Malia Martin (5 page)

Lady Farnsworth turned a wide smile upon James as the Widow Leland ran back into her cottage as fast as her squat legs would take her, and all of his thoughts just flitted right out of his head.

That smile must have gotten Lady Farnsworth anything she wanted as a child, as a wife, as well. She had sweet little white teeth that made one want to explore them with one’s tongue.

“Well, that was lovely,” she said airily, and held out her arm for James to help her up. He cupped his fingers under her dainty elbow, took in a deep, lavender-scented breath of her, and helped her to her seat.

Perhaps part of her allure was the fact that she seemed a bit off kilter. One moment she acted nervous and flighty, the next she took charge like a flint-eyed admiral.

James boosted himself up to sit next to the mystifying Lady Farnsworth. He glanced at her, and realized that he really could not do that anymore. She was chewing at her bottom lip, and it nearly made him run them off the road. He was certainly not acting like himself.

Perhaps he had been drugged.

James closed his eyes for a moment, shook his head, and tried to regain his composure. He could remember waking up that very morning at the inn where he had slept, putting on his breeches and coat, staring at himself in the mirror. What had happened to that stalwart focused captain of only a few hours ago?

He had never in his life been so out of control of a situation. And he had led men into battle, for the love of God.

Poor, dear, Captain Ashley. Prudence glanced at the man over her teacup. She could feel the energy that exuded from him; it seemed to bounce off the walls. He was going mad with inactivity.

It was very bad of her to do this to him. “Do go on, Mrs. Redding,” Pru urged the woman sitting across from her when that woman deigned to take a breath.

“Oh, of course, I intend to, Lady Farnsworth, for I was much horrified at the turn of events after Paul, the butcher’s son, tried to cheat me out of a full quarter pound of lamb,” and she was off again.

Poor Captain Ashley.

He shifted in his seat, his gaze roving the room. And then his gray eyes caught her watching him. For a moment, he just stared, like no one had ever stared at her before in her life. A tremor raced along her spine, and heat suffused her body as if the temperature in the room had just risen a good twenty degrees.

The reaction stunned her, and frightened her, for she had never felt anything like it before. She blinked just as Captain Ashley jerked his head so that they were no longer in each other’s line of vision. Pru’s teacup clanked against the saucer as she placed it quickly on the little table at her side.

This attraction business was rather a hard thing to get used to.

Captain Ashley stood suddenly, and she jumped. Leslie did not seem to notice, for her litany continued nonstop. Ah, Leslie Redding was good at this. The captain prowled the room, his presence so commanding it was hard to believe that Leslie did not even glance at him.

He stopped before a window, pulling aside the drapes with a large brown hand. She was sure that she had never noticed a man’s hands before. Captain Ashley’s hands made her feel very light-headed, his
hands
, for goodness sake.

“Is that the Station House?” he asked suddenly, interrupting Leslie, and causing Pru to blink.

“Excuse me, Mrs. Redding,” he said quickly. “I did not mean to interrupt. I was just wondering if that is the Station House, there”—he pointed with one of his long, masculine fingers—“on the cliff.”

“Why, yes, yes it is,” Leslie answered, her troubled gaze swerving to intercept Pru’s.

“You ladies wouldn’t mind, would you, if I walked over there?” He had already started for the door, so it didn’t seem he was going to wait for their answer. “I will probably be back before you’re finished, Lady Farnsworth.” And he was gone.

Pru’s shoulders slumped as she let out a long sigh.

“This is going to be dreadfully difficult,” Leslie said, staring at the door through which the captain had just left.

“We will handle it.”

“Well, of course, there is that.” Leslie turned a worried look on Pru. “But I was actually referring to this, this … thing between the two of you.”

Pru buried her face in her hands. “It is obvious, then?”

“Quite.”

Pru looked at her friend through her fingers. “As you know, Leslie, I have never been in this situation before. And, God knows, I would much rather it happen with someone else. Is there a potion I could take? A remedy, perhaps?” If anyone knew of a potion or remedy for such a malady it would be Leslie Redding.

“Oh, if only there were.” Leslie sighed, pushing back a strand of dull brown hair laced with gray that had fallen out of the coil at her neck. “I most certainly would have taken it long ago.”

Pru went quickly to sit next to her friend. She draped an arm around Leslie’s ample shoulders. “Well, at the very least, I must push this … thing with the captain from my thoughts. I really must keep my mind on business.”

“And you can, Pru, I know you can. You are the strongest woman I have ever known.” She turned and hugged Pru. Prudence loved to be the recipient of one of Leslie’s embraces; the woman was soft and always smelled of baking bread.

“I am just a bit sad, though,” Leslie said, “that you cannot act upon this attraction to the captain. He is very much attracted to you, dear. I could sense it in the air. And it would be so good for you to be loved.”

Pru pushed away. “What a silly thing to say, really! I am loved.”

Leslie smiled and winked. “Ah, but to be loved in the way the captain would love you is something every woman should experience.”

“You mean …”

Leslie waggled her brows. “I mean that every woman should have a lover like the captain somewhere in her life.”

Taking the captain as a lover, the very thought made Pru dizzy. “It will happen again,” she said without much conviction, “with someone else.” Of course, she had lived thirty-one years before it had happened at all.

“At least I know now what the attraction part feels like,” Pru said with a bit more excitement. “Perhaps now that I’ve felt attraction, I will be able to feel it more easily with someone else?” Not a lot of conviction rang through that statement. Pru sighed.

