by test
“I’m taking you to my ship.”
“My brother will be following us. He will follow us straight across to the Caribbean if need be.”
“Well, he can if he’d like … in fact, that’s what I expect him to do. Alas, we aren’t going to the Caribbean.”
“We aren’t?” She straightened. Her hair was mussed around her face. Her
eyelids were slightly swollen and her pallor was starting to give him concern. She was so white. She looked so weak.
“We aren’t,” he confirmed, smiling brilliantly at her. He tried to pull her back toward him.
“Am I allowed to ask where we are going?”
“When have you ever been worried enough to ask for permission before? Where did the spark go?”
“As much as you might want to think ill of me, I am intelligent enough to realize that before we were on even keel with each other, or at least in my thoughts we were.
Now, you have a child to use as leverage against me. I wouldn’t want to overstep my bounds and get Charles killed. What sort of a heartless wretch do you think I am?”
“Stop that!” he raged, surprising himself with his ferocious reaction. “Cease that blatherskite about me being cold blooded enough to kill a child. I would never harm a hair on Charles’s head. You can be as rebellious or as stubborn as you wish, without having to worry about stepping one foot out of line. I will not kill Charles for anything, do you understand me?”
“I understand what you are trying to valiantly convey. And even if I believe you, I do not believe he is safe with that mad half-brother of yours. Herrer will kill if the fancy strikes him. Trust me on that one.”
“You are mistaken. Richard has never spilled the blood of a child, he might want you to think he is a malicious man, and yes, he implements strategies that I would never even consider when it comes to making an example of someone, I do apologize for him shooting your butler. He did not however serve him a deathblow, he easily could have done that, Gemma.”
“Make as many justifications or excuses for him as you like—it makes no bloody difference to me. Don Herrer is a dirty bastard, and you defending him will not clean his soul. He is rotten to the core, and I pity you for putting any sort of faith in him. If you ever leave me alone with him, I shall endeavor to make an example out of him.”
“I’d advise you against crossing him. As long as I lay claim on you, he won’t touch you, and he won’t touch Charles. He is my brother, he will not cross me, no matter HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 60
what happens.”
“As long as you are faithful to him, I will never be faithful to you.” She turned away from him, and tried her best to plaster herself up against the satin interior of the carriage. She lurched forward when the carriage came to a sudden stop.
“I’m sorry for that, Gemma.” He reached out for her, and before she could move away from him, he’d grabbed her. Pulling her to him, they locked gazes. “We’re going to disembark now, and I can’t have you seeing what lies ahead, I do apologize Gemma, I’d hoped you’d remain asleep until we arrived at our destination. I’m going to have to blindfold you.”
“No. I won’t allow you to do that.” Pulling her free hand up, she cracked him a good one across his jaw. The ring she wore caught on his lip making him bleed. He winced, and looked back at her.
“Why did you do that? You will not be harmed while you are blindfolded, I
promise you that.”
“Bugger your blasted promises. Your word means as much as ashes to me. In fact, you mean as much as ashes to me. I wish I’d never set eyes upon you. Kilworth looks like a bloody saint when compared to you.”
His eyes flared with anger. “Never again, compare me with Kilworth! You will not earn any sort of affection from me when you do that!”
“Affection from you? Perish the thought. I will never give or receive affection from you.”
“Nonetheless I will have you in my bed.”
“Then, you will have one unwilling participant.”
“I wouldn’t say that with such conviction when your eyes belie the way that you truly feel. My touch still makes you quiver, it still makes your heart beat faster, and I can feel that it makes your hands clammy.”
“I am exhausted. All of those physical reactions are common in a fagged state.”
“Perhaps.” He chuckled. “You still have not given me enough distraction.” He looked to the carriage window. “The driver is waiting for me to give him the signal to have the footmen open our doors. I wasn’t planning to do this, but I do believe you shall have to be blindfolded, you are too cunning for your own good, my dear.” He pulled out a silk handkerchief.
“Would you bind me as well?” She asked, extending her hands toward him. He looked at her hands.
“No, indeed, I think I can keep you controlled without having to tie your hands.
As I said, I’d rather not even blindfold you, but I do recall your brother regaling me with tales of your picture perfect memory. He used to say that you only had to look at something once to remember it right down to the miniscule detail. I can’t have you watching our route to our destination, and memorizing it. You would try to escape me, and you might succeed. That is not an option.”
She swallowed. Fear etched her features. “Can’t we travel by road to our
destination?”
“I’m afraid not.” He shook his head. “You grew up on an island, in order to travel—” he paused. He looked stricken by the conclusion he’d just reached. “Have you never been away from Britain?”
She shook her head. “I do not care for the sea.”
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“Do not fret, I’ll be with you, giving you comfort, and our journey will be a somewhat short one.” She closed her eyes, suddenly looking quite fatigued.
“Short one, my arse. How long will I be stuck with you? You do know as your captive I am expected to escape you at any possible chance.”
