Enchanted by Your Kisses (38 page)

She closed her eyes again, feeling tears squeeze through her lids. God, but could she do it? Could she let him go?

Taking a deep breath, feeling as if she were about to splinter apart inside, she turned to Phillips. "May I see
Wess
Trevain
? I wish to give him a message to take back to Nathan."

"I'll see what I can arrange." He patted her shoulder. Ariel wanted to tell him to go to hell, wanted to yell at him for doing her father's bidding. But most of all, she wanted to curl up into a little ball. God, she didn't think she could do it. She just didn't. For so long she'd hoped to find someone to love her. So long. . .

She faced the sea again, wondering how uncomfortable a death it would be to drown. But no, she could not think that, for she needed to face Nathan's brother, needed to find a way to break Nathan's heart, for that would be the only way he would leave her side. Of that she was sure.

She shook her head, feeling the pain of what she was about to do as a physical ache in her chest. It took her a moment to catch her breath, took her a moment to stop the tears she hadn't known she'd been crying from flowing down her face. She blindly stared out to sea, knowing what she was about to do would be the hardest, most difficult thing she'd ever face.

For how did one break a loved one's heart?

How did one
live
with a broken heart?

Nathan stared at the four midshipmen and one officer who stood in his room, wanting to lunge at them all, to grab them about the throat and scream at them the one question they refused to answer.

Where was Ariel?

He'd woken a half hour ago to find her gone, had sat up in bed looking for her when the men had burst in, muskets leveled. Their orders for him to get dressed were hastily obeyed. And though a part of him had wondered if Ariel had somehow aided in his capture again, the other part of him knew she had not. If she'd wanted him captured, she'd have left him in
London
. There was nothing for her to gain by bringing him here to
Brighton
.

Nothing but her love.

And she did love him. Though she had not spoken the words aloud, he could see the reflection of how she felt in her eyes. She loved him, and, God help him, he loved her, too.

A click and his bedroom door opened. He turned, hoping it was Ariel, shocked nearly into speechlessness at who he saw there instead.

"
Wess
!" The name escaped in a gasp.

"Nathan," his brother said. His body was held between two officers. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, the two men on either side of him having to act quickly to keep him from falling. And when he did slump to the ground, who stood behind him but Ariel?

Ariel, his wonderful Ariel.

Love such as he'd never known filled Nathan. How the hell had she found him?

"Put him in the bed," she ordered softly.

They did as she ordered, Nathan rushing to his brother's side. It was then that he saw them. The bruises. The cuts. God, they were everywhere.
Wess's
shirt was ripped from the force of them.

"I'm sorry, Nathan," Ariel said softly, having come up behind him.

He turned to her.

"They have beaten him rather badly."

"Who?" he clipped.

There was no need to explain who he meant. "Captain Pike and his men."

He would kill them. He turned toward the bed again. They had laid him down on his belly. Nathan saw why in an instant. Cuts, hundreds of them, crisscrossed his back, his shirt stained red with the blood from them.

"Leave us," Ariel ordered to the room at large.

"My lady," said a man Nathan hadn't seen before. He must have come in with Ariel, a young officer who looked at her with warning.

She shook her head in so small a movement as to be nearly undetectable to anyone but the man. But Nathan saw it, wondered at it.

"I will be safe here," she said. "You need only wait outside the door."

The man's eyes shot around the room, clearly uncomfortable with her request. But then his eyes settled on
Wess
, then Ariel. He nodded. "As you wish."

"Please have someone fetch a physician, too. And we will need bandages and water. Lots of water."

Again the man nodded. Nathan's gaze shot between the two. His brother groaned, and all was forgotten but the need to help him.
Wess
.
Wess
who'd been beaten to within an inch of his life.

He heard the door close, heard Ariel approach the bed, but she went to the other side.

"They made him run the gauntlet while he was at sea." she said, pain evident in the husky timbre of her voice.

"Why?" he croaked, looking back at his brother, at all the blood, some of it black around the edges, some of it still oozing.

"He tried to escape. He was put on trial for desertion. They were going to hang him, but my father stopped them."

His gaze snapped to hers. "Your father?"

She nodded. "He is here. . . in port."

The news stunned him, as he was sure it had stunned Ariel. She must have reacted quickly, however, going to the man to plead for help. Never was Nathan more grateful to someone in his life, never more in love.

"How can I thank you?"

She looked away. The door opened without a knock. The same officer said, "Water, my lady. And clean cloths."

