The Captain's Pearl (20 page)

He sat and pulled off his shirt, tossing it to the floor. Drawing off her wrapper, he sent it following his clothes. The devilish glitter in his green eyes matched his roguish smile as, not touching her, not kissing her, he let his gaze rove along her.

An ache burst to life in her. With a choked moan, she reached for him.

He smiled as he caught her fingers and raised them to his lips. “I want to look at you, blue eyes. You have been my fantasy for four years.”

“You have seen me before.”

“Yes, I have,” he whispered. “But you have changed. Here.” He stroked her hip and along her waist. “And here.” His hand settled on her breast.

She gasped, overwhelmed by the cacophony of sensations. She gripped his arms and steered his mouth over hers. Even as his tongue sought satisfaction in her mouth, she could think only of his fingertip edging in a slow, sinuous climb to the tip of her breast.

When he slipped his hand beneath the silken whisper of her camisole, its rough texture scraped across her, burnishing her with exquisite pleasure. Her legs entwined with his, and a sharp cry of rapture escaped her as his hand settled over her breast once more. Nothing she had ever experienced, nothing she had ever imagined was as splendid as his touch.

With an eager grin, he brought her up to sit and pulled off her camisole. His gaze edged along her again, sparking every inch of her with his invisible caress before he wrapped his arms around her.

The warmth of his skin stroked her. When he drew off the last of her clothes and leaned her back into the pillows, she held out her hands to him. He grinned and unbuttoned his trousers. Rising, she ignored his protest, which vanished when she put her hand on the waistband.

As she lowered them along his sturdy legs, she was startled to find a white sliver of a scar on his thigh. “Bryce?”

He dropped the trousers to the floor and kissed her. “Ask me sometime to tell you more about the pirates on the
China Shadow
. Tonight, I don't want to talk about the past, blue eyes.”

She nodded, as she was lost once more in his gaze as she reached out to touch the very male angles of his body. His eyes closed as he groaned with the longing she sensed along him. He claimed her mouth. Fiery kisses left her gasping for breath while he sampled the silken texture of her skin. When his mouth teased the tip of her breast into it, she arched against him.

The moist meanderings of his tongue along her became a torment. Each twist and turn tantalized her skin. She writhed when his fingers found the warmth deep within her.

Clutching his shoulders, she gave herself to helpless abandonment as he melded them together in a single need. The hunger consumed her when his mouth captured hers so she could share his ragged breathing. In one dazzling moment, the power of raw ecstasy swelled through her, sending her swirling into a dream she never wanted to relinquish.

Lianne's eyes opened as Bryce whispered, “Blue eyes, I was wrong. You would have made a lousy whore.”

“You mean you didn't—”

He placed his finger over her lips. “If you would just listen once, you might not bring so much trouble on yourself.”

“I've had help!”

“Undoubtedly.” He laughed. “What I meant is that you give all of yourself. That life would have destroyed you.”

She shivered. “I don't want to talk of that.”

“Then tell me what you want to talk about.”

Holding up her hand, she looked at the ring he had given her. “Where did you get this?”

“Canton.”

“Canton?” She leaned across his chest to see his amusement. “Certainly you didn't plan to marry me then!”

Bryce ran his fingers along her and smiled as she quivered. “I saw those sapphires, and they reminded me of your eyes. So I bought the ring. Yin and yang. Man and woman. The opposing sides of nature brought together in perfect harmony.”

“Like us?” How easy it would be to blurt that she was falling in love with him! They could have the greatest story of all in the thousand stories box.

“You're mine now,” he whispered, as he rolled her onto her back. He gathered a handful of her hair and rubbed it against his jaw. “You're mine and so is the Shadow Line.”

She pulled back in horror. His face hardened. When he swore, she did not know if he was angry at her or at himself.

As he stood, she sat, drawing the tangled covers over her breasts. He pulled on his trousers and reached for his shirt.

“Bryce, where—I mean …?” Pain thickened her voice as he stared into the fire on the hearth. “Bryce?”

