“Do not get used to it, my dear,” he said with a soft laugh. “The perishables will not be around for long. The further we travel, the less sophisticated the meals will become.”
Anna smiled in response, loving every second of having her old Lucas back, polish and all.
“I shall enjoy it while we have it then,” she responded, and enjoy it she did, eating her fill with not a smidgen of embarrassment or nonsensical Society manners that required her to eat as little as possible when in company.
“I see your appetite hasn’t changed,” Lucas quipped when they were both enjoying a second cup of tea.
“I beg your pardon?” she asked, feeling vaguely affronted.
Lucas grinned unrepentantly in response. “You always could eat more than I on our picnics.”
Anna’s answering smile faded as she watched his expression change. He went from gently teasing to bleak and shuttered in an instant.
The mention of their past picnics, when they would both sneak away, Anna having raided the kitchens at Spencer Park for whatever she could get her hands on, was enough to put an end to the camaraderie that was building between them.
She set her teacup down unsteadily on its saucer, feeling confused by the change in him.
He looked as miserable as she felt about their history, which made no sense, given the fact that he’d been the one to leave her.
“Lucas—”
Before she could speak, his expression changed again, and he was smiling, easy and friendly once more.
It was most disconcerting.
“Well, I’m glad to see that Old Frank’s cooking isn’t bad enough to poison you.”
It was his way of changing the subject, and Anna was grateful to him for it. She liked this happy, friendly Lucas a lot more than the brooding one who despised her.
“Old Frank?”
“Our resident cook. I have no idea how old he is, or even if his name is Frank, come to that. But I’ve known him since my navy days. He kept an eye on me when I was a mere lad, helped me and watched over me. He’s getting on in years now, but he can still keep a crew fed.”
Anna smiled.
Lucas was obviously very fond of the man and was returning the favour to Old Frank by taking care of him, as he had taken care of Lucas.
“Will he and the rest of the crew stay in Barbados?” she asked, curious. “Or return to England?”
“Some will stay. Some will sail back. My partner, an American who has been holding down the fort on the island until my arrival, has plans to settle in London and run our business from there. So he will sail back when we arrive. And, of course, our merchant ships need crews all the time. A few of the sailors have homes in Barbados. More of them have homes in England.”
“Don’t they have wives? Children?” she asked, thinking how much she’d hate to be separated from a man she loved for as long as these voyages took. Though, had Peter been a seaman, she would have relished the distance and the time spent apart.
“Some do,” he answered evenly. “Some are even happily married. But for the most part, this life doesn’t lend itself to marital bliss.”
Anna swallowed, unsure why his words were vaguely hurtful.
Is that why he’d left her behind? Because he wanted to sail? She would have waited for him. Married him and kept home in a cottage by the sea, awaiting his return.
But it hadn’t worked out that way. He hadn’t wanted that.
“Well…” she smiled now, pushing those thoughts away “…I’d like to meet Old Frank and the rest of your crew.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Lucas answered. “News of my betrothed being on board has spread like wildfire, as I knew it would. A crew of sailors could give the biddies at Almack’s a run for their money in the gossiping stakes, my dear. And you are quite the on dit.”
“S-so you told them we are engaged?” she asked, her mouth suddenly dry.
“Isn’t that what we agreed?” Lucas asked, watching her closely.
“Y-yes, of course.”
“Are you nervous?”
“Oh, no.” She giggled, sounding ridiculous. She was a terrible actress.
Lucas grinned.
“They won’t bite, Anna. And the sooner you meet them, the sooner you can actually leave this cabin. That is a good thing, is it not?”
Anna wasn’t sure that it was. It was safe in here. Cosy. And Lucas was nice to her.
But, she wouldn’t make herself an inconvenience. And she had promised to do as he asked if he allowed her to stay with him.
So, taking a deep breath, she smiled and nodded her head.
“I’ll leave you to get dressed,” Lucas said, standing and collecting their tray. “And then I’ll be back to get you.”
“All right,” she mumbled.
Lucas turned toward the door.
Before he stepped through, he paused and looked back at her. “Anna?”
“Yes?”
“The fact that you are the Captain’s fiancé will be your best form of protection. Let’s make it believable, shall we?”
Without awaiting an answer, he swept from the room.
Which was just as well, since he’d rendered her entirely speechless.
ONE OF ANNA’S favourite places was the museum in London.
During her marriage to Peter, it had been one of the few places he’d allowed her to go unaccompanied, save for her maid or Evelyn.
She had spent hours gazing into the glass cases, inspecting the contents, learning every detail.
Now, she felt as though she were on the other side of that glass.
After Lucas left, she’d dressed in a hurry, forgoing stays and the other fripperies she usual donned.
She hadn’t had the room for them and wouldn’t have been able to tend to her own dressing with them, in any case.
The sky-blue, scoop-necked gown that she had packed was rather creased, but she shook it out as best she could. It wasn’t as though anyone would care what she looked like. There were no fans here, behind which nasty remarks about her appearance could be whispered.
The sleeves of the dress were long, since she had assumed she would be cold upon the ship.