“As my wife, you will be bound to me forever. I will never allow you to escape, and with time, you will never want to be far from my side. I don’t want us to be constantly at odds, Gemma. My quarrel is not with you. I’ve arranged for a priest to be waiting for us on the ship. Thanks to Mallory I already have a special marriage license drawn up for us. Soon, you will be my wife.”
“I will never marry a man that is half Spanish.”
“Actually, that would be my dear half brother that is half Spanish. My father was Scottish—Herrer only uses his mother’s family name because it is much revered in our part of Spain. I’d rather you keep the Spanish sleights to a minimum in the future. It’s just not nice.”
“Oh.” She looked disappointed. Now, she had no leg with which to stand on in her refusal to marry him.
“You will marry me. I intend to make you my wife in all sense of the words on our journey—I trust you’d rather legally be bound to me—then, having us living in sin.”
“You think too much of yourself, Hart. I am not going to let you seduce me.”
He smiled at her.
“You will learn to respond to me the way that I wish you to.”
“Bully for you, because my fight is with you. I will never accept you as my husband, I will never be the dutiful loving wife that you think you will find in me.”
“Pray, do not make this anymore difficult than it has to be.” He still held the red handkerchief, and she eyed it warily, realizing he would try to blindfold her at any instant.
A chill ran up her spine. She suddenly felt queasy. He reached inside of his jacket again, and pulled out an envelope.
“What’s that? A document signing my life away?” She quipped.
A sober expression enveloped his face. “Actually, yes. This is the special marriage license I applied for at Mallory’s request. Your name is on it, along with mine.
All we need is a priest. Don’t worry. I already have the rings. And the Priest will be on our ship.”
He
r mind raced. “You are insane. If you make me marry you, I will never
forgive you.”
“I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t make you marry me. You see, Gemma, as soon as we get to our destination I have full intentions of ruining you in the most thorough sense of the word.”
Her heart stopped. She couldn’t breathe. She placed her hand to her corset. Her cheeks burned, thoughts whirled in her head, and she couldn’t breathe. Leaning forward, she gasped for breath.
“I have smelling salts if you require them,” he offered. He was grinning with supreme satisfaction in reaction to her discomfort.
“Keep them. I shall take nothing from you.” She once again eyed the blindfold.
“Pray do put that on me, I can’t bear the sight of you at the moment.” She shuddered, when he came toward her.
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Gently, he turned her so he could wrap the blindfold around her face. Tears pooled in her eyes. They escaped their watery prison. She said a silent prayer of thanks for the blindfold, for it was the only thing hiding the humiliating evidence of her tears.
“Don’t hate me for this, Gemma,” he implored softly, emotion creeping into his voice.
“Oh, I don’t hate you for this,” She replied, envisioning his face in her minds eye.
“I hate you just for being who you are.”
Silence engulfed them. She could feel him wrapping something around her.
“This greatcoat shall keep you warm against the night air.”
“I’d rather freeze, thank you.”
“I’d rather you not freeze. I don’t want my men looking at the evidence your body will display to show that you are indeed chilled to the bone.”
She took a shaky breath. He was right. He was only trying to protect her
modesty. Then, why was it whenever they were alone together he stripped her of most of her defenses and made her feel naked to his eyes even if she was fully clothed? She despaired at the thoughts coursing through her head. She allowed him to slip her arms into the greatcoat and waited while he buttoned it up.
“There. You are all set. No one will see your ripped dress, or anything else they needn’t see.” Was that the sound of possession she heard in his voice? Whatever happened, she knew he wanted her, and he wouldn’t allow anyone else to take her from him. Mallory was up against a force he would be hard pressed to fight. He was up against a man in love.
“Thank you,” she whispered the words. She could almost feel him smiling at her.
Warmth permeated off of him, she’d never felt such sensations emanating from a man before, why oh why did he have to turn out to be such a foul creature?
She could hear him moving to the carriage doors. Then, she heard him stop. She shivered when she felt him close in on her again. His two hands cupped her face. She tried to wrench her face out of his hands.
“Is this what you always planned? To take me while my guard is down, and I am without sight? Go ahead, do as you like, I can’t fight you, if I do, your men will probably bloody well slit Charles’s throat.” She heard him grunt. He still didn’t like it when she accused him of being that hateful of a monster. She could feel his breath on her cheeks.
She held her breath. And, then she felt it. She felt his mouth gently brush against hers.
He’d kissed her before, but she’d responded then. This time, she did nothing. She kept her mouth closed, and he didn’t attempt to force it open. Gradually, he drew away from her.
“I will make you see reason, Gemma. I will make you see the light.”
“Oh, that’s no concern. I already see the light, even with this blasted blindfold on.”
He rapped the top of the carriage. The carriage doors flew open. She could hear him stepping out onto the road. He murmured something to his men so low that she couldn’t quite make out what he said. She strained her hearing to its limit hoping to catch onto a word or a phrase, but it was lost on the night wind.
She felt him reach back inside of the carriage, his large hand gripped hers. She let him guide her forward. Then, his hands encircled her waist, and before she could take in her next breath, she found herself ensconced in his arms. His warmth bled through the HIS LADY’S KEEPER Marly Mathews 63
greatcoat.
