The Enchanted Land Read online

  She gasped as the water touched her. “It’s too cold.”

  “That’s all right, you’ll be warm soon.” He began rubbing soap on her, mixing it with some fine sand he carried in a little bag. He scoured her vigorously, all over, until she thought her skin was going to come off. He didn’t listen to her pleading. He rinsed her body, then soaped her again, gently this time. He stopped abruptly and began soaping himself.

  “You aren’t going to leave me soapy, are you?”

  Without a word, he pulled her to him and held her close. The soap on their bodies felt good. They rubbed together, their lips drawn to one another. Morgan’s tied hands touched his manhood, and when she felt him shudder and heard his sharp intake of breath, she tightened her grasp. Their kisses became serious.

  Seth stepped away from her to his clothes, and quickly cut the rope that bound her hands. He gently laid her down on the sweet grass near the stream.

  He entered her with an urgency that Morgan more than met. The long-denied passions carried them to a violent wave.

  After their first frantic passions were spent, they clung to one another, their hearts pounding in unison, their panting breaths drowning out all other sounds. Morgan felt a great release from tensions she hadn’t even realized she carried.

  Seth rolled from her. They lay side by side, not touching or speaking. Twilight gathered around them, and the stars were beginning to show.

  “You know, when they find us here together, our bodies frozen, they’re going to wonder what the hell that white slimy stuff is all over our bodies. Let’s wash this off. And I’m starving. After I eat, I want to start all over again.”

  “You mean with the blindfold and the gag?” she teased. “What was that heavy thing you threw over me? I thought it was going to break my neck.”

  “Heavy thing?” He looked puzzled and then laughed. “That was a quilt!”

  “It couldn’t have been just a quilt. I thought I was dying of suffocation.”

  “You’re going to die of the cold if we don’t go inside.” He pulled her into the stream and they rinsed quickly. Together, they washed Morgan’s abundant hair.

  Seth grabbed her hand and pulled her to the cabin. “One minute I can’t get you to take a bath, and the next I can’t get you out of the water.” When they were inside, he pulled her close. “Did I ever tell you I love you?”

  “Never.”

  “Not once?”

  “Not a single time.”

  “Good, because I don’t love you. I worship you. You’re my … wife. Yes, my wife. Morgan,” he said seriously, “do you feel anything for me?”

  “Only a passing fancy.” She saw the hurt look in his eyes. “Seth, I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you at Cynthia Ferguson’s ball, and I guess I’ll always love you, no matter what.”

  She watched as he walked toward the door. His naked body was bronze in the firelight. His broad back tapered to a slim waist and trim hips, all on those muscular legs that Morgan had first noticed.

  “Where are you going?” she asked.

  “To get my clothes, and chop some firewood. There’s food in that cabinet.”

  “Food?”

  “Of course. You do remember how to cook, don’t you?”

  She put her chin up. “I’m a valued prisoner. I do not do menial labor.”

  His eyes narrowed. “If that food isn’t started by the time I get back, there’ll be big trouble.” His eyes caressed her body lingeringly. “I have a lot of work to do tonight, and if I know my ‘business partner,’ I’ll need a lot of strength.”

  He left, shutting the door behind him.

  Morgan leaned against the back of the chair and inhaled deeply of the evening air.

  How very far she had come in just a little time. Her old dream, a solitary life in Trahern House, no longer meant anything at all. She needed no more dreams. She had all she could ever want … a home, her son, and her Seth.

  She turned toward the cabinet. It was time to prepare the first of many meals.

  About the Author

  JUDE DEVERAUX is one of America’s most beloved authors of historical romance. A resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico, she began writing in 1976 and to date is the author of twenty-two novels, of which there are more than twenty million copies in print.

  Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

  Other Books by Jude Deveraux

  THE BLACK LYON

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN: 0-380-40063-4

  THE ENCHANTED LAND. Copyright © 1978 by Jude Gilliam White. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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  EPub Edition © DECEMBER 2011 ISBN: 9780062135780

  Version 11162012

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