Of Noble Birth (45 page)

Alexandra clamped a hand
over the fabric of her dress. “You’re every bit the scoundrel I
thought you were.”

“If you invite a starving
man to supper, you can hardly blame him for salivating at the
food.”

“You’ve been issued no
invitations.” Alexandra bit her lip against a smile. “But I’ll take
your interest along those lines as a good sign. I thought you were
close to your last breath.” She glanced around at the rotting
refuse that spilled from the gutters on both sides, and wrinkled
her nose as they passed an outdoor privy. “I’ve certainly visited
better places. Are you sure we’re traveling in the right
direction?”

Nathaniel grimaced as a
rut in the road caused him to stumble. “We’ll blend in far better
here in the East End. My father is not so familiar with these
climes, I assure you.”

“You mean
you’ll
blend in,” she
said, stepping over the feet of a drunk sprawled across their
path.

“Are you saying I look no
better than yon gentleman?” He quirked an eyebrow at
her.

“Let’s just say that your
clothes fit you about as well as mine do me.” She laughed. “Your
trousers are equally revealing, but I can’t say as I’m thrilled
about seeing your ankles.”

Nathaniel grinned. “Well,
I’ll be happy to show you my more exciting parts—”

Alexandra gently elbowed
him in the ribs.

“Ow!”

She smiled up at him.
“Sorry, did I hurt you?”

He scowled at her, but
Alexandra noticed that he didn’t bother averting his gaze from her
bosom.

“You’re incorrigible,” she
told him.

“So they say.”

“Who says? The
ladies?”

His grin widened, tempting
Alexandra to kick him in the shins.

“Really, you’d think a man
on the verge of death would care about more important
things—”

“Are there more important
things? After a month in the hulks, I’m beginning to
wonder.”

Alexandra heard the
serious note that had crept into Nathaniel’s voice, but when she
glanced up at him, he looked away. After a moment of silence, he
said, “Let’s get a room at the first inn we find. I think we’ve
gone far enough.”

“Do you not expect me to
draw a connection between that statement and several others you’ve
just made?” she asked.

She could feel Nathaniel’s
ribs shake as he chuckled. “If only I had the strength.”

“And how do you propose we
pay for this room?”

“Trenton will pay for it.
You’ll simply have to talk the innkeeper into giving us a room
until our friend joins us.”

“And why would an
innkeeper trust me, especially one in these parts?”

“With a face like yours?”
Nathaniel winked. “I have faith in you, my love.”

The inn they selected was
a small, ramshackle building that sat back off the main streets.
The lobby was sparsely furnished with threadbare rugs and dingy
draperies. The innkeeper sat behind a tall counter, chewing a soggy
cigar butt between rotting teeth. He glanced up from his newspaper
as Alexandra entered.

“Good afternoon,” she
said, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room.
She had left Nathaniel outside, hoping a lone woman would elicit a
more positive response from the innkeeper. But she doubted anything
could influence the hard-looking man she saw before her. With a
bulk easily approaching three hundred and fifty pounds, he wore a
grease-stained shirt that showed rings of perspiration under his
armpits.

He grunted, setting his
paper aside and somehow managing to stand despite his incredible
weight. “Would ye like a room?”

“Yes... however, I have
one small problem.” Alexandra swallowed hard and gave him her
sweetest smile. “You see, I don’t have any money—”

“Then ye don’t ‘ave a
room.” He heaved his hulking mass back onto his stool and took up
his paper.

“I’m supposed to meet a
man here. He’ll pay you when he comes. He’ll be here before
nightfall.”

The innkeeper kept
reading.

“Sir?”

He removed the cigar from
his mouth and let it smolder in a crystal ashtray, the only
delicate-looking object in the room. “There’ll be a premium then,
providin’ yer man shows up.” He looked up. “I don’t run no
almshouse ‘ere. An’ if ye don’t pay, I’ll boot ye out onto the
street long before mornin’, understand?” His gaze searched her
face.

