Chapter Ten #2
She shook out of the thought, angry with herself for even thinking of her betrothed. Why was he not around to build these sort of memories with her?
She removed her boots and walked to the water’s edge to watch Milbury frolic with his sons amid the waves. A light breeze swirled around her gown and made her hat flap over her eyes, so she took it off and held it in her hand while the sun beat down upon her head and warmed her skin.
Milbury swam the length of the cove, dove in and out of the waves with the sleek grace of a dolphin, and then began to play a game in the water with his sons, tossing them into the air as though he were a springboard for them while they dove into the water.
They did this over and over, his roars and their squeals of delight filling the air as they splashed and swam, and obviously had a gleeful time.
Gwendolyn dared to dip more than a toe in the water, hiking her gown to her thighs to keep it dry while wading in up to her knees.
She was having a nice time watching the three of them, and not paying any particular attention to where she was standing, when something scaly suddenly grazed her leg.
She shrieked and began to leap around to avoid the creature, which seemed intent on swimming in circles around and through her legs.
She lost her balance when her foot fell into a sharp drop-off, and she tumbled into the water.
“Gwen!” Milbury was immediately by her side, lifting her out of the water, but not before she had gone under and come up coughing.
Her hair was soaking wet. So was her gown.
“My necklace!” She patted her chest to make certain it was still clasped around her neck and panicked when she realized it had come undone and was sliding into her chest. Unthinkingly, she stuck her hand down the front of her gown and groped around between her breasts.
“Oh, thank goodness! I have it.” She drew it out, her smile bright as she held it up to show him.
“Oh, Gwen. Are you all right?” he asked in a husky rumble, looking as though his eyes had just bulged out of their sockets and he was trying to ease them back in.
Oh, Lord.
She was such a ninny. How much of her bosom had he seen as she’d frantically stuffed her hand down her gown?
Since his expression had returned to normal by the time he carried her out of the water and was about to deposit her on their blanket, she decided to ignore the fact that he’d accidentally seen too much of her and pretend that nothing had happened.
Jordan grabbed her hat that was about to float out to sea as she wrapped her arms around Milbury’s neck, not ready to let go of him when he tried to set her down on the blanket.
“Gwen,” he said, his voice deep and soothing, “do you want me to hold you a little while longer?”
She coughed. “Yes, please.” And tried not to notice the beads of water glistening on his arms and trailing down the arch of his neck.
“What set you in a panic?” he asked, not seeming to mind that he had to keep her in his arms because she was still clinging to him like a limpet.
“Something horrid rubbed against my leg.”
“A turtle? Perhaps a fish? I doubt it was an eel. They never come into the cove.”
“It might have been a snake.”
He laughed lightly. “No snakes here. But fish are commonly found in our cove. That’s why you’ll see birds circling the water whenever it is feeding time.”
She groaned. “Is that all it was?”
“Yes, my adventurous city girl.” He set her gently on her feet but kept her pressed close to his body and circled one arm around her waist to steady her while he brushed a few loose tendrils off her face. “Shall I take you back to the house?”
“No.” She remained clutching his shoulders. “I’ll be fine in a moment. I held my breath as I sank under, so I did not swallow very much seawater.”
“Good, for that would have irritated your throat. But you sound a little raspy.”
She nodded. “I did swallow a little water.”
He unpinned her hair, which was slipping out of the pins because it was soaking wet and weighed down. He dropped the pins into her hat, which Jordan had just retrieved and set down on the blanket.
“Boys, you can go back in the water. Gwendolyn’s fine. I’ll join you in a moment.”
“All right, Papa,” Jordan said, and both boys ran off to dive back into the gentle waves.
“Are you sure you will be all right if I leave you here?” James asked again, running his fingers through her hair, now tumbling down her back in a wet cascade.
“Yes, I’ll manage. I’m sorry I behaved like a frightened goose.”
“No, Gwen. Nothing to apologize for.”
“Well, I could have been braver,” she admitted with a wincing smile. “You needn’t stay with me. I know your sons want you back in the water with them. I’ll take a walk along the sand while you swim. Hopefully, my gown will dry under the heat of the sun.”
He nodded. “It will, but the sun is strong and your skin is fair. It’ll burn easily, and that’s dangerous.”
“I’ll wear my hat.” She frowned. “But my gown is so wet.”
“Don’t worry about it. Toss on my shirt if you get cold, or wrap the blanket around yourself.”
“All right.”
Perhaps her brain had turned soggy, because she felt so comfortable in his arms and did not want to let go of him. There was something wonderfully protective about the way he held her.
But she released him and took a step back. “Will you help me with my necklace clasp?”
“Sure,” he said, brushing her hair aside and placing the necklace securely around her neck again.
Perhaps she had imagined it, but his gaze had turned steamy in the moment before he abruptly turned away and once again joined his sons in the water.
Gwendolyn wasn’t cold. In truth, her insides were in flames.
“Oh, James,” she said in a whisper, “what am I to do about you?”
She was developing strong feelings for him. This was very bad for so many reasons.
They remained on the beach another hour before he and his boys got out of the water and returned to her side to gather their belongings. Gwendolyn had been seated on the blanket watching them, but now scrambled to her feet and started to close up the picnic basket.
“I’ll help you with that,” Milbury murmured. “Here, why don’t you put on your walking boots?”
Gwendolyn’s heart raced every time his hand grazed hers as he knelt down to assist her.
Was he feeling anything for her?
Well, she knew he did admire her because he considered her a role model for his potential brides. A goalpost, he’d called her.
However, she was certain her ridiculous tumble in the water had taken her down a peg in his estimation. She had made such a fool of herself, panicking over a harmless fish. Not to mention she probably looked like a swamp witch with her hair in wild curls.
Milbury, on the other hand, looked handsome as sin with his lightly bronzed skin and his body glistening in the sun. As she stared at him, because she could not seem to avert her eyes, he smiled at her while brushing back his dark hair by raking his fingers through it.
But that slow, casual motion of raising his muscled arms and plunging his fingers through those wet strands had her heart racing again.
She adored the look of his mane, which was flecked with silver at the temples. That dash of silver enhanced the masculine contours of his face.
“It’s teatime, lads. Are you hungry?” Milbury asked, even though the boys had been feeding at the picnic basket, like horses at the trough, the entire two hours they had been on the beach.
“Famished,” Jordan replied.
Robert’s stomach growled.
Milbury laughed as he rose off his bended knee. “Why am I not surprised? Let’s go.” He reached out a hand to Gwendolyn, and she took it without conscious thought, for it simply felt right.
Neither he nor his boys bothered to don their shirts before strolling back to the house. Milbury merely tossed his over one broad shoulder and then hoisted the now-empty picnic basket over his shoulder, too.
Jordan carried the blanket and sack of empty bottles that had once held the lemonade. Robert merely danced around his father and brother excitedly, looking very much like a garden imp with spiky hair and pointed ears.
Ridiculous tumble into the water and panic over her necklace aside, Gwendolyn could not ever recall spending a more pleasant afternoon or feeling so much at peace in those few hours on the beach.
She could have this forever if she dared put herself in contention as a match for Milbury, she knew. But this would require her to abandon Andrew.
Was she ready to do it?