Wordlessly, he wrapped his arm around her and opened the door, looking out to make sure that no one was in the corridor outside then hurrying her forward to her own cabin door. When they were inside, she turned, twisting the lock. The sharp snap seemed to echo through his senses.
‘I’m at your mercy now.’ Hugo could feel that his own body was ready for hers, and if it let him down, then he knew she’d be kind. Nell was always kind.
‘And I’m at yours...’ She began to undo the knot in the sash at her waist, leaving the last twist in place, as an obvious invitation for him to finish the job. Hugo stepped forward, taking her in his arms and pulling the sash open.
It seemed unlikely that Nell could be prey to the same madness that he was, but he felt it. Her whole body was trembling, moving against his. When he pulled the wrap from her shoulders, finding a narrow lace strap underneath, she let out a little gasp and he heard the same need as he felt.
Moonlight slanted across the bed. He wanted so badly to be a part of that moonlight, making love to her in its cool gleam. No sooner had the thought occurred to him than he felt Nell’s hand, bunched in his shirt, pulling him towards the bed.
His heartbeat seemed to ramp up, leaving him almost breathless. Suddenly she was still.
‘It’s okay, Hugo.’ She laid her hand on his chest. ‘It’s not going to let you down.’
It was Nell who wouldn’t let him down. Always knowing, always understanding. He kissed her, feeling the thump of his heart against hers. And suddenly it didn’t feel like a precursor of doom. It felt good.
‘Your heart and mine, Nell. Beating together.’
‘That means we’re both alive.’ She smiled up at him.
‘I feel more alive than I have for a long time...’
Hugo sat down on the bed, spreading his legs and pulling her close, kissing the wide strip of flesh between the open fronts of her robe. He felt her hands on his shoulders, and heard her cry out when he ran his tongue lightly across her stomach. He could see now that the robe had concealed ivory lace underwear, and he felt another jolt of longing. More time, more pleasure involved in taking that off.
She sank down onto his knee, and he held her close, kissing her and gently working her free of the wrap. It slid down, draping around his leg.
‘You are so beautiful, Nell.’ He heard his own voice, thick with desire.
‘You are, too. I want you to make love to me, Hugo.’ She was working on the last few buttons of his shirt, pulling it from his shoulders.
A stab of self-doubt cut through the desire. It was impossible that she couldn’t have felt it, he was hers already in as many ways as he could think of. She ran her fingers lightly over the scar on his chest, and he shivered.
‘It’ll be okay.’ She laid her hand on the side of his face, kissing him on the lips. ‘Believe me, Hugo.’
Suddenly he did. He let her pull his shirt off, and as she ran her fingers across his chest, he gave himself up to her caresses.
They were both so aroused already that even the smallest gesture seemed to provoke a reaction. When Hugo brushed his fingers across the lace that covered her breasts, Nell felt a sharp tug of desire. When she laid her hand on his belt buckle, she felt him tremble, as if just the thought, just the implication of an action, was as potent as the deed itself.
Undressing each other slowly was an expression of a shared need, which demanded that they take each moment and make it last. The leisurely rocking motion of the yacht seemed to follow their pace, as unstoppable as the movement of the ocean.
And Hugo was all hers. No more fears, no looking over his shoulder. He took pleasure just as wholeheartedly as he gave it, smiling up at her when she found herself on top of him, astride his hips.
‘Doesn’t anyone ever call you Penelope?’
‘No.’ On his lips, her given name seemed to sparkle. ‘You like it?’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘I like hearing you say it.’ This was something that she could share, just with him.
He chuckled, pulling her down for a kiss. ‘Penelope.’
He said it again, gasping it when she lowered her body onto his, taking him inside her. When he gripped her hips, pushing her further towards her own climax, he may have said it. By that time, Nell was a little beyond thought. But he did say it again as she clung to him, turning her over to explore every angle of their lovemaking.
He was her heart. Even that thought didn’t seem out of place tonight, because there was no tomorrow.
* * *
‘I loved the lace...’ They were sprawled together on the bed, whispering the quiet minutes of the night away. ‘Is that what you usually wear?’
Nell grinned. She’d hoped he would like it. ‘It’s my body armour.’
‘Really? Can’t say it worked too well in that regard.’ Hugo kissed the top of her head.
‘I noticed. But a good friend always used to say that if you’re feeling a little under-confident, nice underwear helps.’
‘You’ve been feeling under-confident?’
‘I’m not as used to standing up in front of a lot of people as you are. Or having people notice me on the street, or seeing my face on the front pages of the paper.’
He laughed quietly. ‘Okay. So you were wearing lace when you first met me?’
‘No, if you remember I was fresh off the plane. I was dressed for comfort.’
‘So when we talked, that first time at the palace?’
‘Yes.’
He sighed. ‘At the luncheon? When you bid for me?’
‘Of course. What part of that day did you think wasn’t a challenge?’
‘If I’d known...’ His hand went to his forehead, as if he’d just realised an irrefutable truth. ‘Actually, if I’d known I wouldn’t have been able to get a word out. Probably best that I didn’t.’