“Perfectly,” she said.
“I’m sure he’ll come.”

“That’s what they all
say.” He stuffed the cigar back into his mouth and clamped down on
it while he gave Alexandra a gaping leer. With her ill-fitting
dress and bedraggled appearance, she knew she probably looked like
a girl of dubious character, and his next words confirmed his
opinion of her.

“If yer man don’t show, I
might be able to replace ‘im with another uh... client, if ye like.
Providin’ ye work, I’ll cover yer room an’ board for as long as ye
want to stay.”

“No, thank you. I’m not
what you may think, but I’ll take that room you
promised.”

The innkeeper paused,
obviously doubtful, then handed her a key from the wall of
pigeonholes behind him. “‘Tis just down the hall to yer left. An’
don’t forget—ye might not like the method of payment I require if
yer man don’t come through,” he said, and his raspy laugh followed
her out.

* * *

“That wasn’t half as easy
as you made it sound,” Alexandra complained as soon as she reached
Nathaniel.

Sitting against the
outside of the building, he squinted up at her when her shadow fell
across him. “I just hope you got a room,” he said, his voice weaker
than before.

Alexandra felt a prickle
of fear crawl up her spine. Had his wound begun to bleed again? “I
got the room. Let me help you up. Do you think you can make it past
the innkeeper while I distract him? Otherwise he’ll demand payment
right away.”

Nathaniel
nodded.

When they reached the
door, Alexandra entered first. She approached the counter and
smiled when the innkeeper finally looked up from his newspaper. “I
just wanted to be sure you would tell my friend, when he comes,
which room I’m in.”

His eyebrows drew
together, but he nodded, the smelly cigar moving in his mouth as he
spoke. “I’ll tell ‘im—right after ‘e gives me my money.”

Alexandra moved to the
right, drawing the innkeeper’s eye with her so he wouldn’t see
Nathaniel. “That’s very kind of you.” She lowered her voice. “You
know, there are not many men in your position who would have
treated me so generously.”

He grunted, the kindness
of her words obviously throwing him off-balance. “Don’t think ye’ll
change my mind,” he rallied. “Yer fellow pays or ye don’t
stay.”

“Of course. Oh, and I was
wondering, do you happen to have a porter or someone with whom I
could send a message?”

“Not without money, I
don’t.”

“Fine.” Alexandra could
see that Nathaniel had already made his way down the darkened
hallway so she smiled again, then followed him.

Nathaniel sagged onto the
bed as soon as she opened the door. Propping a pillow behind his
head, Alexandra swung his feet up and rolled him onto his side to
examine the bandage. There was little fresh blood. He just needed
to rest.

Breathing a sigh of
relief, she turned her attention to the room, which was almost as
sparse as the lobby. A washbasin containing gray, tepid water stood
near the window, and a chest and a chair were placed on either side
of the iron bed. One small rug covered the filthy wood floor. None
of the mismatched furniture was in good condition, but it was the
smell of the place that offended Alexandra most. Old sweat and
camphor balls combined to create a musty odor that prompted her to
open the window straightaway. The stench of the open sewer that ran
through the gutter outside, made worse by the warmth of the
afternoon sun, motivated her to hurry and close it
again.

Taking the pitcher from
the washstand, she left the room in search of fresh
water.

“Pump’s at the end of the
street,” the innkeeper told her when he saw what she
carried.

Alexandra scowled at him,
wondering why she’d been left with dirty water in the first place.
“And some clean linens?” she pressed.

“Yer a picky sort for not
‘avin’ paid a farthin’ as yet.” He entered a small room behind him
and returned with two towels and a set of sheets.

When Alexandra returned,
Nathaniel felt hot to the touch. She took a clean rag, dipped it
into the cool water, and dabbed it across his forehead. He didn’t
move, but he seemed to be resting comfortably.

