Free Surrender to the Fury by Connie Mason

woman. He was hard and throbbing, his staff rising stiff and powerful from the dark forest betweenhis legs. She looked at him then, and he nearly exploded on the spot. Her eyes were wide and incredulous, as if he were the first man she had ever seen in a state of full arousal. He knew it was all an act, but it pleased him. He dropped to his knees on the bed, worshiping her with his eyes. Then slowly he began to arouse her in all the ways, all the places, he knew women liked. With his mouth, his lips, the moist tip of his tongue …
    “Captain Drummond, where are you?”
    Lieutenant Dill crashed through the forest, his voice rousing Nick abruptly from his sensual journey into the past.
    “Over here, Lieutenant,” Nick called, struggling to control his turbulent emotions.
    Dill soon came into sight. He seemed relieved to see Nick. “Mrs. Trevor returned to the house alone, and I grew worried. Are you all right?”
    “No need for worry, Lieutenant,” Nick said gruffly. “I decided to check the area before returning to the house. One can’t be too careful in these times.”
    “Right, sir,” Dill said skeptically. “Are you ready to leave now?”
    “Ready, Lieutenant. Just as soon as I get the berries Mrs. Trevor gathered.”
    Aimee was panting by the time she reached the house. She couldn’t believe how close she had come to submitting to Nick Drummond after the callous way in which he had treated her. To care for a man like him would destroy her utterly. On the heels of that thought came the terrible knowledge of all she stood to lose if she followed Garson Pinder’s advice. He virtually asked her to sleepwith the enemy in order to get the information needed by the Confederacy.
    Aimee cast a furtive glance over her shoulder and spied Nick emerging from the woods. He looked thoroughly vexed, yet she instinctively knew that once she yielded to him, she’d be in a position to gain all the information Gar sought. But to yield to Nick now would cost her her pride, her honor—her very soul. In the end, her dilemma came down to one question: Did she want to spy? Did she truly want to search Nick’s personal belongings in order to obtain the information for Gar?
    The answer was more involved than she would have imagined. It was true she hated Yankees, was sickened by what they had done to the South. She despised Nick Drummond with an all-consuming passion. Her fierce patriotism demanded that she do her bit for the faltering Confederacy, but her thoughts stopped just short of placing herself in Nick’s bed. If she used her wits, she felt confident of obtaining the information without resorting to such drastic measures. Feeling more optimistic, Aimee went to the kitchen to help Savannah with supper. She arrived just as Nick entered through the back door with the bucket of berries.
    Savannah slid Aimee a questioning glance, curious as to why Captain Drummond was bringing the berries instead of Aimee. Aimee refused to acknowledge Savannah’s unspoken query, turning her attention instead to Brand, who sat on the kitchen floor playing with a crudely carved wooden horse.
    “Where did you get that, Brand?” Aimee asked.She couldn’t remember seeing that particular toy before. In fact, Brand had few toys.
    “Captain Drummond gave it to me,” Brand said proudly. “It looks just like Scout, doesn’t it, Mama?”
    Aimee hated the idea of Nick providing her son with a toy when she herself could give him nothing so fine.
    “I hope it’s all right, Mrs. Trevor,” Nick said coolly. “Perhaps I should have asked you first, but it’s such a small gift. I carved it in my spare time when I noticed the lad had so few toys.”
    For a moment Brand looked troubled. “It
is
all right, isn’t it, Mama?”
    Aimee didn’t have the heart to deny her child so small a pleasure, even if it did come from Nick Drummond. “It’s all right, darling.” Her honey brown eyes settled on Nick. “But in the future I suggest Captain Drummond