Shyly, she touched the dark head upon her chest, not daring to stroke him, not even certain she should if she could get up the nerve. What was a woman supposed to do when a man made love to her? She remembered the bitterness in his voice as he spoke of her sister lying like a dead woman when he had exercised his husbandly rights. Still, she should not encourage him, for he had no right to make love to her. No right at all! "Ohhhhhh!" His tongue and his kisses were moving down her torso, and her belly was both aching and roiling with nervousness.

"You are so soft," he murmured, looking up at her a moment, the anger now gone from his eyes.

"Let me go, Valerian," she pleaded. "Why must you shame me?"

"You do not feel shamed, you little liar," he said, his voice tinged with amusement. "You know damned well I intend marrying you. Besides, you are as warm and as willing as your sister was cold and unwilling. I will never let you go, Aurora!"

"Why?"

"Because you are mine," he answered, and then his lips began to kiss her upon her belly, pushing his tongue into her navel to tease at her until, unable to help herself, she began to writhe beneath his attentions.

I will not be his, Aurora thought mutinously. I will not! Yet if she would not, then why did she lie in his embrace, enjoying his passionate attentions? Cally had once said she must be wanton. Was she a wanton? Yet Cally had also said Valerian Hawkesworth had abused her with his attentions, and Aurora did not feel abused at all by him. Still, she felt it her duty to make a further protest of his actions. "You will ruin me for St. John," she said low.

"You mean St. John has not ruined you for me?" he mocked her.

Aurora attempted to smack him, but he caught her hand, and kissed the palm. "I am a virgin," she snapped furiously.

"Then I shall certainly ruin you for St. John," he agreed.

"But why?" she demanded.

"Because you are mine," he repeated, piercing her with a hungry gaze. "You belong to me, Aurora. You feel the attraction between us every bit as much as I feel it, but you will not admit to it. St. John will not have you or St. Timothy," he said fiercely.

"But you already have St. Timothy," she said desperately.

"No, I do not. Not until its heiress is my wife, and you are its heiress. If my cousin learned of it, and you were his wife, he would take the island for himself."

"I will admit to deceiving you, and sign my property over to you," she said, half angry. This wasn't about her, or had it been about Cally. It was about land.

"No," he said.

"Why?"

"Because I want you," he answered her. "I want you!"

"You will never have me," she cried. "Not really!"

He laughed at her mockingly. "Oh, yes, I will, Aurora. You cannot deny me, for the fires of passion run as hotly in your veins as they do in mine. You are not your sister, cold and unfeeling. You are warm, and loving, and I shall have you! All of you!"

"No!" she protested, but she knew that she lied not only to him, but to herself as well. She could feel his member now pulsing insistently against her thigh. She whimpered, but whether from fear or eagerness she would never know. His big body slid over hers.

"Put your arms about me, Aurora," he whispered to her. "Hold tight, my precious, and I will take you to paradise."

She felt the tears prickling behind her eyelids, and she could not keep the words from her lips. "I am afraid, Valerian."

"No, my precious, not you!" he reassured her. "Trust me, Aurora. Do you not know I love you, you little fool?"

"I don't believe you," she said, sliding her arms about him.

"You will in time," he reassured her.

She was so ready for him. He slipped just the head of his manhood into her passage, and feeling it, she stiffened, but he caressed her face and made soft, reassuring noises in her ear even as he moved himself a little deeper. She could feel the walls of her channel giving way reluctantly, opening before him, welcoming him. Then suddenly he ceased his forward movement. She felt him pressing against something within her that seemed to be impeding him. He drew back and pushed against it. Aurora cried out, but he would show her no mercy, and pulling himself back again, he thrust hard within her, causing her to scream softly, and the tears to slide down her cheeks.

It hurt! Dear God how it hurt! The pain swept up her body into her chest, almost suffocating her with its intensity. It swept down into her thighs, making them feel leaden and incapable of movement. She could feel him, hard and throbbing, now deep within her. She sobbed, and he kissed the tears from her face even as he began a rhythmic movement within her aching body. And the pain was gone. As cruelly as it had overtaken her, it was now totally gone, to be replaced with a wave of pleasure that swept over her, leaving her gasping with surprise. Her body began to find his rhythm, and imitate it with an instinct she hadn't even known she possessed until then.

"That's it, my precious," he encouraged her tenderly.

Aurora's hands found the flat of his back. Her fingers began to knead at him first, and then, unable to help herself, she was clawing at him. He groaned as if pained, but he seemed to be waiting for something. Slowly, Aurora felt a change taking place within her. There was nothing but an incredible, wonderful feeling claiming her, and she was drowning in it, and didn't care. Then suddenly her body convulsed, and she cried aloud, the pleasure so intense, she thought she would die. Half sobbing, she clung to him even as his member released its burning love juices within her, and they both slipped into a half-conscious state.

He rolled off her after a few moments, his arms wrapped tightly about her, holding her close. Aurora listened to the beat of his heart beneath her ear. His chest was smooth and warm. She felt very shy of him now. The intimacy between them had been more than she had ever anticipated, and she wasn't certain what to say.

"Did I hurt you badly?" he asked her softly, his hand caressing her as he spoke. It was as if he were attempting to quiet a skittish animal.

"It hurt terribly, and then it was wonderful," she answered. "Will it hurt the next time?"

