by Heather Boyd
“The young are often prone to overexcited nerves, especially when it comes to a man’s behavior and affections. And when there might be another woman involved, the more said the better to clear up the misinformation filling her ears.”
He stroked the cat’s head. “This has nothing to do with my command and everything to do with Sally. That is why she was there to hear it all. Why have her offer me a position?”
“You would make an excellent addition to Newberry and the family.”
He drew back in shock. “You do not want Sally to marry Ellicott.”
“Obviously not. He is rash, impulsive, and—”
“She is not in love with him,” Felix added.
“How could she be when she was already in love with you?” The duke scowled. “But what choice does she have but to settle? It is not as if she could hope a distinguished captain would give up his career, passing his ship off to another captain, on the off chance she would see reason before it is too late.”
Felix licked his lips, considering this new development. “I have thought of it, but if she still marries Ellicott, I will have nothing.”
“The offer of making your home here stands. I have done everything I can to save her from her own foolishness. I could use a good man to eat breakfast with now and then too.” He smiled. “Now, do not let me keep you a moment longer. I am sure you have much to think about and much to do this evening before you leave for London at first light. And also precious little time left ashore to find a solution to the problem of what to do with Gabriel Jennings. He requires a ship, and you could have a hard time convincing just anyone to step aside.”
“Thank you.” Felix smiled. “Thank you for allowing me this chance to win her back.”
“Keep her this time.” The duke rubbed his eyes. “That is enough for today, Captain. If you would be so good as to send Morgan to me, I would appreciate it. Take the cat out too.”
Felix hooked the cat under his arm. “Of course.”
“Wait, a word of advice from an old man. Only the very lucky get a second chance in love. Do you feel yourself lucky, Felix Hastings?”
“I believe so,” he answered honestly.
“You should work on that as quick as you can.” He waved Felix away and then held his hand to his brow.
The man looked bone tired, and Felix swiftly found Morgan and sent him to attend the duke. At the stairs he came face-to-face with Sally’s betrothed—a man he actively tried to avoid.
Lord Ellicott raised his snooty nose in the air as he glanced at the cat in his arms. “Cannot abide cats,” Ellicott pronounced as they passed each other.
Felix paused to watch him go as Hercules began to purr loudly. He scratched the beast under the chin. “Now that is one more thing in my favor. She has to love me all the more for appreciating you.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Sally let herself into Felix’s dark bedchamber and shut the door, finding herself alone. He had not come up as yet, but she was too nervous to wait until the house had gone to bed entirely before seeking him out. Something had changed. She could feel it in the air, and although he had not said anything, she feared she knew what was coming.
He was leaving.
She prowled the room, stroking Felix’s possessions, then took up his uniform to hold to her face.
“Do you still do that? Touch everything?” Felix asked as he joined her after closing the door quietly. Even in the dark his smile was dazzling, and deep in her heart she wished he would always look at her that way.
“Occasionally,” she whispered.
“I have something to say to you, and I fear you will not be happy,” Felix told her, frowning.
She took a breath. “You are leaving.”
“Yes, tomorrow.”
She had expected it, but the news made her sad anyway. “At dawn?”
“Yes. I have sent word to Jennings to expect me, and we will make our way back to London and to the admiralty together.”
“Not running straight to your ship? I am impressed.”
“I promised to help Jennings regain a command, and then I will go.”
“Of course.” Her eyes stung. “You are an excellent friend.”
“Am I still a terrible man?”
She met his gaze, pained by his questions. Part of her still wanted to scream that his ship ranked first in his responsibilities, but the other reminded her she was still marrying another man. There were only a few days left to change her mind. “No,” she whispered. “I do not think that anymore.”
He kissed the top of her head and began to strip off his evening attire. “Your father finally talked to me today. Freddie’s ship is missing. He should have returned months ago, and your father asked me to sail off to find him.”
Sally enjoyed the view of Felix removing his clothes. There was comfort in being alone with him at a time like this. Contentment and familiarity. “Father has said nothing. I do not believe mother knows, or she would have mentioned it at dinner.”
“Your father does not want to tell her, or does not know how to.”
She was not surprised after all she had learned of her parents’ marriage this week. “She will not take it well, but since the admiralty is keen to rescue Freddie, she will feel a little better.”
“His request has nothing to do with the admiralty. It is your father who requests I abandon the fight against the French and search for Fredrick alone.”
She swallowed. Her father had asked him to abandon his duty. It was shocking to her that he would. “And will you?”
“No. I serve our country, not your father’s personal agenda. He has only a vague notion of where Freddie might have found port. For all I know, the ship might have been taken by the French or been blown quite a distance off course. I have faith that Freddie will find his own way back to English shores, and so does your grandfather.”
She faced him. “What does my grandfather have to do with what you do?”
“Everything.” He studied her in return, his expression set in determination.
She took a step toward him. “How did you keep your command six years ago when our engagement ended?”
