It wasn’t warm.
He stripped quickly, and joined her between the sheets, leaving the candle on the bedside table burning.
He shivered as the cold sheets touched his skin. Relaxed again when Emily wriggled and settled, all warm, silken, and blatantly female, against him. Gathering her close, he turned to face her. “I can’t remember England being this cold.”
“It isn’t often.” Draping her arms over his shoulders, she slid her hands into his hair, fingers riffling as beneath the covers she fitted herself to him, her curves cradling his heavier bones and harder frame. “But after India, this is doubtless a shock to your system.”
His system was heating up quite nicely.
He looked into her eyes. For a long moment he drank in the assurance in the mossy hazel, the quiet confidence, the calm anticipation with which she regarded him.
Her lips were lightly, gently, curved.
Slowly he lowered his head and covered them with his.
The flames rose at their calling, steady and sure. More experienced now, there was less urgency, less immediate desperation—more time to savor each moment, to string out each inexorable step on the path to completion.
Knowing they would reach it, knowing that passion, satisfaction, and the ultimate satiation would be theirs, that ecstasy was assured no matter what route they took to reach it.
No matter how long, how tortuous, and drawn out that route might be.
This time, they took a longer road. He kept the pace slow, deliberate, intent.
Focused.
Emily surrendered to the insistent drumbeat, the measured tattoo driving each heavy caress. Wonder bloomed as, from beneath the fringe of her lashes, she watched his face as he paid homage to her breasts. Glancing up, he saw her watching, briefly met her eyes, then, still moving so slowly her nerves tightened, taut with anticipation, he lowered his head, and possessed.
Thoroughly, with a devotion to detail that ripped her wits away, that sent her senses spinning.
Every little touch seared like a brand. Fingers, mouth, lips, teeth, and tongue, he used them all in concert, playing, orchestrating, until her body sang, until passion and desire rose up in sweet symphony and buoyed her on their tide.
And swept her away into the heated moment, flooded her veins, flushed her skin.
She was eager and aching, filled with fiery longing when he finally parted her thighs, settled heavily between, and filled her.
Head back, she caught her breath, then sighed. Reached with her whole body, with her arms, her legs, her all, reached for him and wrapped him in her welcome.
Held him there as, head bowed, his ragged breath a song by her ear, he moved on her and in her, the long planes of his back flexing powerfully as he thrust repeatedly, giving them both what they wanted.
What they needed.
Even as his body strove for release, strove to pleasure hers and claim the ultimate prize, some part of Gareth’s mind watched and wondered—was filled with wonder, with a form of silent awe.
Things had changed since they’d left Marseilles, since at her insistence they’d begun sharing a bed every night.
Every night, the pleasure, the assurance, the wonder, grew. Intensified. Became measurably stronger, infinitely more addictive.
The simple act that before had always seemed so straightforward, so momentary and unaffecting, was now so much more. This…was heady, intoxicating. As he thrust deeper into her heated body and felt her clutch, felt her clamp and hold him, felt her arms tight about him, her legs clasping his flanks, her body cradling his…it felt as if she were feeding a part of his soul he hadn’t even known existed, let alone was hungry.
Yet he was hungry for this—not just the physical pleasure and the aftermath of bliss, but the connection, the togetherness, the blessed release of having someone that close, of having someone…who was his.
The reins slithered from his grasp. As they both, he and she, spiraled out of control, as the demands of their striving bodies overwhelmed their minds and took control of their senses, he raised his head, found her lips and kissed her—claimed her, honored her, thanked her.
And let go.
Gave himself to her and took her in return.
And no longer knew where one ended and the other began.
The storm took them, wracked them, shattered their senses, left their bodies boneless, floating on passion’s sea.
Left them melded, fused, joined at the heart.
Welded at the soul.
No longer alone. No longer separate.
The notions circled his mind as he drifted back to earth, to the warmth of their bed, to the haven of her arms.
Dreams made real.
She was that to him, and he would never let her go.
They left Abbeville in the dark before dawn. The cold was intense; frost lay heavy on the ground. Their breaths plumed as they bustled in the stable yard, rushing in organized chaos through the flickering shadows cast by the inn’s flares.
They were away before even a glimmer lightened the eastern horizon. Heading north at a cracking pace, they remained alert, on guard, yet Gareth felt certain they would meet with no resistance.
Sure enough, they reached Boulogne-sur-Mer without incident or delay. Courtesy of their early start, it was mid-afternoon when they rattled into the streets of the bustling town. This time, however, they did not stop in the town center.
As they passed the town hall and headed on down a hill, Emily looked inquiringly at Gareth.
“We need an inn close to the docks.” He leaned forward and looked out of the window. “The Juneaux say they know the area around there.”
The further they went, the more traffic there was. The carriages slowed to a crawl as they negotiated the streets around the marketplace, then continued along a fair-sized street until they reached yet another square. The Juneau cousins halted the carriages along one side.
The instant he opened the carriage door, then stepped down to the cobbles, the sights, sounds, and smells of the sea assaulted Gareth’s senses. It hadn’t been particularly windy above, but here the wind gusted, salty and tangy, damp with sea spray, slapping his face and tugging his hair.
