by Linda Ladd
It was not the profession of love that Trey had hoped for, but it was enough to give him hope that the other would eventually come.
"Do not worry then, sweet, for we shall be together. I swear it."
Caitlin gave herself to the gentle kiss he pressed upon her lips, hoping that he meant to stay at Windsway with her, if only for a little while longer. Then all thoughts died as he pulled her atop him, her hair falling over their faces in a silky tent, their lips starting the breathtaking spiral of their passion.
Chapter Fifteen
Caitlin's long lashes stirred slightly, but she was not ready to awaken, and she let herself drowse dreamily, feeling very content. A moment later, a handsome tanned face with clear blue eyes invaded her sleepy thoughts, and, smiling, she opened her eyes. A keen disappointment knifed through her when she found herself alone in the bunk, and she sat up, looking around the empty cabin. She wondered where Trey had gone as she lay back against the pillow, stretching luxuriously. A secret smile curved her lips.
Could the lean, hard body that lay atop her through the night really belong to the hateful guardian who had made her life so miserable for so long? Could those long brown fingers that had gripped her so fiercely in anger be the same that had drifted over her flesh with the gentleness of thistledown? How could a man so strong be so tender?
She shivered as she relived several of the quivering sensations she had experienced through the night, smiling up at the oak beams bracing the low ceiling. Where was he? Informing Richard that they were to stay longer at Windsway? She wished he could come back, or did she? It was day now, but somehow she knew that the light coming in the windows would not stop him from resuming their pleasures of the night. She did wish he would come, she admitted with an anticipation that half shocked her. She was as wanton as the barmaids of Tortuga, but now she knew why they acted that way.
She sighed, still very sleepy. They had made love until dawn, sleeping very little, talking very little. Wondering what time it was, she looked into the outer cabin. Lazy contentment and dreamy thoughts still possessed her mind as she watched the lantern above Trey's desk swinging slowly to and fro with the motion of the sea. She stared at it a moment, then dismay hit her like a drenching sheet of ice water. She swung her legs over the bunk, pulling a sheet around her, the unmistakable roll of a sea tossed ship beneath her feet as she threw open the sternwalk windows. Turquoise water stretched out for as far as the eye could see.
"No, no," Caitlin murmured, heart constricted. Trey had set sail to England! She covered her mouth with both hands, eyes dark with disbelief. Not after last night, not after his whispered words of love and his gentle kisses!
Unable to believe it, not wanting to believe it, she pulled on Trey's shirt and yanked open the door. The garment hung well below her knees, but she thought only of what Trey had done to her as she burst up through the hatchway into bright afternoon sun. She groaned aloud, her heart crusting with despair, as she felt the wind in her hair and heard the snap of billowing canvas at full sail.
Trey watched her from where he stood by Richard on the quarterdeck above, and his throat tightened as Caitlin looked up at him. She whirled away without speaking and disappeared into the companionway again, but not before he had seen the terrible look of betrayal in her eyes. He looked out to sea, ignoring Richard's reproachful stare. His cousin's disapproval of Trey's decision to set sail with Caitlin aboard had been stated outright from the start, but Trey didn't give a damn what he thought.
"Caitlin has every right to despise you," Richard said, shaking his head. "For Christ's sake, you didn't even ask her—"
"Caitlin's my affair, damn you," Trey said furiously. "Content yourself with your own business."
Richard's mouth snapped shut angrily, the dangerous look in Trey's eyes sending him off to seek other company. Trey stood motionlessly by himself for several moments. They were both right, and he knew it. What he had done was unpardonable. But that morning, as Caitlin had slept in his arms, so warm and soft, her silky hair curling over his chest, he had known she would never consent to go to England with him. He had made his decision then to set sail before she awoke. She was his wife now. She belonged to him. And she was beginning to love him, whether she knew it or not. Last night had proved that. And if he did leave her behind, Sir Henry would no doubt feel obligated to dissolve their marriage, since it was against the Queen's wishes, and Durham. would be there to console Caitlin, perhaps even force her to marry him. No, he had done the right thing, and he would just have to make Caitlin realize it.
