Miles Before I Sleep

by Byrd, M. Donice

  “Madam,” Miles Huntington ground out. “I have sat back while you have been rude and insulting to this young woman. I have said nothing, because I wanted to avoid an unpleasant scene. But your persistent badgering is too much to be borne. Ever since she arrived, you have balked like a jackass with a burr under your pack, and Jayne has politely apologized for all your imagined wrongs. If you are as thin-skinned as you maintain, I suggest you stay in your stateroom for the remainder of the voyage, because I can guarantee you are going to hear much worse.”

  “Well, I never…!” Lady Pike sputtered with her face in high color.

  Miles Huntington rose from the table. “Are you ready for our walk, Jayne?”

  She nodded and he pulled back her chair. “Thank you, Miles,” she murmured as she wound her arm around his.

  “You’ll ruin the girl’s reputation, Mr. Huntington, and then that brother of hers will force you into a wedding or a duel. I hope she’s worth it.”

  Miles and Andrea looked at each other for a moment then burst out laughing, knowing there was no brother.

  12

  Andrea paused as soon as they were outside the dining room and pulled her arm free of his.

  “Thank you, Mr. Huntington. I appreciate you extracting me from that situation. However, I am certain you would like to finish your meal. I can make my way to my stateroom if you want to stay to eat.”

  “Trust me,” Miles said with a mischievous smile. “I have been looking for an excuse to avoid eating with the Pikes.”

  Andrea looked wide-eyed at Miles, her head canting slightly sideways. “But you invited them to dine with you.”

  “I’m just currying to the aristocracy. They are exactly who we need to buy tickets on this ship if we want to be successful. I’m sure I will invite them again before the voyage is over to make up for any slight.” He leaned down and lowered his voice into a conspiratorial tone. “I may even feel obligated to walk Lady Callie around the deck.”

  She leaned in and spoke in a similar tone. “Don’t feel obliged to walk with me.” In truth, Andrea did not want to walk back to her room alone. She had no way of knowing where Clyde Sully might be or exactly what he wanted, but deep down, every pore of her body prickled with alarm knowing he was a danger to her.

  He thought a moment before he answered. “I was hoping you would feel obligated after I rescued you.”

  Had Lillian been there to see it, she would have known Andrea was veiling her emotions by the way she pulled her shoulders back, lifted her head and smiled placidly. But Miles only saw the smile and a nod of acquiescence.

  “So, Miss Andrews,” Miles said as he placed her hand back on his elbow and they began their stroll. “I’m afraid I am wildly curious why you donned glasses, a mustache, and trousers to obtain passage aboard my ship.”

  Andrea looked out over the ocean hoping he would not see the lie in her face. “I could not afford passage for a chaperone or even a maid, and I knew I’d never be able to travel alone without one.”

  “You’re not afraid to travel alone?”

  How could she explain to him that what awaited her at home terrified her more?

  “I have traveled quite extensively,” she said trying to evade his question.

  He nodded seemingly in acceptance of her explanation. And when you get to New York, will you work in your father’s textile office as Jayne or as Jim?”

  He placed his free hand on top of the fingers she had wrapped around his elbow. Her first instinct was to pull away, but she managed to keep her composure.

  “As myself,” she said hesitantly.

  “You’re trembling still, Miss Andrews. Are you cold?”

  “No,” she answered honestly. “I-I am unaccustomed to male attention, and I worry that you may think, because I am unchaperoned, that I lack a moral compass.”

  “I frighten you?”

  She hesitated before answering. “Yes.”

  ~*~

  Miles had not expected the blunt answer. Most women would have hedged around it. He should have realized that she was straight from the schoolroom and had never had her first season. Of course, she was nervous to take a stroll with him. Most young women take their first steps into the marriage mart under the close supervision of their mothers. They were never alone with a suitor until they were engaged.

  “I shall return you to your cabin at once,” Miles said. “Or shall we go in search of a chaperone?”

