“I’ll be fine now,” she said to James as he was closing the door and barring it. “You don’t have to stay with me.”
“I have no other pressing engagements right now.” He grinned and she tried to grin back with a matching nonchalance. Hot moisture burned her eyelids but she willed it away. Here was neither the time nor the place to shed tears.
“I won’t escape.”
“I know. You gave me your word and I trust you.”
That caught her attention. “You do?”
“Of course I do. Would I have tied myself to you otherwise?”
“I’m not really sure of anything anymore.”
“You’re not sure of me?”
When she didn’t answer straight away, he gestured for her to turn so he could work on the buttons of her gown.
“We have a connection, you and I.” His fingers worked but he was in no hurry as he lowered his voice and spoke only to her and not at her. “Since the moment I kidnapped you we have been on this path together. It may have felt as though we were at odds but we always wanted the same things. Freedom and family.”
“And now we’ve both lost our freedom.”
“I don’t see it that way. I’m hurt that you do.”
When the gown sagged, she turned back to face him. His eyes were so full of regret she nearly took back her words. “How did you think it was ever going to work?”
“Why did you say the words if you were never fully committed?”
Wrenching her gaze from his, she paced to the tub and lost herself in her reflection on the surface. Her hair was a mess, her face dirty and her appearance more that of a beggar woman than a lady. “I suppose I got carried away. You made it all sound so easy.”
“What changed then? Darius? What he said about pushing us together?”
When she didn’t reply he came to stand at her back and she longed to melt into him. Just this last time to share something beautiful before he too realized their folly and walked away.
“Nothing has changed for me since this morning, Daniella.”
Everything had changed for her. Before this week she’d discarded notions of love in favour of sailing the seas. She’d never considered herself wife material and therefore never considered having a husband. When no offers for her hand reached her brother, she’d steeled her resolve to be independent. To lean on her crew and her family rather than chase fantasies and emotion.
The promise she’d made to be his wife hadn’t precisely been forced from her mouth but the proximity of his body and his own promise of pleasure urged her to make concessions. Thinking back, she’d had a condition of her own but when he kissed her all rational thought fled her mind.
Her only truly happy moments from the past days had been in his arms. Nothing else could touch her while he was—not even the prospect of a life on her beloved ship. It was the part she would miss the most when they separated.
She didn’t want to think or speak anymore. Sliding the gown down her arms, she stepped from the fabric. Without breaking eye contact, she loosened the ties of her breeches and pushed them all the way down and off her feet.
His intake of breath was his only movement. It was almost as though he dared not move lest the moment slip away.
“Say something,” she urged him. His stillness was a worry.
“You’re beautiful.”
A reluctant smile tilted her lips. “I’m a mess.”
“A beautiful mess.” He stepped towards her. She didn’t stop him.
Their lips met but this time there was no rush, no urgency or frenzied coupling. Daniella pressed her body to his and with a groan he wrapped his arms around her back and held her close.
As she’d desperately hoped it would, the world around her ceased to exist. It was just her and James and the exquisite pull he managed to provoke with a mere kiss. Though this was no mere kiss. Right down to her toes she felt his passion, his promise, his heart and soul. If only they were enough.
When his fingers skated up her hips beneath the chemise, she shivered. That fluttering feeling once again took over her insides and when she breathed deep, she inhaled his masculine scent mingled with the smell of fresh water and cut wood.
“Touch me,” she whispered as he feathered kisses over her jaw and down her neck.
“Not yet, love.” When he pulled back, he gripped her hem and raised it over her head, leaving her completely naked and thoroughly dishevelled. “You’ll catch your death.”
“I’m not cold at all.”
His gaze dropped to her pebbled nipples and Daniella finally found the strength to smile in earnest. There was that hungry look. He’d admitted once that she was his weakness. Perhaps now was the time to take advantage?
“I’ll just check the temperature is right.”
He gulped. She smiled again and gave him her back. Bending at the waist, she dipped a hand in the heavenly water, swishing it back and forth. When next she looked over her shoulder, he was almost undressed, only his boots and breeches in his way, his jerky movements frantic.
With a giggle at odds with her earlier melancholy—how did he do that?—she climbed into the water and sank back against the tub, the water up to her shoulders. She sank farther, getting her whole bedraggled head under the surface. If there was a heaven waiting for her, this was it. James loomed over the side of the tub and she sat back up to look at him.
“Move forwards, love.” He used the endearment now as though he might actually mean it.
She did his bidding and he slid behind her, water sloshing over the edges in every direction.
“You’re going to make a mess.”
“Do you care?”
