AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The sturdy wooden V-shaped gate, as promised, led to a steep staircase of sorts hewn from the rock, which on first approach appeared rather daunting. But then she noted robust arcs of metal had been hammered into cracks in the rock face, a rope strung within. So, girding her loins, she shifted her satchel strap over her shoulder, grabbed the rope with both hands and tentatively clambered down the sun-shaded steps still moist with morn dew.
Her boots slid. Her heart skittered. The evil gulls squawked.
At length, however, she arrived at…no more than a ledge, sparsely grassed and tucked within the rock face. She wiped her brow, refusing to fret over the return ascent, for Mrs Pugh was correct – the view was glorious. A narrow inlet of a cove lay below her, guarded by a craggy outcrop. The playful water slapped at a sanded beach with driftwood scattered like bleached bones and seaweed randomly draped over rocks like a courtesan’s coiffure.
A few steps further on where the ledge broadened a little was a rough-grained bench, so keeping one hand flat to the cliff face and eyes straight, she shuffled herself along until, with a heartfelt release of breath, she flopped upon it.
For some while, Isabelle merely took in the view and the crisp air, let the scent of salt cleanse, but work beckoned, so she delved into her satchel for Moral Instruction for Young Ladies, Volume IV by Mr Perkins.
Then threw it aside as Mari was correct. What would he know?
Instead, she fished out her spyglass. It had been a leaving present from a navy admiral’s wife who’d jested it might come in useful for keeping an eye on unruly girls. A jest perhaps but for just that purpose, Isabelle had utilised it more often than a ship’s first mate.
Placing it to her eye, she observed the gulls picking at a dead fish on the beach and a few wading birds hopping in the rock-hewn pools abandoned by the sea.
Swinging her spyglass to the cliff face on the far side of the cove, she noted seabirds she had no name for darting in the temperate breeze and then diving off ledges for the limitless waters.
Perhaps the duke’s library held a book on the ornithology of this area as purely the more exotic species from far-flung lands were known to her at present, ones she’d viewed in Bullocks Museum – peacocks and birds of paradise. She swung her spyglass out over the sea, noting the ripples and…
Swung it back again to an unfamiliar sea creature that had caught her eye.
One with muscled arms and broad shoulders. Thick black plumage and forceful kicking feet. It was swimming into shore, the retreating tide no match for its lunging power.
Without ado, she dropped the glass from her eye.
Hummed and hawed.
Really, she should not be looking.
Shilly-shallied.
But it wasn’t her fault the duke was within view of her spyglass.
Dilly-dallied.
And it wasn’t called a spyglass for nothing. The name almost granted one permission.
She tapped a thumb on her skirts.
He’d be gone by now…
With all haste, she jerked it back to her eye.
And blinked.
The duke was now stood, wading through the water, ebony-black hair plastered to his head and framing those sharp cheekbones, vast shoulders bare, every step revealing more of his chest.
Dark wet hairs sprinkled the skin and she may have uttered a pitiful sound as he raised a hand and pushed that awry lock from his brow.
Sacre bleu.
She never knew a man’s body like that existed, thought it purely the realm of ancient Greek statues – or wishful thinking.
The water’s surface lowered to his ribs, then stomach, a line of hair trailing lower still.
Surely he was wearing…
Hips appeared, his muscles indented, and her breath hitched, thought that maybe he wasn’t wearing…
