Page 41 of Disguised Desires of a Scarred Duke
Anthony pulled her closer and kissed her nose.
“The men and I had been drinking through the evening. We celebrated 100 days at sea on a particularly rough voyage. Edward was a guest on the ship, but he loved the work and the adventure so much that he became an honorary hand. I’ll never understand that man’s ability to find joy in everything he does, even hard labour in dangerous situations. He could spend months laughing in the face of an arduous ocean and the next minute write poetry about growing daisies.”
“I believe you mean tulips,” Eleanor teased.
Anthony threw his head back and laughed again. “Yes, his damn tulips! Anyway, we were reckless that night with drink and not paying attention to the ominous sky. The storm seemed to arrive so suddenly. By then, we were half-sprung and far too impaired to be an efficient crew against the angry sea. Yet that’s not the worst of what happened that night. Not even close.”
The sudden loud knocking on Anthony’s door made them both leap out of bed and huddle together on the floor.
“Ssssssssssssomebody get a doctor! I think I’m in looooove!”
Anthony smacked a hand over his mouth and tried to control a new wave of laughter as Eleanor tugged on her petticoat and couldn’t suppress her grin.
“Is that Edward? Speaking of being half-sprung!” she said as quietly as possible through giggles while Anthony stood up and tugged on his breeches.
“Oh, he’s beyond half-sprung. The man is dancing a jig out there! He’s going to rattle the glasses off the table if he doesn’t stop.”
Anthony tried to help Eleanor up to finish getting dressed, but they kept falling over each other in fits of muffled laughter as Edward droned on about romance and a few indecipherable things.
“She’sssss like a sssssssummer breeze in the romanccccce of dawning sseagulssss and flying bloomssss …”
Anthony tucked his shirt into his pants and listened at the door. “I don’t think he even realizes I’m not standing in front of him yet.”
Eleanor doubled over with the giggles again, then stood up suddenly with a reddened face and her left arm stuck in her dress. It was twisted in a bunch around her shoulders.
“What should I do? He can’t discover me here!”
“There’s very little chance he will remember this night at all, but stand behind the drapes, and I’ll get rid of him.”
“Thedrapes? You don’t think he will see my obvious form back there?” Eleanor panted and tugged until she finally managed to get dressed again, with stockings and shoes in place.
“Trust me, his sights are on somebody else’s form right now, and she’s related to you. Besides, your form is a delight to behold. I’d like to behold it again soon, Miss Whitfield.”
Eleanor laughed and shushed him. “Please take him somewhere else, and I will sneak out of here.”
She tucked herself behind a large panel of floor-length drapery, then giggled again when Edward could be heard telling someone in the hallway that love was better than piglets and biscuits.
Then Anthony pulled the thick fabric away from her face and gave her a toe-curling kiss.
“Until tomorrow, m’lady. I’ll be the pirate holding you close in those scandalous dreams of yours. And loving every minute of sharing this bond with you.”
He kissed her a second time, then let the drapery fall back into place.
Eleanor touched her lips where Anthony had just placed his and sighed. There was no going back now. She had given herself to him because it was her decision to make and her desire to feed. But she’d also sent a message with her body tangled in his that she hoped would get through.
She was his and would always be his, no matter if she was forced to marry another man. There was no reversing time, so Cecil Phillips or anyone else could become her first.
And Margaret would never have a say in who she gave her heart and body to, either.
Eleanor was in love with Anthony Black. There was no denying it any longer, at least not to herself, and she also intended to admit it to him before their week in the country was through.
She heard Anthony fling open the door and then what she assumed was a scuffle to keep Edward from falling to the floor.
“Mr Montrose, let’s get a drink in the library and toast to love!”
Eleanor’s heart soared at the sound of those words coming from her lover’s lips.
She waited long enough for the men to disappear and the hallway to clear again before tiptoeing to her own room and closing the door.
