“You are a very beautiful woman.” Magnus finally broke that silence as he reached out to gently run a fingertip down the slope of her breast, the caress across her nipple causing her to give a soft groan as pleasure heated her body. “And so headily responsive,” he admired. “I cannot wait to—” He broke off as a banging sounded on the door back into the main house.

  “Olivia!” The sharp hissing of her name was accompanied by a rattling of the handle of the locked door. “Olivia, if you are in there, and the flickering candle says you might be, then you need to come back to the main rooms as quickly as possible,” Cecelia continued frantically. “Mama is aware that both you and the admiral have been missing for some time, and she is now looking for you. Both of you,” she warned. “I shall go back and try to distract her, but you really must return. I should advise you to do so separately,” she added softly.

  This last was followed by a silence indicative of Cecelia having done as she had said and returned to distract her mother.

  Olivia had felt the color drain from her cheeks the moment she recognized Cecelia’s voice. She had no doubt become even paler when her friend warned that Franny Fitzgerald was looking for her. For both her and the admiral. Because the older woman had guessed that wherever they were, the two of them were together?

  Olivia could no longer even look at Magnus as she bent to pull her gown up her body so that she could slip her arms back into the capped sleeves and cover herself, even if she couldn’t refasten the buttons.

  She held the front of the gown to her as she finally dared a glance at Magnus.

  He remained seated on the couch, his expression no longer one of passion and admiration as he instead looked at her with unreadable blue eyes.

  Olivia immediately hated that she no longer knew what Magnus was thinking or feeling, when seconds ago, he had been as openly aroused as she was, their lust for each other unmistakably heavy in the air around them.

  But there was no time to regret the loss of that intimacy when her aunt was looking for them. “We must, as Cecelia advised, return to the main salon separately. Perhaps we might meet again tomorrow…” A brief glance at the harshness of Magnus’s features brought a halt to that suggestion. “Or not,” she accepted dully.

  In the past few seconds, she had become more and more aware that Magnus hadn’t spoken a word since Cecelia warned them Franny was searching for them.

  Because he was displeased at the interruption to their lovemaking?

  Or, a more likely explanation, because he was angry at the thought that the two of them might have been caught together in a compromising position.

  Did he think she was like her aunt after all?

  That she had deliberately set out to entrap—

  No, that surely could not be the case.

  Magnus had been the one to invite her to dance privately in the gallery with him, and then to venture alone with him into the conservatory.

  If anyone should be angry at the thought of being compromised, it was Olivia.

  Except she couldn’t quite bring herself to feel that way. How could she, when she didn’t regret a single moment of the two of them being alone together. Not the dancing or the lovemaking that followed.

  “Either way, as I cannot reach them, I need you to refasten the buttons on my gown,” she continued briskly at Magnus’s continued silence. “If my aunt questions me as to where I have been, I shall simply tell her I was feeling unwell and went for a walk in the portrait gallery to clear my head,” she dismissed. “Part of which is true. I shall leave you to think of a similar excuse to tell the governor—”

  “Olivia.”

  “—but I should have thought the same excuse would suffice as long as you do not say you were also clearing your head in the portrait gallery—”

  “Olivia.”

  “Yes?” she prompted sharply after he said her name more firmly the second time.

  He rose to his feet, once again towering over her as he pulled on his jacket far more briskly than he had removed it earlier. “As I am a man grown, I shall not be making any excuse to the governor for my having been absent for over an hour.”

  Olivia felt stung by the harshness of his tone. “Of course not.”

  Magnus nodded. “The two of us will, as you suggest, meet again tomorrow to discuss what we should do next.”

  Olivia gave him a searching glance, but could still read nothing of Magnus’s thoughts or feelings from his stony expression and the coldness of his blue eyes. “I suggested the two of us meet again tomorrow, but I do not recall saying it was so that we could discuss anything,” she felt stung into denying.

