Happily Ever After (20 page)

“That,”
Kell replied, “you’ll have to ask Jack. It’s just not my place to say, Sophie.
I’m sorry.”

“I
see,” Sophie replied, but she really didn’t see at all. Kell’s loyalty was
unwavering, and commendable, but she wasn’t about to ask Jack MacAuley for
anything at all.

“You
say you found Jack’s name in a letter?” Kell asked, and she could tell by his
tone that he was curious.

Sophie
decided she had nothing to hide from him. She trusted him. She somehow
understood that whatever was said between them would go no further. And she
needed someone to confide in. She decided it wouldn’t hurt to at least tell
Kell the truth.

“I
am going to see Harlan,” she assured him, “but it’s not what I’ve led you to
believe. I don’t really miss him at all,” she confessed.

“That
much is obvious, Sophie.”

Sophie
peered up at him.

Was it?

She
wanted to ask why, but wasn’t really certain she wished to know the reason he
had come to that conclusion. She was heartily afraid the truth was in her eyes.
She told him about the letter then, finishing the story with tears in her eyes.

“You
deserve far better,” Kell assured her, and drew her into his embrace, consoling
her in a brotherly fashion.

Sophie
was grateful for his support. Her heart squeezed her just a little at the
memory of Jack’s baleful glare. “Please don’t tell Jack?” she begged him. She
was angered that he had chosen to believe the worst of her, but she couldn’t
bear it if he were to pity her.

“It’s
not my place to,” he reassured.

Sophie
nodded, grateful for his answer. The

last
thing she wanted was Jack’s pity.

Anyway,
it would be far safer if he continued to loathe her. Judging by the weight she
felt in her heart over his obvious disgust of her, she had allowed him to come
too close already, and without even knowing it.

Why
should she care if he didn’t trust her, or didn’t like her? After these two
weeks at sea he would be of no consequence to her at all. She didn’t intend to
bother asking about return passage. It would suit her best if she got off this wretched
ship and never set eyes on him again.

One
heartache in a lifetime was more than enough.

CHAPTER 18

The impact sent her into shock.

Sophie awoke, surrounded by darkness, her body quivering
with remembered terror. She’d been dreaming, and the dream had seemed so real
that she could still hear the wailing of ghosts in her ears. She whimpered
softly.

“It was just a dream,” a voice soothed her.

Sophie blinked, trying to orient herself.

“A bad dream,” the voice cooed.

“Jack?”

Thunder roared, shaking her to the bone and
rattling the ship’s shutters. A distant bolt of lightning lit the room for the
briefest instant—long enough that she saw Jack’s look of concern as he
stared down at her.

“I’m here,” he replied softly.

“I was locked in a tomb!” she cried out, her body
continuing to quiver and her heart pounding until she had trouble catching her
breath.

“You fell out of the hammock,” he explained, his
voice soft and comforting. “Are you all right?”

“I fell?”

“Yes, you did.”

She hadn’t even realized she was on the floor.

“Are you all right?” he repeated.

“Yes... I... I think so,” she replied a little
dazed, and continued to shiver as the wind howled in her ears.

She sensed, more than saw, that he reached up and
pulled the blanket from her hammock. It fluttered down atop her, and he spread
it around her, tucking her in like a parent would a cherished child.

Another bolt of lightning lit the room.

He was shirtless. The realization came to her at once.

The ship rolled a bit, sending him sprawling over
her. “Sorry,” he offered, and retreated from atop her.

Sophie swallowed. “It’s all right,” she said,
stuffing her arms beneath the blankets. “Thank you for the blanket.” She didn’t
know why she suddenly felt so cold. Her teeth chattered, and he slipped an arm
around her. Sophie couldn’t care less about propriety at the moment; she was
grateful for the reassuring embrace.

“It’s cold,” she complained.

“It’s the storm,” he said, and added as the ship
listed sharply to the stem, “I’d put you back in the hammock, but I think it’d
be a wasted effort.”

Sophie was inclined to agree.

“I dreamt that I was locked in a tomb with ghosts
and skeletons everywhere!” Her heart was still racing, her body tingly and numb.

He chuckled softly. “No skeletons here,” he swore.
“But you hit the deck so hard it woke me from a dead sleep. Are you sure you’re
all right?”

Sophie felt guilty for waking him.

The ship listed once more, and she slid a bit in the
opposite direction. Were it not that Jack caught her, she thought she would
have slipped away. “I think I’d prefer the floor just now anyway,” she
confessed as her stomach rolled in protest to the motion. “I suddenly don’t
feel so well.”

Jack laughed. “Would it make you feel any better
if I told you I didn’t, either?”

Sophie didn’t think so. She shook her head and
tried to steady her stomach, taking deep breaths.

“It feels worse than it is,” he disclosed.

How comforting, though at the moment, her stomach
wasn’t much appeased by his reassurances. She groaned, grateful that the room
was dark, because she thought it would be spinning otherwise.

“Kell has everything in hand,” he told her. “He
says it’ll pass before morning.”

“That long?”

“Afraid so.” He shifted beside her and Sophie
thought he meant to get up.

She panicked. “No! Stay!” she begged him.

She knew she was being silly, but she couldn’t
help it. She’d never liked storms anyway, but it was far worse, she realized,
to be caught in a squall at sea than to wait out a gale in her cozy little bed
at home.

He squeezed her arm. “I’m not going anywhere,” he
promised. “Just getting another blanket.”

“You can share mine!” she offered at once, and
lifted the blanket for him to climb beneath.

He hesitated. “Uhhh... maybe that’s not such a
good idea, Sophia.”