‘I don’t imagine you as ever being lost for words, Hugo.’
He rolled over, covering her body with his. Kissing her, with more than a hint of the desire that had filled them both tonight. ‘Maybe you should consider the idea. You leave me speechless.’
* * *
Hugo felt whole. Wholly happy, more than wholly satisfied, and...just whole. He hadn’t felt that way since he’d first felt the signs that his heart might not be working as well as it should. Nell had somehow seen something different in him, and had never shown any doubt about his ability to recover and lead the life that Hugo had thought he’d lost.
That had been his mistake. He’d wanted to put his illness and his operation behind him so badly that he’d tried to rush it. Hugo saw a lot of things differently now. And one thing that he saw with complete certainty was that tonight wasn’t going to be enough.
Nell was sleeping now and Hugo fought the temptation to watch her sleep. If he wanted to keep everything that he’d found, he needed to be strong.
* * *
Opening her eyes came with a sudden burst of nausea. The whole cabin seemed to be pitching and rolling, taking her stomach with it. Nell closed her eyes, and then opened them again quickly when the feeling that she might be about to die washed over her.
She wasn’t about to die. She was just going to be—No. Not now. Please, not now...
Her stomach wasn’t listening. Hand over her mouth, Nell rolled off the bed, half staggering and half crawling to the bathroom. The door banged shut behind her, and the whole world lurched.
‘Nell...?’
She heard Hugo’s voice, but even that couldn’t stop her from being sick. Trembling, she called back to him.
‘I’m okay. Go away...’ Naked and being sick in the bathroom wasn’t the best way to wake a lover. The lock on the bathroom door seemed about a mile away and rocking dangerously.
And he ignored her, dammit. She felt him wrap a towelling robe around her trembling shoulders.
&nbs
p; ‘All right. Try to relax.’
How could she? Humiliation wasn’t conducive to relaxation. ‘Go away!’
‘Be quiet.’ His voice was firm, and Nell reckoned that begging wasn’t an option. Another bout of sickness chased any further thoughts away.
‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry...’ She moaned the words, wishing that she could be somewhere else. Anywhere else.
‘It’s okay. You’re just seasick.’
‘Uh. Just...?’
‘You’ll feel better in a minute.’
No, she wouldn’t. She felt so ill that she was almost glad that Hugo was there. In between wanting him to go away and somehow forgetting that this had ever happened.
‘Is that everything?’
Maybe. Nell wasn’t sure, but she felt cold now, instead of burning hot. Hugo seemed to think so because he was gently guiding her to her feet.
‘Come...’
‘No!’ At least she’d made it to the bathroom. Now she was here, she wasn’t taking any chances. Hugo reached for the large, well-stocked bathroom cabinet. It seemed that in addition to condoms, which she’d found in there earlier in the evening and made use of later, the cabinet was also prepared for seasickness. Hugo took out a cardboard dish and gave it to her, collecting a bottle of ginger tablets.
He walked her through to the cabin, sitting her down on the bed. She felt a little better. Just well enough for embarrassment to take a better hold around her heart.
‘The sea’s a little choppier now than it was earlier.’
‘Yeah? Thought it was just me.’ Nell groaned as another wave of nausea took hold, but this time, she managed to quell it.
‘No, it’s unusually rough for this harbour. Try looking at the coastline, that might help orientate you a bit.’
Nell looked at the lights, still shining around the bay. They seemed a long way away at the moment, and enticingly still. ‘Can’t we...dock or something?’
‘I’m afraid not. There’s nowhere to dock.’
‘Oh-h-h...!’ Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. This was turning into a nightmare.
He supported her gently through to his cabin, saying that it was further back and so the roll of the ship would be less. If it was, Nell couldn’t feel it. He let her sip water, sitting with her as she looked through the porthole, trying to tell her brain which way they were moving before her stomach reacted to it. Gave her ginger tablets to chew, but they just made her sick again.
‘Drugs, Hugo...’
‘Yes. I think so, too. Do you have any allergies?’
‘No... I need the drugs...’ Surely he wasn’t going to make her go through the preliminary questions. But he did, and Nell responded automatically to his calm, gentle tone, trying to distance herself from what was happening.
He was good at this. Even the injection was accomplished with the minimum of indignity.
‘That’s going to work pretty quickly now.’
‘Yeah... Quickly...’ Thinking was suddenly like wading through treacle. All Nell could feel was Hugo’s arms around her and the sudden feeling of drowsiness.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SHE WOKE TO half light. A slight breeze was playing through the cabin, and the sun must be shining outside the closed curtains. Nell’s first thought was that she didn’t feel sick any more.
Her second thought was for Hugo. He was sitting quietly in the corner of the cabin, looking the way a lover should in the morning. Freshly showered, not yet shaved, wearing a pair of shorts and a polo shirt. She wondered if he had fresh coffee somewhere and decided her stomach wasn’t quite up to that.
‘I’m so embarrassed.’
He didn’t even pretend to shrug it off. ‘Want me to show you my scar? We can feel embarrassed together.’
In an odd way, it was the nicest thing he could have said. Saying it didn’t matter would have been ridiculous. Sharing the way he felt was oddly comforting.