  Andrea looked at him with wide eyes. “I think I’d like to go back to my stateroom.”

  A flash of disappointment crossed Miles’s face. “As you wish,” he said, but continued walking in the same direction.

  “This is not the way to my cabin,” Andrea said.

  Miles cast a boyish smile at her. “There is a companionway just ahead. Am I not allowed to take the long way to enjoy your company just a few moments longer?”

  Andrea bit her lip and nodded her acceptance.

  “Perhaps tomorrow, you will allow me to show you the ship. Two years of my life went into its build.”

  A shy smile graced her face. “Will you show me the steam engine?”

  His look of surprise was replaced by a wide smile. “That was the one place in which I had thought you would have no interest. If that is what you want to see, I will be more than happy to include that in our tour. Are you mechanically inclined, Jayne?”

  “I have no idea if I am or not, but I know this is the future, and I want to know what the future looks like.”

  Miles smiled widely at her as he patted the hand resting on his arm. “Be sure to wear a dark-colored dress tomorrow because the coal dust tends to get on everything. I would feel terrible if your dress was ruined.”

  “Perhaps Jim should go with you. I had not planned to wear his clothes again. It won’t matter if they get ruined.”

  Not releasing her hand, he pulled away slightly, turning so he could look at her better. “I should not like that at all. What if you needed a steadying hand? And we would look rather odd strolling as we are now.” He stopped. “Worst of all, I could not kiss your hand as I bid you adieu.”

  They had stopped next to one of the many lamps that illuminated the deck and passageways so the guests could safely move about at night. A pretty blush stained her cheeks. Her chest rose and fell quickly. He could see her mind working, trying to find the right thing to say.

  A moment later, his lips met hers, briefly, tenderly.

  As soon as her eyes opened, he began strolling again.

  “Why did you do that?” she asked, raising her free hand to her lips.

  “I couldn’t bear the thought of anyone else giving you your first kiss.”

  Miles knew he should not have done it, she was so incredibly innocent, and yet, he could not stop himself. He hoped because she had not slapped him or stalked away with justifiable anger, that she was open to his suit.

  “It should’ve been my choice,” she murmured. “It was my first kiss, not yours.”

  Had it not been for Clyde Sully, Andrea might have walked away from him.

  Suddenly, the sails above them went slack and flapped as a cold north gale blew in. The helmsman turned the wheel, and sailors began adjusting the jib to catch the wind. Andrea automatically looked into the heavens and watched as distant clouds rolled closer, cloaking the stars one by one.

  As much as he hated to break the slight contact of having her hand wrapped around his arm, Miles pulled away, removed his frock coat, and placed it over her shoulders.

  “Thank you,” she murmured. She wanted to add that they would be to her cabin in a few minutes, so it had not really been necessary, but no one had ever taken off their coat for her before, and the way his warmth clung to the wool felt oddly comforting.

  When she smiled at him, he forgot instantly about the cold wind.

  “Would you care for a glass of sherry to warm you before you go to your room?”

  Her first instinct was to say her mother would not approve, but realized s
he need not worry about that anymore. However, her mother had warned her that some men might try to ply her with spirits in order to take advantage of her.

  “No, thank you,” she said. “I’d just like to go to my room now.”

  If she heard his sigh of resignation, she made no comment. “Anything my Jayne wants, if it is within my power, you shall have it.”

  They did not speak again until they were standing in front of her door. Andrea removed his frock coat from her shoulders and handed it back to him.

  “Thank you for seeing me back to my cabin and for the use of your coat.”

  “The pleasure was mine. I know decorum dictates I should apologize for kissing you, but I don’t know if you hate scoundrels or liars more, so I will take my chances and not apologize.”

  Andrea affixed a placid look on her face. Her chin lifted and she spoke in her most refined accent. “I suppose all first kisses are mostly the same,” she said straight-faced. She stared at him wide-eyed and blinked twice before a wide smile brightened her face making Miles laugh.