He walked slowly down the dimly lit companionway, dreading the quarrel they were bound to have. He stopped at the cabin door, listening for the telltale sounds of glass breaking or cursing, but the complete silence within made him wary. As he turned the knob and entered, he reminded himself that he had left Caitlin's jeweled dagger on the table beside the bed.
A muffled sound drifted to him from the other room. Trey frowned, guilt pricking at his conscience as he moved across the room and found Caitlin huddled on her knees beside the bunk, her face hidden in the bedclothes. He stared helplessly at her slender shoulders, shaking violently with heartbroken weeping. Why couldn't she have flown at him in fury as she had done the day he'd laughed when she had sewn her sampler to her gown? Her grief was so much harder to bear, especially since he was the cause of it.
"Please, love, don't cry."
Caitlin jerked her head up and backed away from him, golden eyes angry, long lashes spiky with tears.
"You lied to me."
Her accusation was quiet, but hard, harder than any words he had ever heard her speak.
"I didn't lie to you. I didn't plan to do this, not until this morning."
"Do you expect me to believe you now?"
"It's true, I swear it."
"Then why—why?" she asked miserably, new tears rolling down her cheeks.
More than anything in his life, Trey wanted to reach out and touch her, hold her, comfort her, but he knew that would be a mistake. She would never let him.
"Because last night you said you wanted to be with me. And I wanted you with me."
"You know I meant at Windsway! Not thousands of miles away from Christian and everything I love!"
"You are my wife now, and my home is England. I want you there with me. Not on Barbados, where our vows can be voided and you forced to marry Durham."
Caitlin hardly heard the last, her mind focusing on the first of his words.
"You want? You want it, so you just steal away in the night like a thief, without even asking me what I want, without letting me see Christian again or even say goodbye to him."
Her voice broke in a sob, then rage stiffened herspine, and she dashed away the welling tears. She set her eyes on him with enough venom to raise the hairs on his nape.
"I will never, ever forgive you for this."
Trey did not answer. She was furious with him now, and for good reason, but time would eventually dull the betrayal she felt. She would mellow on the long voyage to England and forgive him, then he would do everything in his power to make her understand that he had done the right thing. But he would never be able to make her understand it now.
Caitlin sat stiffly as he moved away, and it was not until she heard the door close after him that she dropped her face into her hands and let the tears flow again. She had lost everything in this last treachery of Trey Cameron: her home, her freedom, even the beginning of affection she had thought to have felt for him. In his unbelievable arrogance, he had broken his word to her, done what pleased him with no regard for her feelings or wishes. How could she have thought herself able to care for him? How could she have lain in his arms in such contentment and writhed with pleasure beneath his touch?
It was the same night during the supper hour that Richard Hale sat at the captain's dining table, wishing he were somewhere far away. Caitlin sat directly across from him, her beautiful face carved in marble, her eyes noticeably puffy and red-rimmed. T
rey sat between them, staring at his wife as if he wanted to devour her. It had been the same for the entire length of their repast, and the silence had grown so laborious that Richard began to feel ridiculous in the company of the feuding couple. Caitlin had said nothing to either of them, and Richard transferred his attention to Samuel, whom Trey had indeed taken aboard as his cabin boy. The young lad looked curiously at the three silent diners as he served them a dessert of fresh fruit laced with rum.
"This looks quite tasty, does it not?" Richard said finally, thinking to break the horrible quiet of the room, if nothing else, but his remark went unanswered. He picked up his spoon, thanking his stars that the ordeal he had suffered through was almost at an end. He looked up in surprise when Caitlin suddenly spoke for the first time, her eyes like frozen topaz.
"I wish to have a private cabin if I am to be forced to accompany you on this voyage."
Trey tensed as if she had slapped him, and Richard looked down in embarrassment. Trey's answer came low and deadly.
