Wells shushed her with his lips. “Do you not wish to know why it bears the wrong initials?” he prodded. “I thought you’d wonder at that W.”
Her pretty brow dimpled. “Why yes, I suppose it ought to be the letter M instead.”
“Drink up, Charles, and listen.” He poured them each more wine before he leaned his head back to gaze up at the ceiling, the constellations high above them shimmering in the shadowy light thrown by candle and fire.
“The piece belonged to my father’s brother, my uncle, Carlton Wellesley. You share his first name, see, for they also called him Charles, and though I never knew him, I heard many a rousing tale of him growing up. My father kept this pocket watch, his brother’s, on him for years, because it saved his life in battle. Turn it over and you will see the dent, there on the back, where a musket ball hit the timepiece rather than pierce my father’s chest.”
Charles ran her finger over the indentation.
“Uncle Charles bid his brother take the watch from his breast pocket as he lay dying on the battlefield, and no sooner hadFather tucked it into his own uniform than he was shot and hit too, right at the exact spot. So the timepiece, you see, is not a little lucky. When I went to sea, Father gave it to me in hopes it would protect me on my travels, which it did, for I stand on land today, in safe return. And I wishyouto have it, Fox, that it might protect and keep you too.”
Only upon hearing the end of his tale, his mistress looked so appalled she again thrust the timepiece back at him, exclaiming, “Surely you cannot expect me to accept a family heirloom, my lord. You must take it back, I insist.”
Wells pursed his lips. “Miss Merrinan, I have given past mistresses more lavish gifts for far less than what you have given me these months in companionship. I shall be insulted if you do not take it, and God willing, remain protected by it. I am no longer adrift at sea but settled here now. And besides, you share its owner’s first name. Flip the W on its head and you’ll have an M for Merrinan.”
Yet despite his attempts at levity she remained distraught. Wells drew her to him, settling her between his legs there upon the floor, resting her into the hollow of his chest. “Charles, do not be stubborn. You would be angry if I’d given you some fancy bauble instead, would you not? Is this not a better gift for my mistress-cum-housekeeper, my wicked chicken thief?”
“You needn’t have given me anything, sir.” She finally spoke, her voice quiet. “You have fed my family and paid fair wage—trade enough for services I admit I now enjoy.”
“So you enjoy me, Fox? Now that, see, is another gift you have just given me!” He laughed outright. “I enjoy you too, lass, very much. Sometimes a bit too much, I fear.”
“What do you mean, too much?” She twisted around to look at him. “Roland, how many mistresses have you kept besides me, giving them overly generous gifts? How many women have you enjoyed over the years?”
He hushed her with his mouth. “None as much as you, Fox. I swear I have enjoyed none as much as?—”
She harrumphed. “I am sure you said that to each of them.”
“Jealous, are you?” He smirked. “I must say, Jenkins is quite a good dancer for a woman her age, handsome still too. Maybe I’ll try her next.”
Charles struggled to escape him, but he held her fast between his legs. “And Ruby is quite pretty, you know, though a tad simple for my taste. I like a woman with some fire in her.”
And this time she did manage to wriggle free, fleeing to the opposite end of the room with a wild gleam in her eye.
“Ah, my mistress disobeys me yet again, and here I thought I’d tamed her.”
“Tamed me, sir?” She thrust her chin at him, sending a jolt through his loins. “I merely let youthinkme your pet.”
“Minx!” He lunged for her, chasing her about the room until he’d caught and wrestled her to the floor, her laughter infectious as they laid in a pile of limbs, tangled and teasing, both catching their breaths. Charles finally dusted herself off to go fetch them more wine.
“You shall ruin my new dress,” she told him primly, straightening her skirts before pouring them each a fresh glass. “Now tell me about this room, please. I wish to know why it was built and what the many details all mean.”
“Very well.” Wells patted the space beside him on the floor for her to join. “I promise not to tear your pretty dress, Charles, only give me your new timepiece, so I might explain.”
***
Charles handed him the watch, already feeling its loss from her skirt pocket, for it truly was a beautiful gift.
Lord Wellesley opened it to show her the compass. “Here you see the four corners of the earth, and here in this room the same four directions in each far corner. The constellations are positioned in this ceiling as in the night sky, and the shells were all collected from travels around the globe my grandparents embarked on.”
“Both? Your grandmother traveled too?” Charles was amazed.
“She did.” He grinned. “Sailed alongside Grandpapa on his many expeditions. Quite the hellion, or so I was told.”
“Oh how I envy her!” Charles burst out, forgetting herself. “What is it like, Roland, tell me, please! What is it like on a ship at sea, miles and miles from everyone and everything you know?”
“Frightening as hell and invigorating as nothing else, Fox,” he answered, staring deep into her eyes. “Freedom near boundless, yet with it near constant fear of death. The sea shows no mercy when she is angered, and a man can be driven mad out there, with nothing but blue sky and blue water reflected back, day upon day. And yet at night, to see the stars, Charles, is the most magnificent, most humbling experience imaginable. To gaze at all those lights and realize just how tiny, how insignificant you are on a ship in the middle of such vast space . . .” He stopped himself, his voice almost wistful.
Charles closed her fingers over his own, pressing his hand to hers.