Emily paused in the carriage doorway, looking out. “That’s the Channel out there, isn’t it?”
Gareth nodded. Beyond the quays and the harbor basin Napoleon had excavated in prepartion for the invasion of England that he never launched, out beyond the protective arms of the breakwaters and their lighthouses, lay a seething mass of water, waves churning a bilious gray green beneath a leaden sky.
A few gulls bravely wheeled below slate-colored clouds scudding before the wind. Behind them hung the denser, darker roiling mass of an oncoming storm.
That louring, threatening mass assured Gareth that his worst fears had come true; they’d be trapped for days. Looking at the cauldron the Channel had become, he confirmed that not a single ship had ventured out.
One glance at Emily’s face as she stepped down to the ground told him he didn’t need to explain the situation to her.
He turned as Gustav Juneau clambered down from his perch to join them.
“There is an auberge we know—this way.” Gustav pointed with his whip to a narrow street leading away from the square. “It is close to the quay, and the people who run it know us.” He glanced at Gareth. “But come and see.”
Gathering Watson, and with Emily on his arm, leaving the others with Pierre Juneau to watch over the carriages, Gareth walked beside Gustav deeper into the dockside quarter.
The auberge Gustav led them to proved perfect for their needs, not least because its guestrooms were all presently empty. Gareth immediately negotiated to hire the whole of the upper floor. In addition, the auberge was within easy reach of the docks, with a direct route to the main quay, and, situated as it was, its common room was always full of sailors.
The owner and his wife, the Perrots, were delighted to accommodate them. “This weather!” Monsieur Perrot gest
iculated. “It is very bad for business.”
“True,” Gareth said, “but before you welcome us, there’s something you should know.”
At his insistence, the Perrots sat down with him, Emily, and Gustav at a table in one corner of the common room As he had in Marseilles, he commenced their tale. And as had happened in Marseilles, Emily—this time aided by Gustav—took over.
The Perrots were understandably horrified, but Emily won their sympathy, while Gustav whipped up their nationalistic fervor, until Perrot slapped the table and declared, “You and your party must come to us. We will aid you in this—and our company”—he gestured to the crowded room—“will be happy to assist in foiling this villain.”
Madame Perrot nodded, a martial light in her eye. “He and his heathens will not be able to set this inn alight—it is built of good sound stone.”
Another of its many attributes. Despite his ongoing concern, Gareth knew a moment’s relief. He couldn’t have wished for a better billet, especially given they would, it seemed, be spending several days there.
Emily and Madame went upstairs to survey the rooms. Gustav, after a word with Perrot, stumped out to look at the stables. Gareth and Perrot reached agreement on the charge. Gareth paid half then and there, the other half to be paid on the morning of their departure. As to when that might be…
Appealed to, Perrot pursed his lips, shook his head. “Three days? It may be more. If you go down to the quay later this afternoon, I can tell you who to ask.”
Smothering his frustration, Gareth inclined his head. “Thank you.” He looked across the common room as Emily returned down the stairs. “We’ll go and fetch the rest of our party.”
They used the rest of the afternoon to settle in. At Gareth’s suggestion and Emily’s insistence, Pierre and Gustav would remain with them for the night, then start back on their long journey home in the morning.
After checking with Perrot, apparently a connection of a connection of the Juneaux, after lunch, Pierre and Gustav headed for the warehouses to see if there was any merchant with goods he wanted to send south.
Shortly after, armed with detailed directions, Gareth set out with Mooktu, Bister, and Jimmy to consult with the local weatherman, an old sailor whom the locals relied on to read the skies, the winds, and the waves.
When they reached the main quay, Jimmy’s eyes grew wide. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many fishing boats, not all at once. Not even at Marseilles.”
“I’ve heard this is the biggest fishing port in France,” Gareth said.
Mooktu nodded toward the neatly sculpted basin in which the fleet bobbed, as protected as they might be from the raging wind. “That is well thought out—a safe harbor.”
“Indeed.” Gareth hoped that would prove true for their party, too.
They found the old sailor.
What he told them left them grim.
“Four days!” Bister trudged alongside Gareth as they returned to the auberge.
There was nothing to say. The old man, his hearing all but gone yet his sight as sharp as ever, had stated categorically that the weather would worsen before it got better, that although the worst of the sleet would be gone by tomorrow, the wind would blow from the wrong quarter for the next three days.
On the fourth day, the weather would turn fair. They would, the old sailor had assured them, be able to set sail then—but not before.
As they neared the auberge, Mooktu studied it, stated, “It is as well that we have such solidly built walls behind which to wait.”
There was nothing to say to that either. Every one of them understood that for the next three days they would essentially be trapped. Fixed in one place. The cultists would soon know where they were. And then…they could expect the might of the Black Cobra to be unleashed against them.
That evening, before they sat down to their dinner—served early so the Perrots and their sons and daughters would be free to deal with the evening trade—Gareth and Emily spoke again with their hosts, restressing the likelihood of an attack.