After hurrying through her morning ablutions with the jug of water that Lucas had brought in with breakfast, she brushed out her hair and plaited it. She tied it with the ribbon she’d had the wherewithal to pack before hurrying into her dress.
She felt rather scandalous, having her hair down her back, not wearing the satins and silks that usually made up a large part of her wardrobe, her feet in sturdy walking boots. But she had done her best, and when Lucas returned with a sharp rap on the door, she felt as put together as possible in the circumstances.
When she called out for him to enter, she was surprised to see Lucas accompanied by another fellow, whose eyes remained fixed on the carpet at her feet.
Lucas’ eyes raked her body before landing on her eyes, and her skin heated at the expression on his face.
“Anna, please allow me to present Mr. Sanderson, who has been my steward for more years than I care to remember. Sanderson, my fiancé, Anna Spencer.”
Anna’s heart did a little flip at the sound of Lucas calling her his fiancé, and she felt so pleased that he’d called her Anna Spencer, not Grant. She wanted no part of her life with Peter interfering in her new life, not even his name.
“Miss Spencer…” the other man stepped forward and issued a perfectly respectable bow “…it is an honour to have you on board. May I offer my felicitations on the announcement of your engagement?”
Anna smiled kindly at the man, liking him already.
He was both shorter and slighter than Lucas, but that was true of nearly every man of her acquaintance, except for Jonathan and Andrew. But he had warm brown eyes and an open, honest face. And he immediately put her at ease.
“Thank you, Mr. Sanderson. I am very pleased to be here. And I do apologise for the inconvenience I am sure my presence has caused you.”
&nbs
p; “No, no, miss. I am delighted to have here, as I am sure the rest of the crew will be.”
“Speaking of which, shall we go and meet them?”
Lucas held an arm out to Anna, and Sanderson bowed once more then scurried from the room, no doubt to warn the crew that she was on her way.
Anna bit her lip to stop from blurting out a request to stay where she was.
It would be fine, she was sure. Lucas would take care of her.
She tucked her hand into the crook of his arm and prepared to go above stairs and meet everyone.
“Anna, you’re not walking the plank,” Lucas teased gently.
Anna laughed. “It might be preferable,” she quipped.
“They will love you,” Lucas assured her with a gentle squeeze of her hand.
“How do you know?” she asked, hating how vulnerable she felt.
“Because…” Lucas removed her hand from his arm but then gripped her upper arms, turning her to face him. “…I have yet to the meet the man who can resist you, Anna. They will be utterly captivated, whether they wish to be or not.”
His words, if they were designed to distract her from her nerves, certainly did their job.
In fact, every single coherent thought flew from her head.
Anna felt her mouth drop open as she gazed into Lucas’ stormy blue eyes, the heat in them enough to set the whole ship aflame.
Lord, but he is handsome. It never ceased to amaze her just how sinfully beautiful one man could look.
Could he really mean it? And did he count himself one of those men? Was she possibly, after all this time, captivating to him?
“Lucas, I—”
Anything she would have said, and Anna wasn’t even sure what that would have been, was silenced as, with a muffled oath, Lucas’ mouth dropped to hers and captured it in a searing, earth-shattering kiss.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
DAMMIT. HE WAS in trouble. Lucas knew it from the second his lips touched hers.
The heat between them was as sudden as it was unstoppable.
Good God, have I ever been as affected by a mere kiss?
He could tell himself that it had all been part of his plan to seduce her and leave her broken-hearted, but he should be honest with himself if no one else.
And the truth was, Anna Spencer was getting under his skin all over again. And he was powerless to stop it.
After a split second of stiffness, Anna had melted against him, her hands moving to wrap around his neck, her mouth opening to allow him entrance.
And he took advantage, his tongue dancing dangerously with her own, his mouth taking every one of her sighs, her moans, and greedily keeping them for his own.
Lucas allowed his hands to roam freely. They smoothed down her back where he discovered that she was wearing little or nothing under that simple, cotton gown, and the thought alone was nearly enough to tip him over the edge.
He pulled her even tighter to him, moulding her soft, supple body against his own.
He knew that his need for her was evident, but he was past caring.
He would take her here and now, without a second to lose and—
“Captain.”
The sound of Sanderson’s voice from down the corridor was like a pail of ice water being splashed over Lucas. He broke the kiss abruptly, pulling away and simultaneously setting Anna at arm’s length.
His breathing was laboured, matched only by her own, and they gazed at each other in silence.
Lucas didn’t know what was going through Anna’s head, but he knew what was going through his own, and what he had in mind didn’t need an audience.
“Captain?”
Sanderson’s voice sounded again, and Lucas bit back the temptation to roar at the man to jump overboard.
It wasn’t Sanderson’s fault that Lucas had less control than a virgin in a brothel.
“We’re coming, Sanderson,” Lucas called as calmly as he could.
Once again, he held out an arm to Anna, who looked, to his consternation, thoroughly kissed. How the hell was he supposed to concentrate on anything when she looked like that? Her eyes were glazed, her mouth plump and rose red, her cheeks flushed.
