Speaking of beautiful...Tessa had never imagined a man could be beautiful, but his strong, lean-but-muscular body was breathtaking.She’d explored that powerful body last night.And he’d explored hers.She shivered deliciously in remembrance.
The maid knocked at the door, opened it a sliver and said, “Will you want a bath now, m’lady?”
“Yes please,” Tessa said, and the door opened fully.The maid entered carrying an enamel bathtub and several more maids carried in buckets of steaming water.
Afterward, feeling fresh and clean and eager to face the day, she hurried downstairs and found Marcus waiting for her in the breakfast room.He rose and kissed her hand.“My lady.”
She felt like a queen as he seated her.
An oak sideboard was laden with a range of covered silver dishes.She could smell toast and coffee and a variety of other delicious smells, and suddenly she was ravenous.
She ate a hearty breakfast, starting with hot chocolate and porridge.She hadn’t eaten porridge since NannyJune had made it for her when she was young.According to her husbands, porridge was peasant food.But she liked it.
Next she filled a plate with eggs, ham and a small serving of kippers.
“Perhaps you shouldn’t eat all that,” Marcus suggested, looking at her plate.
“Why not?I’m hungry.
“We don’t know yet if you’ll be seasick.”
She gave him a mischievous grin.“All the more reason to eat it now.Whether I lose it later over the side of your boat—
“Yacht.”
“—will make no difference to my enjoyment of it now.And anyway, whose fault is it that I’ve worked up an appetite this morning?”
His complexion darkened and he looked a little embarrassed.
“‘Morning delight’ is the loveliest way to greet the morning,” she said softly.She buttered some toast, topped it with plum jam, and poured herself another cup of hot chocolate.
#
AFTER BREAKFAST THEYset out for Folkestone where Marcus’s boat was moored.Tessa smelled the sea before she actually saw it, fresh, a little salty and something else, distinctive and unfamiliar.
“Seaweed, probably,” Marcus said when she wondered aloud.
A few minutes later she gained her first sight of the sea, at first just a sliver of glittering blue on the horizon.“Oh, oh” she exclaimed.“Is that the sea?”
“Not quite.Just the English Channel.”
“It’s so big,” she marveled as they came closer.“You can’t even see to the other side.”
“The sea, the real ocean, is many times larger.We can cross the Channel in half a day if the wind is right, but it can take many days and months to cross an ocean.”
It was hard to fathom.
The wind was brisk, each wave topped with white caps.Tessa gazed at it, mesmerized, as their carriage made its way into Folkestone and down to the docks.The sea changed color all the time, just like the sky; one moment gray and dark, the next brilliant blue in the sunshine.And the waves, steady and never-ending, but each one different.She doubted she could ever find the sea boring.
She eyed the smaller boats that were dancing on the waves and hoped they wouldn’t be traveling in one of those.
“Which boat is yours?”she asked looking at the forest of masts.
“Yacht.That one.The Aurora.”He pointed to a sleek white boat, with several masts.She didn’t know anything about boats, but this one looked elegant, as well as being large enough to cope with waves.She hoped.
A couple of sailors appeared and collected their luggage.A man who she presumed was the captain waited by the gangway and a young woman stood behind him.Marcus introduced her to Captain Saunders, and then said, “And this is Betsy Madden, who will act as your maid while we’re aboard.”
The girl smiled, bobbed a curtsy and said, “This way to your cabin, m’lady.”She led Tessa to a set of stairs—rather steep; she was glad of the railing—and they went below.