“There’s no chance,” Gareth warned, “that they’ll leave us alone. It might not be tonight, it might not be tomorrow, but it’s an absolute certainty that a major attack will come.”
He was starting to understand why the French and English had over the centuries so often warred; the French, it seemed, were as enamored of a “good fight”—meaning one where they could indulge in the name of justice—as any Englishman.
The Perrots were unquestionably eager to meet the challenge.
“I will speak with our friends this very evening,” Perrot declared. “They are trapped by this weather, too, and will be glad of the chance for action.”
Unsure just what help might be coming his way, Gareth nevertheless gratefully inclined his head. “We will be happy to have whatever assistance your patrons might offer.”
The news spread. Gradually at first, then with increasing momentum. Every hale and hearty soul who crossed the Perrots’ threshold that night was regaled with the story. The version Gareth overheard when he fronted the bar to replenish their ale mugs was richly embroidered, dramatically, even passionately delivered, yet was essentially nothing more than the truth communicated in fine, histrionic French.
When he returned to their corner table, he found Emily shifted to the side, chatting animatedly to two older women.
Watson had drifted further down the room, and had been captured by a group of swarthy sailors who, Gareth suspected, were interrogating him as to the enemy’s colors.
Gareth set down the refilled mugs before Mooktu and Mullins, and was about to resume his seat when Jimmy appeared by his elbow.
“If you please, Major Hamilton, there’s some men over there who’d like a word.”
Raising his head, Gareth looked in the direction Jimmy indicated, and saw a group of four, all clearly mariners, seated about a table at the back of the room. One, a captain by his cap, saw him looking, and raised his mug in a salute.
Gareth looked at Jimmy. “Where’s Bister?”
Jimmy nodded down the room. “He’s over by the door. His lot speak English well enough to get by.”
Gareth nodded. “Why don’t you go and help him?”
Jimmy eagerly headed off. Picking up his mug, with a murmured word to Mooktu and Mullins, Gareth headed deeper into the room.
Later, he was glad he had. The group of four were all captains, and all volunteeered those of their crews they could spare to help defend the inn against the “heathens.” More important, however, one—the captain who’d saluted him—commanded one of the larger trawlers.
“Once the weather clears, if you wish it, I will take you to Dover. My brother-in-law has wine barrels to deliver there, so I will be going there in any case. My ship is large enough to take your group—there are nine of you, yes?”
Gareth nodded. “I must warn you that, although the cult has little experience of fighting at sea, it’s possible they may attempt to attack any ship with us on board.”
“Pfft!” The captain made a gesture signifying what he thought of the cult’s chances.
“They might,” Gareth persisted, “hire mercenaries—other Frenchmen who are more competent on the waves—to attack your vessel.”
The captain grinned. “No Frenchman—not for miles around—would attempt to come against Jean-Claude Lavalle.”
Gareth glanced at the others. They, too, were grinning. One slung an arm around Lavalle’s shoulders. “Sadly, he is right,” the other captain said. “You are not of your navy, but they would know his name. Lavalle is an old seadog”—he looked at Lavalle with affection—“one none of us dares challenge, even now he is grown gray.”
Lavalle humphed, but smiled.
Gareth couldn’t help but do the same.
By the time he climbed the stairs, very much later than in recent times, Gareth was prey to conflicting feelings. A certain mellowness induced by the readily offered cameraderie and the Perrots’ fine ale butted agains
t the heightened tension, the tightly strung sense of being on full alert that, despite the conviviality of the evening, hadn’t waned in the least.
Although the Perrots’ strapping sons had offered to stand guard overnight, Gareth had gently declined, pointing out that the men of his party would more readily recognize any cultist, and had been drilled in how to react. So, as usual, Mooktu was presently on guard in the upstairs corridor, seated by the head of the stairs, from where he could see the entire common room, all the way to the front door. Gareth exchanged a smile and nod with him as he went past. Mooktu would be relieved by Bister, who would in turn be relieved by Gareth, and Mullins would stand the early-morning watch. Watson, meanwhile, had a small room by the rear stairs, and was by all accounts a very light sleeper.
The sight of Mooktu refocused Gareth on the challenge he would face the next day. Entering the inn’s main bedchamber, he absentmindedly closed the door, mentally juggling his options for managing the ragtag army he had, courtesy of that evening, apparently acquired.
“What is it?”
The query snapped him back to the here and now. To Emily, propped on one arm, one sweetly turned shoulder showing bare above the covers, her expression a medley of interest and demand.
Even as he strolled to the bed, his gaze caught by the way the candlelight flowed over the perfect silk of her exposed shoulder, he realized she expected to be told, that she expected him to share. To include her and, if she volunteered one, to listen to her opinion.
For a man like him—one who’d commanded troops for a decade—to discuss such matters with a female, let alone seek her opinion…
Halting by the bed, he smiled, leaned down, and kissed her.
Long, deep, lingeringly.
Eventually he pulled back, sat on the edge of the bed to take off his boots.
And told her all.