Free Swept Away by Phoebe Conn Page A

was a gorgeous bride who would probably not mourn his passing more than five minutes before she began to count his money, then he would not interfere. He would not criticize her as long as Alex lived, but the instant the dear man was buried, he would vent every last ounce of his anger on his widow.
    It might be impossible to prosecute Eden for murder, but he would never allow her to forget that she had hastened Alex’s death. Every time she lured Alex to her bed, she would be shortening his life, and no matter how loudly she protested her innocence, Raven would call her a murderess.

Chapter Four
    July 1863
    They would not meet again, so Raven had not bothered to remember the petite brunette’s name. She was pretty, and her figure possessed alluring curves, but the pleasing nature of her appearance had had no effect on the blackness of his mood. Her conversation consisted of the adoring praise he had come to expect from her kind. He was not really listening to her, and could not have said what sort of personality she had. He was all too aware of her heavy perfume, however, for it filled the garishly decorated room with a near suffocating stench. It was too late to rise from her bed to fling open the window, but Raven wished he had had the foresight to do so when he had first stepped across the threshold.
    As the agile brunette moved astride him, her shiny, black ringlets swayed across her pale breasts, but Raven failed to notice the stark contrast between her ebony hair and fair skin that other men found so appealing. Her nipples were the color of milk chocolate but he had not been tempted to sample their taste. Instead he reached up to roll the tips between his fingers until they became taut buds.
    Responding to the tenderness of his touch, the girl licked her lips suggestively and began to move her hips with a sensuous rhythm to bring him to climax again. He was a lusty man, but she was confident she could satisfy his every need. She thought him extraordinarily handsome, and told him so repeatedly, but his expression remained disappointingly remote. Not discouraged, she began a circular motion that brought their bodies together in a new and, what she considered, even more exciting way.
    Raven continued to fondle her breasts, but the warmth of the brunette’s skin did not make him feel any less alone. Tall and well built even in his early teens, he had often spent an idle afternoon in a whore’s bed, and none had ever guessed how young he was. The thrill of being with a woman had been enough then. Now he possessed the same strong sexual appetite and stamina, but the release he found joining with strangers, no matter how pretty, was no longer half as sweet.
    He felt the first stirrings of ecstasy fill his loins and dropped his hands to encircle his companion’s waist. He controlled her motions then, forcing her to slow down to make the feeling last until he could no longer restrain the force of his passion. He let it wash over him then, felt his body grow tense at the instant his seed shot forth, but the peace he had hoped to find with a woman again eluded him.
    “I did not please you?” the brunette asked, puzzled when Raven swiftly left her bed.
    Pausing at the washstand in the corner, Raven scrubbed hurriedly before pulling on his clothes. He did not want any reminders of the time he had spent with her and wished he could have taken a hot bath to thoroughly remove her sickeningly sweet scent from his body before he returned to his ship.
    “Did you hear me complain?” he asked gruffly.
    “No,” the brunette replied. “I did not hear you say anything at all.”
    Once dressed, Raven jammed his feet into his boots, then tossed a generous amount on the rumpled bed. “I didn’t come here for conversation.”
    As he reached the door, the brunette rose up on her knees and called out to him, “When will you come back to see me?”
    Never, Raven thought to himself, but he left the room without dashing her hopes with