"You are my wife, and you will stay in my cabin with me."
"I no longer consider myself your wife," Caitlin answered calmly. "Our bargain was that I would become your wife and in return you would leave me on Windsway with my brother. You did not uphold your end of the bargain, so neither shall I."
Richard shifted uneasily, afraid to see Trey's reaction to Caitlin's words. A muscle moved once in the lean contours of Trey's cheek, but his voice was controlled.
"I would say it a trifle late to call our vows invalid, madame. As you know, an annulment is no longer a viable option, several times over."
Richard's face slowly turned red, but Caitlin's reached that hue much more quickly.
"I will have a divorcement then, damn you!" she cried furiously, throwing her napkin to the table. "If you insist on taking me to England, so be it, but once there, I will petition Queen Anne to end this grotesque travesty of a marriage that I was tricked into!"
"If you will pardon me …" Richard began, sliding out of his chair, suddenly most anxious to be away, but both Trey and Caitlin ignored him as they glared furiously at each other.
"You will do nothing of the kind, my love," Trey returned tightly. "Because I will not allow it. After you have had time to think upon this for a while, you will realize that everything is as it should be."
His words were so arrogant that Caitlin went livid. She stood as Richard quietly headed for the door, and she looked down at Trey with contempt in her eyes.
"You are more than a fool if you believe that."
Trey sat very still as Caitlin walked away, leaving him alone at the table. He scowled down at his plate as Samuel began to clear away the dishes. He could not blame Caitlin for her anger; until he had time to win her over to his way of thinking, he would just have to bear the friction between them. The voyage that lay before them would span several months, during which time he would be most patient in his quest to woo her to him. In truth, he much preferred the fury she displayed now to the terrible tears he had faced before.
Samuel picked up his heavily ladened tray, balancing it deftly with one hand as he glanced at the captain. Trey did not look at him, and Samuel left the cabin, just as relieved to be outside as Richard had been before him.
Trey could see Caitlin as she moved about the sleeping room, and he watched without comment as she took a bedsheet from the bunk and draped it over the opening between them. His view effectively cut off, Trey heaved a heavy sigh, then moved to his desk, intending to get Caitlin off his mind as he picked up his quill and entered the day's progress into the ship's log. He sat still then, trying to word a formal message for Anne. Now that the deed was over and done and he was on his way to face Her Majesty's wrath, he well knew the gravity of his position. There was need for a great deal of diplomacy in handling the Queen or the consequences could be most dire. Especially if Caitlin demanded a divorcement as she had threatened.
Against his will, his eyes strayed to the curtain separating him from his wife, and his mouth went dry as the lantern behind the makeshift barrier revealed a feminine shadow in the process of disrobing. His heart thudded painfully against his rib cage as the shadowed form stepped out of her dress. Then, as undergarments began to fall, he visualized with vivid detail the soft, honey brown skin and sleek bare limbs that had wrapped him to her only hours before. Every nerve in him urged that he stride to the sheet and jerk it down, to take her to his bed and make love to her until she realized why he had had to bring her with him.
He set his jaw obstinately, forcing such agonizing fantasies out of his mind. He could never force Caitlin into his bed, how well he knew that, not after she had lain willingly in his arms and called him beloved. That was what he wanted again, what he had always wanted.
He looked back to the shadowy temptress, his loins aching as pins were pulled from the flowing red gold hair that he could not touch. He wet parched lips, closing his eyes, unable to bear another minute of such sweet torture. He left the cabin with long, frustrated strides, ascending quickly into the cool night air, not at all sure he could last this first night without Caitlin in his arms, much less the long weeks it would take to cross the vast Atlantic Ocean.
Chapter Sixteen
The sky was bright and sunny, stretching overhead in a clear blue dome to where mounds of white clouds sat on the horizon atop the sea. The Glory skimmed through the swells at a fast clip, her sails billowing full from a brisk westerly that had driven them since their departure from Barbados a week before. Caitlin stood near the bowsprit rigging, staring down at the foamy gray waters rushing alongside the hull. She let the wind blow her unbound hair, not caring that her skirts whipped around her legs. It had been a long time since spindrift had wet her face as it did now, and it felt good.
