“Here?”
“I’ve wanted to ask you a dozen times on theOcean Curse, but I didn’t think it was wise.”
Every time I was asked to sing in 1927, I felt the weight of expectations.
This time, it was different. Marcus desired to hear me sing for the pleasure it would bring him and nothing more.
“What would you like me to sing?”
“Whatever pleases you.”
Irving Berlin’s popular song “Always” was the first that came to mind because it made me think of Marcus. It had been released in 1925, and though it was from a different time and place, I began to sing.
“Everything went wrong,
And the whole day long
I’d feel so blue.
For the longest while
I’d forget to smile,
Then I met you.”
His handsome gaze was riveted to my face, and when I finished, his hand came up to my cheek. I leaned into it.
“’Tis the loveliest sound I’ve ever heard, lass.” His thumb brushed the ridge of my cheekbone, sending a trail of fire across my skin, causing me to close my eyes.
“Marc—” I paused and opened my eyes. “Or should I call you Maxwell?”
Something profound shifted in his gaze, and he drew me into his embrace, holding me close. I felt small and helpless in his arms, yet also free and empowered.
“I want to tell you all the things you long to hear,” he said as his brogue deepened. “And there is so much I want to say.”
“Then say it.” I was breathless as I looked up at him. I was done with pretenses and fear. “Tell me what’s on your heart, Maxwell.”
“I’m afraid if I say what is on my heart, it will make the parting impossible.”
“Why must we part?” I grasped the lapels of his coat. “Why does this have to be goodbye?”
His chest rose and fell against mine, and I could feel the beat of his heart, matching my own.
“I can’t give you the life you deserve.”
“Then give me the life you are able.” I needed him to know the depths of my feelings, and this would be my last chance. “I love you.”
Joy and sadness filled his gaze as he lowered his forehead to mine, his arms tightening around me. There was desperation in his embrace. “I love you, too,” he whispered a moment before his mouth captured mine.
His kiss was filled with passion and longing, searching for an answer to a question I prayed he would find. I returned his kiss, deepening it with the desire that had been building for weeks. I loved Maxwell MacDougal, the man behind the pirate’s mask, the man I knew he could be if he had the courage to walk away from the only life he knew.
My hands left his lapels, and I slipped my fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck, drawing him closer, needing more. I’d never been kissed before, but nothing had ever felt so right, so perfect.
When he pulled back, he was breathing heavily.
I sought my own answers as I looked into his eyes. “I want nothing but you.”
He kissed me again, as passionately as before, and when he drew back, he said, “You make me want to be a better man, Caroline.” His brogue lilted with desire. “But I don’t know how or where to even start.”