Heaving a big sigh and dragging his body back under his control, Lucas took Anna’s hand and placed it in the crook of his arm, since she had made no move to do so herself.
In fact, she hadn’t moved at all, save to breathe.
“Shall we?” he asked, pleased at how calm and unaffected he sounded. Only he would know he was anything but.
With a rather dazed nod, Anna allowed him to pull her along and out of the cabin.
THE STIFF SEA breeze that Anna encountered the moment she stood on the deck served to clear her head as nothing else could have.
Lucas had kissed her. No. To call it a mere kiss was to underestimate the effect of it, the power of it. It had been a force of nature. A life-changing event. So much more than an insipid little kiss.
He hadn’t spoken a word of it, and she hadn’t spoken a word at all. Sanderson had yapped away about this problem and that, using sailing terms that were completely alien to her. And she was grateful it was so, for no one could expect her to contribute to such a conversation, and she had quite lost the ability to speak.
Now, however, with the breeze blowing the remnants of her shockingly wanton thoughts from her head, Anna was able to concentrate on what was before her.
And it was daunting to say the least.
A sea of male faces stared at her, some lasciviously, so she stepped closer to Lucas. Some seemed shocked, and most, she was relieved to see, were curious but friendly.
One young man stepped forward with a ready smile and a bow.
“Miss Spencer,” he said, taking her hand as though they were meeting in Almack’s, “it is a great honour to have you on board. Welcome to The Adventurer.”
Anna immediately liked the man. He was handsome, shockingly so. And if she hadn’t been ruined for other men by Lucas Townsend years ago, she would have delighted in this man’s shortly-cropped, blond hair and deep brown eyes.
“I am Steven Bryant,” the man continued now. “First Mate — and friend, I hope — of your fiancé. I look forward to getting to know you and finding out how you caught him.”
The wink and grin that accompanied the outrageous statement put Anna at her ease, and she was able to laugh in response.
“Come, sweetheart…” Lucas frowned at the man, but there was a spark of amusement in his eyes. “…before this wretch starts the interrogation.”
They moved round the ship, Lucas introducing her here and there.
To her delight, they came upon Old Frank, and Anna was happy to see that he was just as she’d imagined: weathered face, work rough hands — one of which she shook warmly — and kind, faded blue eyes.
He stood upright as any younger man on board, however, and she got the distinct impression that he could hold his own amongst any one of them.
“I do apologise for the extra mouth to feed Mr—” She hesitated, not quite knowing what to call him.
“Just Frank, miss,” the man answered in a rough, charming Irish brogue. “And sure, when the mouth is as pretty as the one you possess, ‘tis a pleasure to feed it.”
“No trying to steal my woman, Frank,” Lucas warned.
“Couldn’t if I wanted to, Captain.” The older man laughed. “There’s no mistaking the love between the pair of you.” Frank nodded sagely as though he knew for certain that this was so.
How wrong he was.
Anna wanted to squirm under the scrutiny of the crew. She was nothing but a fraud. And rather than love her, Lucas couldn’t stand her, though he had promised that they would leave past hostilities behind.
Perhaps, with time…
“Anna?”
Lucas’ voice brought her thoughts back to where they should be, and she smiled her apology.
“I was wool-gathering, I’m afraid.” She smiled at Frank again. “But, I do intend to make mysel
f as useful as I can for the duration of this voyage. And so, Frank, if you would allow me to assist you in any capacity, I should be most grateful.”
The older man looked surprised but pleased.
“Well, that’s very kind of you, Miss Spencer,” he said with a wide grin. “It can get mighty lonely down there by myself. Of course, the captain might not approve of his lady getting those hands dirty.”
Anna looked up at Lucas and saw him studying her intently.
“You do not mind, do you?” she asked.
His face cleared. “Of course not. You will do as you please, in any case. So I might as well be happy about it.”
This garnered a laugh from the nearby sailors, and after promising to come and find Frank shortly and insisting that he call her Anna, she allowed Lucas to pull her away and back to the cabin they now shared.
“That was kind of you,” Lucas said as soon as the door was shut behind them.
“What was?” she asked, distracted by the fact that they were once again alone in his quarters and by what had happened the last time they’d been alone in his quarters.
“To offer to assist Old Frank. He’ll be glad of the company.”
Anna frowned at him. “You sound surprised.”
“I am,” he admitted bluntly. “I didn’t think getting your hands dirty assisting a poor sailor is something you would do, least of all voluntarily.”
It hurt.
It shouldn’t but it did.
“Well, perhaps I’m not as bad as you think,” she quipped lightly, trying to cover up the sting of his words.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but a rap on the door interrupted him.
Anna was grateful. No doubt, whatever he said would cut even deeper.
“I have business to attend to,” he said, sounding curiously morose.
Anna merely nodded and watched as he left the room.
She didn’t care what he thought of her. Well, she did. But she shouldn’t.
LUCAS WONDERED FOR the hundredth time if Anna was all right without him there.
Ridiculous.
But no more ridiculous than the uncomfortable feeling he’d been carrying around all afternoon.
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