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He studied her face.
‘Your nose is rather a pleasant nose.’ The words slipped from his mouth, sounding like a caress. If he raised his forearm just the slightest bit and moved just the merest bit forward, he could be holding her.
‘I didn’t expect to like the babe.’ She grimaced. ‘He’d caused my sister such discomfort already and he wasn’t a girl. Warrington already had a son and daughter, and I hoped the little girl would have a sister. I wanted another small Willa in the house.’
She pulled herself straight on the couch. ‘I told Melina just a few days ago...about the mark. She thought it humorous that I could manage to sail from Greece to here, sleep when the pirates boarded the ship trying to take our other sister before being defeated in their efforts and have no marks to show for it. Then I wounded myself with the weapon I kept for protection.’
She looked at him. ‘Let me try reading again. I like it much better when the words are small and the story is about children.’
He moved, securing the tome without looking at it. Holding it in her direction. Her hands skimmed over his as she took the volume, slowly, from him.
She turned the pages to the spot where she’d left off. ‘The words are getting harder, though.’
His arm rested at her shoulders. ‘Just hold your finger to the word and I’ll help you.’
She began to read, and at the first stumble she moved into the cradle of his arm and pointed for him to read the word aloud.
She stayed where she was, and when she paused again he let go of the breath he’d been holding and helped her.
The book wavered because she pointed to another word. He took hold of the other side of the cover and held it.
As the words became longer and longer, he never realised when he became the speaker and she became the listener. His words lingered, so she could follow easily, and he read to her about the happy family of eight children and the merry-go-round.
He read more slowly as he neared the conclusion, and when the story finished they closed the book together, then he pulled back and she straightened.
‘I did not want the story to end,’ she said. ‘I quite liked it.’
‘I did as well.’
‘A good tale,’ she said. ‘Better than Crusoe.’
He nodded, holding it with one hand. ‘Though I enjoyed it as a child, I had not realised before how much interest it has.’
‘Sometimes things more scholarly are not always the most enjoyable.’
‘They are good for one, though.’
The flicker of her eyes when she heard the words acknowledged his jest.
‘So true.’ She stood and leaned towards him again, taking the book. ‘Do you mind if I keep this in my room for a time?’
He looked up at pale skin, a long neck, a wilful chin and lips that he wanted to touch in all the ways that he could.
‘As long as you’d like. It’s yours.’
‘Only for a short while and then I’ll put it back,’ she said and left the room.
He wondered if he would be able to move again.
Chapter Ten
Bellona fought, inside the dream, pulling hands from her throat, her grasping fists closing over emptiness. She struggled for air—ale-scented breath suffocating her. His darkened pupils expanded so that she could see nothing else. She scrambled back as her own vision clouded into black, reaching for her weapon, the world of the ship fading, changing to the bedchamber. The image of the crewman fell away into the recesses of the room.
Her eyes opened. She sat against the headboard of the bed, her heart pounding, fingers gripping the knife she’d had under her pillow. Her throat ached, the press of thumbs indenting her throat still choking her.
She swallowed slowly, trying to get air, but keeping her movements still so she could be aware of the room. Shadows brushed her skin with the lightness of spider’s legs. Beyond the walls, something creaked.
Slipping one foot from the bed, she braced for her ankle to be clutched. She had to escape from the room, yet the hallway would be dark and someone could be waiting.
She dashed to the door, her back against the wood, the knife held close to her body. Listening. Watching. Waiting.
Wind blew against the window. She forced herself calm. Over and over the dream found her in the night.
Questions would throb in her head until morning. What if the pirates hadn’t been defeated by Captain Ben and his crew? What if they had continued to pursue the ship intent on making another attempt to capture Bellona and Thessa? Or what if the gamekeeper had got angry at her because she had been accepted into the house as a guest and he broke in to attack her?
She touched the door latch with her left hand, gripping the cold metal. Listening. She had no reason to fear. None at all. But blood still raced in her veins.
