A Gentleman's Kiss

by Kimberley Comeaux

  “These are things I’ve told you already, Aurora,” he gently reminded her.

  “But I never heard them, Cam. Claudia so passionately defended you, and I suppose I was shamed by the fact that I had to be told these things by the woman who lost you to me.”

  “Aurora, please don’t—”

  “Say the truth?” she interjected. “You love Claudia, and she loves you. She is the one you want to marry, and I don’t blame you. She wants the same things in her life as you do.” Reaching inside her satin purse, Aurora pulled out his grandmother’s ring and handed it to him. “She is the one who needs to wear this ring.”

  Cameron slowly reached out and took the jewel-encrusted ring from her. Hope bloomed in his heart; yet it was warring with concern for Aurora. “Are you sure about this, Aurora? Is John Miller a man with whom you can live your life?”

  She smiled sadly at him. “I am not being totally unselfish in this decision, you know. I like John, and I know he loves me despite all my flaws and will do everything he can to make my life a happy one. He has always been that way to me, but I wouldn’t accept it until now.” She reached out her hand and cupped his cheek. “Be well, Cameron,” she whispered and turned to walk away.

  “Thank you, Aurora,” he said, watching her leave. As his thumb caressed the smooth underside of the ring, his mind raced with thoughts of what to do next.

  And then he knew. Tucking the ring safely in his pocket, Cameron headed for the shelter. He had a lot of arrangements to make, favors to call in, and people to speak to, if he was going to make his plan work.

  ❧

  The next morning Claudia arrived at the dock and, after bidding a tearful Helen good-bye, bravely boarded the ship that would be taking her back home to her family and away from Cameron.

  The captain’s wife, Mrs. O’Leary, was the first to greet her and welcome her aboard. Claudia could tell she and the kind older woman would get along well. After she showed Claudia to her room and helped her put away some of her things, Mrs. O’Leary explained about the schedule of the meals and introduced her to a maid who would personally assist her during the voyage.

  Finally Mrs. O’Leary glanced at the watch pinned to her blouse. “Well, my lady, we’ll be leaving port soon, so I’d better be checkin’ with my husband to see if he needs me for anythin’. Remember your maid is right next door to ye, so just give the cord here a little tug if you’ll be needin’ somethin’ and she’ll come runnin’,” Mrs. O’Leary informed her in her soft Irish brogue, while pointing out the scarlet cord next to the vanity.

  “Thank you, Mrs. O’Leary. I’m sure I’ll be fine,” Claudia assured her.

  After the captain’s wife had left, Claudia glanced about her small cabin and already began to feel the pangs of loneliness engulf her. She walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge with a long sigh. Am I doing the right thing? she wondered. Or am I just running away?

  Looking up at the beamed ceiling, she thought of all the prayers she’d prayed over the last few weeks and the scriptures she’d read and found comfort in. She especially held on to the one that said the joy of the Lord was her strength. The vicar had told her joy didn’t mean happiness, but it meant having every confidence that God was with her at all times to see her through every trial.

  He knew her pain and knew she desired to be that happy, carefree woman she’d been before Helen’s ball. Oddly, praying for Cameron and Aurora seemed to help her better accept her circumstances. She truly did hope their marriage would be happy and that his shelter would continue to flourish and meet the needs of more and more women and children.

  One day, perhaps, she would be able to be friends with them, and their relationship would be reflected upon as a fond and distant memory.

  At least she prayed it would be so.

  A knock on her door startled her out of her musings. Thinking it must be either the maid or Mrs. O’Leary, she opened it, not checking to see who it was first.

  She was staggered when she saw who stood there.

  “Cameron!” she gasped, her eyes scanning him from head to toe as if to assure herself it was really he. He seemed extraordinarily handsome standing there in his grey vest and black pants and Hessians, smiling at her. His black cape was thrown rakishly over one shoulder, and she reflected that he looked much like Jean Lafitte had that time she’d met him. “What are you doing here?”

  He reached out and took her hand, pulling her out into the hallway. “I’m not marrying Aurora,” he told her, shocking her even further. “She broke our engagement and has decided to marry someone else!”

  Claudia could hardly believe her ears as he explained his and Aurora’s ending conversation. “But—the wedding—your guests!” she stammered.

  “Aurora posted the cancellation in the Times yesterday,” he assured her. Still holding on to her hand, he brought it to his lips and kissed it tenderly. “We have been granted a miracle, Claude, and I’m sorry if I am making an incorrect assumption of your feelings. But I was not going to waste another minute.”

  Claudia’s heart sped up even faster at the implication of his words. “Your assumptions are not incorrect. My feelings are as they always were,” she assured him breathlessly.

