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  “It’s your turn,” he said, briefly releasing her from his oral attentions.

  He uncupped her breast and let a hand slide down over her flat stomach into the wet curls between her legs. One finger parted her to glide into her slick channel. She sighed and relaxed onto him, offering no resistance to the invasion.

  “You like that?” he asked, eager for her approval.

  “Mmm, mmm,” she moaned.

  He stroked a digit along her slit to tease her before plunging back in to circle her clit, making her buck against him. With her leg hooked around him, she invited him further. Two fingers now stretched her, pushed her, and fucked her every bit as deeply as his cock could—his cock which was quickly surging back to its steely former self.

  “Oh, Joe.” Madeleine dug her nails into his shoulders while she rode the wave of ecstasy into which he had proudly whipped her.

  He spun her around, his fingers relentlessly beckoning her orgasm, and she braced herself on the edge of the pool.

  She was nearly there. He could hear it, feel it, and yet it wasn’t enough. He wanted her to come with a force that would almost turn her inside out.

  The soft butt cheeks pushing against his straining erection were an invitation he couldn’t refuse. Nudging her legs apart with his knee, he positioned his cock between her thighs and teased the head along her pussy.

  “Joe—” This time, she pleaded with him, and, gentleman that he was, he aimed to please the lady.

  From behind, he slid into her feminine folds and elicited a contented sigh from his partner in return. Now he dictated the pace—slow and hard, deep and full.

  Was this how it felt to love freely, completely, without restraint? Then he never wanted to be with anyone but this woman who made such love possible.

  * * * * *

  Madeleine’s breasts bashed against the cold tiles with every thrust of Joe’s cock, but she didn’t care. She only cared about the orgasm threatening to blow her apart. For the first time, here was a man who enabled her to enjoy the experience as much as he did. Unlike those other men who seemed to be masturbating inside her, Joe made intercourse a mutual act of fulfillment.

  As if to prove the point, Joe slipped a finger in to find her magic spot and flood her with so much arousal she achieved complete release. Only when she was fully sated did he spill into her for a second time.

  “We need to get out of here before we wrinkle like prunes or drown each other with the sexual acrobatics.” Joe crossed his arms across her chest to wrap her body in his.

  “And then we’ll have that talk,” she insisted. Maybe, in their afterglow, he would accept her secret life and they could make a new start on their return to Southampton.

  But a sudden jolt of the ship stole her happy-ever-after from her grasp.

  The lurch of the vessel sloshed the contents of the pool, including the naked bathers, forcefully against its walls.

  “What the hell was that?” Joe spluttered as the unexpected waves swamped them.

  Through it all, Madeleine’s personal lifesaver kept an arm round her. Even though she was never in danger of succumbing underwater, somehow Joe’s tight grip gave her solace. His embrace reaffirmed his commitment to her and told her without words that he was as concerned with her safety as with his own.

  The ship came to a jerky halt, and the cold chill of foreboding pricked Madeleine’s skin.

  “We should get out in case it happens again,” she suggested, but Joe was already steering them towards the steps.

  They dressed in silence, but she could sense Joe’s worry across the room as he pulled on his clothes over his still wet skin.

  “Wait here,” he said. “I’ll see what’s happened and come back for you.”

  What could she do but follow his orders? If something had happened to the ship, she had completely failed in her duty of care, and Joe could surely never forgive her now.

  * * * * *

  If Joe hadn’t realized how bad the situation was when he heard the loud scraping noise that accompanied the ship’s sudden halt, then the worried crewmen swarming the previously empty corridors would have convinced him.

  The pristinely turned-out stewards hurried past, their brows knitted into frowns as they knocked on cabin doors. Stokers and firemen dashed to and from the engine rooms, tension screaming from every furrowed brow and clenched jaw.

  Joe grabbed one of the engineers by the arm, alarmed to find his clothes soaked through. “What happened?”

  “We hit an iceberg,” the man said struggling to catch his breath. “Ripped a hole clean through the ship, she did.”

  “How bad is it?” Deep down, Joe knew, but he wanted to know exactly what they were dealing with.

  The worker shook his head, shock and disbelief written all over him.

  “Boiler room six is gone. The water was rushing in so fast they had to close the watertight doors. Only me and two others got out.”

  His voice trailed off, and Joe didn’t want to imagine the horror he was reliving inside his head.

  Joe gave him a slap on the back and thanked him, even though his own worst fears were fast coming true. They were sinking. His first instinct was to plough into those engine rooms and do all he could with the lads to stop them from going under. But, in his mind, he needed to save one person above all others on board, and that person was Madeleine. He was torn between duty and love.

  Grabbing two life jackets from a passing steward, he headed back toward the pool. In their drills, the stokers were instructed to guide all passengers to safety, and he intended to start right there with her.

  Serene and beautiful, Madeleine waited for him in the shadows. How he wished he could stay with her here forever rather than return to the chaos below.

  “What’s happening, Joe?” Her small voice in the darkness made him want to take her in his arms, stroke her hair, and tell her everything would be all right. But he couldn’t lie.

