Beyond the Night - eBook - Final Read online

  Her entire body caught fire as every nerve ending tingled, vibrated, shivered. She could feel him throbbing at the apex of her legs, and it was wicked temptation.

  He kissed her again, rougher, harder, with more excitement. She rocked forward, downward into his groin, giving him the promise of what was to come. She wanted him with every fiber of her being, as she had never wanted another man in her life.

  His fingers tore clumsily at her shirt, pushing it upward until her breasts were exposed to his gaze. And to his mouth.

  When his lips made contact with her nipple, she threw back her head and moaned. A current of fire arced from her breast to her abdomen and lower to the part of her that pulsed and tightened with his every touch.

  “Ridge. Oh my God, Ridge.”

  It was all she could muster as he plumped her breasts with his hands then feasted greedily on first one then the other. He thumbed the peaks then sucked them between his lips, nipping the sensitive flesh with his teeth.

  “Do you have any idea what you do to me?” he rasped.

  She grinned wickedly down at him then slipped her hand between their bodies, down to his pelvis to cup his hardness.

  “Yes, I think I do.”

  He closed his eyes and groaned. “I have no idea if such a thing is possible in a moving carriage, but I’m willing to do my best to find out.”

  Her chest tightened and she smiled. A wide smile that encompassed her entire soul. There was nothing she didn’t like about this man. He didn’t bandy about sweet words in an attempt to seduce her. He was honest and forthright.

  She sandwiched his face between her hands and lowered her head to kiss him. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer.

  “Take off your shirt,” he said hoarsely.

  She pulled away and hiked her shirt the rest of the way up then pulled it over her head. She closed her eyes as his hands reclaimed the soft mounds of her breasts.

  His eyes glittered with desire. Need. And it excited her all the more. She was no classic beauty. She knew this. But this man wanted her. Wanted her very badly.

  He rolled her nipples between his thumb and forefinger, sending streaks of exquisite pleasure racing to her groin. Her pelvis squeezed, tightened, until every muscle strained with the effort.

  “I want to be inside you so badly I hurt,” he whispered.

  “Oh God.”

  His words were nearly enough to send her catapulting over the edge. And suddenly she wanted him inside her every bit as much as he did.

  She scrambled off his lap, catching herself as the carriage bucked and swayed. With shaking hands, she pushed at her trousers. They were at her knees when the carriage slowed and she catapulted forward.

  Ridge caught her and held her steady. Her cheek pressed against the thumping of his heart.

  “We’ve stopped,” he said in a harsh whisper.

  She scrambled up, yanking at her trousers and looking frantically around for her shirt. The flames of embarrassment consumed her. Her face felt like a hot ember.

  He thrust her shirt at her, and she snatched it from his grasp. She had just pulled it over her head when the door opened.

  The coolness of the evening air was a welcome balm to her burning cheeks. Her breath was still coming in spurts and her heart raced. Ridge climbed down from the carriage then held his hand back to her.

  She grasped it and allowed him to help her down, but pulled it away as soon as her feet hit the ground. She couldn’t look at him. Never had she been so completely and utterly uncomfortable in a situation as she was right now.

  She didn’t regret her actions. No, that wasn’t at the heart of her discomfort. Well, she did, just not for reasons of modesty. What bothered her was the fact that she was so readily able to put aside her deception and enjoy what the viscount offered. All the while lying to him. Plotting to destroy his dreams.

  He was looking at her. She could feel his stare. She chanced a peek out of the corner of her eye and saw that he was indeed watching her. A deep frown marred his handsome face.

  She closed her eyes then turned away. Fool. She had allowed him too close.

  “Let’s see to our rooms,” Ridge muttered as he moved by her.

  She followed him into the inn and waited as he spoke to the proprietor. A few moments later, Ridge thrust a key at her.

  “You have the room next to Kavi and Udaya. I’m sharing with Robby.”

