Lily of the Desert (Silver and Orchids Book 4)

by Shari L. Tapscott

  Cautiously, I drop the bow but keep the arrow in place. “Sir?” He twitches, and I nudge his foot again. “Excuse me, sir!” I repeat, far louder this time.

  Possibly too loudly in fact.

  He leaps up, unfortunately out of the slice of meager light shining in from the other room, and groans.

  “Who are you, and what do you want?” I demand, my heart racing. I realize there’s a chance he’s merely a criminal off the street who broke in for a free night’s rest, and I raise my bow.

  “Ask me a thousand times, and the answer will always be the same,” he says in a husky, sleep-heavy voice that makes my heart sing.

  Overwhelmed and shocked, I drop my bow. It clatters to the marble floor, and then the room is perfectly silent.

  The man steps into the light and strides toward me, a smile growing on his handsome face. “I want you, Lucia.”

  “Avery,” I breathe, not ready to believe it’s him. The captain’s at sea, still on his way to Marlane. There’s no possible way he’s here.

  “Lucia,” he says, his sleepy eyes growing more alert by the second. He lets them roam over me now, and a smirk grows on his lips. “You’re not supposed to be here yet.”

  “Me? You’re supposed to be at sea!”

  He yanks me against his chest, enveloping me in his arms and the rich, spicy scent of his cologne. The fragrance more than anything tells me this isn’t some elaborate dream my brain concocted—my mind couldn’t have constructed that smell so perfectly. I sink against him and wrap my arms around his waist, pulling him as close as possible.

  “I had an epiphany two days after I set sail.”

  “And what was it?” I murmur against his chest—which I just now realize is delightfully bare.

  He pulls me back, laughing when I reluctantly cling to him. Not giving in to me, he makes me meet his eyes. “The Greybrow Serpent was needed in Marlane, true. But my crew is more than capable of making a simple pickup and delivery without me. So I turned the ship around, sailed for Montaview’s coast, and parted ways with my men, putting Gregory in charge and my boatswain at the helm. Wasting no time, I hopped on a Riverboat, sailed up through Eromoore, and entered into Elrija soon after.”

  Akello’s words from earlier in the street run on a constant loop in my head, but instead of filling me with dread as they did when they were spoken, I feel giddy.

  Avery chose me over his ship.

  “How long have you been here?” I ask.

  “A few days.” He raises an eyebrow. “But I didn’t expect you yet. According to the map linked to the tracking spell, you’re still in Eromoore.”

  Ashamed, I look at the floor.

  He places a hand on my chin and tilts it up so I will have no choice but to look at him. “Lose the dagger?”

  “To a harpy.”

  His eyes widen with surprise, but he laughs. It’s the most welcome sound in the world—deep and real and happy.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  Avery shrugs. “Better the dagger than you.”

  I take a deep breath, drinking him in. “You’re here.”

  His smile grows. “I think we’ve established that.”

  “But you really are.”

  “I really am.”

  My eyes drift down until I’m looking at his chest. Feeling euphoric, I brush my lips against his skin. He goes still, probably as startled as I am that I’ve made a move this bold.

  I graze my fingers against his abdomen, brushing them over the hard ridges.

  “Lucia,” he warns, his voice growing husky again.

  “Why are you in my room?” I ask.

  He clears his throat. “It’s my room, actually. I left orders that they were to send you up as soon as you arrived.”

  I hum against his shoulder. “That’s rather scandalous, don’t you think?”

  “I wanted to surprise you. Though I hadn’t planned to be sleeping when you showed up.” He runs the tips of his fingers up my back. “After that, of course, I was going to get you a room of your own.”

  “No hurry.” I brush my hand over the short strands of hair at his neck and meet his eyes. “I’ve missed you, Captain. And if you haven’t noticed, we are quite alone.”

  “Are we?” he teases, but his tone is dark and delectable.

  We’ve always been so careful to conceal our true feelings for fear of rejection, but now that fear is gone. Avery is mine; he loves me.

