Miles Before I Sleep (23 page)

30

Andrea James stood in front of the mirror inside the door of her wardrobe looking at herself, wondering if Miles would think she was pretty enough to be his bride. Even with the sun she had been exposed to, she appeared pale, and felt a bit nauseated.

“Miss James, did you need me to talk to you about what happens afterwards?” Ruth asked timidly.

Although Andrea had always been polite, she had never been overly friendly. Ruth hadn’t taken offense. She just thought the young woman was reserved in a shy sense. Mr. Huntington specifically asked her to broach the subject, but as usual, Andrea was not particularly forthcoming.

“I think I understand the mechanics of it,” Andrea said quietly.

Nervous about the conversation already, Ruth couldn’t help but giggle at her odd response.

Andrea frowned and drew herself up, her face turning placid and her body rigid. “It’s all right. My mother has spoken to me.”

“Good. I wasn’t really sure what to say. My mother was of no help at all. I probably wouldn’t have been much help either.”

Andrea nodded. What was there to say? What could anyone say to prepare a young woman for what was bound to be one of the singularly most unpleasant experiences of her life? How could one placate another’s fear with mere words?

“I’ll see if they’re ready for you.”

A few minutes later, Miles stood at her door dressed in a double-breasted navy blue wool coat and trousers. It was nearly the same as the captain’s uniform, but completely devoid of any rank insignia. He looked more handsome than the day they had met five years earlier. He presented himself with an air of quiet confidence that made her feel breathless. She didn’t understand how she could be so attracted to a man and yet so afraid of what he would do to her later that evening.

“You look beautiful,” he said.

She wore her pale blue dress that seemed to reflect the blue of her eyes. As with all of the dresses she’d brought with her, it was practical with a modest neckline, but to Miles it was the most beautiful dress in the world because she was wearing it to their wedding. Ruth had pinned her hair into an intricate woven pattern in the back and had surrounded the pattern with a braid that seemed to have no beginning or end. Delicate blonde wisps curled down from her temples framing her face. He noted her pallor and how unnaturally still and erect she stood.

“Nervous?”

“I’m fine,” she said, but to his eyes, she clearly was not.

“Are you? You look like you’re ready to swoon.”

“I’m not sure my meal is going to stay down,” she admitted.

A sympathetic chuckle escaped his lips. He took a hold of her hands. “Look at me.” He waited until her eyes met his before he continued. “Everything is going to be fine. I love you, Andrea. I want you to be happy and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you are.”

Andrea swallowed nervously and her eyes turned red as water filled her bottom lids. She took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”

Miles scowled. Tears were not what he wanted to see in her eyes on their wedding day. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

Andrea bit her lip. “I do. I do want to marry you—not only because Captain Bloodworthy demanded it. It’s just… I want
it
over with.”

“
It
?”

Miles was glad her mother was not there. If she had been, he might have resorted to berating the woman who would soon be his mother-by-marriage.

“Andi, we’re not just going to do
it
to get it over with. We may not make love at all tonight. You already told me you do not feel well. I am not an animal with no control of myself.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, casting her eyes down.

Miles put a finger under her chin and gently lifted her head until she raised her eyes to his. “Never be sorry for being honest with me. I like knowing what is going on in your mind. You’re so good at hiding your feelings, it’s hard for me to know unless you tell me.”

Andrea bit her lip and nodded, her eyes wide with wonder that Miles cared what she thought. She had been taught she must yield to her husband’s wishes, to do and be what he would want, regardless of her opinions and needs.

“Shall we?” he asked, extending his hand to her. When she placed her trembling hand in his, he gave it a small reassuring squeeze.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” He led her down to the deck where twenty lanterns made a large circle with Levi Bloodworthy inside awaiting them.

“Here?”

“Is this all right?”

“It’s perfect,” she said with a small smile. “No one I know has been married under the stars. It’s only right that we should be married under You-Know-Whose Perfect Plumage and the Cloud Monkey Ship.”

As Miles and Andrea stepped into the circle of lanterns and began taking their vows, neither was aware of the growing crowd of onlookers.

To Andrea it was magical, and she wondered how he had mysteriously produced a wedding ring for her. Was it borrowed for the ceremony?

Butterflies danced in her stomach when the captain said he could kiss the bride.

“There is no duke, earl, or marquess in all of Great Britain whom I would rather marry more than you,” she said softly as she turned her face up to his.

A wide smile crossed his handsome face. “I love you, Andi,” he said as he lowered his lips to hers.

Miles resisted the urge to haul her body against his and thoroughly ravage her mouth. He had done enough damage to her reputation already without treating her as if they had already been intimate.

At least, that was his plan.

He held her face in his hands as he swooped in and gently kissed her. He pulled away after a few seconds and watched as her eyes dreamily fluttered open. Her beauty brought a smile to his lips. He kissed her again, longer, lingeringly. Every pore in his body seemed to jolt to life at the taste of her sweet lips upon his. He had waited for this moment, the moment when she was truly his for so long, he felt quite undone with emotion.

He opened his eyes as his lips parted, his tongue stroking the seam of her lips, and watched as her eyes flew open in surprise. His eyes rolled slightly as his lids closed, giving in to the sensation as her lips parted and his tongue made its first foray into her mouth.

He could feel her breath on his upper lip coming in fast short breaths, as if she had just run a race, her breasts brushed against his chest at the apex of her inhalations. His arm lowered to her waist drawing her against him and he rolled his hips forward into the thickness of her skirts.

