Pleasures of a Tempted Lady by Jennifer Haymore Read Free Book Online

tidy space—about a third the size of Will’s quarters—and turned around as Will closed the door behind them. She made a show of rubbing her arms briskly. It had been cold outside, and the wind had seemed to slice right through her skin, but that seemed inconsequential compared to her desire to go to Ireland.
    “Meg,” Will said.
    She jerked her head up, unaccustomed to the sound of her proper name coming from a man’s mouth.
    The lines around that handsome mouth softened, as did his dark eyes. “Please, tell me what happened. Tell me why you don’t want to go to your family. Why this desperate urgency to go to Ireland?” His voice was low and gentle. “I’ve just discovered that you’re alive after eight very long years. I keep having to convince myself that you’re real, not a ghost. Please help me, Meg. Help me understand how it came to be that I found you in the middle of the Irish Sea.”
    Meg’s knees weakened, and she glanced around the tiny room for a chair. There was one, pushed beneath the table bolted to the far wall under a porthole that lent light to the small space. She took one step to it, then jerked it out and lowered herself into it.
    Her shoulders deflated, and when she spoke, her voice was nearly a whisper. She clamped her hands in her lap and stared down at them. “I planned to lie about it.” She looked up at him. “I planned an elaborate lie. But I can’t lie to you, Will.”
    He stared at her as the sound of his name filled the cabin. Here they were, after eight years, calling each other by their given names. She’d been so easy with himthen. She had been herself with him, open and raw, and most of all, honest. Could it be that easy?
    No . She had Jake to think about. His safety. For heaven’s sake, Will’s safety, too, and that of her sisters.
    The temptation to see them again was so strong, like a golden cord pulling on her heart, guiding her across the ocean to London.
    For a brief moment, she closed her eyes and imagined her sisters: Serena, her twin and best friend; Olivia, so frail and lovely; Phoebe, witty and sharp; and Jessica, her loyal youngest sister, the most beautiful of them all. She pictured them all dressed in the height of fashion and dancing at glittering balls with handsome gentlemen.
    And here she was, thin and dark as a heathen, wearing the trousers and the linen shirt of a cabin boy. Which, in her opinion, was far better than the awful pink frilly dress. She hated it. Not only because it was horribly ostentatious, but because it symbolized Caversham’s dominion over her. Jacob Caversham had commanded every bit of her life, right down to her pantalets, for the past eight years.
    “If you can’t lie to me, then tell me.”
    Meg opened her eyes to see Will on one knee before her, the anguish in his eyes fathoms deep. Had she done this to him? After all these years, how could he care so much?
    She swallowed hard. “I will tell you some. But I can’t… I can’t tell you everything. It’s too dangerous.”
    Will looked as though he were about to argue with her, but after staring at her face—which she’d set into hard lines because she wasn’t going to concede this point—he relented.
    “Very well,” he said softly. “Tell me what you can.”
    What I can.
    That was precisely the challenge. What, exactly, could she tell him without endangering him further?
    The most important thing was to convey that she couldn’t be seen in London. She couldn’t draw attention to her sisters.
    “Someone will be looking for me,” she said in a low voice.
    “Who? And why?”
    She couldn’t say who. She couldn’t . But the why… yes, the why she could answer.
    “I fell overboard eight years ago, on my way home from England with my sister Serena.”
    “I know,” Will murmured. “The crew searched for you for hours, but they weren’t able to find you. What happened?”
    “I was dragged under by the weight of my clothes. I nearly drowned before I was able to