“Don’t be silly,” she scolded him. “It’s perfectly
all right!” Her chest hurt a bit as though someone were sitting on her, and she
couldn’t quite catch her breath. The nightmare was with her still, and the ship’s
rolling was making her anxiety worse. “Please, don’t go!”

He didn’t sound the least bit assured. “Well ...
all right,” he relented, and slipped beneath the covers.

Sophie stiffened at the feel of his bare chest
against her arm, and he noted it at once. “I did warn you,” he told her, his
voice low.

Sophie swallowed convulsively.

“It’s all right,” she assured him, and hoped it
didn’t seem so terrible a thing that she didn’t want him to leave her.

“Should I get my own blanket?” He lifted up the
covers to remove himself.

“No…” Her objection sounded weak even to her own
ears, and he lifted the covers higher. “No!” she said a bit more resolutely,
and he dropped the covers and settled in beside her.

Her anxiety eased the instant he put his arms
around her. Outside, the storm raged on, but inside the cabin it suddenly
didn’t seem so frightening.

For a long time, there was silence between them.
Sophie lay still in his arms, listening to the rumble of thunder and the waves
slapping at wood. It wasn’t long before her stomach felt better. He was a solid
barrier and kept her steady.

“When I was a kid,” he began, and seemed to
understand that his voice would soothe her, “I used to climb out of my window
and ride out the storm in the tree outside my bedroom.”

Sophie’s heartbeat began to slow.

She imagined him straddling a branch, while the
tree swayed under the onslaught of wind... like a bucking horse... and was
amused by the image.

“That wasn’t the safest place to be!” she scolded
him, but there was a smile in her tone. “Although I’m certain your mother would
have told you so.”

He held her a little tighter and laid his head
down beside her. Sophie could feel the heat of his breath against her cheek. It
sent a shiver through her.

“My mother died when I was four,” he revealed. “It
was just me and my da.”

“Oh no!” Sophie exclaimed. “I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be,” he reassured her, and Sophie heard no
self-pity in his tone. “I never really knew her, and my father was the best da
a kid could want.”

Sophie smiled. “Especially since he let you ride
out storms in a tree?”

He chuckled low at her ear. “No, even better.
Because he sometimes rode out the storm in the tree with me.”

“Oh my!” she exclaimed, and couldn’t imagine her
own father or mother sitting out on the limb of a tree in the middle of some
raging storm. She laughed and tried to imagine Harlan out on a tree limb, even
as a lad, and couldn’t picture it. He was far too proper.

For that matter, she tried to picture him out in
some field, digging up fossils ... and ruining his manicure. She couldn’t
picture that either and frowned.

Unlike Harlan, she could easily picture Jack
there, and she wondered what it was that Harlan did in the Yucatan... besides
raise women’s skirts.

She couldn’t begin to fathom.

She was still trying to figure it out when Jack
whispered against her ear. “I really love the smell of your hair, Sophia.”

She thought she misheard him. “Wh-what?” she
asked, trying to see him through the darkness.

“I love the smell of your hair,” he murmured, and
seemed to be nuzzling it softly.

A quiver sped through her at the realization, and
her heart began to beat a little faster. She couldn’t speak, and he mistook her
silence.

“Forgive me,” he begged her, but Sophie wasn’t the
least offended by his compliment ... or by his actions.

She tried to speak past the knot that formed in
her throat, to reassure him that he hadn’t offended her at all, but she
couldn’t form a coherent sound.

No man had ever titillated her so with mere words.

No man had ever made her yearn for things she
shouldn’t even think about.

Never with Harlan had her thoughts turned physical
in nature... never had her body responded so wantonly to his nearness.

Her mouth tingled at the memory of her stolen
kiss, and she longed to savor just one more from his soft, full mouth. Only she
wasn’t about to make the first move this time.

She wanted so much for him to want her.

She wanted him to look at her not with disgust or
disappointment, but as he had that first day on the docks, she realized...
before all the unpleasantness had come between them.

“Sophia,” he whispered.

His voice seemed rife with as much confusion as
Sophie was feeling ... confusion about everything ... save one thing ...

She closed her eyes, feeling heat flow through her
... so that she no longer shivered at all.

“Yes?” she replied, breathless now.

Silence met her reply.

The scent of him drew her nearer, and her breath
became more labored as she tempted him in the darkness, tilting her head back
for his kiss, if only he would take it.

She willed him to...

Jack wanted to kiss her.

The scent of her skin intoxicated him.

The air around them grew charged with far more
than just the electricity from the storm, and Jack held her closer against his better
judgment. He was wearing only his pants and they were already becoming too
snug.

Was she feeling it as well? The electric current
in the air? It sent fire racing across his skin.

He was drawn to her in a way he hadn’t ever felt
toward a woman. His skin burned, craving her touch. The points of his nipples
were on fire for the soothing touch of her moist tongue.

What would it feel like to be inside her? To have
her legs wrapped around his waist and her tongue dancing on his nipples?

She had no idea how close he was to forgetting she
was a lady ... and remembering he was no gentleman. He was a pretender at
best... and her kind never let him forget it.

Never in his life had he felt so uncertain around
a woman... or so attracted... or so wary... or so confused.

And he’d never considered the word no before
now... not in this way... never needed to. He had always been willing to accept
the outcome, whatever it might be. For the first time ever, he dreaded hearing
it.

Sophie was from a world he could never truly be
part of—not that he hadn’t tried. And failed. He had the money and the
brains. He just hadn’t the name. And that in a nutshell was why he’d had to
purchase this deuced ship himself, and fund his own research.

He drew back, looking down on her, telling himself
that he’d be a fool to get mixed up in something that was set against him from
the start.

She was off limits, and it didn’t take an academic
genius to figure that one out.

Except that he had never before let odds stand in
his way.

Sophie waited with bated breath for him to speak
again, but he didn’t.