A sudden surge of hope filled him from head to toe. Marrying Lucretia could allow them to combine their business interests. She could be the perfect partner, both romantic and commercial. He could protect her, too; as her husband, he’d assume the role of guardian she’d fabricated. That way, no one would ever find out about her subterfuge.
Would she accept him, though? The question loomed large in his mind. What if she didn’t want him the way he wanted her? What if she only wanted their nights together, their lessons?
Felix had not made it to where he was by taking foolish risks. This situation was no different. So he’d wait, gather as much information as he could, and act only once he was sure of success.
Chapter 26
“Welcome back,” Lucretia greeted Felix as she entered his dining room a few days after his return. She’d tried not to seem too eager to see him, waiting several days after he sent word of his arrival back in Ostia to arrange their next meeting. Now, setting eyes upon him for the first time in two weeks, she wanted to run into his arms, but held back and greeted him with a decorous nod.
“How was your sister’s baby?” she asked, stretching out on the dining couch beside him.
He shrugged. “She eats, sleeps, cries, and burps, so I gather she is quite the success.”
Despite his nonchalant words, his eyes lit with warmth as he spoke of his new niece. Lucretia smiled. “Did you enjoy the countryside?”
Another shrug. “It’s pleasant enough, but the quiet is almost deafening. It hurts my head. Sometimes the loudest thing is the breeze ruffling the leaves in the trees.”
“You prefer the dulcet tones of sailors swearing at each other in the harbor?”
He shot her a quick grin. “I do.” He poured her a cup of wine and passed her a tray of poached fish. “Speaking of the harbor…there is something I wished to ask you.”
Lucretia froze in the midst of serving herself a portion of fish. Something to ask her? Her mind shot back to the conversation with Marcus about marriage and Felix andlikingeach other…”Oh?” she said, the syllable unsteady.
He glanced at her as he filled his own plate with roasted duck. “While I was gone, Siro received some correspondence from one of my key suppliers in Cyrene that he’s trying to hike his prices on me. So I thought some in-person negotiation might be the most efficient solution. It’s only about a nine day sail from here. I would like to invite Marcus to join me, if you are agreeable. We would leave next month. I expect we'd be gone for four weeks.”
“Oh.” Relief coursed through her that the question wasn’t what she feared. But the relief was chased by a suffocating anxiety at the thought of Marcus on a ship voyage. She sat up, food abandoned. "A nine day sail? That’s quite far. He’s never been away from home. And what if something should happen? What if he should get sick, or injured, or homesick, or what if he doesn’t like the food—”
Felix took her shoulders in a gentle grip. “Breathe, Lucretia.”
She gulped in a breath, let it out, then took another one, slower this time. The way he was holding her reminded her of that day on the beach after the shipwreck, when she’d been spiraling into guilt-ridden agitation. He had soothed her, even though they were still enemies then.
She met his eyes, and their cool grayness calmed her, like a cloudy sky after a raging tempest. “I don’t know if I can let him go,” she confessed.
He rubbed his hands up and down her arms in a comforting rhythm. “Marcus is almost a man. It would be good for him tosee something of the world. I think the trip would teach him a great deal.”
“I know.” She had to think of what was best for Marcus, not fall prey to her own fears.
“Do you trust me to look after him?”
She let out a deep exhale. “I do.”
“So…do I have your consent?”
She closed her eyes. Images of all the terrible things that could happen on this voyage flitted behind her eyelids, so she opened her eyes, anchoring on Felix’s face. She tried to think of all the ships that arrived safely in Ostia harbor, day after day. All the sailors that spent their lives voyaging from one port to another.
Marcus would be safe with Felix, and the voyage would be good for him. “Yes,” she finally said.
“Thank you.” His hands didn’t leave her shoulders. To her surprise, he drew her toward him for an embrace, his arms wrapping around her body.
Another calming breath left her lungs, and she hugged him back. For all they’d done together, she and Felix had never actually embraced like this. It felt so good to lay her head on his shoulder and be enveloped in the heat of his body.
“I know that was difficult for you,” he said, voice low and tender. “I hope you know, I don’t take your trust in me lightly.”
Warmth kindled in her chest, chasing away the last traces of anxiety. “I hope you know, if anything happens to Marcus, I will curse you a thousand times over.”
He chuckled, the sound vibrating through her. “I’d expect nothing less.”
She drew back from the embrace, smiling up at him. The feeling of his strong arms around her made desire swell. Her body had hungered for him these past two weeks, and she couldn’t deny her appetite any longer. “Now, since you’ve been gone for so long, I think a review of our previous lesson is inorder.” She pivoted to rest her foot on the surface of the couch, then took a handful of her dress and lifted it to expose one calf.
