Moonwitch (9 page)

“Aye, sir!” His rosy, round face breaking out in a sheepish grin, Colin raised his hand in a clumsy salute.

“No, lad, let me show you.” Kyle reached down to take the small hand in his large one and demonstrate the proper method. “Aye, that’s the way of it. Now lead the way to your bedchamber, and I’ll tuck you in—before your mama finds you still awake and gives us both a tongue-lashing.”

Nodding wisely, Colin climbed the two steps to the gallery and proudly took the captain’s hand. But then he paused to glance over his shoulder. “Will you come, Miss Markham?”

Selena smiled. “I think perhaps I should stay here,” she said gently. “Then if your mama happens to look for you, I can detain her.”

Colin returned her gaze solemnly. “When I am a captain, you may ride on my ship.”

Selena felt her heart melt. She hated the thought of riding on a ship,
any
ship, but she would cut out her tongue before she refused such a generous offer. “Thank you, my love,” she replied softly. “I shall remember your promise.”

As the footsteps—one pair booted and sturdy, the other slippered and light—died away, Selena sighed in the lonely silence. It was at times like these when she felt keenly what her life was missing. She would have liked very much to have a son like Colin…But now it seemed she wouldn’t even have a husband.

Feeling restless and despondent, she rose and made her way down the steps to the edge of the moonlit garden, where she stood gazing out at the distant horizon.

Kyle found her there a short while later—her shoulders drooping dejectedly, like a slender reed bowing before the wind. He thought he understood her misery. In the drawing room a moment ago he had observed her stepmother making a play for her betrothed husband, and the not-so-Honorable Avery Warner responding to every blatant word of flattery, puffing out his chest like a stuffed peacock. It hadn’t been difficult for Kyle to put the pieces together then or to understand why Selena had proposed to him this morning. And he could sense her distress now, even across the stretch of garden that separated them.

He ought to stay away, Kyle warned himself as he descended the stairs from the veranda. He knew enough about Selena Markham to realize she spelled trouble and more trouble. And yet he felt drawn to her quiet beauty. Her gown shimmered silver in the faint light, making her appear as tantalizing and elusive as a moonbeam.

Occupied by her own thoughts, Selena didn’t hear his approach until Kyle was directly behind her. She started and turned, glancing up at him in alarm. She relaxed slightly when she recognized him. “Thank you,” she said almost at once, “for being sensitive to Colin’s feelings. That was kind of you.”

Kyle shrugged. “I know how a boy dreams of the sea.”

“Yet you seemed taken with him, not as if you viewed him an encumbrance.”

He cocked his head, assessing her. “I like children well enough. I just never had much time for them in my line of work.”

“Do you really mean to give it up?” she asked curiously as he advanced another step.

“Give what up?” The question seemed absent, but his deep voice stroked her like a caress.

Selena felt its impact even as she realized how intently he was studying her face. He was too close, she thought suddenly. Too close and too masculine. His potent virility made her feel entirely too vulnerable. “The sea,” she replied vaguely, hardly remembering her question.

Kyle took one last step to close the distance, his gaze focusing on her lips. “I must.”

Selena caught her breath. She could feel Kyle’s warmth, could feel the vital power within him, indeed could almost feel again the bold thrust of him between her thighs. Sensations of unexpected pleasure flickered through her at the memory, making her quiver. She was powerless to prevent what she knew would happen next.

Slowly he reached up to run a slow finger along her lush bottom lip, tracing its curving outline. How, he wondered, could he possibly have mistaken her innocence before? She was so cool and virginal. His other hand slipped behind her neck, his touch light and sensual as he drew her against his hard body.

“You shouldn’t…” she said breathlessly, reading the amber glow of his eyes as he held her.

“I know,” he murmured quite seriously, and bent his head.

His kiss was just as devastating as before, each slow, probing thrust of his tongue stealing another measure of her resistance. For a full minute she could do little more than savor the taste and feel of his lips as they moved possessively over hers.

When he finished a thorough exploration of her mouth and allowed Selena to come up for air, she opened her eyes to find Kyle looking down at her, his heavy brows drawn together in bemusement. “You’re too tempting by half, Moonwitch,” he breathed, his voice quite husky now. “I don’t know what it is you—”

“So!” The exclamation exploded the silence of the garden. “The gossip was true!”