“Go to sleep. I think I could use a drink of that brandy they served earlier.”

Lianne reached for her wrapper, but he was gone before she could pull it around her. While he held her, he had spoken soft endearments she had believed were true. How could he be part of her and not know that her heart longed to belong to him?

Sinking back onto the mattress, she glanced at the dressing room which separated her room from her father's room. She had told Bryce that she would not care if he entertained his mistresses, then came to her. Only now, far too late, did she realize how she had become entangled in her own lies.

Bryce had not betrayed her.

Father had not betrayed her.

She had been betrayed by her own aching, heart, which yearned to belong to a man who refused to accept it.

Fourteen

Lianne pulled back on the reins to stop the buggy in front of the old grist mill Father had bought weeks before his death. She sighed as she thought of the many times she had driven past it with Weston. Now she was the wife of Captain Bryce Trevarian, head of Trevarian Enterprises, as he had renamed the Shadow Line.

In the aftermath of the reading of her father's will, Bryce had been shocked that she intended to take the wording literally. Captain Samuel Catherwood had written:

My dear daughter Lianne and her husband shall own and oversee the holdings jointly
.

“That is because he thought you were marrying that idiot Newberry!” Bryce had stated this morning after the lawyers left.

“Are you sure? If Father had time to write you that note, he could have also revised his will if he chose.”

Throwing his white shirt onto a chair, he went into the dressing room for the clothes he wore on the ships. She watched in silence, for she was unsure if he would return. Every night he came to her room for the passion which bound their bodies together. He was a gentle and intriguing lover, teaching her ways of pleasure which she could not have guessed existed. He never rushed away in the warm afterglow. Only when the time came to sleep did he leave her alone, aching for his arms around her.

When he poked his head out of the dressing room, he demanded, “And what's that supposed to mean? That the captain didn't think I was competent to handle his assets?”

“Did you ever consider that he might have thought
I
was competent, too?”

Shrugging on a shirt, he grasped a belt from a drawer and came into her room. “This won't work, blue eyes. There must be one head of Trevarian Enterprises.”

“Why?” She sat on the chest at the foot of the bed. “I've thought about what you said before we were married, Bryce. You oversee the ships, and I deal with what is ashore.”

A slow smile tilted his mustache as he leaned forward until his nose was against hers. The green glow of his eyes surrounded her. “And what else do you have planned in that quick mind of yours, blue eyes?”

“Only a way to live in harmony.” She held up her wedding band. “Yin and yang. Man and woman. Earth and sea. Perfect harmony.”

“With you, I doubt if that's possible.” Straightening, he offered his hand to bring her to her feet. “We'll try it while I am working on the
China Shadow
's repairs.”

As she stared at the mill's stone walls covered with lichen, Lianne wondered how she could compete with Bryce's love for the sea. It would be so much easier if she could stop herself from falling in love with him.

She climbed out of the buggy and looped the reins over a nearby bush. Tightening her cape around her, she wished the day was warmer. Cold weather was something she had not been able to become accustomed to.

The mill's door opened as she approached. With a warm smile, she asked, “How are you this afternoon, Mr. Bergen?”

“Fine, Mrs. Trevarian. 'Tis kind of you to ask.” He tipped his hat to her, revealing a balding spot.

As she stepped into the mill, the stench of dirt and damp surrounded her. Each pace woke years of dust to cling like gray feathers to her black skirt. Walking to the small window on the opposite side of the large empty room, she pushed aside lacy cobwebs to look out at the creek dropping over the dam. The sluice had fallen apart, so the wheel did not move in the slower waters.

“How much can be salvaged?” Lianne asked, her voice fading quickly into the timbers of the ceiling far above her head.

“The wheel can be repaired.” Mr. Bergen's grin stripped the plainness from his round face. “The building is sound. An addition would be necessary, along with machinery to run the looms, but I think it can work, Mrs. Trevarian.”