The last few days had seemed more like months as they scudded toward the Florida Straits, which would take them into the Great Current that lay along the coast of the Americas. She had long since given up hope of persuading Trey to return to Winds-way. He had remained adamant each time she had quarreled with him, but at the same time he was so courteous and polite that she wanted to scream. She had finally shut him out completely, remaining aloof when he took his meals with her or joined her on her frequent airings abovedecks.
She had barely seen him in the last three days—he came below after she slept and left before she awakened. Once she had come awake to find the privacy screen torn away. He had not approached her, however, but instead had slept in exhaustion in a hammock strung across the other cabin. It had been she who had lain awake then, fighting her desire to go to him. The pleasures she had experienced pressed intimately against his hard lean body were not easy to forget or deny; it was as if he had enslaved her with some strange hold she could not understand and could not break. She had reminded herself many times that he had lied to her, that he had taken her away from everything she loved, but she could not stop the racing of her heart when those azure blue eyes sought her out. Neither could she bring herself to forgive him for taking her away as he had without first consulting her, even if he had done it out of love as he'd said.
Caitlin turned as Richard came up beside her, and she returned his smile of greeting. He had spoken with her several times when she had taken air, and his company had done much to alleviate the loneliness she felt. He leaned against the rail beside her, glancing up at the surging canvas topsails.
"We are making good time," he remarked, and Caitlin nodded, following his gaze to where several seamen worked high above the deck.
"Aye, the ship is sound and the currents that hold her are swift."
Richard looked at the proud set of Caitlin's profile, impressed as always by her profound knowledge of the sea. From their conversations since the voyage had begun, he had found that she knew as much as he did about navigation and the running of a sailing ship, perhaps even more. It seemed an extraordinary accomplishment in a woman so young, but he now had no doubt that she could ably command the Anna alongside her b
rother.
"The Glory has a fine crew," Caitlin said, watching the tars attend to their duties.
"Aye, and a good captain," Richard added, looking to the quarterdeck, where Trey stood. Trey's voice came to them, strong and authoritative, as he called out an order, and Caitlin turned her gaze back to the far horizon without comment.
"Some of the men are hoping the two of you will resolve your problems before long, you know," Richard said, grinning, and Caitlin turned questioning eyes on him.
Richard laughed. "Let us just say that my cousin has seen better moods."
Caitlin did not smile. "There will be no reconciliation between us."
Richard studied her set face for a moment. "There is a good possibility that he will be severely reprimanded for what he has done. Are you aware of that?"
"I am sure the Queen in her wisdom will treat him as he deserves to be treated."
"Then you would see Trey hanged because he loves you?"
Pain jabbed viciously into Caitlin's heart at such a thought, and she turned miserable amber eyes on Richard. "He didn't even ask me to come with him, Richard. He just left while I slept."
Richard laid a consoling hand on her arm. "I know. Trey is used to doing as he pleases; try not to worry about the Queen. Perhaps she will be lenient with him. She has always been partial to Trey."
He glanced back to the quarterdeck to find Trey's dark glare fixed on him, and he dropped his hand from his cousin's wife. Trey was indeed in a brutish disposition of late; though he was too fine a leader to take it out on his men, the fuse of his temper was a good deal shorter than it had been before he wed. And it was likely to remain so until Caitlin saw fit to welcome him into her bed and her heart. Which was a very unlikely happenstance indeed, he thought, shaking his head. Never had he known two more stubborn people.
"I must return to my watch, milady," he said bowing slightly, and as Caitlin watched him go, her eyes met those of one of the crewmen, who was scrubbing the deck plankings with a stiff brush. She smiled, and the man grinned with pleasure to be singled out by his captain's beautiful bride.