  “Minx.”

  She leaned forward slightly and dropped the volume of her voice. “I shall never forget it.”

  “Nor shall I,” he said, knowing it was the truth.

  “Miles…?”

  “Yes, Jayne?”

  “I shall like it very much if you collect me on the way to the dining room in the morning.”

  Andrea knew it was a bold request. However, at the moment, she feared Clyde Sully more than she was afraid of embarrassing herself.

  A grin slowly widened under his beard. “I would like that very much, as well.”

  “It’s such a large ship, I worry I might get lost if my brain is still clouded with sleep.”

  Miles put a hand over his heart. “You just couldn’t let me think it was because mine was the first face you wanted to see after waking.”

  Andrea knew she was figuratively crooking her finger at him with one hand, while pushing him away with the other. She could not help herself. Her mother had been so thorough in frightening her away from the wedding bed, that she was terrified of all men. However, she had conflicting feelings about Miles. Ever since she met him five years earlier, she thought warmly of him. Yes, she had been humiliated to learn that he only asked her to dance because he had been asked to fetch her. Regardless, when she thought about marrying an Earl or Marquess, in her imagination, he always looked like Miles Huntington. She had never thought she would see him again until she realized her father had betrothed her to his cousin. That would have been the worst part of marrying Shamus O’Shea. She would be married to the toad and have to regularly see the man who had been her idea of perfection. He was not married yet, but someday he would be and Andrea knew instinctively that she would hate the woman because that woman would have what Andrea wanted.

  “Good night, Mr. Huntington. I look forward to seeing your face before all others.”

  13

  Sitting as still as possible on the horsehair sofa in her large stateroom, Andrea tried to breathe slowly and remain calm. She was dumbfounded by her brazen behavior the night before. It was not just that she had allowed him to walk her back to her room and let him kiss her without rebuke, but she had actually said things that could only be deemed as encouragement, if not outright flirting. How could she when she knew Miles Huntington was the cousin of the man she had jilted?

  She should stay as far away from him as possible. The man was a danger to her in so many ways. But in truth, she enjoyed his company and strangely enough, she was attracted to him. Andrea could not understand how it was possible to be attracted to someone when she knew it could lead to the dreaded wedding bed. She supposed she might compare it to eating a whole box of chocolates knowing it would make her sick if she ate the whole thing. Andrea knew there was a price to be paid if she did not stop. But she just kept telling herself, just a little more.

  For the first time in her life, Andrea began to understand what those silly girls at school were talking about. Andrea sighed, knowing this could not last. When he discovered who she was, he was going to be furious and think she played him for a fool. Would he turn her over to her father or to his cousin? Perhaps if she explained herself, maybe he would be understanding and keep her secret.

  Andrea needed to keep her goal in mind. If she could prove that she could comprehend and run her father’s company, there would be no reason why she would have to get married. Why could she not have been betrothed to Miles instead of his cousin? It would have been a much more logical union. His business was very similar to theirs—much more similar than running warehouses. It was so frustrating.

  Biting her lip, Andrea wondered if it was true that her father was not going to force her. She doubted it. Her father was accustomed to getting his way.

  ~*~

  When Miles Huntington’s firm knock sounded at the door, she jumped.

  “One moment,” she called out. In truth, she only had to walk from the sofa to the door, but she did not want him to think she was eagerly waiting on him. She counted to sixty before opening the door.

  “Good morning, Mr. Huntington,” she said shyly. “Thank you for walking me into breakfast.”

  “I thought you had decided to call me by my given name.”

  “I’m afraid the evening emboldened me.”

  “We shared a kiss. You may call me Miles.”

  As she finished locking her door, she looked over her shoulder at him. “You stole a kiss.”

  He leaned closer and spoke into her ear. “You look so pretty this morning, I may have to steal another.”