“Rutherford cleared my way.” He took a chair. “Sally, I have wanted to captain a ship since I was a lad, well before I joined the navy. I never hid my ambition from you. Asking you to marry me was not planned, it was not a scheme, but of course it did speed up my promotion. The admiral could not bear to have his eldest daughter married to a mere lieutenant no matter how much she professed to care for him at the time, so he took steps to arrange my advancement when a ship suddenly became available.”
Sally had loved Felix. She had begged her father to approve the match, and he had been furious with her for breaking the engagement. “And what of your arrangement with my grandfather? My mother has a theory that my grandfather extorted a share of your prize bounty in return for keeping the promotion. Is she close to the mark?”
“Yes.” He pulled her into his lap and held her. “We made an agreement that Rutherford would take half my portion after I became captain, and he will continue to do so as long as I remain captain of the Selfridge. Nothing your father schemes now can change that arrangement.”
Her breath caught as Hastings nibbled her neck, and she could not hold on to her anger. “It all seems so reasonable now, but I felt betrayed.”
“I desired you then, Sally,” he whispered. “I desire you still. I am hopelessly, completely smitten. I am the same man.”
She turned into his arms and kissed him fiercely to stop him sounding so sensible.
He held her close, tight against his body, and explored the contours of her back with his big hands. Sally shuddered as he gripped her bottom, and she threaded her fingers through his hair as they made love with their mouths and tongue.
When they drew back, he was smiling. “Dear God, I missed being able to do that.” He lifted his attention to her hair and unwound the ribbon around it.
“Surely there
were other women,” she whispered
He dropped the ribbon to the tabletop. “No one else. The first night I met you, you wore a coronet of stars in your hair. Since that day, I have only had to look up to feel you near me. To see the path ahead was not always easy, but I never forgot that the place I called home was you.”
She could not believe it. “You waited.”
“Of course I waited. There never could be anyone else for me but you.”
The last of the moorings gave way, and her hair tumbled down her back. “Now you are the way I remember you.” He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. “Red lips, slightly mussed hair.”
She blushed, recalling what came after. Their fight and heartbreak was etched in her soul. “And then I asked you a question.”
“That I answered honestly.” He pushed her hair aside and popped the first button of her gown.
“And I ended our engagement.”
“You ended our engagement.” He kissed her shoulder, softly at first, and then peppered more toward the base of her ear. “My wonderful, darling Sally. Still salty too.”
She laughed and gave him a little shove. “You suggest I dared exert myself to run to your room tonight.”
“Well, if you have not yet, then you certainly will before tonight is through.” He grinned widely. “I plan to have you any way you will let me.”
Her breath left her in a rush. “Felix!”
“I might have been faithful, Sally, but I never stopped conjuring up new ways to make you mine.”
Sally touched his face. “I thought of you; every day I worried where you were. I dreamed of you in my bed again. When you never came back, I found pleasure elsewhere.”
His eyes widened.
“I was not faithful to you,” she confessed.
He glanced away, his jaw clenching. “But you said you and Ellicott had not…”
“Another man.” She shivered under the weight of his shocked expression. “I needed to feel again, but it was not right with him.”
Felix kissed her temple without saying anything against her decisions. She was grateful because she regretted that one night of rash judgement enough as it was.
“I missed you, Felix,” she whispered. “I missed you so badly.”
He nodded and held her in his arms without saying anything about what she had done.
Her relief in his acceptance was staggering. She leaned her head against his chest and allowed him to finish loosening her gown. She stood and stepped from it and then dragged him to his feet. She pushed his waistcoat aside, revealing the man of her dreams and nights to come. He was so broad in the chest that he overwhelmed her a little at times, though she hastened to unbutton his shirt so she might run her fingers over his skin. When she unbuttoned the fall of his trousers, he pulled his shirt over his head and threw it aside.
Sally ran her hands over his hard chest possessively, relearning his body. She pressed her face to his warmth and inhaled the scent of him. How long had she waited to be reminded that desire began with a first glance and grew until all she could do is feel?
All her life.
“You make a man weak at the knees, my love,” he whispered as he caressed her breast.
“You are still standing.”
“Not for long.” He picked her up easily and carried her to his bed where he gently laid her down before he finished undressing himself. He climbed in beside her, naked, and cuddled her against his long body. He seemed in no hurry to strip off her remaining clothes.
Sally, however, was not so complacent. They only had tonight before he might be lost to her. She turned her back to him. “Unlace me.”
“Gladly.” He fiddled with the strings, and she sighed as the garment went sailing across the room to land with a thud against the windowsill. He eased her chemise from beneath her bottom and slowly crept it up to her waist, taking his time. “I always loved this moment.”
“So you already said. I could get used to it too.”
He laughed and threw the chemise away to join the corset by the window.
He cupped her breasts from behind, and she tossed her head back against his chest and moaned at the pleasure of his touch. He tugged her so she reclined fully against him, his hands shaping her breasts, his fingers teasing her nipples.
