Forgotten Fragrance (26 page)

Pushing open a small part of the casement window she sniffed the night air. The strange mixture of salt and humanity, fish and food soothed her. A smell not so very different to Hobart Town or London, a million miles away from the clean fresh tang of the air at sea. The crowded streets hummed with activity, and catcalls and shouts drifted up through the window.

Zephyrus
was no doubt winging her way out through the Heads and into the ocean. How pleased Mina and the girls must be. Their ordeal would soon be over and they would be home. The knowledge they were safe and the memory of their friendship would stay with her forever. The rest — the rest she would think about another day. She hadn't thought of anything when she lifted her skirts and ran from Marcus. Not the smartest thing she'd ever done in her life and she had no doubt it would come back to haunt her, as would her part in Henk's death.

She scrubbed her hands over her face. No point in wallowing. What was done was done. Finding Jamie had changed everything. She couldn't go back to being the person she'd become in Hobart Town. Jamie might be lost once more but in finding him again she rediscovered herself. A life spent with Marcus subjected to his strange obsessions and temper would be worse than a prison sentence. He would be better off with a woman who would do his bidding, not question his every action and send him into fits of rage. She'd got herself into this situation and she couldn't sit around wondering who would look after her.

The gnawing in her stomach claimed her attention and after a moment or two she recognised it as hunger. She'd almost forgotten how it felt to be truly hungry. She embraced the sensation, knowing it was about all she had, apart from the clothes she stood up in and the dirt beneath her fingernails.

Charlotte turned from the window, smoothed her dress, and for a brief moment searched for her cloak before remembering it falling while she ran. Already her race from Marcus and the Quay seemed like a lifetime ago. Squaring her shoulders she made her way back down the narrow staircase. There had to be as many pockets to pick in Sydney Town as in London. Evening was the best time for sleight of hand and with a few pennies a meat pie or even jellied eels would fit the bill nicely. Her stomach rumbled in anticipation as she edged her way down the stairs and secured the church doors behind her.

‘And what's a pretty girl doin' comin' down them apples and pears, may I ask?' Charlotte stopped in her tracks. Froze. It took a few moments and several deep breaths to make sense of her tumultuous thoughts.
Apples and pears —
stairs. How long since she'd heard those words?

‘Jamie!' She gave a slow disbelieving shake of her head.

‘You're dead predictable, you are.'

The nonchalant figure lounging against the buttress of the church wall, hands plunged deep into pockets, came into focus. Not Christian, captain of the
Zephyrus.
Jamie, the smart-mouthed daredevil with a twinkle in his teasing eyes. And his voice, his accent! Enough to bring the sound of Bow Bells clanging back. Glancing around she grasped her necklace, needing something, anything to ground her, to convince her he wasn't some flight of fancy her tired mind had conjured up.

The corners of his mouth lifted in a fragment of a smile. ‘Come ‘ere and give us a kiss, love.' He puckered his lips and leant towards her, his eyebrows dancing.

Speechless, with her heart pounding in her ears Charlotte flung her arms around his neck, inhaling his warm salty smell and revelling in his touch. Jamie's lips met hers and she kissed him back as if it were the most natural thing in all the world. He lifted her from the ground, spinning her around and around until the sky and the ground met in a twirling prism of colour and they collapsed onto the grass in the graveyard laughing.

‘What are you doing here? How did you find me? Why?' Charlotte couldn't get the words out of her mouth fast enough. ‘Jamie!'

‘I've never been very good at breaking promises,' he said, his face cracking into a smile. Jamie, her Jamie, hadn't disappeared. Grown and become a man, such a handsome man. Her stomach flipped as she relived the touch of her hands on his skin, and embraced the knowledge that beneath the bronzed muscles and burnished hair the boy she had known and loved forever lived on.

By the time the sun breached the horizon Sydney Heads lay behind the
Zephyrus
. Ahead stretched the Tasman Sea, the South Sea Islands and undreamt voyages. Charlotte clung to the deck rail, the wind in her face and a smile on her lips. Magic and memories shimmered on the water promising a new beginning, and the deck was awash with excited chatter. The twelve girls, dressed in their weird assortment of sailors' garb, were barely able to contain their joy. They were returning home. Charlotte gave no thought to home and she had no intention of returning anywhere. This, the
Zephyrus
, the wide open seas and Christian were her future. She'd spent too much of her life dwelling on the past. There was only one memento she wanted. Her hand skimmed the golden chain resting against her skin down to the tiny bottle and coin nestled between her breasts, close to her heart, though she needed no reminder of Jamie. He'd kept his promise and together they faced the future.

His strong arms slipped around her waist. The scent of his body mixed with the tangy salt air filled her senses and she closed her eyes, letting her hands slide down the warm, golden skin of his arms. The rumble of his laughter, deep and rich, vibrated against her back stealing the air from her lungs.

‘A promise is a promise.'

THE END

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But a glimpse of a girl that he had forgotten, from a place he's tried to escape suddenly sets all his plans awry. Try as he might he can't shake the past, and money isn't enough to pay the debts he's incurred.

 

From Escape Publishing's Queen of historical Australian romance comes a new story about a privileged member of Australian's colonial squattocracy, a bushranger, and a very special horse.

Born into the rough, but still privileged society of the Australian colonial landowners, Lilibeth Dungarven finds herself married, widowed, and, much to her distress, back under her father's thumb, all before her twenty-first birthday. Determined not to forgo her dream of breeding the perfect racehorse, Lilibeth ignores propriety and sets out to restore the family's flagging fortunes.

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His carefree bachelor days over, Christopher Matcham returns to Sydney to take responsibility for his mother, two stepsisters, and the family property. Fortune smiles on him when he is introduced to Matilda Sweet, a woman in need of work. Though unusual, Christopher senses that her fresh ideals and positive outlook can only benefit his sisters, so he hires her as a companion.

By the time they arrive at Christopher's family home, the two are fast friends. But Matilda's unorthodox ways and her convict heritage make her a second class citizen to the family. Christopher has responsibilities, and they include an advantageous match. A breeches-wearing, fish-pond-swimming, plain-talking convict's daughter will never figure in. After all, romance is a luxury the upper classes cannot afford…

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ISBN: 9780857992291

Title: Forgotten Fragrance