“My stomach feels odd.”
I hated the pain in her voice so much that I wanted to slice it into quarters and wring it out with my bare hands. “Lay your head on my shoulder.”
She pulled back, pale as porcelain, almost more afraid than before. “That would be so improper, Graham, and I’m already—”
“Anna. I do not mind,” I assured her. “We’ve known each other for years.”
“But there are others out, and Morton—”
“—knows I am your host at present. You’ll feel better. Lay your head on me and let yourself acclimate to the sea.”
With a little huff, she swallowed hard, then settled back at my side. The waters were unforgiving, but at last she relented, nestling into my neck with a sigh.
The sound unwound something in me. Holding Anna compelled me to be a stronger, more capable man. A manshe’d turn to in times of uncertainty. A man she could trust with her safety, her thoughts, her dreams. I wanted to be all that and more, but only for her.
I held her close.
No one would ever hurt her again. Not even her father.
“Ho! Did you see that jumper, Everett?” Morton called from the center. He glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of us together, then smirked so wide his missing teeth showed. “Don’t s’pose you did, eh? Almost there, Miss Lane, love. The winds are heavy this evening.”
She sighed again into my neck, her warm breath tickling my skin, and holding her felt so natural, so right, I leaned in and brushed my lips to her hair.
Lud!I brushed my lips to her hair.I froze, my mind reeling.
But Anna laced her arm through mine, drawing me even closer. Lands, she smelled good. So, so good. Her warmth at my side was a siren calling to me. Reeling me in. Squeezing my heart to bursting.
ChapterTwenty-Seven
Anna
Do it again,I thought.Heavens above, please, do it again.
My heart expanded, bursting and flaming and burning me through. What was this feeling? I’d never known I could ache for a simple touch. And for Graham.
Did he feel this too? Could he tell how he affected me?
My cheeks were burning, surely as red as a sunned strawberry. I held fast to his arm, distracted by his strength and warmth, bracing myself against the sick feeling in my stomach that roiled with every lurch of the sea.
Not as bad.The waters were settling. I took another deep breath through my nose. Yes, definitely settling. And my stomach followed suit. I could manage. But the problem at hand: I did not want to.
Graham felt so unbelievably good.
Nothing had ever felt so right. So comfortable and warm and whole.
And suddenly nothing else mattered. Not Papa, not his secret, not this wide-open sea.
I wanted to stay beside Graham, like this, forever.
The jolly had slowed, and I was feeling better. But howcould I sit up now? How could I look Graham in the eye with my feelings so obviously displayed? Especially after I’d completely fallen apart earlier.
Perhaps he hadn’t kissed me. Perhaps his jaw had simply brushed my hair. But it had felt like a kiss. Like comfort and care. I’d never felt anything like it before in my whole life.
“This’ll do,” Morton said, and I peeked open an eye. He stashed his dripping oars alongside the bottom boards on the right, then braced himself as he stood. “You still with us, Miss Lane?”
I watched him step over the center thwart toward the stern, still letting Graham bear my weight. “How can you stand like that with the floor moving?” I said through a painfully hoarse voice.
Morton laughed his rough, scratchy laugh. “Give it a try. T’easier than you think.”
