The Affectionate Adversary by Catherine Palmer Read Free Book Online

shoulder. And up to her neck. She had thought how much she would like to know the touch of his fingertips on her skin. How very warm his arms would feel around her. How breath-taking would be the pressure of his lips against her mouth….
    And that is when she always remembered her husband. Cold hands. Brief kisses on her cheek. Separate beds. With that lonely chill came the equal bleakness of a life of parties, gossip, and endless empty flatteries heaped upon her until she nearly suffocated. She had no desire to repeat such misery. Ever.
    “Mrs. Carlyle.” The voice beside her was hushed, barely audible above the splash of waves against the hull. “Please may I call you Sarah?”
    She swallowed as Mr. Locke took a step that brought his shoulder against her own. Such liberties could not be taken lightly. Yet, when would they see each other again? Why not for this one brief time permit the walls of etiquette to topple? To act as they were. As friends.
    “Yes, Charles,” she whispered. “Today … now … you may call me Sarah.”
    “And may I take your hand in mine?” Before she could answer, he slipped his fingers between her clasped hands and drew one of them into his own. “Beautiful Sarah, in these past two months, you have become to me the very dearest of women. You have cared for me. You have comforted me. You have encouraged me when I supposed nothing could ever give me hope.”
    “I am …” Her heart thudded so heavily that she was not sure she could think of a single appropriate thing to say “I am … happy. Happy to have helped.”
    “I understand you have many plans, Sarah. You have sisters, friends, your dreams of traveling the world.”
    “As have you,” she continued. “You and your father will rebuild your own dreams. I am sure of it.”
    His fingers tightened around hers. “You believe in me, though you know my every weakness.”
    “Sir, I hardly think you weak in any way. On the contrary, you are the strongest man I have ever met. You fought nearly to your death aboard the Tintagel . And then you battled infection and the threat of permanent injury. Now you will go forward with your honor and your intellect intact, and you will boldly create a happy life for yourself. How much stronger could one be?”
    “Is it possible, dear Sarah, that you do not find me terribly tedious?”
    “Tedious? Upon my word, to me you are a marvel. I have never known anyone so handsome or so—” She clamped her mouth shut. One more heedless moment and she would confess things she had not acknowledged even to herself. Swallowing down her mortification, she spoke a single word.“Kind.”
    His laugh sent spirals of joy through her heart. “Handsome and kind am I? Well, Sarah Carlyle, I believe I can better that, for I find you beautiful and kind and charming, delightful, witty—”
    “Enough!” Sarah reached out and cupped her free hand over his mouth.
    He caught it at once and kissed her palm. His eyes closed, he pressed his lips to her fingers, then to the back of her hand, and finally to her wrist.
    “I cannot bear the thought of parting from you, my darling Sarah,” he murmured, his cheek so close to her own that she could smell the shaving soap he had used that morning. “The idea that I might fail to wake to the soft glow of your brown eyes or fall asleep to the scent of lavender on your skin is unbearable. I love you, Sarah. I cannot imagine living my life without you. Please, I beg you, Mrs. Carlyle, will you marry me?”
    So stunned as to be rendered utterly speechless, Sarah stared at Charles. Marry him? Could he mean this seriously? So many times he had asked—pleaded with her in his delirium. She had denied him again and again, of course. But now, surely now, he was fully sensible. He knew what he said. He meant every word. This amazing, wonderful man wanted her to become his wife!
    Yet how could such a thing ever be? He intended to build a trade. She would do nothing less than return to the