  She made the mistake of meeting his gaze. He probed her with his eyes, curiosity, the need for information radiating from him. She dropped her gaze as if she had been scorched.

  He let out a sigh and walked away, leaving her to follow. They plodded up the stairs and into a long hallway, doors dotting both sides. At the end, he motioned to one of the doors.

  “This one is yours.”

  She nodded and turned to insert the key into the lock.

  “India.”

  She hesitated a moment then turned around to look at him.

  His eyes burned through her, his expression one of complete intensity.

  “I won’t allow you to pretend that not fifteen minutes ago you wanted me inside of you as badly as I wanted to be there.”

  Her cheeks burned at the images his words provoked. She was unable to look away even as badly as she wanted to run into her room and hide. Hide from him, hide from herself.

  “My only regret is that the damn carriage stopped when it did.”

  He stared at her as if daring her to disagree. Well, she wasn’t going to tack hypocrisy on to her growing list of sins. She had wanted it as badly as he did. Maybe more. And that made her feel even worse.

  If there weren’t so many lies hanging between them, she would walk straight into his arms right now and demand he take her to bed.

  But she was in too deep, and her father’s life depended on her deception.

  Without a word, she turned and jammed the key into the lock, rattled it and swung her door open.

  “India,” he called in protest.

  She shut the door behind her before he could say anything else.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Ridge resisted the urge to put his fist through India’s door. He curled his fingers into a ball then relaxed them again. How could she pretend that what happened between them wasn’t something they both desperately wanted?

  He turned in frustration and opened the door to his room. Robby was sprawled on his bed, his arm flung carelessly over his eyes.

  His eyes traveled to the not so comfortable looking couch that posed the only place to sleep unless he wanted to sleep with Robby. Not that he didn’t love his brother, but he was a poor substitute for the one person he really wanted in his bed.

  He flopped onto the couch and stretched his travel weary legs. He put his hands behind his head, reclined into the most comfortable position he could muster and stared at the ceiling.

  What the hell had happened? The spark between them had been sizzling for quite some time. The stolen kisses, the passionate interludes, they had all been a lead up to the inevitable. Or so he had thought.

  True, a carriage wasn’t exactly the best place for them to make love, but he didn’t get from India that she was a simpering virginal miss. She screamed passion. Sensuality beyond the scope of someone inexperienced in matters of the bedroom.

  Which begged the bigger question. How many men had she been with? He wasn’t wrong about her, he knew it. She wasn’t a virgin, or if she was, she had to be the most experienced virgin he’d ever met.

  He felt the unwelcome pang of jealousy and grimaced. Had she found him lacking? Was that the reason for the sudden withdrawal? She certainly hadn’t seemed to find his efforts second rate in the heat of the moment.

  “When did you come in?”

  Ridge turned to look in Robby’s direction as his brother’s sleepy voice intruded on his thoughts. He sat up and threw his legs over the side of the sofa.

  “Not long ago. I didn�
��t mean to wake you.”

  Robby sat up and rubbed at his face. “You didn’t. I seldom sleep for more than a few hours at a time.”

  Ridge raised a questioning brow. “Something wrong?”

  “No, no, nothing,” Robby said hastily. “I just needed a bit to drink.”

  Robby stood up on unsteady feet and shuffled over to the pitcher that rested on the small table by the door. He poured water into a small cup and downed the contents.

  He set the cup down and turned to Ridge. “How did things go at the docks?”

  Ridge snorted. “Could have been worse, I suppose. Lord Clarence reared his ugly head. India and I had to dive overboard and swim down river to escape.”

  “Gads! Lord Clarence you say? What’s that bounder want with you and India?”

  “It’s a long story,” Ridge mumbled. He had no desire to go into detail with Robby. He had enough to worry about without concern over what nefarious plot Lord Clarence was hatching.

  Robby ambled over and plunked down on the sofa next to Ridge. “What’s between you and India anyway?”

