Page 3 of Hooked By a Hero
Elias had almost slipped his hand into the stranger’s before realizing it was not an action of endearment, the man was asking for proof of his passage. Quickly, Elias cleared his throat and forced himself to show a modicum of sense before taking the note of passage Hawthorne had signed over into his name the week before.
“This will do, I expect,” the beautiful man said, then turned and handed the ticket to the ship’s officer.
Elias blinked. Was the beautiful man also a crew member?
It did not matter.
“Oh! Dr. Pettigrew! You cannot mean to board that ship, can you?” Lady Eudora shouted, nearly tripping over a coil of rope as she approached ever closer. “You cannot leave me! We are to be married.”
The officer checking Elias’s ticket chuckled. “Here you go, Dr. Pettigrew,” he said, handing the paper back. “You may go aboard.”
“Thank you,” Elias gasped, stuffing the paper back into his jacket pocket and lurching forward.
“Here,” the gorgeous man said, cupping Elias’s elbow and marching him to the bottom of the gangway. “Have a care. These bridges can be tricky if it’s your first time crossing them.”
Elias frowned slightly as he grasped the rope at the side of the gangplank and started up its steep incline. He’d never heard a gangplank referred to as a bridge before. He’d never heard the soft, complex accent the beautiful man spoke with either. Was it some sort of Scandinavian dialect? That would explain the man’s coloring.
“Dr. Pettigrew, no!” Lady Eudora shouted from the dock. She could see him clearly now. Everyone could see him clearly as he climbed the steep upward slope to the ship’s deck. “You cannot leave me like this! We are to be married. I went through so much trouble to ensure it.”
Elias made a garbled sound and picked up his pace.
“Is she your betrothed?” the beautiful man asked, climbing easily over the gap in the railing where the gangplank met the ship, then turning to offer Elias his hand.
“She believes she is,” he answered cryptically, reaching for the man’s hand.
“And you do not?” the man asked, grasping Elias’s hand and helping him over the edge of the gangplank and onto the ship’s deck.
“No,” Elias said, gazing frankly into the man’s eyes.
God, he was perfection! It was more than just his pleasing face, unusual coloring, and well-formed body. And as a physician and a man who intimately appreciated such things, he could tell that his new friend’s body was very well-formed indeed. He had broad shoulders, muscled arms, a narrow waist, and delicious thighs.
Elias shook his head. He should not begin his months-long voyage to the other side of the world by having carnal thoughts about a man whom he would be trapped with for the duration without first being completely certain his new friend would not be grossly offended by his admiration.
And yet, there was something in the man’s eyes that told Elias he was the subject of the same sort of heated admiration that he felt.
“Stand aside,” a gruff man in a fine suit barked behind Elias.
The moment of attraction was broken as Elias jumped out of the way of the next passengers coming aboard. In doing so, he moved closer to the ship’s railing, though, into view of his pursuers.
“Dr. Pettigrew, you must come down from there at once!” Lady Sandridge shouted, looking furious. “What kind of a blackguard escapes his marital obligations in such an underhanded manner?”
A few of the passengers who had already boarded and one or two crewmen glanced to Elias and chuckled.
“As I informed you from the beginning,” Elias called down to the ladies, figuring he had nothing to lose, “I have no wish to marry, now or ever. You know full well that you entrapped me into the bond, despite my objections.”
“But you love me!” Lady Eudora called up to him.
“My lady, I am sorry, but I do not. I cannot,” Elias called down to her. “I wish you health and happiness, Lady Eudora, and hope that you find another man who could genuinely love you.”
With that, Elias backed away from the railing until he could no longer see Lady Sandridge and Lady Eudora and until they could not see him.
“Over here,” the beautiful man said, gesturing for Elias to follow him to the side of the ship that faced away from London. “My name is Caspian, by the way,” he said with a radiant smile.
“Elias,” Elias returned the introduction. “Er, Dr. Elias Pettigrew.”
“Pleased to meet you, Dr. Elias Pettigrew,” Caspian said.
“And I you, Caspian…” Elias lifted his voice as if to ask for the man’s surname, but Caspian merely smiled at him, as if he did not understand the implied question.
