“Why do I get the distinct feeling I’ve just lost a battle I wasn’t aware I was fighting?”
“Your sister is adorable, and I’m quite certain because of that you’re often on the losing side of whatever battle she decides to wage against you.”
Harrison smiled. “She does know a thing or two about thwarting me, although I must say I’m still a little taken aback by all the other battles that are apparently being waged against me, especially the ones pertaining to matters of pursuit, and...” He suddenly stopped talking when someone called out to him from across the deck.
Glancing toward where the voice had sounded, Gertrude discovered a lady heading their way from the direction of the wheelhouse. She was dressed all in black and gesturing wildly toward the plank, even while her mouth moved furiously. It was anyone’s guess, though, what she was saying, since the wind was whipping her words right out to sea.
“It’s my sister Margaret, and she’s not looking happy,” Harrison said. “Take my hand.”
A second later, with her hand held firmly in Harrison’s, Gertrude was pulled into a run, in the opposite direction of the plank for some curious reason, while his sister began calling his name in a voice loud enough now for everyone to hear.
“Whatever you do, don’t let her know we’ve seen her.”
“Don’t you think she’s probably figured that out since we’re running away from her?” Gertrude managed to ask even though she was developing a stitch in her side that was making running and talking a little tricky.
“Excellent point, but we can’t stop now because, well, she’ll catch us for certain.”
“She might have a more difficult time catching us if we weren’t still on the boat,” Gertrude said, drawing in a painful breath, the pain a direct result of her suddenly remembering she was laced far too tightly into her corset and didn’t have much room for extra air.
“Another excellent point, but I was trying to confuse her,” Harrison said before he slowed ever so slightly and caught her eye. “Why are you grimacing?”
“Stitch in my side” was all Gertrude had to say before Harrison stopped moving completely, cast a look over his shoulder, then turned and scooped her straight up into his arms.
“Goodness,” she managed to say in a voice that sounded rather faint even to her ears as he brought her directly against a finely muscled chest. He tightened his grip on her right before he broke into a run.
As his feet pounded against the boards of the deck, Gertrude couldn’t help but notice that they were traveling at a remarkable rate, that rate not laboring his breathing in the least. She found that state of affairs to be incredibly impressive, especially since she knew full well she’d never been what anyone would have considered a waif of a woman.
Glancing up, she found her attention mesmerized by the sight of a strong jaw that was only inches away from her face, but before she could truly appreciate the sight, Harrison turned a corner and then they were running down the plank.
As he whisked her off the yacht, pursued by a now furious-sounding woman, Gertrude grinned when a most peculiar thought sprang to mind.
With his dark hair escaping the confines of his ribbon, Harrison had the look of a pirate about him, one who was absconding at breakneck speed with a fair damsel he’d decided to capture and make his own.
Even knowing that idea was completely ridiculous because pirates were unlikely to abscond with an ordinary woman, Gertrude allowed herself to enjoy the moment, knowing there was little chance she’d ever experience the thrill of being whisked off a yacht in the arms of a dashing man ever, ever again.
Chapter
Nine
As he reached the New Iron Pier, Harrison flashed a smile to all the people who were gawking as he ran past them. Given the looks of astonishment on their faces, it was clear they were surprised to witness a man dashing away from a ship with a woman clutched in his arms. Odd as it seemed, he couldn’t help but wonder if they were now expecting him to disclose something of a dastardly nature that would explain such an unusual occurrence.
If that were the case, he had no explanation readily available because it certainly wasn’t as if it was a normal happenstance to haul a young lady off one of his ships in his arms, but truth be told, he simply had not been able to help himself.
The mere sight of Gertrude in what could only be described as a state of distress, what with her wheezing and gasping for breath, along with proclaiming the unfortunate news that she’d developed a stitch in her side, which everyone knew could be incredibly painful, had brought out a surprisingly strong sense of protectiveness in him. That protectiveness had then prompted him to sweep Gertrude up into his arms, rather like he imagined one of the heroes would have done in the romance novels his sisters were so fond of reading.
That he’d read a good many of those romances was not something he’d ever shared with his sisters—or anyone for that matter. But because he had read them, and had done so to discern if he could possibly gain a small measure of understanding about women in the process, he’d concluded that because the sweeping incidents happened frequently between the pages of those books, ladies seemed to enjoy that particular action.
Gertrude, he hadn’t neglected to notice, had not let out even a peep of protest when he’d snatched her up. That right there had him wondering if she, perhaps, might possess a more romantic nature than he’d expected to discover in a woman who seemed to be a most practical sort. Although why he’d suddenly turned his thoughts toward romance was a little disconcerting, especially since he was in the midst of an unusual situation that had him whisking a woman down a...
“While I willingly admit that this is a most thrilling and unexpected way in which to depart from a ship, Harrison,” Gertrude suddenly said, pulling him abruptly from his thoughts, “I should probably tell you that the stitch in my side has disappeared, which means you should probably set me down before you injure yourself due to my, er, weight.”
Harrison stopped dead in his tracks. Dipping his head, he caught her eye and found that the words he’d been about to say, something having to do with it being laughable he’d injure himself simply from carrying her, evaporated straight from his mind. That, unfortunately, left him with nothing whatsoever to say as he suddenly found himself mesmerized by Gertrude’s eyes.
It wasn’t that most people would consider her eyes to be extraordinary, since they were a very ordinary shade of green, or at least he thought they were green. But mixed in with that color were little flecks of what might be gold, which he found utterly fascinating. Leaning closer, he stilled when he heard her suck in a sharp breath, realizing in that moment he was hardly behaving in an acceptable manner since anyone who was watching them would surely conclude he was considering kissing her. In all honesty, now that he thought about it, that idea was curiously compelling.
Blinking that type of thinking away because he’d only recently proclaimed that he was not interested in forming a romantic association with any lady due to his demanding schedule and work obligations, he rustled around his scattered thoughts, summoning up an impressive, “You have very nice eyes,” which promptly earned him a rolling of those nice eyes in the process.
“One could almost make the case that you have a tongue for flattery when you utter phrases like that,” Gertrude said as her lips curved. “However, glib tongue aside, you have yet to release me, which is hardly going to aid our escape from your sister. If you’ve neglected to notice, we’ve allowed your sister plenty of time to close any distance that may have separated us. Frankly, I’m somewhat surprised she hasn’t already caught up to us, which only increases the sense of dread I’m experiencing because she’s now had far too much time to compose what she wants to say.”