  “We’ve hit an iceberg. The ship is sinking.” He put the lifejacket on her, but if he expected tears or panic, he was with the wrong girl.

  Madeleine simply took his hand. “Then we’d best get off.”

  * * * * *

  Neither Joe nor Madeleine worried about the sight they made as they hurtled through the ship, wet and bedraggled. In fact, Joe wished he could inject some of their urgency into the first-class passengers who eyed them from the cabin doorways with disapproving stares.

  “Please, Madam, put on your life jacket and proceed to the boat deck.” A steward was pleading with one of the passengers. But the occupants of the first-class cabins were reluctant to leave their luxury.

  “No amount of jewels or money will save them now,” Joe said in dismay.

  But he didn’t stop. He would save his energy for those who wanted to be saved.

  The deafening hiss coming from the upper decks was so loud that Madeleine covered her ears with her hands.

  “It’s the sound of the steam escaping through the safety valves,” he shouted over the din.

  He realized the main engines were shutting down. Madeleine nodded and kept up with his fast pace until they reached the outside decks.

  Up here, the atmosphere was altogether different from that below, where the crew rushed about in despair. The passengers milled around the deck with the same nonchalance they took their afternoon stroll.

  “What is wrong with these people?” Madeleine’s question echoed his incredulity.

  “I suppose they don’t believe this ‘unsinkable’ ship could possibly be in danger.”

  At the moment, there was little indication of the peril they were in. It simply didn’t seem as though the ship was sinking.

  The band still played, the men still sat drinking in the saloon, and the women simply looked inconvenienced. I
f only they knew lives had already been lost below decks as the sea staked its claim on Titanic.

  But Joe wasn’t about to cause a commotion by running through the decks telling them they were all going to die. No, he would do his duty calmly, as he had learned in training.

  “We need to get you in a lifeboat as quickly as possible.” Joe brought Madeleine portside, where the crew had already begun lowering lifeboat number seven.

  “Women and children first,” came the order. But, with so few passengers willing to abandon the luxury liner to step into a tiny raft, the officers were forced to let several of the crew and a handful of men on board.

  “You, too, Madeleine.” Joe coaxed her forward with a hand on her back.

  “Not without you.” Not a hint of fear showed on her face, but she had that stubborn look that told him she wouldn’t go quietly.

  “We haven’t got time to waste. You get in this one, and I will follow later.” He pushed her toward the officer in charge.

  She dug her heels in all the more. “This boat isn’t even half full. By the time everyone realizes they’re in trouble, it will be too late, and they will all be scrabbling to get in the last lifeboat. Come with me now!”

  “Madeleine, I’m not about to run away from my responsibilities. The engineers are still working down below to keep the electric on, the band is still playing to keep some semblance of normality. How would it look if I abandoned all these people to save my own skin? I am not a coward.”

  From the corner of his eye, Joe could see the officer wasn’t prepared to hold the lifeboat much longer.

  “I know you’re not, Joe. Neither am I. If you don’t go, I don’t go.”

  She folded her arms in an act of defiance, one he would have found funny if she wasn’t risking her life to prove a point. This time, he was taking control.

  In one swift movement, he grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her over his shoulder.

  “You. Are. Going!”

  Ignoring her protests, he dumped her unceremoniously into the raft. He could only hope this wasn’t the last time he would ever see her. If these were their final moments together, he should have found something more heartfelt to say to her.

  As stubborn as ever, Madeleine batted away the female passengers who tried to wrestle the blanket from her shoulders and got to her feet.

  The well-dressed woman beside her eyed Madeleine with horror.

  “Sit down!” she commanded.

  “I will not sit down. I don’t deserve a place in this lifeboat. I’m a stowaway.”

  Madeleine drew gasps from the well-to-do occupants.

  Joe wanted to shake some sense into her.

  “Is this true?” the officer-in-charge demanded.

  “I did not pay for my passage, so I suppose there will be no further objections if I take my leave?”

  Madeleine reached a hand out to Joe, leaving him no choice but to help her out of the lifeboat.

  “I could have you arrested, you know,” the jobsworth officer shouted after her as the boat was lowered.

  He seemed more concerned with following regulations to the letter than reacting to the events going on around him,

  “I think remaining on a sinking ship is probably sufficient punishment, don’t you?” Joe retorted, unable to keep the despair and disdain from his voice.

  Chapter Four

  As Madeleine stepped back onto the deck, the listing of the ship beneath her feet became more apparent. Time was slipping away from her and Joe as Titanic’s nose nudged further into the ocean.

  “What the hell did you do that for?”

  Joe’s fingers squeezed her arm in such an unforgiving grip it took all Madeleine’s effort not to cry out.

  She didn’t like incurring his wrath, even if his anger sprang from worry for her. Bitterness didn’t become him; she preferred her sweet, kind Joe.

  “I don’t intend for this to be our last night together. I’m going to make damn sure you get off this ship with me.” Madeleine’s voice choked with emotion she didn’t know she contained.