  Andrea turned, putting her back against the door. “It’s only stealing if it’s not freely given, Miles,” she said before darting down the corridor with Miles close on her heels.

  She could not believe she had the nerve to be so daring. What was it about this man that made her say such things? Why would she play with fire so? Did she want to know where a man’s breaking point was? Did she want him to do despicable things to her?

  “I shouldn’t have said that,” Andrea said when he caught up with her. “You must think I’m a hussy.”

  “I think no such thing,” he assured her. “Shall I pretend I didn’t hear you?”

  She gave him a sideways glance. “It’s too late for that, I suppose, but next time I say something so horrid, please do.”

  “I can’t imagine anything horrid has ever come out of your mouth.”

  A look of vexation crossed her face. “Lady Pike would disagree with you.”

  “Lady Pike is an old windbag,” he said quietly into her ear.

  As they entered the dining room, Andrea remembered Miles’s table sat eight people. “Would you like me to sit towards the other end of your table?”

  “Do you want to hear me shouting across the room to talk to you?”

  “But your invited guests are important to your business.”

  A boyish grin crossed his face. “I didn’t think to invite anyone for breakfast, and even if I did, there is no one on this ship more important than you.”

  Andrea wished she had brought a fan with her not only to cool her face when she blushed, but also to hide her embarrassment when he said such things. “Mr. Huntington! What foolishness,” she said, casting her eyes about to make sure no one had heard him. She lowered her voice. “My mother warned me about men and their flattery.”

  Miles laughed. “It’s not mere flattery, if it’s true.”

  The maître d’ showed them to their table which seemed a bit silly to Andrea since they would be eating at the same table the whole voyage. As she perused the menu, Miles asked her if she would like him to order for her again.

  “No, thank you.”

  “You didn’t like what I ordered for you last night?”

  “All my life, my parents have made my decisions for me. Even at school, I had to eat what was placed before me. I’d like to make my own choices.”

  A silent sigh deflated his shoulders as Miles reg
retted ordering for her the previous night. Here she was, trying to break free of her parents, and he was unintentionally stepping into the role. “I hope what I ordered for you last night….”

  “It was delicious,” she cut in. “I might have ordered it myself. What are flapjacks?”

  “They’re just pancakes. Our steward thought the menu would sound more international if we put less common names for some of the more common entrées on it.”

  Andrea nodded her head and continued to look at her menu. She dismissed them as soon as she realized what they were. Her mother didn’t let her eat sweet things except for fruit. Lillian said they would make her fat and she would never marry into the aristocracy.

  “I’ll just have some fruit and porridge.”

  His face came up from the menu as a slight chuckle shook his body. “Well, I certainly would not have ordered that for you.”

  “What would you have ordered?”

  “An assortment of pastries for you to choose from.”

  He watched as her eyes grew wide and a smile spread across her face. “Oh, no, I couldn’t. If I ate one, I would eat them all. I have a horrible affinity for sweets. My mother banned them from our house.”

  “This isn’t your parents’ home. Besides, you are no longer a child, Jayne. I bet you can stop after one or two…or three…or four.”

  Andrea’s eyes fell to the menu and stayed there as she spoke. Gone was the lightness in her words. “You should see how much bread pudding I ate at Christmas one year. I stole down the steps to the kitchen in the middle of the night and ate a second bowl. Unfortunately, the cook blamed the scullery maids for the theft, and I had to confess to keep the poor girls from being sacked.”

  “How old were you?” Miles gently pried the menu from her hands in an attempt to get her to look up.

  “Maybe nine or ten, I suppose.” She shrugged her shoulders.

  “And what was your punishment?”

  Andrea took a deep breath and looked unseeingly at her empty hands as if her mind was repeating the memory. “I had to apologize to all the servants. I didn’t know they were allowed to have the remainders from our table. Cook was quite nice about it and told me if I ever wanted more, just to ask her. It was only because she didn’t know where it had gone that she raised the alarm.”