Suddenly, Andrea pulled away, her lips still parted and her breath coming raggedly, as she brought her fingertips to her puffy red lips. A bewildered expression crossed her lovely countenance.

Miles wanted to laugh with joy. She had gotten her first taste of passion and didn’t know what to do about it.

She placed her hand on his clean-shaven face and smiled shyly at him.

The prospect of making love to her had him breathless with anticipation, but he could not tell her. He knew she still believed her mother’s version of what happened in the bedroom, so he knew he’d have to take it slow and be ever mindful of her reaction before moving forward. Unless he could coax her gently past her fear, it would be nearly impossible to elicit a response from her body.

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Mr. and Mrs. Miles Huntington,” Captain Bloodworthy announced.

A polite smattering of applause broke out, but only a few people came forward to wish them well.

“Oh, miss, I’m so excited for you,” Ruth gushed. “Would you like me to move your things into the other stateroom?”

“Uh.” The request took her by surprise. Her mother kept a separate bedchamber from her father, therefore it never occurred to Andrea she would not also.

“Thank you, Ruth,” Miles said. “I would appreciate it if you would take care of that. We were not going straight back to the room, so this would be a good time. As a matter of fact, if Andrea doesn’t object, I would like for you and your husband to have her stateroom for the rest of the voyage.”

“Truly?” Ruth asked, her voice conveying her excitement.

Andrea was thankful for the low light so no one would see the way the blood rushed from her head to her feet. “Y-yes, for everything you’ve done,” Andrea reiterated politely. Not only had she been trained not to contradict her husband publicly, but she could hardly rescind the offer once it was made without putting herself in a bad light.

As Ruth scurried off with Miles’s key, Martin Ness stepped up and shook Miles’s hand.

“It’s about time. Congratulations. I can’t wait to bounce Miles Jr. on my knee.”

Miles laughed. “I’m a little big for that, but I’m sure Miles III would enjoy it greatly.”

After everyone who wanted to wish them well had done so, Miles took her hand and began strolling along the outer rail.

“Are you warm enough?” he asked solicitously.

“My mind is going in so many different directions, I don’t know if I’d notice if I were cold.”

He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her hand. “I suppose this
is
rather sudden.”

She laughed softly as she moved closer and leaned her head towards his shoulder. “When I got up this morning, I never thought I would go to bed tonight as Mrs. Miles Huntington.”

“God, I like the way that sounds.”

She wanted to ask if he liked the part about her name or the part about the bed, but would never be so bold as to ask.

Idly, she fingered the ring wondering if he had borrowed it for the ceremony. “Whose ring is this?”

He looked at her askance, afraid she might be figuring out that he was Shamus, and thus had come prepared with a wedding band. “It was my mother’s. If you don’t like it….”

“Why wouldn’t I like it? It must mean a great deal to you. I feel honored that you would give it to me,” she said in a tone that made him know she truly felt that way. “It surprised me that’s all. I thought one of the passengers might have lent it to you for the ceremony.”

He nodded and held her hand in front of them so he could admire it on her finger. “It’s not too old-fashioned?”

“If it wasn’t, how would anyone know it was a family heirloom?”

~*~

Miles proudly showed her the pilothouse and other parts of the ship that she had yet to see. They ended their tour in the main saloon where news of their cozy wedding under the stars circulated freely before they arrived.

“Would you like a glass of sherry?”

“No, thank you,” she said.

One of the ladies sat at the piano across the room tapping out a peppy tune and others sang the lyrics. It wasn’t anything Andrea had heard before, but she liked it instantly. People began congratulating them as soon as they noticed their arrival.

The tightening of Andrea’s grip on his arm alerted Miles that something was wrong. His eyes darted to hers and he noted her eyes fixed on a spot. He followed her gaze to Lady Pike as she crossed the room with purpose—her daughter, Callie, close at her heels, as she made a beeline straight for them.

“Everyone keeps saying you just married Andrea James. How naïve you must be if you believe this chit’s tale that she is Andrea James. I knew the moment I heard that she was calling herself by that name, she was a liar.”

“Lady Pike, I can assure you this
is
Andrea James.”

Lady Pike harrumphed and cast a derogatory look in her daughter’s direction. “I could say I am the Queen of England. It does not make it true. She obviously read the name in the paper.”

Miles sighed, reached into his breast pocket and produced the newspaper clipping with Andrea’s self-portrait. He carefully unfolded it and turned it to face Lady Pike. As the woman glanced back and forth between the drawing and Andrea, Miles leaned down and whispered in Andrea’s ear. “I keep it over my heart.”

“If this is true, then why pretend she’s someone else?”

“There was a £10,000 reward for her return to her parents. Someone might have kidnapped her and tried to make it back to England in a rowboat in the first day or two.”

The woman continued to eye the newspaper article. “Only a hussy would pose for an artist with her hair down as if she’s coming straight out of bed.”

Andrea gasped. Her cheeks turned pink, realizing all of England had seen her as she prepared for bed. “No one was supposed to see that sketch. I did not pose for an artist. It was a self-portrait as I readied for bed. If I had known my parents would put it in the paper, I would have burned it before I left.”

Lady Pike rolled her eyes and Miles felt Andrea draw herself upward as if a puppeteer pulled a string connected to the top of her head.

Suddenly, Lady Pike slapped Miles across the face. “How dare you toy with the affections of my daughter?”

It was hard to say who was more shocked that Lady Pike chose to attack Miles rather than Andrea.

“I-I…” Miles was at a loss. “I was unaware that inviting your family to dine with me twice constituted any show of affection on my part.”