Shades of Love

Chapter 3

3

Tuesday, November 1, 1988

1:00 a.m.

Blue leaned against the wall of the drafty barn in the back of Eva May’s large estate, thinking of the conversation he’d had with the others at the monastery.

They’d sounded desperate. And because he was one of the closest to their esteemed leader, they were relying on him to perform.

His leader, the Prophet, especially. And his leader was not an easy man to please.

Now, as he waited for his fiancée, he knew time was of the essence. She’d called him in tears, hysterical, telling him she was sneaking out and needed to see him. He could only imagine that meant that she’d told the old bastard the news.

Good. They needed to move, and move quick. He had to be back in Ireland, soon.

Poor little rich girl. Daddy didn’t like her choice of a boyfriend. He took a drag of his cigarette, raising the collar of his shirt to ward off the early November chill. He’d given Eva the only jacket he had with him, and now he was out of one. Didn’t matter. Soon he’d have everything he needed.

He exhaled a cloud of smoke that dissipated into the wind as he looked up at the farmhouse. Stately and large, it had to be acres upon acres of the richest land in England. The house was so big that little Eva May had been sneaking out of her bedroom at one end of the house for months to meet him in the barn, and her father, way on the other side of the house, hadn’t even noticed.

This little girl was a goldmine.

Not to mention, she was a pretty good f**k. She’d gone from virgin to s*x maniac in the space of a week. He hadn’t even seen this one as work.

Until she’d started dragging her feet and he had to take certain measures as unprotected s*x—not that he was complaining—to get her to tell the old bastard to f**k off and get it over with.

But that had been months ago and still nothing.

When it got too cold for him, he went into the barn and made himself comfortable on a few bales of hay.

A half-hour later, Eva May showed herself into the barn, taking care to shut the door quietly, despite its creaking on its rusty hinges. She looked like a wounded animal as she paused in the doorway searching the room for him.

He straightened and took a drag from his cigarette. “How did it go?” Before he could get the words out, she ran into his arms, kissing him desperately, like he was her last lifeline. “That good?”

“Oh, I wish. Things have just gone from bad to worse,” she said. “My father has forbidden me to see you.”

“And why’s that? Because I’m a…charlatan?” He gave her a solemn shake of the head, to show her just how much it hurt him, though he didn’t really give a s**t what the old blow-hard thought. He just wanted the sympathy.

She nodded.

“Don’t listen to your father.” And as if she had agreed with what he’d said, he went on, “He’s gotten it all wrong about me.”

“I know he has. But why? Why can’t I get him to listen?”

He jammed his hand into his pocket. “Ah, because you’re his precious flower. He doesn’t want to let you go. I see his attraction. I wouldn’t want to let you go, either.”

She gazed up at him lovingly, like he was more god than man. “You’re too good, defending him. All he has ever said about you have been vile, untrue things. Yet you keep defending him.” She shook her head. “Well, he has to let me go, one of these days. I’m not his property.”

He nodded. “I respect your father, the captain. He’s a great war hero and a brave man. But he’s an old man with old ideas.” He held her at arm’s length and turned her chin up to look into her eyes. With her pale skin and dark-blonde hair shining in the moonlight, she looked even more angelic and innocent than the day he’d met her. He locked his gaze onto hers, and he could almost see the moment when she was rendered powerless, his pretty little puppet. “You don’t see me that way, do you?”

“No,” she answered simply. “I know you’re an honest, lovable man with good and pure intentions who people don’t understand. I know that you’ll take care of me. Of us.”

He tucked her back into his arms and rocked her gently, satisfied with her answer.

“Did you tell him about the baby?”

She shook her head, nervously fingering the dove pendant at her throat. It wasn’t even gold—just a piece of silver from her mother, which was ridiculous considering how much money they probably had wrapped up in the farm. “I couldn’t.”

He did his best to control the anger that threatened an appearance on his face. He had to keep it cool, for now. “Well. You need to. If you do, he’ll have to give you the money. He wants his grandchild to be raised well. Right?”

“I know. I know,” she consented.

“So, we need the money. Like I told you,” he said, wondering how many times he’d have to repeat these words before it sunk into her soft skull, “Our congregation is rich in love, but money is where we suffer. And if I’m to bring you and our baby into our fold, I have to prove that we can sustain two more mouths to feed. Don’t you understand?”

“I do.”

He rubbed a pad of his thumb over her cheek. “And you want to be with me, yes? As much as I want to be with you and our baby?”

She nodded eagerly.

“Are you really so worried about what your father will say to you?”

She shook her head. “When I’m with you, what he thinks doesn’t matter to me in the least. The only thing that matters to me is how I feel,” she replied, her voice trembling.

“And how do you feel?” he asked quietly.