  And I love him. I have no doubt.

  Yet his muscles are tense with indecision.

  “Kiss me, Avery.” I pull back and meet his light-brown eyes. “I know you’re a gentleman deep down, but right now…” I lean forward and whisper in his ear. “I want the pirate.”

  He growls under his breath and crushes his lips to mine. Elation swirls in my stomach, and I yank him closer. He pulls the pins from my hair, tossing them to the ground without care, and then he runs his hands through the strands, massaging the base of my skull.

  I groan with pleasure and flatten my palms against his chest. It’s a wicked pleasure, something I’ve never indulged in though I’ve seen him shirtless plenty of times at sea.

  Avery nudges me backward, and we bump into the urn. It wobbles from side to side before it finally tips, dumping water and flowers all over the marble floor.

  “Ignore it,” Avery commands, and I’m more than happy to comply.

  His lips are insistent, hungry, and his hands leave a trail of fire wherever they touch me. Somehow—and I can honestly say I have no idea how—we end up on the bed. But before we do something foolish, Avery pulls back.

  I take a deep, ragged breath. He hovers over me, his arms trapping me in, and his muscles quiver with restraint. My corset belt is gone, lost somewhere in the vicinity of the sitting room, and my bodice is halfway up my abdomen.

  “We have to stop,” he says, his voice ragged.

  I shake my head, trying to pull him back. “A few more moments, nothing more. I’ll behave, I swear.”

  “Says the half-dressed girl lying on the bed.” He raises a wicked eyebrow, and I feel my cheeks go hot.

  Playfully pushing him aside, I sit up, yanking my bodice back into place. “All right. We got a bit carried away.”

  He sits next to me, his thigh pressed next to mine, and runs a hand through his disheveled light brown hair. “Shame the ceremony on the island wasn’t binding.”

  He says it like it’s a joke, but there’s truth in his words.

  I look at him from the side of my eye. “What’s the expiration date on that do you think?”

  Wryly, he pushes me back to the bed. This time, it’s a sweet move. He lies beside me, propped up on his arm. “About six months ago.”

  “Yes, a shame,” I repeat his words, turning so I’m facing him.

  Avery runs his hand over my arm, and we fall silent. I close my eyes, enjoying the sensation. There’s still heat between us, but it’s cooled to a bearable simmer. After a few moments, he trails to my neck and idly wraps the chain I wear around his finger.

  I open my eyes, watching him, not daring to breathe.

  When he drops the chain, the pendants it carries fall from my bodice, dropping to the bed. One is the charm I wore to keep from getting ill at sea. Its magic has faded, and now it’s nothing more than a cheap trinket. But it reminded me of the captain, so I continued to wear it in the desert.

  The other is a ring, set with a rare sea fire ruby.

  His eyes fall on the ring, and a smile plays on his lips. “Have you worn it on this chain since we parted?”

  “I have,” I whisper.

  His eyes lock with mine, and he studies me for several moments. “What if we were to do something foolish?”

  I sit up. “Like what?”

  He joins me and then slips to the foot of the bed, kneeling at my feet. With his eyes still on mine, he takes my hands.

  And my heart forgets how to beat.

  “Lucia.”

  “Avery?” I gulp. A little voice yell
s at me to keep calm, to not get my hopes up.

  “I would like to preface this by saying that I was planning to ask you somewhere wildly romantic—likely tropical, perhaps—”

  “Get on with it.”

  He grins. “But I don’t want to spend another night without you. Not one. And there happens to be a charming chapel not two blocks away, complete with a Kalaen bishop…”

  Unable to speak because the blood is rushing through my veins so quickly, I only manage to nod.

  “Lady Lucia Linnon, would you do me the great honor of marrying me…tonight?”

  “Are you serious?” I squeak.

  He bites back a grin and leans forward conspiratorially. “Did you forget your line?”

  And I laugh because it’s Avery. Of course he’s not going to do this right—and why would I want him to?