“On second thought, I think I will carry you onto the ship. I wouldn’t want you to trip and hurt yourself.”
“You are too kind, Hart.” She put a sneer in her voice.
“I regret having to hurt you in any way.”
“And yet, you still wound me,” she countered.
“Your lordship, we have secured the boy and the dog on the ship. The boy is asleep, Maeve gave him a sleeping tonic in his hot chocolate.”
“Who’s Maeve?”
“A friend. I have entrusted her with the boy. When you see her, you will say nothing about her handicap, do you understand? She doesn’t like it when people notice it. Many have hurt her terribly by attacking that weakness.”
“What is her handicap?”
“You shall see in due course. Apparently, Charles didn’t even start at the sight of it, he was completely accepting. Most children should be like that, but unfortunately they are not.”
“Charles is unique, I’ll admit that.”
“You should sleep as well, you are worn out.”
“When shall you sleep?” she asked.
He laughed. “Once we are well underway, I shall retire to my cabin for a few hours.”
“Good. That way, I’ll have some peace from you.”
“Oh, you misunderstand. My cabin is your cabin.”
“You are a rat.”
He chuckled. “It brings me comfort to hear your spunkiness returning.”
She clamped her mouth shut. She couldn’t say anything else. It only fed into his desires. It was almost as if she titillated him whenever she got her back up. Well, from now on, she would try to be as demure and as quiet as possible. It would be a challenge in character for her. Yet, she would try to withstand it until she met her objective.
She shivered.
“We will be aboard the ship at any moment now.” She could feel the rhythm of his gait change as he walked up what was probably the gangplank to the ship. She hated sailing. Abhorred it with the very fiber of her being. Despite her better intentions, she felt sluggish. Exhaustion seeped into her pores. She yawned. Why was it that he managed to relax her despite what she knew and thought of him? Why couldn’t she just hate him all of the time? Her body betrayed her, and her mind just wanted the time to rest and rejuvenate. She had to be able to endure the rest of the tests that would come her way.
“My Lord, I have made your cabin ready. You will find a light meal on the table and I have laid out the lady’s nightwear. As you asked for.”
“Thank you, Maeve.”
“Oh, she is a bonny lass,” Maeve said, admiration thick in her voice.
“This bonny lass is awake.” She yawned again. Her mouth felt dry. She heard him open a door, the floorboards creaked as he moved toward whatever he was taking her to. She felt a soft mattress beneath her when he set her down. He smiled at her as he tenderly removed the blindfold.
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“Well, I should have wondered why you had that contraption on her, my lord.”
“It’s okay, Maeve, the lady required the blindfold, I didn’t want her to memorize the route of our voyage.”
The ship lurched beneath them. They were disembarking. Nausea rolled through her at the thought of a long sea voyage. She moaned.
“Ah, the lass looks a wee bit peaked. She should rest. The priest will be by here in a few minutes. I will serve as a witness.”
Gemma placed a finger to her temple trying to ease the burning pain behind her eyes. She focused her vision on the woman called Maeve. One side of her face was slightly disfigured and her back was hunched. She gave no reaction that she could tell.
If Hart thought Maeve would repu
lse her, he couldn’t be further off track. She wasn’t that shallow, or that narrow minded, when it came to one’s physical appearance.
Maeve smiled at her, and moved over to the table and chairs that sat on the opposite side of the cabin. “You should have a little bit to eat, lass. You look like you need the sustenance.”
At that moment, the priest entered the cabin. He kept his eyes focused on the bible he carried. “I think we should get on with this, your lordship.”
She looked up. Hart looked pleased with himself. The next few minutes went by in a blur. When she was prompted she gave her vow, which came out more as a slight croak than a steady voice. A cool ring was slipped onto her finger. When she looked down she noticed that it was a gold wedding band inlaid with Celtic Love knots. He gave her one to put on his ring finger. She looked up at him—she could just imagine the stunned expression she had on her face. He clasped her hands between his as they were pronounced man and wife. Then, he pulled her toward him and planted a gentle kiss on her lips—she still remained impassive.
A sour taste filled her mouth. She looked away, sighing.
He didn’t seem too pleased with that reaction. Pulling away from him, she
walked toward the generous sized bed, and sat down. The priest quietly left the room.
Gemma stood up, swaying when a blackout washed over her. She shook her
head, clearing her sight of the stars that swam in front of her. “Perhaps, I wouldn’t be opposed to some of that toast you have there.”
“My wife has a healthy appetite, Maeve.”
“Ah, that’s what I like to hear. You look as if you starve yourself, my lady.”
“I assure you, Maeve, she doesn’t. I saw the evidence of her healthy appetite at work.”
She could feel her cheeks blooming with heat. That’s just what she needed to do
… she probably had bloodshot eyes from the few tears she’d shed, and now she was blushing! Well, at least she hadn’t fainted. That would have taken what little she had left of her pride.
“Since I’ve found myself in this predicament, I assure you, my lord, my appetite has diminished considerably.”
His eyes flared, she could see his jaw clenching and unclenching. “You should sit, and eat,” he ordered.