  The question caught him off guard. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  Robby snorted. “Sure you do. You look at her the same way you used to look at Lucinda.”

  Robby’s breath caught as her name tripped off his lips, and he turned his tortured gaze toward Ridge.

  “God, I’m sorry, Ridge. That was not well done of me.”

  Ridge sighed. “There’s no need for an apology, Robby. It’s inevitable that we talk about it sometime isn’t it? We can’t avoid the issue forever.”

  “Do you...do you hate me?” Robby asked.

  “I was angry at first,” Ridge said truthfully. “But the truth of the matter is, I’m damn glad I didn’t marry her.” He stared at Robby, gauging his reaction to his statement.

  Robby laughed. A hollow, achy laugh that sent sadness arcing over Ridge. He hung his head, staring at the floor, not meeting Ridge’s gaze.

  Before Ridge could say anything, Robby stood up. He straightened his stance as if shaking off the melancholy that had descended on the room. When he turned around, the same cock-sure Robby was staring at him, a lazy grin tugging the corners of his mouth.

  “So where do we go when we get to Spain?”

  “South,” he said after a pause.

  “You say that as if you’re not sure.”

  “No, it’s south,” he said more firmly.

  Robby laughed. “Then why don’t you sound convinced?”

  “Because I’m not,” Ridge muttered.

  “Say that again?”

  “I have this awful feeling we’re going in the wrong direction,” he admitted.

  “Shouldn’t you tell India?” Robby asked.

  Ridge stood up and poured his own glass of water. After a long swallow, he set the cup down and turned his attention back to Robby.

  “India says south, so south we’ll go.”

  Robby put a hand on Ridge’s shoulder. “Are you so sure India is right? What makes you think it isn’t south?”

  He blew out his breath in frustration. “That’s just it, I have no basis for my assumption. Just a gut feeling. One that gets stronger all the time. I just feel we should be going north, toward the mountains. But I have no explanation. No proof.”

  “Have you talked to India about your feeling?”

  Ridge nearly laughed at the irony in that statement. He wanted to talk to her, but about a different feeling all together.

  He shook his head. “No, I haven’t.”

  “Why not? Maybe you’re right and she’s wrong.”

  Ridge laughed. “She’s the expert. I’m the novice. I don’t think she’d take kindly to my suggestion that I know more about Pagoria than she does.”

  “And maybe she wants to keep it that way,” Robby said with a shrug. He yawned broadly and climbed back into bed. “I’m going back to sleep. I’ll talk to you in the morning.”

  Ridge sank back down onto the sofa, not responding to Robby’s good night. He was thinking about Robby’s statement. Innocent and yet it struck a huge chord within him.

  India wasn’t very forthcoming with the details surrounding the city’s location. She had given him the translation, but the wording was vague at best. The only thing that pointed them south was the inscription on the bracelet.

  But what would she have to gain by keeping him in the dark? He shook his head again, firm denial coming readily to mind. She wouldn’t deceive him. She wasn’t like Lucinda.

  Any weirdness on her part stemmed from their obvious attraction. A matter he intended to address. Soon.

  ###

  India laid in bed, the covers drawn up to her chin. She felt sick. Absolutely sick. Sick with guilt. Sick with wanting. What she wanted most, she couldn’t have.

  What had she almost done?

  She had almost shared intimacies with a man she was deceiving. Made a promise with her body that her heart couldn’t keep. No matter how much she wanted Ridge, how much she longed to spend a night in his arms, she couldn’t do that to him. To herself. She would not become yet another person in his life to let him down.

  Tears slipped down her cheeks, and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold them at bay. Things had become too complicated. What had begun as a mission to save her father, had become something else entirely. She didn’t like the person she was becoming, and she didn’t like having the power to hurt someone.

  She turned over, digging her head further into the pillow. Ridge wanted her, but she didn’t fit into his lifestyle any more than he fit into hers. Dreaming was dangerous. Something she learned years ago.

