Free Happily Ever After by Tanya Anne Crosby Page A

return, and she renewed
her efforts. How eager to please she was!
    How
spoiled he was becoming.
    The
thought of going back to Sophie, with her little-girl expressions and her
unpracticed kisses, appealed not at all. He grimaced as he thought of the
letter he had received from her father. It seemed Maxwell Vanderwahl was eager
for grandchildren. He had decided out of the blue that Harlan was wasting his
time in the wilderness, and had summoned him back to Boston posthaste. Harlan
had little doubt he would exercise his considerable power to achieve that end,
if Harlan did not comply soon. He needed Jonathon to help him persuade Maxwell
to give him more time.
    He
sighed wistfully and turned around to let the girl labor over his back,
settling into a comfortable languor and thinking he would like to spend his
entire life here and nowhere else.
    ‘It’s
not that she’s unattractive,” he told the smiling native girl, knowing she
didn’t understand a word he was saying. “She just... has no passion,” he
explained, and turned to glance over his shoulder. “Understand?”
    The
girl’s smile widened, and she nodded enthusiastically.
    “Of
course you do,” he said anyway. “Smart girl!” He didn’t need a woman who talked
incessantly, asked questions interminably. He wanted someone who would shut up
and tend loyally to his needs.
    She
rattled off something in her native tongue, and giggled, making him smile. The
simple fact that he could not understand her Spanish made her every utterance
seem like music to his ears.
    “I
wonder if Jon booked passage with that rabble-rousing pretender,” he said
thoughtfully. “I think he’ll like you very much!” He turned to her. “You’ll
take good care of him, now, won’t you?”
    She
giggled and nodded, seeming to understand that he wished her to.
    “Good
girl. Good girl.”
    He
lapsed into a thoughtful silence, then turned, raising a brow and grinning a
bit lasciviously. “You’ll have a bit of making up to do, I think.” He wiggled
his brow at her. “I promised Jon you would be exquisite, and the poor chap will
likely have had a rough journey.”
    He’d
also promised the girl would be unused ... but that particular promise was one
he couldn’t seem to keep.
    She
mistook his expression.
    Again
she smiled, only this time much more seductively, and began to move her hands
down his back to his buttocks, eager to please him.
    He
sighed in pleasure, deciding that Jon would simply have to make do with
leftovers.
    Anyway,
it would be far better fare than he would be getting aboard MacAuley’s wreck.
Harlan had finagled a little gift for the entire crew. They’d all be lucky if
they didn’t die of food poisoning before the journey was over... thanks to one
sordid character who went by the name of Shorty.
    Too
bad for Jon, but Harlan hadn’t dared risk telling even his good friend. It just
couldn’t be helped. The girl would just have to soothe his wounds when he
arrived.
    The
last thing he wanted to see was Jack MacAuley on the same site he was working.
    She
suddenly lowered her lips to the small of his back, startling him as she lapped
gently at his back.
    “Oh
my!” he exclaimed, and chuckled softly.
    Fast
learner, she was!
    He
only wished his linguistic skills were as fine as hers... so he could
understand what the hell she was whispering to him in that sweet musical tone.
    With
another sigh he relaxed completely, giving himself over to her ministrations.
    “Professor
Penn!” a voice intruded.
    Startled,
the girl stopped her tongue exercises abruptly, and Penn’s mood soured
instantly.
    Didn’t
anybody ever knock? Christ!
    Rolling
his eyes, he sighed again but didn’t bother to move. His voice was muffled by
the towel he was using for a pillow. “Go away, Borland, can’t you see I’m
busy!” he reproached the boy.
    “Yes
sir,” he answered, and stammered like an idiot, “but... well... you see ..
    “Later,”
he told the young man firmly, and laid his