193356377X-Savage-Shores-Wildes by sirenpublishing.com Page B

shivered and Jonathan reached out to touch her
    face lightly, running his fingers along her perfect jaw. “Your father
    was blessed by having you, just as we will be blessed by this
    coming child. Come now, it needs rest, and so do you. Lie down
    and sleep. We’ll be here.”
    To his surprise, she did as he instructed when he eased her
    back on to the pallet, amazingly asleep in no time as he held her
    hand, her fingers slowly growing lax. When he looked up, he
    realized Anthony, and especially Charles, grinned at him in the
    sputtering light despite the furious assault of wind and rain outside.
    “What?” he asked defensively.
    “You should see yourself,” Charles chortled. “You are such the
    tender and solicitous lover, nothing like your usual distant,
    unapproachable self. All those fine ladies back in London you have
    seduced and left bereft would swoon to see you so soft and caring.
    If you are not the most besotted fool on the face of this earth, I will
    eat the next tree that crashes to the ground.”
    “That I would like to see,” Jonathan muttered, nevertheless not
    letting go of Jenna’s slim hand.
    Crouching closest to the doorway, Anthony also laughed. “I
    agree with Charles. You should simply admit to yourself that you
    are madly in love with her.”
    “She’s with child on an island being storm-tossed by a violent
    tropical tempest. I would hardly be human if I didn’t take great
    care with her.” The protest sounded weak, even to his own ears.
    “We’re human. Do you want one of us to hold her hand while

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    she sleeps?” Charles asked innocently, his mouth twitching. Crosslegged on the stone floor, he looked smug and amused. Shaking his
    head, he murmured, “Don’t bother to answer, my lord. You and
    Jenna have been growing more and more attached to each other as
    time passes. Anthony and I have both seen this coming. I believe,
    in fact, I warned you.”
    Jonathan bared his teeth in a feral smile. “Be careful lest you
    push me too far. I could still castrate you both in your sleep.
    Believe me, it has occurred to me.”
    “I was a little afraid of that,” Charles said, only half-laughing.
    A sudden great gust of wind blew in a fine spray of rain, the
    sound of the pounding storm increasing outside. Anthony
    murmured, “We left the beach just in time. I wonder what will be
    left when this is over. I hope we brought enough food.”
    “I hope the island will still be there when we try to emerge,”
    Jonathan said with feeling, the howl outside frightening, even to
    someone who had been through dangerous situations many times
    before. “Flooding could be a problem for us, even here.” Lightly
    stroking the fingers of the woman sleeping so quietly beside him,
    he said, “I would give my life to keep her safe, that I do admit.”
    “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Anthony said above the
    roar of the fearsome wind. “With a child growing inside her, she
    needs each one of us, and you most of all.”

    82
    Emma Wildes

    Chapter 7

    The beach, Jenna decided, was so littered with debris that it
    was unrecognizable as the serene place they usually occupied.
    Despite the brilliant sunshine and soft warm breeze, fallen trees lay
    everywhere, and there were fronds and branches splayed on the
    sand, along with the bodies of dead birds and the occasional sea
    creature washed ashore and stranded. Three days the storm had
    ravaged the island, and it had left its toll. She felt unaccountably
    sorrowful for the loss of her hut, as it had been the one thing hers
    alone, and a place of refuge.
    “Look here.”
    Glancing up, she saw Anthony was the one who shouted,
    pointing at some object tangled in a mass of sodden vegetation.
    Picking her way carefully, she walked over, Jonathan right behind
    her.
    “What is it?” she asked, seeing a huge pile of what looked like
    white cloth.
    “Ship’s sail,” Jonathan explained. “Blood and thunder, it looks
    like a