AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Right then, come with me, we’ll go into Jackson’s for a bit of sport instead. Must make a stop first.”
“Jackson’s...aye...right then, but stop first, where?”
“I must...need to speak with Don Rodrigo. It is urgent.”
His friend snorted. “Then it’s to Southampton you’ll have to go.”
“Southampton?” Pauly’s eyes opened wide.
“That’s right. Met him at White’s a couple of days ago. He was taking his leave of Alvanley and some blasted other fellow. Said his schooner...the...oh, some blasted Spanish name, was awaiting his return long enough. Means to set sail for home.”
“Damnation!” the viscount hissed. “This will not do.” He shook his head. “Go on then, Crabby. I have no choice. It can’t be helped. It is my duty, I must attend to it at once.”
* * * * *
Jessie’s long, thick, flame colored hair swayed in the summer breeze. Her simple gown of white muslin clung to her alluringly lovely figure, thinner now after days of no appetite. Her dark lashes drooped, hiding her violet eyes, and her cherry lips were drawn in despondency. She had hoped a change of pace would make her forget the devil, Rodrigo. She had hoped that here in the New Forest she loved, she would find solace. She needed something to wipe out the disillusionment of adulthood.
There was, for her, no going back. Knowledge once attained could not easily be put aside. Innocence shed could not be recalled. Rodrigo had toyed with her. She had been fool enough to actually believe he might love her, and all the while, he was mistreating a mistress he had on the side.
Wild pony herds grazed within easy reach, and she watched their peaceful, graceful movements. A gathering of deer peeped out between the trees and leaped the fencing as they made their way to the other side of the road. It was time to return to the house, for it would soon be dark, and her Aunt Charlie would worry.
Her great-aunt was today entertaining some locals. They were, all of them, nice people with daughters her own age. She would have no choice. She would have to sit down to dinner with them and make conversation. It would perhaps divert her thoughts. Perhaps, it would help her out of the doldrums. If only she could force herself to concentrate on what they were saying. If only she could banish Rodrigo’s dark, passionate eyes from her mind. If only she could forget she was here to forget!
* * * * *
Rodrigo sat in his stateroom aboard his yacht and worked his charts. It occupied his time, and it was a necessary, nearly always enjoyable, occupation, but his mind only saw her beautiful little face, her questioning, angry, violet eyes.
Thoughts of Jessie stirred him into a frenzy. It was not how he wanted to leave London, with her so furious with him. He had a great deal to do, enough to keep him busy. Thank the saints for his craft. The sea, ships, sailing—these were things, like his ranch, that were much in his blood. Early in his youth, he had learned to navigate and sail. It had become a passion, and then two years ago, he had met an American, Palmer, and together, they had designed his yacht.
She was a sleek craft. He had wanted her so. He had wanted her built for speed, and he hadn’t bothered about the cost. When it was completed, the ship came off the ways looking very much like one of the privateers. She measured eighty feet long at the waterline, sporting square sails on the foremast, fore-and-aft on the main.
He had indulged a whim and had her painted with horizontal stripes of bright colors on one side, while the other side was painted with a herringbone pattern. Within, the captain’s quarters consisted of two rooms. His stateroom and his private salon, both furnished elegantly as well as practically. An adjoining door between the rooms was usually hooked open. He looked now from his desk and into the salon, and his eyes strayed to the four-poster bed with its gold satin coverlet, and he thought of Jessie. If he had broken his rule—if he had taken her for a wife, she would now be sprawled across his bed...his!
In that moment, she came vividly to life, laughing, moving, flirting, and he wanted it to be real, not just a memory. Her twinkling violet eyes, her full cherry lips...curving for him. He adored the childlike mischief that would come across her face. She was like no other. How she had melted to his kiss, her body against his own...
Then, he remembered her kissing the young viscount!
What was that? No, Jessie was now out of his reach. Love? Love was a passion he had not satisfied, he explained to himself. Jessie...the fruit he had not thoroughly explored, nothing more.
* * * * *
Pauly’s kid-gloved hand was raised to June Keenen’s door when the sound of voices within made him hesitate. It was still early evening, and there were another two hours before she would go on stage. However, it was then, and with some surprise, he heard and recognized the voice of Sir Warren.
“You were a wonder, my dear. The Lady Jessica will have naught to do with Rodrigo now, since she believed our little enactment. She has even removed to the country.”
“Hmm,” June answered absently. “So long as you pay me the remainder of what you promised. I have waited all week.”
Pauly stiffened, then heard, “It is all there. Count if you don’t trust me.” Sir Warren’s voice was haughty.
“Now what will you do?” the actress asked idly.
“Court the lady in style.”
“Ah, you mean to catch her on the rebound?” The actress made a show of sighing heavily. “Doesn’t it matter to you...to be second choice?”
“What matters to me is her fortune, and that it will be mine after we are wed. In return for my lady’s funding, she will have a husband who will care and respect her. Together, we will travel in the first circles, for I mean to move politically all the way to the top.”
“And I, dearest Warren, can help you in that regard. You would be astounded at the things men tell me in the boudoir.” With this, Pauly heard her titter.