  Magnus gave a hard smile. “Nevertheless, the two of us do need to talk again before I leave the island. I suggest, with your agreement, that I call upon you at your aunt and uncle’s home late tomorrow morning.”

  Olivia felt an inner, pained twinge at this reminder Magnus would be leaving the island soon, after which she would never see him again. They hadn’t met in London before now, and Olivia could see no reason, with Magnus at sea for the majority of time, for that ever to change.

  She grimaced. “Very well, if you insist.”

  “I do.”

  She gave a brief nod and one last futile searching glance at his visage for the lover of a few minutes ago in this cold and distant man. Not finding him, she turned away to move some foliage aside so that she could use one of the conservatory windows to straighten and reapply the pins in her hair. It didn’t look as neat as it had when she arrived here earlier tonight, but it would have to do. Magnus refastened the back of her gown.

  She turned to face him. “I will say good night, my lord.” She turned with a swish of the skirt of her gown, hurrying to the door before unlocking it and escaping into the dimly lit gallery.

  Hoping she would find her aunt before Franny Fitzgerald found her.

  Chapter Nine

  “What do you suppose he is going to say to Papa when he arrives?” Cecelia could hardly contain her excitement as she stood beside the window watching for the arrival of the coach carrying Magnus Forsythe.

  Because, much to Olivia’s dismay, Magnus had sent a note to the Fitzgeralds’ home in time to be read over breakfast. It was not addressed to Olivia, as she had thought it should be, but to her Uncle Cormac, requesting a meeting with the older gentleman at eleven o’clock this morning.

  Olivia had a terrible premonition of what Magnus might wish to discuss with her uncle. The thought of him revealing how shameful her behavior had been with him, aboard his ship and then again yesterday evening, filled her with dread and caused her eyes to sting with humiliated unshed tears.

  But Olivia could think of no other reason for Magnus’s visit when he had been so cold and silent after Cecelia had interrupted them in the conservatory the night before.

  Olivia could not stop remembering how he had looked at her with those emotionless blue eyes.

  How he had barely seemed to be able to do even that, let alone touch her again.

  Because he believed Olivia was no better than her aunt, and had tried to trick or compromise him?

  Olivia thought that might be the case. Which meant Magnus was coming here to discuss her behavior with her uncle and no doubt offer advice as to what was to be done about curbing such behavior in future with other gentlemen.

  Well, whatever Magnus and her uncle discussed regarding Olivia or her behavior was of no consequence. She did not believe she had done anything wrong, nor did she regret her actions in the slightest.

  Admittedly, she and Magnus had shared intimacies together, more so than Olivia would ever wish to admit to her aunt and uncle or Cecelia. But Magnus had instigated those intimacies by asking her to dance a waltz in the gallery and then inviting her into the privacy of the conservatory.

  Yes, he had done so with her agreement, but she still did not believe she was the only one to merit being reprimanded. Besides, no matter how intimate they had been together, her virginity remained intact.

  It was, perhaps, the only saving grace in this situation.

  However Magnus might now feel about that situation, Olivia did not believe she merited being brought to task over it, either by him or her uncle.

  Especially so when Olivia had now realized she loved Magnus to the very core of her being.

  The reason she knew this to be true was because the mere thought of the two of them parting in such unhappy circumstances and never seeing each other again was enough to break the heart which belonged completely and exclusively to Magnus.

  A love he obviously did not feel for her when the only reason he was coming to her uncle’s home today was to criticize her behavior.

  Oh, Olivia had no doubt that Magnus desired her, and he had admitted to enjoying her company too. But love?

  No, they had not known each other long enough for such a cautious gentleman as he to have allowed his heart to be won over.

  “Perhaps he is coming here to ask Papa’s permission to court you,” Cecelia speculated.

