Page 102 of Trouble

‘Like this is an argument you’re determined to win. If it’s too much—’

‘I’ll tell you,’ she conceded.

It wasn’t too much when he ran his hand, very slowly, down from shoulder to ribs and to her hip again; it wasalmosttoo much, but exquisitely so, when he made gentle circles across her skin with his thumb and fingertips, each time dipping lower until her breath caught and she had to press her forehead into his shoulder to try to gather herself.

It was an impossible task, because then he was kissing across her collarbone and down her chest, his hands in constant motion until she was so overwhelmed she couldn’t do anything except breathe shallowly into the crook of his neck, her hand digging tightly into his broad back and his name caught between her teeth.

‘Show me how to touch you,’ she said.

He didn’t try to fight her at all, this time – he just took her hand and did as she’d asked, and she experienced that fierce rush of heat and pride again as he closed his eyes, overcome, and choked out her name.

In the end, it wasn’t anywhere near as strange as Emily had thought it might be, especially after they had been unclothed and entangled for so long; it was just even more of a good thing, so good that the sound of her name on his lips became almost unintelligible, and her teeth left a neat row of indents in the soft skin of his shoulder.

Afterwards, she lay ensconced in his arms, both of them tired and slow and stupid, and Emily turned to look at his face – cheeks flushed, hair a mess, eyes heavy-lidded and looking back at her with an easy happiness – and smiled.

‘You really do like me,’ she said, not able to keep the bewilderment out of her voice, and he laughed.

‘I do.’

She screwed up her face. ‘And you think I’m .?.?.beautiful.’

‘And all the rest.’

He was mostly wrong, of course – but startlingly, she believed him.

‘Well .?.?. I was right to come here. I think I feel ready to get married now.’

‘Good for you,’ said Captain Edwards. ‘I don’t. It’s about three o’clock in the morning, and they’ll come to dress us at eight.’

‘I should probably go back to my own bed,’ Emily said, not moving.

‘Yes,’ said Captain Edwards, burying his face in her hair and tightening his arms around her, so that she couldn’t leave even if she wanted to. ‘All things considered, you probably should.’

Chapter Thirty-Five

‘Do pirates need pelisses?’ Grace said, picking up an expensive-looking blush-pink coat and looking at it dubiously. ‘I thought they usually wore big leathery-looking things. And nine guns. And black boots.’

‘For the last time, Grace, we are not going to be pirates,’ said Emily.

She had been cajoled into packing duty and had gone unwillingly to meet her fate, which was apparently to be shown every single item Grace owned and asked if it befitted a life on the high seas.

‘We are getting a ship, though, so I ought to adopt the customs.’

‘We are notgettinga ship – ships are very expensive. We are simply going to be .?.?. guests on a ship, for a while.’

‘That’s what they call hostages,’ said Aster, from over on the sofa, where he was reading one of his father’s books about rigging. ‘Guests. Are we to be held hostage? I suppose we might be able to negotiate. Give them Grace, so we can keep me.’

‘If you give me to a pirate I will besovexed, Aster,’ Grace said crossly. ‘I will never forgive you.’

‘I’ll live,’ said Aster.

They were not conducting themselves as if they were leaving that afternoon, and yet they very much were: it was giving Emily a headache.

Meera had offered to oversee the last of the packing, but the housekeeper was very busy with her own situation, namely the fact that Mr Khan had finally tentatively proposed – with a sort of business presentation, Oliver had told her, a rundown of all the ways in which he might add value to her life – and they were to be married within the fortnight. For somebody who had been so impervious, she seemed delighted. She had also happily taken charge of converting Fairmont House to its new, far more useful purpose, and was expecting her aunt and cousin to arrive any day in advance of her nuptials, with an invitation to stay for as long as they wanted – perhaps even forever. Joe had also decided to stay, something which had led to floods of tears from Grace and a few quiet ones from the cook himself, but Emily could not think of anything he would find more satisfying than trying to heal hundreds of people with the power of his broth. Oliver and Akia would be accompanying them on their voyage.

‘I bet they don’t have swearing jars on ships,’ Oliver had said dreamily. ‘In fact, I bet theygiveyou sixpence if you say something really inventive. I will have to start working on my obscenities.’

Amy was still wobbly, still too thin and quick to tire, but she was so excited about the prospect of a hospital that Emily had been slightly afraid of her. Their mother, too, had taken to the idea with far more enthusiasm than Emily would ever have expected. Meera had embraced them both like old friends at the wedding, and on their return to the house they had sat in the kitchen, making their way through an enormous sticky ginger cake and endless cups of tea while they plotted. Emily had decided it was best to leave them to it. More frightening than this union had been the moment Grace met Amy; they were both immediately so in love with each other that Emily felt rather as if she were intruding on something by standing in the vicinity.