She sighed against him, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, contentedly. “Now?”

“Yes.” He smiled, stroking the wisps of blonde hair away from her face.

“Happy. In love with you.”

“Everything is going to work out. Don’t worry,” he murmured, pulling her against him, running his hands down her back and pushing her against him, letting her know how aroused he was. His hard-on was all too apparent through the thin barrier of their clothes. He was primed by the possibility of having her for himself. “How do you feel now, princess?”

Her soft moan was his answer and he smiled when she closed her eyes, trusting him implicitly. Yes, she’ll be a good wife, especially because she’s so submissive. Like clay, I can mold her whichever way I want.

When he lowered his head to kiss her throat, she threw her head back, exposing her throat’s tender flesh to his mouth.

He traced her collarbone with his tongue, paused at the hollow of her throat to nip her fluttering pulse. She trembled in his arms and he caressed her waist then stroked higher, opening her jacket and lifting her shirt. Still kissing her tender flesh, he unsnapped her bra. Holding her steady, he licked his way lower until he reached the valley between her breasts. She arched her back, bringing her delicious mounds closer, moaning his name. He cruised his mouth to one sensitive n****e, biting gently, then moved to the other one, teasing the elongated bud with his tongue and teeth.”

“Oh, Lord.” She hitched her hips and clutched his head, holding him to her breasts. “Blue.”

His c**k grew harder. Groaning, he pushed her skirt up her long legs and sought her mouth again, wildly, promising and demanding more—seducing.

He moved her until her back pressed against the wall, still kissing her fiercely, running his hands up and down her body—touching every sensitized inch of her skin and tweaking her n*****s until her arousal scented the air.

Christ. He wanted her—his control nearly shattered.

He didn’t like to be the one losing control, but he told himself it didn’t matter, right now. He’d take what he wanted from her.

And he’d regain the control in the end.

Eva May couldn’t think. Couldn’t reason. Nothing mattered. Not her family in the house nearby, nor the fact that her father had forbidden her from seeing him. Everything evaporated the minute Blue’s mouth fused with hers and when his hand stole up her leg, her breath hitched. God, yes.

She wanted him to touch her everywhere.

He trailed his finger to the junction of her thigh, teasing the tender flesh, then slipped it beneath her panties and probed the folds of her s*x, making her crazy until he pushed it inside her p***y and began f*****g her with it. “Baby, you’re so hot. So wet.”

“Only for you,” she ground out as he added another finger and started to f**k her deeper. It was the truth. He was her everything now. The man she adored. Her future husband. Only he could make her so insane with desire.

“I can’t believe a hot thing like you waited for me,” he growled, driving his fingers into her again and again, owning her completely. “You could have had any man you wanted.”

She didn’t know about that, but it didn’t matter right now. She was with the only man she would ever want. Waves of exquisite pleasure pulsed at her core and she moved against his hand, arching into him while greedily fumbling for his zipper, jerking it down to open his pants and free his erection. More. She had to have more of him.

He lifted her against the wall, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, riding up his body until she felt the tip of his hard c**k at her entrance. He slid inside her in a quick, hard thrust, caging her against the wall with his body.

The pleasure of being invaded this way was so intense that it almost hurt and she cried out.

“Oh, f**k, Eva May, I love you.” He pounded into her, hard at first, and then even harder.

She came around him, tightening in waves of pulsating heat and he joined her, exploding into her while growling his own release.

As her orgasm subsided, Eva shivered against him, thinking of the reality awaiting her once she returned to her father. She ran her hands through her fiancé’s midnight-black hair again and again, wishing she could start her life with him right then.

“You’d better go on home now before your father realizes you got out,” he said, separating from her and trying to straighten her skirt. “You sneaked through the window?”

She nodded, straightening reluctantly, still ensconced on his embrace. He was who she wanted. And she’d have him no matter what. Yes, she’d have to convince her father to turn over her inheritance, which was in a trust.

Oh, who was she kidding, he’d never do that, not as angry as he’d been tonight at her choice of husband. Maybe, if he knew about the baby, he would understand. But another idea had formulated in her mind. Her mother had told her before she died that the money in the bank was in her name. If they needed to elope, all she would need to do is go to the bank and withdraw it.

He helped her adjust the rest of her clothes and accompanied her to the door of the barn. “Will I see you tomorrow?” she asked him desperately.

“Yes. I’ll be here at the same time tomorrow.” Relief washed over her face and she turned to leave, but he grabbed her hand before she could. He gave her one last kiss, a kiss that made her knees weaken. “And you’ll talk to him before then, about the baby? The money?”

She sucked in a breath, then exhaled quickly and flashed him a smile.

She would talk to her father. Tomorrow. She had to.

Anything for her baby. Anything for her love.