Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Adena stared at the strange man, heat rising in her cheeks. This was absolutely ridiculous: who did he think he was, manhandling her like that? It was enough to make her scream.
“Do?” The man blinked at her. “What do you mean, do?”
“You may not have noticed,” said Adena furiously, pointing a finger at the sky, “but it is almost night time. I would have preferred to spend the evening in a comfortable bed, but apparently you thought that I would rather sleep on sand?”
No matter how much she glared at him, the strange man did not seem to be concerned by her look of anger – and the more that she looked at him, and her cheeks flamed even deeper as the thought crossed her mind, the more she noticed just how handsome he was.
Tall, with chestnut hair that was a little too long to be fashionable, broad shoulders and a grin that none of her words seemed to have wiped from his face.
“My dear lady, you really think that you would have been able to stride through the waters to the mainland?” He smirked at her. “Not possible, I am afraid. If anything, you should be thanking me.”
“Thank – thanking you?” Adena spluttered. It was fortunate that the evening was so warm, or else she would surely be shivering.
“It is absolutely my pleasure,” said the gentleman – if gentleman he was, which Adena wanted to doubt but could not, taking in the expensive clothes that he was wearing. “Please, it was my pleasure.”
“I am not thanking you, I am furious with you!” Adena glared at him, and then strode a few yards down the beach. “To think that I am stuck here on this – what did you call it?”
The gentleman bowed to her, and said, “Squire’s Isle.”
“Squire’s Isle indeed,” she muttered, staring around what was going to be her home for the next few hours. “You had no right to take me from the sea, and to…to carry me.”
It was only as she said those words that the memory of him carrying her flooded back into her mind, and Adena’s cheeks, flushed before due to rage, now flushed from heated embarrassment.
There had been so much strength in his arms, she had never felt more securely held, or more safe.
How could a man that she had only just met give her such a feeling?
Trying to put aside the pleasant feeling of security and safety, Adena glanced at the man once more, and was suddenly overtaken when she noticed his wet shirt clinging to his chest. The flush deepened, and he smiled at her.
“My dear lady, if I had not plucked you from the waters, you would have undoubtedly drowned. There is a deep ravine just a few yards before you that would have prevented you from walking, and,” taking a step towards her and smiling, “I do not think with such an elegant gown you would have been able to swim.”
“Ravine? Here? Surely not.” Adena took an automatic step backwards as he came towards her.
The man’s smile deepened. “You could say that I saved your life.”
“Are you expecting me to thank you?” Adena shot back, more bravely than she felt. Why, she was completely at this man’s mercy.
The man tilted his head slightly and looked her up and down. “You look like a gentlewoman, and so yes. I would expect some sort of gratitude.”
It was most infuriating, Adena decided silently, that this odious man was so handsome. It was all too easy to be charmed by him, she was sure, but she would not allow mere good looks to dazzle her.
Still. If what he was saying was true, she certainly owed her life to him. How provoking.
“I suppose,” she said, ungraciously. “Thank you. Now tell me, when does the tide go out?”
The man hesitated, and then said, “Hours. Eight or nine?”
Adena’s shoulders slumped, and she bit her lip. Well, there was nothing for it then.
“We have nowhere to go,” she said quietly. “We are both stuck here – and you should know better, I would say, by your knowledge of the tides – but there is nothing else for it.”
The gentleman raised an eyebrow.
“We will have to stay here overnight,” explained Adena with a wry smile. “I hope that you do not mind having me as a companion?”
For a moment, it looked as though he was going to retort that he very much minded.
He stared at her, as though attempting to commit her features to memory, and Adena found herself all of a sudden very conscious that her damp gown was clinging rather scandalously to certain parts of her body that probably did not need additional emphasis.
And then that winning smile appeared on his face again, and he bowed. “Luke…Northmere, at your service.”
Adena rolled her eyes. You would have thought, in the circumstances, that they could have dispensed with the ceremony, but society’s rules had to be obeyed – even if civilisation was a long way off.