  Women like Lucinda. Those were the type of women Ridge would settle down with and have babies. Those were the women who would enjoy home and a family. Enjoy a husband’s tender regard.

  The most India could hope for was to bring her father home so that she could piece together the family she had. And hopefully her father wouldn’t want to continue his roaming around the world.

  But still, she couldn’t staunch the longing deep in her heart. The senseless hope that she could enjoy a life with someone just like Ridge. Only now that she had met the viscount, the thought of a life with anyone but him was distasteful.

  “Ridiculous. Ridiculous and fanciful,” she muttered. “After he finds out what you’re doing, he will loathe the very sight of you.”

  And she wasn’t sure she could live with that.

  Chapter Nineteen

  The sun hadn’t risen when the group of travelers gathered outside the inn. Fog hung low to the ground, and the damp air clung to India’s clothes reminding her of the chill she had carried with her the day before.

  “We should go,” Ridge murmured stiffly beside her. “The fog will obscure our movement, and we can be on the ship before the sun comes up.”

  India glanced at Ridge then scanned the expressions of their group. Kavi wore a scowl, Udaya looked serene and Robby looked nervously left and right. He caught her gaze and offered a grin. She didn’t smile back. Truth was, she didn’t feel much like smiling.

  “Our trunks are already loaded onto the other carriage, Sahib,” Kavi spoke up.

  “Very good,” Ridge said approvingly. “Let’s be on our way then, shall we?”

  India started forward to walk beside Ridge, but he turned away from her and walked ahead. She felt the pang in her heart even as she acknowledged he had every right to snub her. She had played with his emotions, acted the wanton, and then refused to at least be honest about wanting him.

  The clopping of horses’ hooves and the soft slapping of leather broke the silence that lay as heavy as the fog. Wood creaked and groaned then stopped suddenly as a carriage halted in front of them.

  The driver hopped down and opened the door. At the forefront, Robby extended a hand to assist Udaya up then stood back to allow Kavi entrance.

  Ridge stood to the side as the others filed in. Wh
en it was her turn to board, Robby offered his arm to her. She paused for a moment when it looked like he would speak.

  He offered her a cheeky grin. “I know you don’t like me.”

  She lifted an eyebrow. “I don’t know you. It isn’t my practice to like or dislike people I have not formed an opinion of.”

  “Then I trust you will form a good one of me during the course of this journey.”

  He winked at her, and despite herself, despite the oppressive sadness that weighed on her, her face relaxed into a smile.

  “You’re very sure of yourself,” she muttered, as she allowed him to assist her up.

  She sat across from Kavi and Udaya, and Ridge slid onto the seat next to her. Lastly, Robby clamored up and pulled the door shut behind him.

  “Well then, that’s that, I suppose,” Robby said as he slouched next to Ridge.

  The carriage lurched forward and the occupants rode in silence. India tried not to remember the carriage ride yesterday and what almost happened. Ridge sitting so close to her was torture of the worst kind.

  Finally mustering the nerve, she looked up at him. To her surprise he returned her gaze. For a long moment he stared just as boldly at her as she did at him. A subtle lift to his brow asked the unspoken question, and she flushed guiltily.

  Unable to bear his scrutiny any further, she looked away, but not before she saw his frown. Her stomach dropped, and tears burned her eyelids. She bit her lip and balled her fingers into fists in her lap. She would not make a bigger fool of herself.

  As the carriage rolled to a stop at the harbor, India’s stomach knotted even more. She stepped out of the carriage, the pungent odor of fish assailing her nostrils. The second carriage carrying their trunks rolled up, and Ridge walked over to oversee the loading of them onto the ship.

  India stood quietly, gazing up at the ship that would carry them to Spain. To her father. To the city. To ultimate betrayal.

  There was no happy ending no matter which path she chose. There was only the path that led to the least hurt.

  How long she stood, she didn’t know. She became aware of Robby staring curiously at her, and she turned her gaze to him.