“You’re going to be all
right, my pirate captain,” she whispered. Then, exhausted herself,
she curled up next to him as a vision of the house and children she
had always wanted flashed across her mind—the one that came with a
husband who was kind and stable.

She had craved such peace
and comfort since her mother had died. But when she looked at
Nathaniel and felt the warmth of his body next to hers, she was
tempted to trade it all away for whatever the pirate captain could
provide... if only he would ask her.

* * *

Alexandra was awakened by
a gentle hand stroking her arm. The sun was setting and its rays
filled the room with a golden light as she glanced up to see
Nathaniel watching her.

“Are you all right?” she
murmured.

“You could make me
better,” he replied, giving her a crooked grin.

She batted her eyelids
coyly. “Meaning...”

“Meaning it’s about time
you made good on that offer you made me at Gunther’s place. Didn’t
you say you wouldn’t charge me a farthing for an hour or so with
your glorious body?” He reached over to cup her chin in his palm
and began kissing her neck.

The feather-light touch of
his lips made Alexandra shiver. “I was speaking hypothetically,”
she reminded him.

“Well, the hypothetical is
here.” He lowered his mouth to where her dress gaped away from her
chest and tickled the swell of each breast with his tongue. “I
never pegged you as the type to go back on a bargain.”

She tried to bat him away,
but the attempt was halfhearted at best. “Unlike someone else I
know,” she replied, lowering her eyelids as desire pooled, warm in
her belly. “What was it last time? A trip to shore for a kiss?
“

His smile broadened.
“Don’t worry, I don’t plan to cheat you this time. I plan to take
my time and give you all you want and more.” He slowly undid the
buttons of her dress and pushed it off her shoulders to below her
bust. Admiration filled his eyes as his gaze lowered. “You’re
beautiful,” he whispered. “Even more beautiful than I
imagined.”

Alexandra could see his
outline in the dwindling light, the aristocratic features, the
strong chin, the square jaw. She’d removed his shirt before
checking his wound, and the muscles of his torso rippled smoothly
beneath his bronze skin as he moved. Nathaniel was thinner, but his
body was no less defined for all his ill treatment. In repose, his
face could look boyish, especially when his dark hair fell across
his brow. But when he was filled with hate or anger—or passion,
like
_now
—the planes of his
face looked chiseled from stone.

Luxuriating in the heat
their bodies generated, Alexandra let her fingers travel up his
bare arm. He closed his eyes as her hand moved onto his chest,
where she spread both palms against him, feeling the softly curling
hair that grew there.

“See? I don’t bite,” he
whispered hoarsely. Nipping at her ear, he added, “Not hard,
anyway. Do you remember that time I walked in on you after your
bath on the
Vengeance?”

Alexandra nodded. “How
could I forget? You looked as though you might eat me for
dinner.”

He chuckled. “A promise I
still intend to fulfill.”

“We can talk about the
past,” she said, “but please, don’t let me think about
tomorrow.”

Nathaniel pulled back to
look at her with shocking intensity. “You can’t go into this blind,
Alexandra. I don’t know what my future holds, or when, if
ever—”

She raised a finger to his
lips. She didn’t want to think. She wanted only to relish the way
his hand moving over her body made her quiver like the most
delicate note of a harp vibrating on the air. Nathaniel was not the
one she had always pictured in her dreams. In fact, he was almost
the opposite. He was headstrong, sometimes arrogant, definitely
dangerous. His emotions were palpable and often tempestuous. She
couldn’t see him in the role she had assigned to her calm, steady,
imaginary husband.

But she could picture no
one else as her lover. No one else could possess her body—and her
soul—like she knew he could.

She pressed her ear to his
chest to hear the steady thump of his heart until Nathaniel once
again lifted her chin and found her mouth with his own. His lips
were soft but firm as they moved with mounting pressure. The warm,
velvety softness of his tongue slid into her mouth. Yielding,
Alexandra let herself be carried away by the passion that swirled
about them like a river’s strong current, pulling her away from
safety to some unknown destination.