Savage Shores
The Improper Ladies 1

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 longer. You are all gentlemen, but that is learned behavior, not innate.” Jenna took a deep breath, her breasts swaying provocatively under her shift. “Your urges are not tempered here by the opportunity for a discreet affair. I might be innocent but I have been around soldiers before. Each one of you is attractive, so I have no doubt you are rarely…abstinent. However, I would not ever give myself to any man if it would betray his marriage vows.”

For a long heartbeat, no one spoke. Jonathan felt a frisson of pure anticipation run through his body. “What exactly do you propose, Jenna?” Even to his own ears, his voice sounded odd.

Her hand shook slightly as she lifted it to smooth back a shimmering strand of hair caught by the light breeze. In the distance, thunder rumbled again, growing closer, and the sea licked the shore nearby in a sibilant whisper. “You could share me. Back home, I suppose that would make me a whore—”

“You are the farthest thing possible from a whore,” Jonathan interrupted shortly, not even certain how to feel about what she had just said. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

She continued with impressive dignity. “However, I cannot think of another way to prevent discord. My virtue means nothing if we never leave here. If we are rescued, I will have been here with the three of you all this time, so my reputation will already be tarnished even if you never touch me.”

“You do not have to do this,” Anthony Reeves said, but his gaze suddenly glittered and his wide shoulders were tense. “We can behave ourselves.”

“I realize you would try.” She shook her head, moving her luxuriant hair. “But already this afternoon I saw the fury in your eyes, Major, when you found me with Lord Charbeau. Besides, this is not exclusively your problem, either. I am a normal female and I cannot help but be curious over what it would be like to lie with a man. Who knows now, with this twist fate has given us, if I will ever marry. I enjoyed Jonathan’s kiss this afternoon and could probably be convinced to allow him greater liberties.” Her smile was faint and slightly ironic. “I have a feeling he is a most persuasive man and recall hearing rumors of his romantic exploits while in London last year. Do you honestly think he will not be able to seduce me eventually? And when he does, will you not be frustrated and angry?”

Reeves looked uncomfortable. He shoved his fingers into his thick hair, his mouth twisting. “Since you are being so forthright, I cannot deny you affect me. But I feel as if we are forcing this upon you.”

She rose, graceful in the firelight, framed by the eerie flickering lights over the water, and daintily brushed a little of the obsequious sand that seemed to be everywhere from her arm. “We are comrades, so to speak, trapped in a most unusual situation. You all take care of me right down to providing food and shelter. I suppose this is my contribution, if you will. All I ask is that you work things out between you so there is no rancor.”

Out of sheer habit, they had also gotten politely to their feet when she stood, old customs deeply ingrained and exercised even on a wild island in the middle of a foreign sea.

Jenna stood there, a vision in her lacy attire, all soft voluptuous curves and glorious beauty. “I am retiring now. I assume one of you will join me soon enough. Good night, gentlemen.”

ADULT EXCERPT

It would be morning soon.

On his side, the small shelter wreathed in darkness, Jonathan lightly touched the woman sleeping next to him, feeling a little guilty, but enough to stop. In the dim light she looked ethereal and unfairly lovely, her voluptuous body gilded by filtered moonlight, her tumbled hair like spun gold. His sperm was on her slim thighs, glistening in thin rivulets.

She was right, of course. They were all under the spell of forces ancient as time itself. The need to eat, to sleep and protect their carefully carved out space on the island …the need to find a sexual partner. Those basics occupied their every waking moment.

In a few hours, she would belong to someone else.

There was no reason not to wake her, he decided selfishly. She could sleep late in the morning. He was straining and erect, his cock rigid with the sort of need he had never felt for another woman…by the gods, he’d almost told her that earlier. Leaning over her, he eased her on her back and covered her body, gently pushing her legs apart and settling between them. She began to wake as he nibbled on her neck, his throbbing penis nudging her female opening. “Let me know when you’re ready,” he murmured against the curve of her throat. “But don’t,” he said, lifting his head and smiling wickedly into her sleepy eyes, “take too long.”

“Jonathan.” His name was a sigh and her hands lifted to lightly rest on his back. “Don’t you ever rest?”

“Why would I rest?” he asked, kissing her right breast, savory the silky firmness, “when you are so deliciously available.”

“What if I prefer to sleep?” she asked, her eyes still half-closed.

“Do you?” He sucked her nipple into his mouth, teasing it with his tongue.

“No.” Her breath shuddered in her chest as he nibbled and licked at the bud. The admission, and the fact that she was already slick with his discharge from their earlier intercourse, made him enter her with slow pressure, not able to suppress a low sound of satisfaction as he was enveloped in perfect tight wet heat. Jenna lifted her hips to accept and take him deeper, opening her thighs wide and raising her legs to put them around his waist. This time he didn’t feel just the violent need for carnal release, but also the need to touch and kiss her, and he moved slowly, looking into her eyes. He could hear the soft wet sounds of his penis sliding in and out of her vagina, registering the changes in her breathing as she began to climb that orgasmic peak, holding back as he made love to her with infinite finesse, a distinct difference from their wild joining earlier.

“Please,” she finally begged, “Oh, Jonathan…harder.”

He kissed her flushed cheek, not complying, loving her breathless moans. “It’s good this way, my love. Don’t be so impatient, you’ll get there.”

Her small hands clutched frantically at his back. “I don’t want to wait…Oh God, you’re so big…it feels so good. Help me.”

The truth was, he didn’t want to wait either. “Anything for the lady’s pleasure,” he murmured, and suddenly pushed incredibly deep, making her cry out. Pulling back, he did it again, fast and hard, touching her trembling womb. Her resulting orgasm was intense and instant, her legs locking as she lifted against him, forcing him as deep as he could go, her eyes tightly shut as she uttered a low, keening scream...