It was heaven in his arms. This was the only place she had truly belonged and wanted to stay.
But pressing against her back, hard and hot, was the part of him she had longed for most.
She turned in his arms and drew him down on top of her. She was impatient and needy, and Felix did not seem to mind that about her.
He parted her thighs and settled his hips between them. Sally tugged him up until the head of his erection rested against her sex. She met his gaze and tears filled her eyes at the emotions on his face. “Lover, come into me.”
“As you command, sweetheart.”
He eased into her body slowly, a little at a time, and when he was fully seated Sally was panting and climbing out of her skin. It felt right with him. It always had.
He eased one of her thighs over his and slid deeper. When he withdrew, she held her breath, counting the seconds until his next thrust. He built her arousal slowly, a touch at her breast, her hip, the brush of his thumb across her lower lip between kisses that drove her wild. Sally clutched him, spellbound by her feelings, captive of his careful loving.
When she came, sobbing as her body clenched around his erection, he held her so tight she knew she would never give him up no matter the obstacle. She quieted and eventually he drew back.
His eyes were soft and full of love. “I will always love you, Sally, even if you marry that fortune hunter of an earl. I just want you to be happy.”
“I am happy now. Like this. With you.”
“And if tonight is all we have left?”
She pressed her fingers to his lips. “It will be time well spent. I love you, Felix. You are the only man I could love.”
He drove into her hard. “Say that again.”
“I love you, I love you,” she chanted to his every thrust. “Come home and marry me. Don’t make me wait forever.”
He groaned and spilled his seed inside her body. His arms tightened like a vise around her body as he held nothing back. “I will. I will be back. Never ever doubt it. You have my word. I will marry you and give you everything you could ever want.”
All she needed though was his arms about her and his love.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Sally braced herself and then swept into her grandfather’s study. As usual, he was seated behind his large desk, but for a change he was gazing pensively out the window at the Newberry Park gardens. He seemed to be brooding, and that was not likely to make her request any easier to confess.
“Good afternoon, my dear,” he murmured after casting a quick glance in her direction. “I thought today of all days you would be too busy for me.”
“I would never be too busy for you. I was up early and made my rounds as usual.”
“That seems to be going around lately. Even young Felix could not suppress his habit and rose early, called for his carriage, and left after a few pretty words and a promise to visit again.” He heaved a sigh. “I like him. I will miss his presence at breakfast.”
Sally fought to hide her smile. Without even trying to, Felix had won her rather particular grandfather over completely. That boded well for what she wanted to do and the reasons for her decision. “Grandfather, I need your help.”
His eyes lit up with kindness. “In what, child? Another stitch on your wedding gown?”
“No.” She clenched her fingers together tightly at her waist. “I would like to not marry Lord Ellicott next week. ”
His gaze narrowed. “Or on any other day, I suspect?”
Sally bowed her head, then quickly nodded. She had known as soon as she had woken this morning that marrying Ellicott was a decision she would regret her entire life. Marriage was forever. Love was forever too. And she alre
ady loved Felix so much that the idea of never being with him again was breaking her heart. Marrying Ellicott would have declared that love meant nothing to her, when in truth it was everything that mattered. “I know this must be a shock to you.”
“A broken engagement at this late a date will cause Ellicott, and the family, a great deal of embarrassment. We were lucky last time that the arrangement with the captain was a private affair and easily hushed up.” His gaze pierced hers. “Give me a good reason.”
“Well.” She squirmed. “When it comes right down to it, I just do not like him enough to spend the rest of my life with him.”
“You do not like him enough?” The duke stood with a groan. “My dear child, you were the one who accepted Ellicott’s proposal. No one forced you to the match. You stood before your father and mother in this very room and assured them he was truly what you wanted.”
“I know. I did feel I could marry him at the time. After all, not all marriages start with love,” she protested.
Her grandfather ambled around his great desk, supported by his two canes. “Your mother will likely have palpitations at the scandal a broken engagement will cause. There will be no end of wailing on her part.”
“Mama is always emotional, but I believe she will understand my reasons for changing my mind.”
Her grandfather stopped at her side. “She will be pleased you are not going away, and frankly ’twill be a relief to all of us not to be robbed of your company.”
“I will marry one day, Grandfather.”
“Oh, so there is to be a gentleman in your future?” He clucked his tongue. “Another relief. You are much too spirited in nature to be a spinster all your life. He did not deserve you.”
She darted a glance at her grandfather, rather shocked by his confession. “I beg your pardon.”
“Ellicott is a splendid fellow on the surface—witty, powerful, an excellent horseman on the hunt. But…”
He left the rest unsaid for so long that she had to ask. “But?”
“He has not the faintest sense of family, of commitment. I have come to feel he will only make you miserable too.” The duke gathered his canes in one hand and with the other reached out to cup her cheek. “He does not understand you at all.”