  Olivia bristled. “Do not be ridiculous— I apologize for my sharpness,” she groaned when she saw Cecelia’s hurt expression. “But your father is only my temporary guardian. And anyone looking at the admiral can see that the only thing he wishes to be married to is the sea. Nor,” she continued firmly before Cecelia could argue the point, “does he have any interest in becoming involved with someone like me.” The reason for which she couldn’t share with her cousin if Cecelia’s own mother had chosen not to tell her of the past. “He is more likely coming to ask your father to administer a suitable punishment for my having been alone with him yesterday evening.”

  “That seems a little unfair when he is surely as much to blame for—”

  “If you will excuse me.” Olivia rose hastily to her feet as she heard a carriage arriving outside. “I believe I shall go for a walk.”

  “But—but—”

  “Close your mouth, darling Cecelia, or you will start to catch flies,” she drawled teasingly when her cousin continued to gape at her.

  “But you cannot go out when the admiral has just arrived,” Cecelia recovered enough to protest, confirming it was the carriage bearing Magnus that now stood outside the Fitzgerald’s home.

  “By writing to your father, Mag…the admiral, made it clear he is not here to see me,” Olivia reminded calmly.

  “Yes, but—”

  “There are no buts in this situation,” she rebuked. “I shall walk down to the cove to see if I can spot any seals.” It had become one of the pleasures she most enjoyed after the first time of discovering several seals sunning themselves on the rocks in the bay closest to her aunt and uncle’s home. “I would appreciate it if you did not reveal my whereabouts to your mother or anyone else,” she added in warning.

  Cecelia grimaced uncomfortably. “You know how I always give in and tell Mama whatever she wishes to know when she looks at me with that gentle reproach in her eyes.”

  Yes, Olivia did know. Her own mother had far less success when she tried to do the same to her. But that was perhaps because Franny Fitzgerald was a far nicer person than Olivia’s mother.

  She gave Cecelia’s arm a squeeze. “Do your best to resist, hm?”

  Cecelia’s smile was rueful. “I shall try.”

  It was all Olivia could ask in the circumstances. The truth was she had to get away before Magnus’s presence in the house prevented her from doing so.

  Hopefully, by the time she returned, Magnus would have said his piece to her uncle, and, with Olivia nowhere to be found to be chastised, he would simply leave again.

  Knowing Magnus as she did, Olivia doubted that would be the last she heard on the subject, but she only had to remain elusive until after he had left the island tomorrow.

  The thought of not seeing him again caused an aching feeling in her chest. But the alternative of the two of them meeting as if they were polite strangers instead of lovers was even more painful.

  No, Olivia had no intention of seeing Magnus again before his ship was due to sail away on the tide tomorrow evening.

  Magnus strode forcefully toward the cove where Cecelia Fitzgerald, questioned by her mother, had reluctantly admitted Olivia had disappeared to the moment Magnus arrived.

  His conversation with Cormac Fitzgerald had been more amiable than he could have hoped for in the circumstances. Only for it to be revealed afterward that Olivia was missing from the house, after a message was sent for her to join them in the older man’s study.

  Magnus had no doubt Olivia’s absence would be deliberate on her part. She knew of his expected arrival and had decided to ensure she could not be found.

  She was, without a doubt, the most infuriating woman he had ever met.

  Also, the most desirable.

  The most likeable.

  The most intriguing.

  Uniquely so, in regard to all those things.

  Which was what made it doubly worrying to Magnus that Olivia had chosen to leave the house, even though she knew he had arrived, rather than face the possibility of seeing him today.

  She truly was infuriating!

  Admittedly, Magnus had written to her uncle, requesting permission to call upon the older man this morning, but social etiquette dictated he had to do so. Much as he and Olivia had flouted convention by meeting alone several times, they could not do so in her aunt and uncle’s home.

  He came to a halt halfway down the rocky path down into the cove, his eyes narrowing as he searched the sandy beach and rocks for the young woman who aroused and irritated him in equal measure.

