what was to come next. Violet's face puckered into tears.
Tessa stepped forward. 'Jonah, 'tis all right. Vicious words cannot do much harm.'
'You're wrong, but I will not argue.' He took her hand, his touch reassuring.
Her heart soared, and the warmth in her chest deepened. Her affection for Jonah grew steadily brighter with each breath and with every beat of her heart.
Chapter Eleven
'Andy, do not stare at Anya.' Tessa halted behind Andy's chair at the table and whispered low, so the slender young woman heating wash water at the hearth could not hear. 'She is uncertain enough about a new situation, so it would be best for her not to have a man drooling from his chin every time she walks by.'
'I do not drool!' Andy snapped his jaw shut, teeth clacking.
Jonah could see more denial on his brother's face, but the young man held it back, still afraid enough of Tessa. 'Andy, I saw a drop drip off your chin. My advice is to swallow now and then.'
'Aye, 'tis advice you should heed.' Thomas struggled not to laugh as he stood from the table. 'Tessa, is Father awake?'
'I just left him and he's sleeping. Fitfully. Mayhap he would rest easier with one of his sons at his side.' Her gaze landed on Jonah.
He felt the uncomfortable accusation. 'I will go, Thomas. Stay and keep an eye on Andy.' He lowered his voice. 'I would hate to have that poor girl slip in a puddle of drool.'
'Jonah, 'tis not funny. I have not teased you about drooling after your wife.' Andy stood, hands balled tight.
He laughed. 'Aye, we can drool together. Sit down and ask her for a cup of tea.'
'I had best act as chaperone,' Thomas observed quietly. 'Tessa, you could have chosen an ugly old woman. There would be less complications.'
'She was the one I liked.' Tessa smiled at Thomas as she swept on by, a beautiful smile that Jonah suspected until now, only he had seen.
Jonah watched surprise mark Thomas' face. One dark brow quirked. His Tessa was beautiful. Fatigue bruised the delicate skin beneath her eyes, but the years of hardship and strain had vanished, replaced by a beauty that was more than skin deep.
He watched as she poured steaming water into a basin, her movements efficient and swift, but graceful, too. Her dark hair tumbled over her shoulder as she spoke low to the new indentured servant, a young woman, still practically a girl, without family, who had, he suspected by the sorrow in her dark eyes, been sold to the ship's captain somewhere along the way, mayhap illegally. It happened often enough.
He did not question his wife's choice. Mayhap she saw something he did not in the plain, pale-faced girl who would not look up and meet anyone's gaze. Anya worked hard, already he could see proof of that, and the meal she had cooked so that Tessa could remain with Father was some of the best food he'd had in many years.
Tessa led the way up the stairs. He could not lift his gaze from the sway of her rump beneath her dark skirts. His groin still ached with the need they'd built up early this morning. He wanted her more than air to breathe.
'Thank you for insisting I needed help around here. 'Twas thoughtful of you, for I've always been the one doing all the work alone. 'Twill be good to have someone to share it with.'
His conscience twinged. He had bought the servant so Tessa could devote more time to Father. But he was glad, she was pleased. When she twisted around to smile at him, her eyes glittered with happiness, unveiled and bright. 'Twas the same way she'd looked when he'd prodded her into choosing several lengths of new fabric.
'I never thanked you for what you did today.'
'For what? Pushing you up against the bedchamber wall and working my way beneath your gown?' Teasing was easier than facing the emotions beneath.
'You're an incorrigible man. I was referring to the way you handled Charity. How you stood up to her. No one has ever done that for me. Ever.'
'I only spoke the truth, Tessa.' He fought the tug of deeper emotions, of ways he had not let himself feel for so long. 'I never had my eye set on Violet Bradford. I'd have run screaming all the way to Boston rather than wed a cold-hearted chit like her.'
A small, satisfied smile touched her mouth, a smile he wanted to kiss until she melted against him. 'Thomas will watch over Father tonight. Mayhap we can head to bed a little early.'
'Nay, I need to keep watch on Samuel.' She used Father's proper name with quiet affection, as gentle as dawn. 'He appears to be doing a bit better, but I'm leery. I know in my heart I need to watch carefully for any sign of the fever returning.'
Half aroused already, he gritted his teeth against the building desire for her expanding in his breeches. He'd been thinking of little else all day, of stripping her in his bed and feasting on the sweetness of her breasts, of listening to the growing urgency in her moans, of her restless body rising up to mate with his.
But Father was the reason why he'd married her in the first place. So the old man would have the care he deserved in these last days of his life.
He sighed, resigned to a night without passion. There would be time enough for making love. Tessa strode down the corridor and into Father's room, her skirts swishing, and beneath them, the tantalizing sway of her hips and thighs.
The old man looked up from his pillows, and laughter crinkled in knowledgeable eyes. 'You look like a hungry wolf, son. Don't suppose 'tis something you can tell your father about?'
'Nay, and you well know it.'
Jonah watched Tessa set the basin on the night table, her movements lithe and graceful. The brush of her fingers to the water's steaming surface reminded him of her feather-light touch across his chest. The twist of her mouth into a smile made him taste again the heat of her kisses. The flicker of her gaze to his reminded him of their joining, when she stared up at him from between heavily lidded eyes.
'I left you sleeping.' She settled down at the bedside, her face tender.
'Aye, I awakened to find my angel of mercy had left me.'
'I needed more water. I could fetch you some broth.'
'Nay. I have a craving for real food and you'll not let me have it.' Father's hand, strong and straight even with age, caught Tessa's. 'It did me good to see you and my boy married. To think he harbored a fondness for you all these years. I well remember him as a little schoolboy racing home many afternoons complaining of his muddy breeches and blaming sweet little you.'
'I shoved him, all right.' She laughed. 'Trust me, he deserved it.'
'Little boys always do.' He winked, a weak smile coming to light his face. How his eyes twinkled. 'Now my son is giving you a different kind of tumble, and he pleases you, judging by the color in your cheeks.'
' 'Tis only because of the steam from the boiling water.'
'Say what you will, but an old man can recognize these things.' Father sighed, his smile weak and pale, but lingering.
'You look better.' Jonah circled the bed to draw another chair to the edge of the mattress. 'You had us worried for a while there.'
'I cannot deny it. I fear my time is near.' Father sighed, a sadness plucking at the papery wrinkles at his eyes. 'I'm well contented to see you sensibly married. Tessa, I think that foul tea is bewitching me.'
' 'Tis possible. I said a spell while steeping it.' A soft humor twinkled in her compassionate eyes. 'Now go to sleep, and stop fighting it. Trust me, you'll feel better come morning.'
'Aye, or I'll be dead. Either way, 'twill be a change.' Chuckling, then coughing, Father relaxed into the pillows. 'Make yourself useful and read to me, boy.'
'I already have the book in hand.' Jonah leafed through the pages, remembering where he'd left off.
Tessa's gaze snared his. The warm glow of candlelight caressed her face and illuminated the sweet blue of her eyes. And resonated with the hues of her heart-gentle, kind, and infinitely caring.
Not the heart of a sensible old maid after all. He thought of Charity Bradford's cruel words today at the wharf,
