193356377X-Savage-Shores-Wildes Read Online Free PDF Page A

primly
    by the fire, her lusciously long, bare legs tucked underneath her,
    her hair a glorious riot of golden curls around her delicate face and

    Savage Shores
    25
    shapely shoulders. Charles had cleverly fashioned a comb for her
    out of a shell by using his knife, and she sat and worked the tangles
    free, brushing it through the shining strands. Under the thin
    material of her chemise, her breasts thrust up firm and high each
    time she lifted her arms, emphasizing the mounded fullness, her
    nipples visible through the thin cloth. They all watched the very
    feminine act, each of them trying to pretend they contemplated the
    fire, and Jonathan thought with an inward curse, undoubtedly not
    fooling her a bit. The tension in the air was nearly visible.
    Adjusting his position to ease the discomfort of his half-rigid
    erection, he said, “It looks tonight like we might sleep in the rain.
    Perhaps we should build a second shelter. In monsoon season we
    could be miserable otherwise.”
    “That’s months from now,” Anthony said in objection, then
    resignedly agreed. “But you are probably right. With not one
    sighting of a ship in all these days, I begin to wonder how long
    we’ll be here. I have heard of stranded people thought lost being
    found after years.”
    “Years,” Charles muttered bleakly, his young face morose as
    he sat cross-legged by the leaping flames. “No liquor, no…” He
    shot Jenna a sidelong look, “No cards, no beefsteak. I hope I don’t
    go mad.”
    “If you start frothing at the mouth, don’t worry. Anthony and I
    will dispose of you promptly,” Jonathan murmured. His valet
    always had a pretty young maid dangling after him, and he had
    discreetly occupied the beds of several society ladies, as well.
    Having a healthy sexual appetite himself, Jonathan understood his
    frustration over their plight completely.
    “Are any of you married?” The soft question took them all by
    surprise since Jenna had been remarkably quiet all evening.
    Anthony shook his head. “No, my lady. I was engaged a few
    years ago, but she contracted cholera and died while I was fighting
    with Wellington in Spain.”

    26
    Emma Wildes
    “I am sorry,” she said, looking sincere.
    Charles gave her one of his winning boyish smiles. “The word
    marriage isn’t in his lordship’s vocabulary, and I am too young yet
    to tie myself to one woman. None of us are wed. Why do ask, my
    lady?”
    Setting aside the comb, she visibly squared her slender
    shoulders. Her voice was even and she glanced around the fire,
    looking each of them in the eye one by one. “Because it seems to
    me that we cannot exist together peaceably without coming to
    some sort of…arrangement. I am naïve I suppose, in many ways,
    but not quite as much so as before the shipwreck. Men’s bodies
    seem to have a…wayward need for copulation. I cannot help but
    notice—that is—sometimes—it is obvious—” she stammered, two
    spots of color visible high in her cheeks even in the firelight.
    Realizing she meant that she had noticed the telltale bulge of
    an erection at some time or another, of which every single one of
    them was probably guilty, Charles flushed too and shifted
    uncomfortably. “We apologize most sincerely but it isn’t
    something a man can help, my lady. I don’t know which one of us
    offended you, but it wasn’t on purpose. You are…very beautiful,”
    he finished lamely.
    “Thank you,” she said in a hushed voice, her gaze lowered
    demurely. “And I wasn’t offended particularly. I was a little
    surprised, I suppose. It seems like such a basic response.”
    “Men,” Jonathan admitted wryly, “are basic creatures.
    Enforced abstinence is difficult at any time, but a little more so
    when one spends time with a lovely half-dressed woman. It is
    simply a fact.”
    She nodded. “That is my concern. I do not want you fighting
    over me, which is what I feel might eventually happen. We are not
    in a London drawing room any