George lay back down and sighed. “Yes. Tellme what you need, Allison. What you need is important to me.”
His words brought tears to her eyes. “I needyou to be patient with me. I-I’m trying.”
“I will then.”
“We need to take this slow.”
“Yes, ma’am. If this is all you want fromme—kisses and a comforting arm around you when you sleep, I can dothat.”
He wasn’t pressuring her for more. The kisshad been unexpected, but he had given her time to say no. Shehadn’t moved, hadn’t said anything because deep down she wanted tobe with him, wanted to know the feel of his lips on hers. Would sheeventually grow comfortable with George? He might not ask her formore, but she wanted to be able to give him more. She wanted anormal relationship for once in her life and that would includeintimacy at some point.
He buried his nose in her hair. “You smelllike soap.”
“I was washing linen earlier.”
“I like the smell of soap, like how soapmakes everything clean.”
But it couldn’t wipe her clean. She was toosoiled, too broken. And she was barren. That was one small blessingof her time with Grier—no children. George would want children, though. He was too young to be saddledwith her burdens. He might not realize it, but he deservedbetter.
Chapter 11
GEORGE RUBBED HIS forehead. Allison remindedhim of a skittish animal. Would one wrong move frighten her away?Each coy smile and slight touch kindled the fire in his belly. Itwas torture not to hold her in his arms and ravish her mouth,slowly working his way down the sensitive skin on her neck to herbosom. He longed to caress every inch of her body. The fact hecouldn’t shower her with affection increased his desire to do so,driving him mad with need.
He made sure the rest of the crew knewAllison was his girl whether she knew it yet or not. He probablyshouldn’t have kissed her last night. She had stiffened anduncertainty played in her eyes for a long time afterward. He’dtried his best to resist the temptation and had slipped. His firsttaste of her lips divine, betterthan he had imagined.
Oh, Lord, she had moaned for him. He wantedher to moan again. She had enjoyed the kiss even though it hadfrightened her. He felt the steel running through her muscles andthe wild pounding of her heart. Yet, she hadn’t told him to stop.Perhaps part of her did want to be with him. The way she respondedto him made his cock swell. Hopefully, she hadn’t noticed. He could restrain his actions, but his cock hada mind of its own. And it wanted to be inside her something fierce.He wanted to form a close connection with her. Would she ever lethim?
After their intimate moment and briefconversation, she hadn’t said aword. Would she ever open up to him? She wasn’t ready to give himher body, but it would be nice to know what ran through her mind.He had learned to read Emma, but Allison was nothing like Emma. Heremained completely in the dark. He shook his head. Allison’sactions didn’t make any sense.
TheQueen Beeslowly headed to shore and docked to take on more passengers andcargo. George clomped down the ramp with the other roustabouts andpicked up a sack of grain with each hand, flinging them over hisshoulders. Bent slightly, heheaded back on board. He breathed hard, his breath lingering in theair. He returned to pick up more. Grunting, he hoisted the sacksonto his shoulders.
Mr. Seever kept an eye on them all. He wasn’tthreatening, but the steamboat had a schedule to maintain. The coldweather encouraged the men to work faster in winter. Keeping busykept the chill away, except when sweat soaked through his clothesand then the wind added to his misery.
George set the sacks down and glanced at theboiler deck trying to spy Allison. She must be inside in theparlor, out of the cold surrounded by plush carpet, chandeliers,and burgundy and gold papered walls. The proper place for alady.
And despite whatever darkness haunted herpast, George knew she was a lady.
A gentle push from behind sent him stumblingforward. He looked over his shoulder to see Mr. Seever standingnext to him.
“You’re daydreaming, boy,” he saidgood-naturedly. “Thought I’d help you get moving.”
Heat rushed into George’s cheeks. “Yes, sir.Sorry.” George picked up his pace, grabbing the last two sacks ofgrain.
After the grain was loaded the men rolledbarrels of cured fish onto the boat. Each stop seemed to takeforever. The pile of cargo disappeared slowly like snow at the topof a mountain. George groaned, slumping down on the deck, his backresting against a stack of crates. His shoulders ached.
Mr. Seever looked down his nose at him.“You’re not focused today, George.”
“Sorry, sir. I’ll do better.”
“Might not be a good idea having your girl onthe boat.”
Oh no. I need this job and she did,too. His chest tightened. “No, sir. It’s fine.”
“All right.” Mr. Seever didn’t leave,continuing to stare at him. “You’ve been keeping up with work untiltoday. Did something happen?”
George looked away sheepishly. He didn’t wantto confide in Mr. Seever, but he sensed the man wouldn’t let thisdrop. And he had been asked earlier to share his troubles with him.“Well, I’m confused.”
“Ah,” Mr. Seever said, folding his armsacross his chest. “I think all men are confused when it comes towomen.”
George lowered his voice to a whisper. Hedidn’t want any of the other crew to hear. Or worse, word to getback to Allison. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, he saw someof the other roustabouts watching them. Likely they thought he wasgetting chewed out.
“One minute Allison acts like she hasfeelings for me and the next minute she is as cold as ice.”
“Hmmm.”
That was all he was going to say? Not even aword. What kind of help was that? George got to his feet.
“Settle down, boy,” Mr. Seever said, “You’renot even giving me time to think.”
“I thought you were an expert.”
Mr. Seever laughed. “I’ve dealt with manywomen in my time, but that doesn’t make me an expert.”
George clenched his teeth and waited for his words ofwisdom.
“Love is a scary