‘Your pacemaker isn’t as messy as being seasick.’
He shrugged. ‘You have excellent aim, which must be entirely intuitive, since you clearly weren’t up to thinking about it.’
Nell smiled. ‘Glad to hear it.’
‘Feeling better now?’
‘Yes, much. If I’d known, I’d have taken something before I came on board.’
‘I should have mentioned it. But then we doctors can be trusted to look after our own health so well.’ He quirked his lips down, to give the obvious lie to the statement.
‘Don’t we just.’
She almost wanted him to come back to bed. Actually, she did want him to, but she wasn’t going to ask, not after last night. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. It made the transition, between lovers and friends, a little easier. Something that might be laughed about even, when the sting of embarrassment had lost its bite.
We slept together, then I got seasick and he had to give me an injection. Yes, right there...
‘Can you face something to eat? Toast, maybe?’
That sounded like a good idea. Something to get her back on her feet and put this behind her.
‘I’d love some.’ Nell was still wearing the robe that Hugo had wrapped her in last night. She pulled back the bedcovers, finding that standing up was hardly even a challenge.
‘Stay here. I’ll go and get a tray.’ He rose, stopping to curl his arm around her shoulder to give her a hug. Hugo was clearly pretty good at this morning-after we’re still friends, aren’t we? thing. She felt him kiss the top of her head, and then he turned and walked out of the cabin.
* * *
By lunchtime, Nell felt well enough to eat some more, and then take another trip to the bridge, so that Captain Masson could demonstrate the complexities of getting back into the marina without hitting anything. She said her goodbyes, and the motor launch took them back to land, where Hugo’s car was waiting for them.
Something had happened last night. Something outside the obvious.
It wasn’t just the amazing sex, or the look in Hugo’s green eyes when he’d given himself up to her. He’d met her embarrassment with his own shame, and somehow that had created an understanding. Acceptance in the face of what each of them was most afraid to show.
They could be friends now. They must be friends, because anything less would be a tragedy. As they walked towards the front door of his house, and Hugo turned the key in the lock, this seemed like a new beginning. One that would see them both succeed in the dream that Nell had so recently begun to share. The clinic.
They left their bags in the hall for later, and walked through to the kitchen. Hugo opened the fridge and took a can of ginger beer out, and Nell laughed.
‘No, thanks. I think I can manage without it. Would you like a cup of tea?’
‘Love one.’ He was suddenly still. The man who had moved through today with the ease of a practised diplomat was suddenly unsure of himself.
‘Nell...?’
‘Yes?’
‘Last night. I...’
She could handle this. Nell took the can from his hand, putting it down on the countertop. He looked at it for a moment and then his gaze moved to her face.
‘I had the very best night. And then the very worst. I’m glad you were there for the best part, and sorry you had to be for the worst.’
‘I’m not sorry...’ he started.
She laid her hand lightly on his chest, and he fell silent. ‘I’m very grateful you were there to look after me. That’s the advantage of sleeping with a doctor. And, like you say, what happens at sea stays at sea. We have a clinic to build.’
He nodded. ‘And you don’t feel you can work with me and sleep with me? I can understand that, if that’s what you’re saying.’
At some point, she’d become a different person from the one who had been taken in by Martin, and then bullied by him. Nell wasn’t q
uite sure when that had happened.
‘I’m think I’m still working that one out.’
‘Then...are you somewhere that might allow a bit of flexibility? On the working together and sleeping together thing?’
It was as if someone had opened a door, letting sunlight into the room. All the knowledge of chemical reactions in the brain didn’t make it any less a work of magic.
‘What kind of flexibility?’ The sudden desire to be wooed flared in her chest, making Nell’s heart beat a little faster.
That smile of his was a very good opening salvo. The way he stepped a little closer, not quite touching her, made Nell’s head begin to reel.
‘I want to touch you again. I know I can’t keep you for ever, but it doesn’t make it any the less sweet that you’re here now.’
Nell reached up, brushing her fingertips against his cheek. ‘I want to touch you, too.’
He reached for her, pulling her close. When he kissed her, she could feel all the tension buzzing between them. Last night hadn’t even begun to sate it; instead, it had only made it grow.
‘Upstairs.’ He whispered the word, but it still held all the promise of a command.
‘Yes. Upstairs.’
It was odd. Before they’d been sleeping together, no one had doubted their devotion to one another. The papers had used the official photographs taken to celebrate their engagement and painted a rosy picture of a couple who were completely in love. But now...
Hugo was laughing on the phone with his mother as he walked her from the car to the front door. He walked into the kitchen, pulling a carton of juice from the fridge, and Nell fetched two glasses.
‘Yes, I’ll give her your love... Love you, too.’ Hugo had seemed more openly affectionate with his mother in the last few weeks, and he’d even taken to chatting with his father on the phone.
‘What was that all about?’ Nell picked up her glass, taking a sip from it.
‘Apparently we’re cooling off.’
‘Really?’ Nell raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t noticed anything of the sort. The last two weeks had been all heat.
From Doctor to Princess? Page 15