"No," he said.

"Will it be wonderful again?"

"If you want it to be," he replied, smiling in the darkness at the ingenuousness of the question. Then, "I will see the magistrate tomorrow about obtaining a special license so we may be married right away."

"I will not marry you, Valerian," Aurora told him.

"Yes, my dear, you will" came his reply. "We are pledged."

"I will be your mistress if you will, but you cannot hold me to a promise our fathers made, Valerian," she insisted.

"I can, Aurora, and I will," he said in implacable tones.

"You cannot force me," she insisted.

"Oh, but I can. I could send a new overseer and manager for the plantation on the next boat to the Indies with orders to dispossess your mother, your brother, and his wife, Aurora."

She pulled away from him, crying, "You would not be so cruel!"

"Will you test my resolve, my precious?" he asked her.

"But you said you loved me!" She sounded betrayed.

"I do, which is why I will not let you behave foolishly. You could be carrying my child even now, Aurora." He forced her onto her back and played along her lips with his fingers, finally pushing one of them into the warmth of her mouth. "Suck it!" he commanded her.

She couldn't help herself, and did as he bid her. There was something so sensual in the act that she was almost dizzy with excitement.

Finally he drew the finger from between her lips, and bending, kissed her slowly. "You will make me a most adorable wife, Aurora."

"I hate you!" she told him.

He laughed softly. "No, you do not, but if it pleases you to believe it, and soothes your conscience, you may think it."

"You assaulted me! My conscience is clear," she told him angrily. "I feel no guilt whatsoever for my actions."

He laughed again. "You are torn between knowing how much you enjoyed making love, and your guilt over St. John. Do not fear. I will explain all to him myself. He will dislike losing to me once again, but he will get over it, as he always does."

"You are heartless, Valerian. St. John loves me," Aurora said.

"Has he said so? The words, I mean," the duke inquired.

"Well…" She hesitated a moment, and then, "He said he feels for me what he has never felt for a woman before," she concluded triumphantly. "If it is not love, then what is it?"

"My cousin saw I was drawn to you, even though I had a wife. It gave him great pleasure to take you from me. To taunt me with the knowledge that he could have you when I could not. What a new and rare pleasure that must have been for him. Oh, he cared for you in his fashion. St. John is feckless, but not deliberately cruel, but love? No. I do not believe it. St. John has never given his heart to any woman. To give any part of himself to another would be to put him at a disadvantage, he believes. He will be angry and disappointed, but he will accept that you are mine, Aurora."

"Is everything a game between you two?" she wondered.

The duke considered a moment, and then said, "I have never thought of it that way before, but I suppose it is. I cannot tell you why, Aurora, but from our childhood St. John and I have rubbed each other the wrong way. He more than I, however, I believe." His fingers brushed her hair from her face. "I don't want to speak on my cousin any longer, Aurora. Have you any idea of how lovely you are? Your eyes are like the finest aquamarines, and your skin like silk. There is a necklace among the family jewels that would match your eyes. Although I realize it is no longer the fashion to wear such gems, they would be magnificent reflected by your eyes." He smiled wickedly. "Perhaps I shall dress your naked body with those pieces for my delectation, and mine alone." Leaning forward, he nibbled tenderly on her earlobe.

She caught her lower lip in her teeth. She ought to be absolutely embarrassed, and certainly ashamed of what had happened in the last hour, but she could not seem to muster up those emotions. She actually giggled to her acute horror as he teased at her ear. "Stop it!" she finally managed to say in what she hoped passed for a severe tone. "You are a fool, Valerian. Now, lend me a robe so I may gather up the shreds of my clothing that you have strewn all over the stairs and foyer. Then I will go to my room. I will not remain in this house another night. Since I will be unable to catch the public coach to Hereford, and then on to London, you must send me via your own transport. I shall return to St. Timothy upon the next available vessel." She pushed him away and attempted to sit up.

"I am going to have to lock you in your bedroom, aren't I?" he said wearily, pushing her back upon his bed. "You are going nowhere, my precious Aurora, except to St. Anne's Church, where you will marry me." He leaned over her, pinioning her beneath him again.

"No! No! No!" she insisted, pummeling his chest with her fists. "I will not marry you, Valerian! I won't!"

"Then I shall send a new man to St. Timothy to take George's place. He, Betsy, and your mother will be very grateful to you for being so selfish, Aurora. But then, you were being selfish when you deceived me with Calandra, weren't you? Think of what your self-centeredness has cost us all. Why do you persist in it?" His resolve almost evaporated when he saw her eyes fill with tears at the mention of her sister's name. "Ah, my precious, I am sorry," he amended his harshness, and he kissed her soft mouth lightly, once, twice, the third time his kiss deepening until their passions were well engaged once again.

She knew immediately what was happening between them, but she did not, she admitted to herself, want to stop it. Why am I fighting him, she wondered, but she knew. She wanted the decision to be hers and no one else's, yet he would insist upon attempting to master her. I will not be forced, she thought, but as he joined their bodies once again, she knew he was not coercing her. Tensing a moment as if there would be pain again, she was astounded to find he had told her the absolute truth. There wasn't any. Just an incredible feeling of fullness as his member thrust and withdrew, thrust and withdrew, until she was dizzy and breathless once more with the sudden and violent if temporary feeling of utter deliciousness their two bodies together seemed to engender.