Recognizing Avery’s voice, Selena sprang back guiltily from her compromising embrace and turned to see her betrothed standing at the rail of the gallery. His fists were clenched by his sides, his face contorted with anger.

He stormed down the stairs and across the garden. “So!” he repeated, stalking up to Selena. “Edith was right. The minute my back is turned, I find you consorting with a sailor. My betrothed!” He seemed to have forgotten Kyle’s presence entirely as he glared at Selena with fury. “Come away at once! I shall escort you home, where I will decide how to deal with this.”

Although she was quaking inside, Selena faced him with outward calm. Now that the moment of confrontation was at hand, she was strangely relieved. She had now given Avery adequate reason to break off their engagement without bringing up his sordid affair with her stepmother or her own loss of innocence. She had only to get through these next few unpleasant moments… and the hundreds following when she would be required to face the censure and gossip and ridicule.

“No, Avery,” she replied unsteadily, “you will
not
escort me home, nor will you decide how to deal with this. You may, however, consider our engagement at an end.”

“I will not be played false!” he shouted, taking a threatening step toward her. Before she could move, he had raised his hand and slapped her across the cheek.

Selena was shocked more than hurt, but Kyle gave a snarl of fury.

“Why, you bloody—” Grabbing Avery’s lapel, he let fly with a powerful fist. The blow lifted Avery off his feet and sent him catapulting into a hibiscus bush. Neither the yelp of pain he gave upon landing nor the groan he emitted as he tried to sit up was very dignified.

Kyle stood over him, his expression savage. “I ought to keelhaul you,” he growled as he flexed his knuckles. “Get up, you scurvy bilge rat! I’m more your size.”

Selena, who disliked any form of violence, was visibly shaken now. Yet Avery’s double standards had incensed her. She stared down at him, holding one gloved hand to her smarting cheek, the other clenched in a gesture of defiance. “Play
you
false?” she jeered. “And just what do you call what
you’ve
been doing for the past year or more?”

“What does that mean?” Avery retorted, his tone guarded.

“It isn’t something I choose to bandy about in public! And it hardly matters now. I don’t intend to marry you. You won’t be getting the plantation you coveted.”

Avery stared at her. “But it was what your father wished.”

“My father would have been the first to understand,” Selena returned with icy civility. “If he had known you merely wanted the plantation, he never would have pressed me to accept your suit.”

“I don’t merely want the plantation. I want you, too, of course.”

“Oh, yes, you require a ‘chaste little puritan’ for your wife!” Selena raised her chin, determined not to give Avery the satisfaction of knowing how his betrayal had hurt her. “Well, even if I were to marry you, you wouldn’t be getting the virgin bride you wanted.”

She sensed Kyle’s sudden stiffening even before Avery’s eyes narrowed in a sharp glance.

“What,”
Avery demanded in a tone that had suddenly turned ominous,
“do you mean?”

Selena checked abruptly, realizing that in her distraught state she had said more than she ought. Avery had read into her words exactly what she had meant. “N-nothing,” she stammered, taking a step backward. “I only meant I wouldn’t marry you.”

Slowly, with effort, Avery climbed to his feet, his face darkening as he glanced from Selena to Kyle and back to Selena. “You little slut,” he breathed. “You gave him more than a kiss, didn’t you?”

Kyle took exception to the slur and raised a clenched fist, while Selena exclaimed, “No! Of course not!” with too much fervor.

They were all startled when Edith Markham spoke from the gallery. “Oh, Selena, how could you?” she exclaimed in shocked tones. “Bestowing your maidenhead on a common seaman!”

At the collective gasps that proceeded this statement, Selena’s gaze flew to the veranda. Edith was standing at the head of the steps, observing the altercation in the garden, an expression of dismay pasted on her face. Beside her stood Governor Ramsay, Beth Thorpe and half a dozen of the guests.

Shock drained the blood from Selena’s cheeks as she realized how complete her humiliation was. She heard Kyle curse under his breath, but she was too numb to do likewise, even if she had known the proper words.

“It’s true, isn’t it?” Avery demanded, taking a menacing step toward Selena. He was taking a second step when a lethal voice interrupted him.