She dropped into a deep curtsey, and murmured, “Adena Garland.”
When she rose, she found that Mr Northmere had taken another step forward. Her eyes widened and she tried not to show her surprise.
“Northmere,” she repeated slowly. “I know that name.”
That certainly seemed to startle him. He stopped abruptly, and the seemingly ever present smile disappeared from his face.
“Have you?” He said, rather roughly. “All good things, I hope?”
Adena was trying desperately to think where she had seen the name before, and then she remembered. “Is not your brother getting married soon? I am sure that I saw the notice of it recently, in the paper.”
The tension in his face relaxed, and he nodded briefly. “That is correct, my brother George.”
It was quite evident to Adena that he was neither cheered nor pleased with this remembrance of hers. So, he was not in favour of matrimony then? Well, that was at least one thing that they had in common.
“Pardon?”
Adena flushed. Had she said that last part aloud? It certainly looked that way. Mr Northmere was staring at her with a slightly confused expression on his face, but there was the threat of a smile there also. Did this man ever stop smiling?
“I simply thought – ‘tis of no matter,” she said hastily, and tried to smile. Something about the way that he was looking at her, or perhaps it was his close proximity to her, was starting to unnerve her. “I hope that you will not miss the nuptials due to your imprisonment by nature here.”
He stared at her, and Adena felt a rush of heat flow through her again – but this was not embarrassment. He looked as though he could undress her with his eyes, and she was horrified to find that she was slightly enjoying it.
“Well then, Miss Garland,” Mr Northmere said, smiling. “Best foot forward.”
Luke attempted to control his gaze as they walked slowly along the beach, but it was difficult. Now that Miss Adena Garland was out of the water, it was impossible not to notice three things.
Firstly, that she was not wearing any shoes, and the brief flashes of ankle as her gown moved was starting to distract him.
Secondly, that the fiery hues of her hair were just as present in her temper, and he was startled to find that he revelled in provoking her.
Thirdly, that she was the most intoxicatingly beautiful woman that he had ever met, and his body was not letting him forget it.
Even in the silence that they were walking in, his body was crying out to him to reach out to her, to take her arm, to hold her hand, to do anything that would bring his flesh in contact with hers.
No. He would have to control that particular desire: he may be a man with few morals in that area, and he may have bedded a few women in his time, but not like this. Not when she was helpless, protectorless, and trapped on what she thought was an island.
A smile of pleasure crept over his face. By God, he would have given his back teeth for an excuse like this with Miss Garland – the perfect opportunity to act as protector, guide, and finally, lover.
“…do not you think?”
Luke started as Miss Garland’s words cut through his thoughts, and he shook his head as though ridding his water from his ears to try and concentrate on her words.
She had stopped and was staring at him. “Have you been listening to a word I have said?”
Luke decided on brutal honesty. After all, it was not as though they would ever meet again after this night. “No, I am afraid not, Miss Garland.”
She visibly bristled, and he found a delicate rush of pleasure echo through his body. My, but it really was too easy to infuriate this woman – and what a shame for her that her beauty only heightened in her frustration.
“I said,” glaring at him with emphasis, “that as the sun’s rays will almost certainly be gone in the next twenty minutes, do you not think that we should find some shelter, and light a fire?”
Luke glanced around him. The idea of snuggling up with Miss Adena Garland was definitely a delicious prospect, but he doubted that she had the same intention.
“There are a few trees here,” he said decidedly. “And my pocketknife. Let us see what we can make of them.”
Miss Garland rolled her eyes. “How very intrepid of you. Come on then.”
It took them but a minute to reach the scrub and trees, and Luke could see by her face that she was downcast.
“There is enough here for firewood,” she said quietly, “but not a shelter.”
“Oh, I would not say that,” Luke found himself speaking with an encouraging air. “You sit there, Miss Garland, and hum a ditty under your breath. I shall be back shortly.”
She glared at him for a moment, as though attempting to catch him in irreverence, but seeing as she could do little else, she dropped to the stony sand.