  Not able to see Olivia, he began to question whether Cecelia Fitzgerald had sent him on a wild-goose chase. But then he chanced to see a flash of violet peeping over the top of a rock formation toward the end of the cove and realized that it was the top of Olivia’s bonnet. It was followed by a sight of the creaminess of her brow and cheeks as she lifted up enough to be able to look toward the pathway where he stood.

  The fact she was seated behind the cover of those rocks at all was reason enough for him to believe Olivia had hoped she would not be found. If he had not caught that brief glimpse of her bonnet and face, she would not have been.

  Magnus’s lips thinned as he now strode with purpose toward those rocks.

  His booted feet sank into the sand, scratching the polished leather as well as making progress more difficult, and adding to his annoyance in being inconvenienced in this deliberate way.

  A discomfort Magnus intended Olivia to be made fully aware of the moment he was once again in her presence.

  Oh dear Lord!

  Olivia had seen Magnus in any number of moods during their short acquaintance. Cool and polite, then surprisingly warm and cordial, followed by deeply passionate, and then a return to that cold politeness.

  But she could never remember seeing him look quite so thunderous as he did standing on the path leading down into the cove where she sat behind the shelter of some rocks.

  She was taking refuge from the cold wind coming in off the sea, Olivia had told herself when she secreted herself away there. All the time knowing she was lying to herself, and it was Magnus she was hiding from, if he should care enough to come looking for her.

  In her defense, her avoidance arose from the fact she truly didn’t think she could bear to again see that cold arrogance on his face as when the two of them parted the previous evening.

  The sand muted his footfalls, but Olivia was nevertheless aware of Magnus’s rapid approach. Why he hadn’t simply given her up as a lost cause and gone on his way, she had no idea. She had hoped that her absence from the house would be enough to deter him from speaking with her, at least for today. Obviously, it hadn’t. She—

  Olivia gave an unladylike squawk as, having rounded the shelter of the rocks, Magnus wasted no time in conversation, but instead lifted her in his arms before dropping to sit upon one of the rocks and then flipping her over onto her stomach. Before Olivia was even able to regain her breath, he commenced to administer several hard and resounding smacks to the cheeks of her bottom.

  Olivia, too shocked at first to respond, was finally able to turn an outraged glare in his direction. “How dare you—”

  “Does it hurt?” He scowled at her.

  She blinked. “It stings dreadfully—”

  “A sting is not the effect I wished for,” he muttered before throwing up the back of her skirts and delivering three more hard spanks to her drawer-covered bottom cheeks. “Now?”

  “Magnus, you cannot—”

  “Obviously not,” he bit out, pulling down the material of her drawers.

  Olivia’s outrage turned to a pained gasp as Magnus landed three hard smacks to her completely bared bottom.

  “Better,” he murmured with satisfaction before proceeding to administer several more spanks in rapid succession. “You knew I was calling upon your uncle this morning, and yet you deliberately chose to go out when you heard my carriage arrive. As a consequence, I have been put to the trouble of seeking you out.” Each sentence spoken was accompanied by at least two more smacks, three during the first and longer one. “You are infuriating. Maddening. Unreasonable.” Three more sharp slaps burned her poor hot and stinging flesh.

  Olivia was being bombarded by a myriad of emotions, and far too rapidly for her to be able to deal with and recognize all of them. She did, however, know exactly what the heat was which was currently coursing through her body and causing her nipples to engorge and between her thighs to become slick and hot.

  Arousal.

  Because Magnus had spanked her!

  How could that be? It was barbaric for a man to spank a woman.

  Unconscionable.

  Unforgiveable.

  And yet…

  Far from feeling outraged, the whole of Olivia’s body tingled with a sexual awareness. The cheeks of her bottom more than stung; the ache went deep into her core. Her breasts felt swollen as they hung down and almost burst free of her gown. Between her thighs throbbed, and the material of her drawers was soaking wet with the release of her aroused juices, the nubbin hidden amongst her folds so swollen, it rubbed against that chafing dampness.