  Joe opened his mouth, and she braced herself for another reprimand. But he said nothing. He simply pulled her to him in a bear hug. Even in such a desperate time, all the tension left Madeleine’s body in the sanctuary of his arms. He soothed the marks he had left on her skin with butterfly kisses, and she sighed, glad to have her Joe back.

  Gradually, it became more difficult for them to keep their balance on the ever-steepening angle on deck. The sights and sounds of rockets fired as distress signals from the bridge reminded the couple of the perilous here and now. They broke their embrace. When the first signal exploded and littered the skies with a dozen falling, brilliant white lights, they didn’t stand and watch in awe. Instead, they hurried to direct as many women and children as would heed them to the safety of the lifeboats.

  Only when the ship was well down by the bow, water dragging the front of the ship steadily downward, did a real sense of panic begin to take over. Men abandoned all pretense of decorum to fight for their place in the dinghies. The pushing and shoving amongst the passengers unnerved the crew to such an extent that lifeboats thirteen and fifteen containing dozens of passengers were lowered simultaneously and almost collided with each other.

  “Madeleine, for the love of God! Will you save yourself?”

  Joe was practically begging her to take a seat in one of the lifeboats as he struggled to help release one of the collapsible dinghies from the roof of the officers’ accommodation.

  Both Madeleine and Joe knew time was running out. The ship was sinking rapidly; the frightened screams of those still on board too late to summon help. The ship was listing so severely now, the collapsibles hit the water before their ropes could be cut.

  “Come with me now, Joe. There’s nothing more can be done. If we stay here, we’ll surely go down with the ship. We could swim out to one of the lifeboats. Most are only half full.”

  Madeleine tugged Joe’s arm, willing him to safety.

  With the last rafts drifting off to sea, they were powerless to help anyone else. As some of the men swam toward the now upturned rafts, Joe hesitated as though he’d never had a selfish thought in his life. Well, now was the time for him to think about himself, and Madeleine would make sure he did.

  “I’m not taking the chance of drowning us both when help could be on its way.”

  Joe remained infuriatingly optimistic.

  Before she could persuade him to leave, the bow slipped further under the waves, and more bodies spilled into the sea. Joe grabbed the railing and pinned her between it and his body, keeping them both steady.

  The band’s music had changed from cheerful ragtime to melancholy. They began playing Nearer my God to Thee. Even the musicians knew all hope was lost.

  Madeleine bunched the front of Joe’s shirt in her fist.

  “Are you really going to give up on us so easily? Do you see anyone coming to our rescue?” She was done playing nice; she needed him to fight.

  He closed his hand around hers.

  “I want what’s best for you, my love. To keep you safe for as long as I can. Once we go into that water, matters are out of my hands.”

  “It’s a chance we must take, Joe. For as sure as this ship is sinking, we will drown if we do not leave now.”

  She loosened her hold on his shirt to stroke his cheek, hoping to instill some sense into him.

  “Don’t deny me a future with you,” she said in a whisper.

  Joe lowered his head to place a gentle kiss on her lips, helping her find a little peace in the mayhem.

  “I will make sure we have the rest of our lives together,” he said.

  He pressed his forehead against hers, and she wished she never had to break this bond. For she knew when she did,
the screams and shouts of humans fighting for survival would pervade her senses, and, afterwards, they would forever haunt her.

  When Joe took his first perilous steps into the water consuming the bow, Madeleine saw his back stiffen, no doubt from the shock of the cold.

  “Come, my love.” He held out a hand to her.

  Madeleine took a deep breath before joining him. Not for her own benefit. The cold wouldn’t affect her. But she suddenly felt fear. The flimsy lifejacket straining around Joe’s broad chest was the only thing that could save him now, and, for the first time, she feared death.

  The splashing and flailing of those around them threatened to swamp Joe and Madeleine before they could make their break for the lifeboats. Fearless Joe ploughed a path straight through the piteous bodies, towing Madeleine alongside.

  “There’s a boat in the distance with plenty of room for us.” Joe’s teeth were already chattering.

  Madeleine felt like such a fraud watching him suffer as she acclimatized to her familiar surroundings. But how could she confess her secret now when he had sacrificed everything for her? Telling him now that she could have swum away to safety at any time would be a betrayal of the worst kind. Yet, deep down, she knew it would bring him happiness simply to know she was safe.

  They swam without stopping for as long as they could. By the time they paused to look back, the people behind them were mere dots in the distance. The upright body of Titanic bobbed like a cork on the ocean, flashing its distress until the electric went out and plunged them all into darkness.

  “We should rest for a moment,” Joe huffed.

  His breath came out in clouds with each desperate gasp.

  Madeleine’s heart ached to see him in such distress as the cold wrenched the breath from his lungs.

  “Don’t watch.” Joe mistook her dismay at seeing his pain for mourning the demise of the ship.

  Indeed, she could not take her eyes off the spectacle of Titanic. The hull hung vertically for a few moments before it gave a groan and commenced its descent to the ocean floor. A cacophony accompanied the ocean liner’s final throes as its internal fixtures and fittings crashed.