Leslie shrugged, but there was not a lot of hope in her gaze.

“You can feel it for more than one person, that much I know, at least,” Pru said urgently. “I mean, look at you …” She stopped mid-sentence, completely mortified with herself.

Leslie just smiled halfheartedly.

“Oh, dear, Leslie, I am sorry.”

Leslie waved her hand. “Don’t worry your pretty head over me. Patrick, my long-lost love, worshiped me enough to make up for my current heartache.” She stood quickly. “And, anyway, we should not worry about such things now.” She went to squint out the window. “You should go after him, Pru. The thought of him in the excise station gives me the willies.”

“Oh, Pimpton and Lyle are probably at Harker’s anyway. He will find an empty Station House and nothing more. But I shall take my leave and meet him there, anyway.” Pru stood. “I am sorry, and do hope you don’t take offense that I told the captain you were one of the poor. But, of course, we
have
no poor in Gravesly.”

“Thanks to you.”

“Oh really, Leslie, I hardly deserve …”

“Of course you do.” She bustled forward and helped Pru on with her cloak. “But what of tonight? The captain could not have chosen a worse day for his arrival.”

Pru stopped for a moment. “Yes, ’tis a smugglers’ moon.”

“The schooner is sure to come into harbor tonight.”

Pru closed her eyes. “I guess I shall think of something.”

“Wait!” Leslie Redding turned on her heel and ran into the kitchen, returning almost instantly. “Here.” She thrust a jar of what looked like dust at Pru. “Put a pinch of this in his tea, and he’ll sleep through till morning, I promise.”

Pru stared at the jar. “Oh, goodness, you want me to drug him? What if I kill him?”

“A pinch’ll do him, no more, and if you’re careful, no harm will be done, Pru.” Leslie shook her head. “I’m afraid it’s necessary. If the boys don’t get that schooner unloaded tonight, it’ll be bad for us.”

Pru took the jar from her friend. “Pray for us,” she said as she walked out the door.

“Don’t you go out with them, Pru, not tonight.”

Pru just waved her hand and swung herself into the wagon. She stowed the jar of sleeping dust carefully beneath the seat since she had forgotten to bring her reticule, and slapped the reins against her horse’s back.

Her heart thumped against her ribs as if she had just run at least a mile. She had always dreamed of an exciting life. In those dull days when she was living with her elderly parents, she had always wondered what it would be like to be a heroine in one of the novels she kept hidden beneath her mattress.

She surely had adventure now. But she suddenly wished for a dull, boring life as she set off to drug the captain.

J
ames squinted through the eyeglass at the horizon. He saw nothing, but that didn’t mean there was nothing out there. A noise made him swing around, and there in the circle of the eyeglass were Lady Farnsworth’s kissable lips. James blinked and lowered the implement.

Lady Farnsworth was riding up in front of the Station House. As James continued to watch her through the window, she pulled the horse to a stop and sat for a moment. Finally, with a visible sigh, Lady Farnsworth hooked the reins around the brake and jumped from the wagon.

James pushed the telescoping eyeglass together and set it on the table, took one last look at the deserted Station House, and went to meet Lady Farnsworth at the door. The last thing he needed now was to be alone with the woman in a room with two unmade beds at the ready.

He was through the door before Lady Farnsworth had even mounted the first step.

“Oh, Captain Ashley,” she said quickly. “Are you finished here, then?”

He stared down at her for a moment. A crisp breeze rose from the ocean, tugging loose strands of the lady’s golden hair. One bit settled just at the corner of her delectable mouth, and James had a most unwanted urge to reach out and smooth it away.

And then he would definitely wish to place his thumb where the errant strand of hair had been, perhaps even bend down and brush his lips against her skin. God, to move his mouth and actually kiss her would probably be a wondrous experience. He had never in his life seen a mouth more made for kissing, among other things.

“The officers are not in residence,” he answered harshly, and descended the stairs, keeping his hand on the railing opposite the one against which Lady Farnsworth leaned. He hesitated for a moment, but then his gentlemanly breeding demanded that he offer his arm.

Lady Farnsworth blinked for a moment at his proffered elbow. James held his breath and very nearly winced when she finally laid her fingertips lightly on his sleeve, for he could feel her touch right down to his groin. For the love of God, when had he turned into such a randy goat?

He would give his fortune to have Lady Farnsworth turn into the doddering old widow he had thought she would be.

“The men would be at Harker’s Inn most probably,” Lady Farnsworth said, as he handed her into the cart.

“Ah,” was all James could manage to say, as he had just seen a flash of leg. Her legs actually rivaled her mouth in beauty. As soon as possible, James extracted himself from all contact with Lady Farnsworth and walked as slowly as he could around the back of the wagon.

He chanted as he went: focus, focus, focus. And when he finally climbed up to sit next to Lady Farnsworth, he had begun to add numbers in his head. “I’ll go to Harker’s then. You may leave me there, Lady Farnsworth, I’m sure I can find my way ho … back to Chesley House.”

Or, perhaps he would just sleep at Harker’s. In fact, James decided, he really ought to make sure that he did not spend much time in Lady Farnsworth’s company. He would keep late hours searching the beaches, and then sleep most of the day away at Harker’s. He, of course, could not snub the lady’s generosity, and would have to spend a few nights having supper with her, but he could certainly control his lust for a few hours at supper.