  His eyes softened as they searched her own. “I was afraid—” He paused and let out a breath. “Then you forgive me for not dealing with Aurora sooner? Had I not promised her I—”

  She put her finger over his lips stopping him. “There is nothing to forgive, Cameron. You could not know what would happen. You must forgive yourse—” The ship swayed then, reminding Claudia of where they were. “Oh, no! The ship was readying to sail just now. We must get off, or else our reputations will be ruined forever.”

  She started to turn toward the stairs that would take them up on deck, but he wouldn’t let go of her hand. “Wait, Claudia. It’s completely all right.” He reached in his vest and pulled out an official document. “I was able to get us a special license. Let’s go right now and let the captain marry us!”

  Claudia was so surprised that she merely stared at the license as if it were a foreign object.

  Then she realized what he was trying to say to her. “You want to get married? Now?”

  He chuckled and tucked it back into his vest. “I know it’s a bit hasty, but I don’t want to risk anything or anyone else coming between us.”

  She shook her head and glanced down at her plain gray traveling dress. “But this is not what I’d imagined I would wear on my wedding day. And what about my grandfathers and—and your family. You know your mother will be furious if we—”

  “Claude!” Cameron exclaimed softly, cupping both her cheeks gently. “Do you love me?”

  Claudia looked into the deep green of his eyes and saw her own feelings reflected there. “Yes,” she whispered breathlessly. “I do love you, Cameron.”

  “And I love you, Claudia,” he declared in a low voice while his thumb caressed her cheek. “I want you to be my wife. I want us to dream together and do the work of the Lord side by side. I want us to have babies with your eyes and see them bounced on their Grandpa George’s knee.”

  Tears filled Claudia’s eyes as she envisioned his beautifully spoken words. “I’d like that, too.”

  “Then marry me, Claudia. Today, in your gray dress and ribbonless bonnet.” He teased with a grin, but then his expression turned very serious. “I don’t want to spend another day without you.”

  How could she resist that? “All right, I’ll marry you.”

  With a triumphant smile he reached inside his coat pocket and took out his grandmother’s ring. After slipping it on her finger he bent to kiss it. “I had planned to give you this ring the night of your ball.”

  Claudia’s gaze flew from the sparkling ring to his eyes. “I had wondered. . . ,” she murmured. “Helen had said that was what you wante
d but—”

  He leaned forward and kissed her so gently and sweetly that she didn’t open her eyes for a few moments, even after he’d stopped. When she finally did look at him, he was smiling at her.

  “Do you know that every time you’ve kissed me, you’ve interrupted me in midsentence?” she said, her head still spinning a little from the kiss.

  He thought a moment. “You know, I believe you are right. Odd, that!”

  She narrowed her eyes at him with a mock frown. “Are you trying to say I talk too much?”

  He bent to give her another quick kiss. “Absolutely not. It’s just that I am too impatient to wait until you are finished talking to act on my feelings.” He grinned at her and pointed toward the deck. “Well, shall we go to the captain and bind our lives together forever?”

  She threaded her arm through his. “Absolutely. Lead on!”

  They both chuckled as he led her up to the top deck. She was about to ask him why he thought the captain would be there when something else caught her eye.

  There crowded on the deck were her grandfathers, Helen and North, and Cameron’s parents and sisters.

  “What—,” she started to ask but couldn’t find the words as they all looked their way.

  “It is a good thing you agreed to marry me, or else all these people would leave sorely disappointed,” Cameron whispered to her, leading her to them. “You have a choice. After the ceremony we can disembark with everyone else, or we can sail and visit your parents. I am ready for either.”

  She looked up at him and thanked God again for leading Cameron back to her. “I’d like my parents to meet you,” she said without having to think about it too much.

  Cameron put his other hand over the one on his arm. “Then that is what we shall do.”

  They greeted the captain, and as he was instructing them where to stand, Cameron’s mother came rushing up to them.

  “Oh, Cameron, must you forever break my heart with such unconventional ways of doing things?” She dabbed at her eyes and sniffed daintily. “What will everyone say when they hear you did not marry in a church? And what happened between you and Aurora? Did you know she has eloped with a farmer?” She quickly looked at Claudia and said, “I mean no disrespect to you, dear. But the entire ton will be abuzz with gossip, and I promise none of it will be pleasant.”

  “Mother, if I pledge to you we will have our marriage blessed in a church on our return from America, will you please let us continue?” Cameron asked, clearly anxious to get on with the ceremony.

  “What?” she gasped, clutching her handkerchief to her chest. “You are bound for the colonies? And what other secrets am I to discover today? I cannot believe—”

  “Margaret!” his father called out as he walked up and seized his wife’s arm. “You can scold him later. Can’t you see the poor boy is eager to marry?” He tugged her away.