"Put them here." She motioned next to her. One of the men who'd guarded Nathan carried two buckets.

"One is cold water, the other warm."

Ariel nodded again. "Thank you, Phillips."

The man called Phillips stared down at her. Nathan felt an instant of jealousy as he watched him touch her shoulder. "An hour, my lady. Nothing more."

"I understand and I thank you for what you've done so far. I know you take a great risk."

The man nodded. "'
Tis
the least I can do."

Nathan listened to the exchange, wondered about it. He was about to ask what would happen in a hour, but Ariel had turned back to the bed. She dipped one of the cloths in a bucket, handing it across the bed to him. "Here. We need to bathe him. I fear he may suffer from an infection."

The moment Nathan touched his brother's body, he knew her words to be true. He could feel the heat rise off his body. Working together, they removed his shirt, then his breeches, Nathan's anger at the men who'd done this to
Wess
increasing with every revealed scar.

"'
Tis
awful," he heard her say.

Yet she did not flinch, not even when they began to wipe away the blood. Not even when
Wess
cried out in pain. Nathan bade him stay still, but a few minutes later nature took care of the matter for him. His brother lost consciousness again. He and Ariel worked quickly in tandem then. She would remove a piece of shirt, he would wash the wound, his brother's blood spilling on his hands, his clothes, the bed. Yet she did her work silently, efficiently. Nathan's admiration for her, if possible, increased even more. And when they were finished and she came over to the basin that stood upon a dresser to wash her hands, he marveled at her cool reaction, even as he followed in her wake to do the same.

"The doctor should be able to tell you more about his condition."

Nathan glanced back at the bed. "If he dies of his wounds, there will be hell to pay."

"He will not die," she said, turning to face him at last, touching his arm before pulling her hand away. "I will ensure that he receives the best care possible."

He nodded, touching her chin as he had on that
longago
day when they'd met in the garden. "Ariel, I can't thank you enough. You have given me something I never thought to have back. How can I ever thank you?"

She closed her eyes as if in pain. "Nathan, I—"

Someone knocked on the door. They stared at each other for a second before she said, "Just a moment," then turned. And had he mistaken it, or were there tears in her eyes?

"Five more minutes, Phillips, please," he heard her say.

He heard a low, masculine voice respond, too low to make out the words.

"I know."

More softly muttered words.

"I will tell him."

She closed the door, her hand lingering on the door handle for a long moment.

"Ariel, what foolishness is this? Why does it sound like you must leave?"

"Phillips said the physician will be here shortly. He was out on another call when they arrived, but word was sent. He'll be here soon."

Her voice sounded odd, muffled, as if she spoke through a cloth or—

Cried.

"Ariel," he said, crossing to her in three quick strides, turning her. "What is going on?"

Tears streamed down her face as she met his gaze. "Oh, Nathan, I cannot do it. I cannot."

"Cannot do what?"

She wiped away her tears, only to have more replace them instantly. "I was going to tell you a lie. I was going to make up a story about how I've been working for the Admiralty. That I'd been told to help you escape so that I could gain your trust, but I cannot do it. I just cannot."

"What are you saying?"

She stared up at him, searching his eyes, her hand half rising as if she meant to touch his face, only to fall back to her side. "You are going back to the colonies, Nathan."

"Of course I am, with you and my brother, once he heals."

"You would have me?"

He nodded. "Of course. I love you. After what has happened between us, did you think anything else?"

But his words caused more tears. She glanced over at the bed, her eyes filling with pain and something else. Hopelessness?

"I could not be sure, but it changes nothing."

"What do you mean?"

She seemed to brace herself, took a deep breath. "I am not going with you."

He stared down at her, unable to speak for moment. "What nonsense is this?"

She grabbed his hand, stemming the flow of angry words he'd been about to snap. "Listen to me, Nathan. I cannot go with you for a reason that you must understand—"

"What do you mean I
must
understand?"

"My father—"

"What has he to do with this? Is he forcing you to stay?"

Ariel knew she needed to be careful in how she answered the question. If Nathan knew the truth, he would be furious and likely want to confront her father. Then he would know that both of them had no choice in the matter. He was to be sent back to the colonies with his brother. She was to remain here, alone, without the man she loved. Should he refuse to leave, he would be incarcerated again, his brother suffering the same fate. She couldn't let that happen.

Wouldn't let that happen.

She took a deep breath. "No, Nathan," she said firmly, though the words all but stuck in her throat. "He is not forcing me to stay here. The decision was mine to make."