocking down very slowly. Bridget trembled, then struggled to catch her breath as he set her bare foot on his shoulder and turned to her other leg. He didn’t lift that one, though. Instead, he bent and kissed the bare flesh above her knee. His lips slid upward, and she was all but panting.
His mouth moved farther up her thigh, and she leaned back, catching herself on her elbows. He spread her legs farther and pressed his mouth where her legs joined her torso. Her hands clenched on the rough blanket as his lips slid over and his tongue lapped at the delicate flesh. When he found the bud that gave her pleasure, she shook so badly, she lay flat, giving herself up to his ministrations.
She’d forgotten this. She’d forgotten how well he pleasured her with his mouth. He could draw it out for hours, making her climax over and over, until she thought she had nothing left. His tongue was gentle, teasing and testing. He spread her legs wider and circled her, pulling back when she came too close to peaking.
“Please,” she begged in a whisper, because she feared if she spoke any louder, she might scream. “I want you inside me.”
“Patience,” he murmured, beginning his teasing again. Her breathing grew rapid until she was gasping and clawing at the blanket. Finally, finally, he pressed his tongue deliberately against her sensitive bud, and she came apart. Just as she began to descend, he drove into her, and she soared higher again. She bit her lip to keep from crying out. Caleb wasn’t gentle, and she didn’t want him to be. She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him deeper. Finally, he tensed and cried out, withdrawing quickly and spilling himself on her belly.
He fell beside her, chest rising and falling. When he’d recovered, he found a cloth, cleaned her, then lay beside her again and pulled her close. “I’ve missed you.” He buried his face in her hair and stroked her shoulder.
“I’ve missed you.” She turned to look at him. For all these years, she’d held her memories of him locked away in the back of her mind. She hadn’t wanted to take them out and examine them, because he’d left her. But now she knew he hadn’t left her out of choice but duty. And the time she’d spent with him these past days, along with the past they’d shared, swirled together. “I don’t want you to go.” She placed a hand on his cheek. “I love you.”
He stilled. “I didn’t think you’d say it again. I didn’t know if you’d trust me.”
“I trust you. I know you only want to protect me and James. If we can’t be together in London, what if we traveled with you to somewhere safe?”
Caleb shook his head. “Long sea voyages can be dangerous. There are storms and mercenaries.”
She kissed him. “The streets of London can be dangerous as well. Together we will keep each other safe.”
He lay back and stared at the ceiling for so long she thought he would deny her. Then finally, he rose on one elbow. “I should tell you no.”
“But you won’t.”
“I won’t. But we must find James tomorrow. We need to leave on the first ship where I can book passage.”
Seven
He’d left her well after midnight. It had been no easy feat to force himself away from the warmth of her body and the sweet perfume of her skin. But if anyone was watching the boarding house, he had to leave under cover of darkness or risk being caught.
Caleb had gone out the back door, through the kitchen, and into a back alley. From there, he’d made his way to the docks, avoiding the main thoroughfares and keeping to the side streets as much as possible.
He’d found a ship bound for Canada via Ireland. The captain had no cabins left, but he offered Caleb first choice of vacated cabins once they reached the isle. Caleb paid the fare for three and hoped Bridget thought sleeping under the stars for a night or two romantic.
It was easy to hide in the taverns and warehouses that lined the docks. No one looked too closely at a man here, and most men kept their hats down low and their eyes on their own business.
At two o’clock, he started back into the city toward the charity hospital. Bridget had said she’d ask another teacher to take her afternoon classes so she could go to the hospital. He’d meet her outside, and they’d go to the orphanage together.