  “Shall we begin?” the captain said, bringing her attention back to Cameron and their ceremony.

  As she and Cameron exchanged their vows in front of their family and friends, Claudia couldn’t take her eyes off the man she had believed she’d lost forever. Gazing at him, reciting the words to love, honor, and cherish, out on the sea with the beautiful blue sky as their canopy, felt so appropriate. She could even imagine God looking down upon them and smiling.

  As they neared the end of the ceremony, Claudia was thankful Cameron waited until the captain had given him a cue to kiss her, instead of interrupting her vows. She heard a ripple of sighs as he kissed her gently and then placed another one on her cheek in a loving gesture.

  Once the captain announced they were man and wife, Helen hurriedly stepped forward to hug her. “Before you ask, I did not know about this until we’d walked back to our carriage and were met by Lord Kinclary!” Helen stood back and beamed at her. “But isn’t this the most romantic gesture you’ve ever beheld!”

  Claudia laughed. “Undeniably the most!” she agreed, and then the reality of it all seemed to rush back to her. “Can you believe it, Helen? I am married to Cameron!”

  “If I did not witness the wedding I would not believe it!” she said with a grin. “So, Lady Kinclary! Will you be going to Louisiana after all?”

  “Yes, but don’t worry. It will be a quick visit to see my parents and to show Cameron my home. We will come back to England in no time at all.”

  Helen sighed and then smiled tearfully at her. “Please give my regards to your parents and sister!”

  Claudia assured her she would and hugged her one more time.

  Because the captain was in a hurry to set sail, she was only able to say quick good-byes before everyone had to disembark.

  They stood on the starboard bow and scanned the shore as the ship slowly drew further and further away. They waved to Helen and North who stood watching them from the pier.

  “Helen told me how God had brought her and North together by quite miraculous means,” she mentioned as they stood there, arm in arm, with the sea air blowing their garments and hair.

  Cameron nodded. “Perhaps, like them, we will appreciate each other more since we went through so much to be together.”

  She looked at his handsome profile, and her heart swelled even more. “Have I told you yet, Cameron Montbatten, that I love you with all my heart?”

  He looked at her and appeared to be thinking on her words. “Yes, but I think I should like to hear it again.”

  “I love you,” she whispered to him.

  Cameron looked at her and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t hear that.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “I love you,” she said a little louder.

  He cocked his head to the side as if trying to hear her better. “No. No, I’m sorry, but I still didn’t hear you.”

  Claudia rolled her eyes. “I love you!” she then declared as loudly as she looked out to the sea.

  Cameron glanced around, and when she followed his gaze she noticed the crew and a few of the passengers had stopped to stare at them. “Well done, my dear. Now everyone can be certain as to where your feelings lie.”

  Claudia covered her face and groaned. “Oh, no.”

  “There is only one course of action to take now.” She was about to ask what action that was when he swooped down and kissed her right on the lips.

  “Cameron!” she gasped, breaking the kiss and leaning away from him. “Everyone is watching.”

  “Yes, but there it is. After hearing your words of love I had to do something.”

  She giggled and peeked about to see that only a few were watching them now. “You are a gentleman. And gentlemen do not go about kissing their ladies in public. It is not the done thing,” she scolded because she felt she needed to. But then she confessed, “It was your first kiss, though, that made me realize I did have feelings for you.”

  His brows rose in surprise. “But you seemed quite vexed with me. And, as I recall, you delivered a slap that kept my ears ringing for days.”

  “I’ve already explained it was my duty to slap you, whether I liked the kiss or not.”

  He nodded as if it all made perfect sense. “Right you are, my dear. I expected no less.”

  He put his arms around her and held her back to his chest as they continued to watch the shrinking buildings of London. “I still can hardly believe you are in my arms, Claude. Just thinking of all we’ve been through, I feel I’m truly a blessed man,” he said after a long moment, his voice solemn and humble.

  Closing her eyes, she leaned back against him and felt him place a gentle kiss on her head. We’re both blessed, she thought.

  And to think it all started with a kiss. . . .

  About the Author

  Kimberley Comeaux is a pastor’s wife who wears many hats, including choir director, women’s ministries leader, and Web designer f
or her church. Her first love, however, remains dreaming up and writing inspirational romances for the wonderful Heartsong readers! She lives in Cajun, Louisiana, with her husband, Brian; teenage son, Tyler; and their two dogs.

  Dedication

  To my dearest friend since eighth grade, Julie Canterbury Everett. When I needed inspiration for Claudia and Helen’s friendship, I thought of you.

  And to my aunts, Judy Lamb and Alicia Nichols, who are always full of fun and a big supporters of my writing.

  A note from the Author:

  I love to hear from my readers! You may correspond with me by writing:

  Kimberley Comeaux

  Author Relations

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