  I squeeze his hands. “Yes, Captain Greybrow. I will marry you…tonight.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Second Time's the Charm

  “I’m sorry,” the kindly middle-aged man says. “If the girl has no family to give their consent, then I cannot perform the ceremony.”

  Avery stands next to me, arm’s crossed, looking about as agitated as I’ve ever seen him.

  “Does it have to be my father?” I ask after several moments go by. “Or would my brother be all right?”

  The bishop gives me a kind smile. “A brother is fine.”

  The captain flashes me a look, one I can’t quite decipher.

  “We’ll be back.” I’m already dragging Avery from the chapel.

  “Might I remind you that all four of your brothers are back in Reginae?” Avery says.

  I glance at him. “Not all of them.”

  Avery stops me in the street. “I know your families have made your relationship with Sebastian confusing, but he’s not kin.”

  I grasp Avery’s hand. “If he agrees to give me away, are you going to stop him?”

  A smile twitches on his face, and he shakes his head, looking out at the street. “No.”

  “Come on then.”

  We try Sebastian’s room first, and then Adeline’s. They’re still not back.

  “What time is it?” I ask.

  Avery pulls a pocket watch from the inside flap of his jacket. “Half past eight.”

  They should return soon. I can’t imagine either of them staying out late. I slide my back down the wall outside Adeline’s room until I’m sitting with my legs stretched out in front of me. I pat the cold marble on my right. “Have a seat, Captain.”

  Avery joins me, and we wait…and wait.

  And wait.

  My eyes get heavy, and I feel myself drifting. Last time I asked Avery the time, it was fifteen minutes until midnight.

  I wake to a loud cry of surprise and blink several times.

  “Captain Greybrow!” Adeline exclaims. “You’re here!” Then she cocks her head to the side. “But what are you two doing outside my room?”

  Yawning, I pull myself to my feet.

  “I need to speak with Sebastian.” I turn to my business partner—the man I’ve known my entire life. The only person who knows me better than my own family. “Alone.”

  Sebastian’s gaze goes between Avery and me. “Lucia, it’s past midnight. We’ll talk in the morning.”

  “No.” I step in front of him, making him look at me. “Now.”

  He drums his fingers on his crossed arms. “Fine.”

  Leaving Adeline and Avery to make idle small talk in the hall, I take Sebastian to Avery’s room.

  As soon as I open the door, I find Flink fast asleep, crashed out in the middle of the floor, with the empty platter and scraps of food surrounding him. He apparently licked up most of the espresso and cider, but the dredges have made a horrid mess.

  “Oh, Flink,” I say under my breath. I wave Sebastian in. “Never mind that now.”

  Sebastian eyes the suite. “Your room is a bit grander than mine.”

  “Avery’s doing.”

  “Shocking.”

  I pin him with my eyes. “I thought you two were getting along.”

  He shrugs. “Well enough.”

  “Good, because I need you to give me away so I can marry him at the little chapel we passed on the way to the caravanserai.”

  Sebastian’s eye twitches. “Excuse me?”

  “I know what I’m asking of you.” I soften my voice and step forward. “But the bishop said I needed someone from my family to give their consent.”

  “I’m not—”

  “You are,” I say firmly, not giving him a chance to argue. “And don’t you dare say you aren’t.”

  He shakes his head. “What you’re asking…your father will hate me. Your mother will be devastated.”

  “Or she’ll think it’s wildly romantic.”

  Sebastian raises his eyebrows.

  “All right, probably not.” There’s not a romantic bone in my mother’s body. “But Sebastian, I love him. And Avery loves me. And in our line of work, you never know what’s going to happen next. I don’t want to wait.”

  He paces the room, rubbing his neck. “And yet I distinctly remember you saying this would be the easiest mission of them all. Just a quick trip into the desert and then back home. What’s the rush?”

  And it will be an easy expedition—I have no doubt. But still.

  “Sebastian,” I say sternly. “If you care for me at all—if you ever have—you will do this for me.”

  He turns back. “That’s a low blow, Lucia.”

  “But you’ll do it?”