“Good. I think …” She looked past him as the door clanged shut. Mr. Bergen tensed, but she smiled as she recognized Bryce's silhouette. “Bryce, I thought you were going to be in New Bedford until this evening.”

“I just returned.” He glanced at the man beside her.

“Bryce, this is Gilroy Bergen. Mr. Bergen, my husband Captain Trevarian.”

“An honor, Captain,” the rotund man said.

“What are you doing here, Lianne?” Bryce asked with a nod toward Mr. Bergen. “I was sure Hyett was mistaken when he told me that you were driving out here.”

“Father bought this mill to take the Shadow Line into manufacturing. As we may have to cut back the Shadow Line—”

“Cut back on the line? Are you serious?” His amazement was replaced by fury as his dark brows lowered.

“Mr. Bergen,” she said quietly, “will you excuse us? I will see you tomorrow at the house.”

“Of course, Mrs. Trevarian. Good day to you, ma'am.” Mr. Bergen tipped his hat to her. “Captain.”

Bryce nodded. As the round man left, the door slammed behind him. The noise reverberated through the empty space.

Lianne watched as Bryce strode around the room, testing the strength of the floor and grimacing when he saw sunlight through cracks in the wall. He leaned his hand against a door and jumped back as it crashed to the floor. Dust burst up to bleach his hair.

He faced her. “You made a bargain with me, Lianne! I would oversee the ships. Why are you trying to break that agreement two hours later?”

Clasping her hands behind her back, she said quietly, “With the war in China, we can't be sure of any cargo next year.”

“You are being short-sighted!”

“I wouldn't sell the
China Shadow
, but I think we must look for a buyer for the
Sleek Shadow
.”

He stared at her in disbelief. “You would sell that fine ship?”

“
You
said she was not as good as the
China Shadow
.”

“She isn't, but that is no reason to get rid of her.”

“To keep the Shadow Line solvent, I may have to. I had hoped to hold on until the wars stopped over there, but it appears that the treaties mean little.”

“I am not afraid of a bit of fighting.”

Lianne shivered, wondering if she should tell him that her concerns for the line were not only economical. If there was a battle, Bryce would be at the forefront, leading his men to death if necessary in the defense of his ship. The thought of waiting month after month for him to return, knowing that he might never come back, was horrifying.

“Bryce, don't let your obsession with the sea blind you. We can't depend on just the China trade to keep the company alive.”

“We're not. You've had the
Pacific Shadow
refitted for whaling. Why not leave things as they are? Two ships for the China trade, one for the local harvest.”

“But what if something happens? What if the
China Shadow
had never returned?”

Closing the distance between them, he grasped her elbows and swept her into his arms. “Then, blue eyes, you would never have shared this with me.”

Protesting that she wanted to speak of business, her words melted beneath his lips. How could she argue with him when he made her dreams come true in his arms?

“Let's go home,” he whispered. “I want to hold you before dark disguises your beauty, blue eyes.”

“Bryce …”

His tongue traced her ear's whorls. “Come with me.”

“Bryce,” she said, reluctantly pulling away. “Please listen to me. Brown and Ives in Rhode Island is investing in cotton manufacturing with less risk than in shipping.”

He put his foot on a pitted stone and rested his crossed arms on his knee. “You know nothing about the manufacture of cotton.”

“I have hired people who do!”

“And exactly when were you planning on telling me?” he asked with deceptive serenity.

“Soon.” Taking his hands, she whispered, “Bryce, I can't be Great-Aunt Tildy, living a quiet life overlooking the harbor. I need a challenge as you need adventure on the sea.”

“I don't want you to be Great-Aunt Tildy.”

“Then let me be who I must be.”

Slowly Bryce's hands encircled Lianne's face. He wondered if she could guess the conflict in him. He admired her dedication to her father's goals, but she must not let them destroy the Shadow ships.

As he stroked her soft face, he sighed. The day had not been an easy one, for the part he needed for the
China Shadow
had not been waiting in New Bedford. A wasted trip, and another to make in a week. Yet more than repairing his ship, he wanted his wife. She enchanted him with rapture.