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And what she felt was sympathy. It was in the tightness of her shoulders, and the way she didn’t seem to breathe. In the tears she suppressed behind pinched lips. But rather than anger him, for once in his life, he found he welcomed the compassion. Rather than making him feel pitied or pathetic, Elspeth’s consideration warmed him.
He stepped closer in order to read her more deeply, sensing there was another emotion she held in check. In the way she held a hand to her heart, in the sadness in her eyes, he read something more powerful, more abiding.
He was humbled. Unmanned. Because he realized it was love that he read on her face.
Elspeth was aggravatingly fearless. But she was also clever and kind. Gentle, loving, and tender. And his chest swelled, knowing he couldn’t help but love her too.
She spun on her heel and walked on, and he was startled into movement, jogging to catch up. He found that he was smiling. His Elspeth was so many things, but mostly she was utterly, shockingly unpredictable.
She marched down the docks, pausing at the head of each quay to peer at the names of all the ships. Noticing that she lingered at the smaller boats, he chuckled, knowledge of her destination dawning on him.
Finally, she came to his boat, and only then did her step become hesitant. He shook his head, marveling at this sweetly shy woman. She appeared to check and double-check the name, Journeyman, painted in crimson on the burnished brown timber.
Was she coming to tell him something she’d lear
ned at Fraser’s? Had she found evidence, or did she have other news for him?
Or was she simply coming for him?
She stood, her hand poised on the rope ladder that dangled down the side of the sloop, and glanced around to see if any would stop her. He’d let go his three crewmen to save some coin, but he’d hired a pair of dock rats to guard the boat. He spotted them, and catching their attention, he silently shooed them away. Nobody would interrupt her.
He bit his cheek not to laugh at the sight of her grabbing both hands to that ladder and stepping on, easy as you please. He waited for her to make her way up and over, giving her an extra few moments for good measure, then followed.
For a while, he stood on the top rungs, peering over, simply watching her. She walked the deck as though in a trance, running her fingers along its varnished surfaces, tracing fingertips along polished bronze cleats and rings.
The sloop had been in fine shape when he’d taken it over, and he took pride that it was in even better shape now. He kept it polished and fine, and the sight of her touching it with such loving appreciation kindled a fierce pleasure to life in his chest.
If he ever took Elspeth for a sail, he’d let her steer.
She wrapped her hands around the wheel, and her lips parted in a sort of thrall. Another, fiercer heat crackled to life in his veins. Elspeth was such a sensual creature. He wanted to experience her caresses along his body. To see her eyes go hazy at the feel of him under her fingertips.
A madness overtook him, the only thought in his mind that he must go to her. He made the final climb up and over, landing stealthily on deck.
But she disappeared from sight, reappearing at the head of the companionway steps, where she stood contemplating the deck below. She emanated such grave dignity one would’ve thought it the gallows and she Mary, Queen of Scots.
A feeling of such great affection swamped him, he stopped still in his tracks. She was as intrepid a woman as those found in any book. Sweeter and more innocent than any he’d ever known. His lust altered, and the raging torrent that’d swept him deepened to a bottomless, hot spring. Him, immersed but not adrift.
She ventured below, and then her head popped up again, looking much like an adorable wee gopher. He burst into a grin, wanting to sneak after her and surprise her. To chase her up and down those steps until he teased from her the laughter he so loved, the sound of Elspeth, joyous and free.
He wanted to catch her, and kiss her senseless.
He wasn’t surprised when she ducked back below. His quarters were down there, and he was certain his pretty little spy would find much in the place to entertain her.
Grinning, he pulled in the dock lines, hauled anchor, and got the Journeyman under way. As he steered out of Aberdeen harbor, Aidan’s smile turned wicked. He’d show his Elspeth what happened to stowaways.
Elspeth looked around at what she deduced was Aidan’s cabin. It was tiny, but tidy, with a narrow bunk, lantern, and nautical instruments and maps stowed in neat compartments on a small table.
She pulled out one of the maps, fascinated by this glimpse of a sailor’s life. Smoothing it carefully on the table, she thought of her heroic pirate rogue. When he’d sailed from the Indies to Scotland, he hadn’t been able to read, and yet he’d navigated his way, in spite of it all. He might not have been able to decipher letters on a page, but he knew how to read the stars in the sky.
Her breath caught, feeling a pang in her heart. Aidan was all alone in the world, and yet, standing in his orderly captain’s cabin, she saw how he’d carved a place for himself. He’d endured such pain, rising like a phoenix from the nightmarish ashes of his childhood.
She sat on the hard bunk, and the echoes of him, all around her, were a comfort.
The events at Fraser’s office had confused her. Despite her understanding that they’d agreed to end their engagement, at the conclusion of their meeting, the old merchant had gotten a strange, suspicious look in those slitted eyes. But a veil had quickly dropped over them, concealing whatever machinations he might’ve been entertaining. Wondering what thoughts he hid, she’d left his offices feeling deeply unsettled.
Their ridiculous betrothal would be broken—she’d will it thus, if need be. She’d be Aidan’s wife, or nobody’s.
Using thoughts of Aidan to summon strength, she’d gone to the docks, soon finding herself searching for the ship in which he’d been stolen away so long ago. The sight of it had seared her, her heart breaking all over again for the boy he’d been.