  After staring out the balcony for several moments, he closes the distance between us. “Promise me—swear to me—you have thought this through. That you truly want this.”

  “I have. I do.”

  He lets out a long sigh and looks over my shoulder. Softly, he says, “I don’t know if I can do it.”

  “Do what?”

  “Give you away.” He shakes his head and meets my eyes. “Give you up.”

  I purse my lips to lock in the emotions that swirl in my chest. I understand; I do. We’re a team. We’re Sebastian and Lucia. But once I marry Avery, that will change. As it must.

  I nudge him with my elbow. “You’re not giving me up. You’re making us actual family.”

  And thank goodness, his lips tip in a crooked smile. “Cousins.”

  “Cousins.”

  He takes my hand and squeezes it. “Yes, all right.”

  “Really?” I ask, overcome.

  Sebastian nods, though he still looks like he thinks it’s a bad idea. “Yes, really.”

  “Oh, Sebastian!” I cry as I throw my arms around him.

  The door opens, and Avery and Adeline walk into the room. Adeline looks taken aback, but Avery gives me a wry look. “Either he agreed, or I should be worried.”

  I give Sebastian one more tight squeeze, and then I run for the captain and leap into his arms. “He agreed!”

  ***

  Adeline frets over my dress, but I sit in a happy stupor, content to let her do her work. We’re in her room, which is where I was forced to spend last night.

  Sebastian may have agreed to officially give his consent, but he wasn’t about to let me wake the poor bishop at one in the morning.

  Now it’s almost nine, and I’ve been up for hours. Actually, I’m not sure I slept at all.

  They say a bride is nervous on her wedding day, but I am euphoric.

  I barely register Adeline standing in front of me, frowning.

  “What?” I finally ask.

  “Down or up?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  She lets out a longsuffering huff. “Your hair.”

  “Oh.” I try to look studious as I think it over, but the grin wins. “I don’t care. Do whatever you think is best.”

  “Do whatever you think is best,” Adeline mutters under her breath. She sticks several pins in her mouth as she begins to fuss with the brush. “Your hair has gotten long in
the last year,” she mumbles through the pins.

  “Avery seems to like it.”

  “Let’s leave it down then.” She ends up twisting a few front sections up, working her magic. Finally, she steps back and admires her work. After several long moments, she beams at me. “You look lovely.”

  Then she yanks me up and drags me to the long mirror she had several of the caravanserai attendants bring up.

  I, of course, packed nothing that would double as a wedding gown, so Adeline lent me one of hers. It’s champagne silk, and the skirt is full. At Adeline’s insistence, I wear a farthingale. Today, I barely even notice my lack of air.

  My reflection looks back at me, rosy cheeked and bright eyed. I set a hand on my stomach, trying to quell the butterflies.

  “You’re getting married,” Adeline says.

  I meet her eyes. “To the captain who robbed us and left us stranded in the wildlands.”

  She grins, and her eyes brighten with amusement. “Who would have thought?”

  Before she can answer, there’s a knock at the door.

  “Are you ready, Lucia?” Sebastian calls in.

  Adeline fans herself with her hand, more nervous than I am. “She’s ready.”

  Sebastian’s gaze falls on me as soon as he walks in the room, but he won’t meet my eyes. “Avery’s waiting for you at the chapel. I’m here to escort you there.”

  I run a hand down my skirt, self-conscious. “All right.”

  He doesn’t mention the gown or the purpose for the outing, and by the time we reach the chapel, I’m ready to take him by the shoulders and shake him.

  A woman who introduces herself as the bishop’s wife greets us at the door. She motions Adeline into the chapel, and she escorts Sebastian and me into a small room off to the right. The bishop waits for us there.

  I try very hard not to chew on my thumbnail as he asks Sebastian a variety of questions, such as what it was like to grow up with me in Reginae and about family and so on. Thankfully, he never specifically asks if Sebastian is my flesh and blood brother.

  It’s no surprise that Sebastian breezes through the light inquisition. He knows everything a brother would know, and with detail.