“You lay another finger on her,” Kyle warned, his tone low and deadly, “and I’ll carve you into so many pieces you won’t be fit for minnow bait.”

Halting where he stood, Avery cast a wary glance at the taller man. Then his gaze sliced back to Selena. “Is it true?”

White-faced, Selena stared back at him. Her disgrace was total. To have both her betrothed and her stepmother question her virtue before the elite ranks of Antiguan society was nearly as damning as if she had paraded naked down Market Street. Her own position irredeemable, she could only hope to spare Kyle any further embarrassment.

And to do so, she realized, thinking frantically, she would have to absolve him of blame. Merely protesting that she hadn’t lost her virtue to him would not be enough, for she wouldn’t be believed, not with Edith prepared to assert otherwise.

She was still considering her limited options when Avery once again demanded if it was true that she and Kyle were lovers. And before she could answer, Kyle’s patience snapped.

“Blast it, Warner, stop badgering her! Whether or not it’s true hardly matters.”

Turning then, his jaw set in a hard line, Kyle reached out to take Selena’s slender, gloved hand in his own large one. He glanced down at her pale, startled face only once before again fixing his scowl on Avery. “There’s a simple explanation for why you found us unchaperoned in the garden,” he said, raising his voice for the benefit of the watching crowd. “This morning Miss Markham did me the honor of agreeing to become my wife.”

U
nable to sleep for the second night in a row, Selena sat at her dressing table, slowly drawing a brush through her hair. The low-burning lamp beside her bathed her in a golden glow, highlighting the delicate lace trim of the wrapper she wore over her nightdress. She felt strangely calm now, despite the catastrophic events of the evening, despite the fact that she was now engaged to marry a stranger.

Captain Ramsey’s announcement had rendered her speechless. She hadn’t expected him to rescue her from a scandal that was greatly of her own making.

Selena’s hand stilled as she remembered the shocked expressions on the faces of the guests, which Kyle’s declaration had done little to mend. But then dear, kind Beth had stepped into the breach, scolding Avery for making a scene and spoiling her ball.

“Do calm yourself, Avery,” Beth had insisted. “I know you are greatly disappointed to lose Selena, but this is no way for a gentleman to act.” She turned to the governor with a bright smile. “Perhaps, sir, you would be kind enough to lead the company in a toast to congratulate Miss Markham and Captain Ramsey on their newfound happiness. Drew planned to announce their engagement at supper, but Selena wanted to speak to Avery first. It would have been extremely awkward otherwise. Although—” Beth shot Avery a disapproving look “—not as awkward as it turned out, I expect.”

“You knew about this?” Avery sputtered up at her.

“Of course I knew. Indeed, my only surprise is that Selena waited so long to come to a decision. She realized during Captain Ramsey’s last visit what a mistake she had made in agreeing to marry you, but Selena was just too noble to throw you over, Avery.”

“Throw me over? Throw
me
over? I wasn’t even aware she was acquainted with this… this… American!”

“Of course they are acquainted. They’ve known each other for an age! Good heavens, you don’t believe Selena would allow herself to be kissed on the streets of St. John’s by a perfect stranger? Anyone with eyes can see they are madly in love.”

Kyle picked up his cue then, raising Selena’s hand to his lips in a tender gesture. “Fortunately I finally persuaded Miss Markham to accept my suit.”

“There!” Beth smiled with satisfaction. “Just as I said, a love match.”

At that blatant falsehood, Selena felt her cheeks go from white to crimson. She felt as if she were being swept along by a tidal wave, as if there were no way to save herself from drowning. And yet Kyle had thrown her a lifeline. He was something to cling to.

As Beth turned to usher her guests inside, Selena glanced up again at Kyle. The lean, hard planes of his cheeks looked harsh and forbidding in the silver of the Caribbean moonlight; his jaw was set and rigid. He had spoken lovingly to her, but she was close enough to detect the underlying currents in his tone and in his body. He was seething with anger. And she had a strong suspicion his anger was directed at her.

He didn’t want their engagement any more now than he had this morning, she knew. He was simply being chivalrous. But she was supremely grateful for his intervention in preventing a scandal—and grateful for his supporting hand beneath her arm during the next few hours as they received the hesitant toasts and questioning congratulations of the guests.