Arabella (37 page)

             
'I know, my love,' Gervase told her.  'I never believed it of you.  Why did you not send for me at once?  Surely you knew I would help you?  Had I known sooner I might have saved you the horror of that terrible journey here.'  His eyes moved over her, seeming to caress her.  'I was so afraid that you might suffer more than you could bear – that you might die.'

             
'Have you not heard that the devil takes care of his own?'  She  looked up at him mischievously.  'As usual I was lucky.  I sold a ring and bought clean clothes – and because of that I was the one picked to look after Susan Baxter's son.  It almost broke my heart when they told me I was not to go with her but to a stranger.  I had fallen in love with her son and I did not know what I would find here.'

             
'But you care for James?'  He looked at her oddly.  'I have seen you with him about the plantation.  It seems to me that you are fond of him.'

             
'I adore him' she said.  'How could it be otherwise?  He looks like you, Gervase.  Who was his mother?'               Gervase threw back his head and laughed and she pouted.  'It is not so very funny to me, though I shall not be jealous of her.  We are together now.'

             
'We have similar colouring and I suppose he could be taken for my own blood,' Gervase said, 'and I've done nothing to abuse that notion.  Indeed, he is mine for I have adopted him legally – but have you not guessed, Bella?'

             
'Guessed what?'  She stared at him and then began to tremble.  What could he mean?  He was looking at her in such a way.  'What should I have guessed?  My child died…'  Her hand crept to her throat as she saw the answer in his eyes.  'Gervase…how can it be?'

             
'Mistress Elizabeth had sold babies before,' Gervase said an angry look in his eyes.  'I knew it and wondered if your child had been sold.  She was reluctant to tell me, but a threat of prison and a hefty bribe got the truth from her.  However, when I tried to find the couple who had taken the babe it was more difficult than I had imagined.  It seems the child was sold on three times before my agents traced him, and we were only just in time.  The new parents were about to leave for America and if they had we should never have found him.'

             
'Is that why you went away on business that last time?'  Her eyes were misted with tears.  'Why did you do it, Gervase – was it only to please me?'

             
'A part of it was to please you, but my own sister's child was given to a couple to bring up by my father – and he died of neglect.  I didn't want that to happen to your son, Bella.'

             
'Oh, Gervase…'  Tears were trickling down her cheeks and she was helpless to stop them.  'Gervase my love…I don't know how to thank you, to tell you what this means to me.'

             
She gazed at him wonderingly.  How she had misjudged him!  Only a very special man would trace the child of a man he had good reason to hate, take that child and adopt him as his own son.  He was a man she could respect, a man she could trust with all her heart, a man she could love for all her life.

             
'You can thank me by becoming my wife, my darling Arabella.'

             
'Your wife?'  She stared at him in surprise.  'But you can't – you can't marry me, Gervase.  You have your position in this new world to think of.  Even if you no longer use your title you are a man others respect and listen to in important matters.  How can you marry a woman who came here in a prison ship?'

             
'I shall marry her because she is the woman I love,' he said and reached out to draw her close to him.  'I shall marry her and hold a grand ball at my new house, and I shall invite all the people I know.  Those who choose may come, the others may stay away.'

             
'But Gervase…' 

He hushed her with a kiss.  'Would you have your son grow up thinking his father would not wed his mother?'

              'Gervase…' she began and he kissed her again, so deeply this time that she melted into his body, feeling the desire ripple through her, making her gasp and arch herself against him.  How could she resist when she wanted him so very much?

             
'You are mine, Bella,' he murmured against her throat as he kissed the soft white flesh at the hollow between her breasts.  'I shall never let you go from me again.'

             
'But Gervase…'

             
And then she could no longer even think of resisting as he took her down to the soft dry grass, and there in the privacy of a clump of scented bushes, made her his own once more.  Their loving was sweet and hungry, driven by the need that had grown in them during the months of their separation, made sweeter still by the knowledge of the love that bound them.

             
'What were you saying, wench?' Gervase said much later as she lay still in his arms, her body curving into his as if it fit by some divine purpose.  'Some nonsense about my standing in the community being lost if I wed you?  I would have you know that I am already considered a leading light in Washington circles by those who hope as I do for an independent nation state for Americans.  My knowledge of English law is perhaps rather more than you might imagine, and I have been told my advice will be invaluable when dealing with the imposition of new and unwelcome taxes.'

             
'They will all know that I am a wicked wench,' she told him, reaching up to stroke his cheek with her fingertips.  'You should marry a good woman, Gervase, of unblemished reputation.  I am sure all your friends would give you the same advice.'

             
'And die of boredom within a sennight,' he said and grinned at her.  'Only you, my love – my wicked, wilful wench, could keep me from straying.  Only you can give me the happiness I have never known. Only you complete me.'

             
'Then I suppose you must have your way,' she said and laughed throatily.  'I have it on good authority that you were stubborn even as a lad and I dare say you will never change.'

             
'Would you want me to?' he asked and laughed as she shook her head.  'Nor I you,' he murmured.  'Nor I you…'

The end