Karen Robards - Amanda Rose

“Thank you, Zeke.” Amanda’s smile came from the heart. Then she hurried to her cabin, where she quickly stuffed her clothes and toilet things into her valise. Bright-colored tufts of several dresses and a tier of lace from a petticoat dangled from the valise when she dragged it on deck, but Amanda could not have cared less. She had a horrible fear that, having said what he had, Matt might actually leave without her. And at first she thought he had. Neither he nor his two men were on deck.

“ Zeke. ” She turned alarmed eyes on him as he walked to meet her.

“He’s waiting-in the boat,” Zeke reassured her, taking the valise from her hand and ushering her to the dangling ladder. Looking over the rail, Amanda saw the small boat bobbing below, with Matt in the prow and the two sailors ready at the oars. Matt looked up, scowling.

“Here, brother,” Zeke called blithely down, and heaved Amanda’s valise over the side. Matt caught it deftly and turned to set it aside. Then Zeke whispered to Amanda, “Be gentle with him. I think, for the first time in his life, he is feeling shy.” And he grinned broadly.

“I will,” Amanda promised, grinning back. Then, impulsively, she reached up to plant a soft kiss on his cheek. To her amusement Zeke actually blushed.

“I’m glad he’s down there,” he said, jerking his thumb at Matt, who was glaring up at them, his fists clenched in obvious anger. “Take care of yourself, Amanda, and my nephew or niece. And tell my cross-patch of a brother that I’ll see him when I return.”

“You take care, too, Zeke,” Amanda said softly, and then he helped her over the side.

Matt caught her as she neared the end of the ladder, his big hands hard on her waist as he swung her into the boat. Amanda clutched at his forearms for balance, looking up at him as he settled her on the seat, searching vainly for some sign of softening in his face. His eyes were like flint, and his face could have been carved from stone. When she smiled at him, his answer was a cold glare. Still, Amanda was happy. He had said he loved her, and he wouldn’t have unless he meant it. They could sort out whatever was troubling him as soon as they were alone.

When they reached the deck of the Rosimond, however, it became clear that Matt had no intention of giving her a chance to talk to him. He strode away from her, curtly instructing one of his men to show her to the captain’s cabin. Amanda stared disappointedly at his retreating back. Then, suddenly, she had had enough.

“Matthew Grayson, you come back here,” she yelled. He turned slowly, as if he couldn’t believe his ears, to find her glaring at him, hands on hips as the temper that went with the color of her hair crackled from her eyes.

“ What did you say?” The tone was ominous.

“You heard me.” Oblivious of the gaping stares of the men as they looked from her slight figure to their captain’s large form, she tilted her chin at him belligerently. His mouth tightened as he strode back to her.

“Have a care, my girl,” he growled, grasping her upper arms and glaring down at her. “I have enough scores to settle with you.”

“I want to talk to you,” she said determinedly, ignoring his implied threat and matching him glare for glare. His eyes glittered as they met hers, and a tiny nerve began to jump at the corner of his mouth.

“I fail to see that we have anything to talk about.”

Amanda’s eyes blazed. “ Oh? ” She was quivering with temper. “In front of your brother and a whole ship’s crew, you said that you loved me. And you don’t think we have anything to talk about? Well, I do. ”

The tips of his ears went red. His hands tightened on her arms, and there was a sudden vulnerability in his eyes that he tried to mask with an icy glare. He swore under his breath, and then he released one of her arms and began to pull her after him toward his cabin, nestled under the quarterdeck.

When they were alone, he let go of her, crossing to a cabinet and extracting a bottle of whiskey and a glass. Amanda leaned against the closed door, watching as he sloshed some of the golden liquid into the glass and bolted it back in a single swallow.

“Matt,” she said softly. His back was rigid as he gripped the edges of the cabinet with both hands. Then he turned slowly to face her.

“How fond of my brother are you, Amanda?” he shot at her, the telltale nerve still leaping in his jaw.

Amanda smiled at him. “Very fond. Just as I would be if he were my brother. And very grateful to him, too. He arranged all this, you know, Matt.”

“He ran off with you, you mean.” He eyed her grimly.

“No.” Amanda shook her head. “I begged him to take me. He didn’t want to-but I cried. Neither one of you seems to have any resistance to tears. And he meant for you to come after us. He would have taken me back himself if you hadn’t.”

Matt’s scowl wavered. “I must admit, I wondered about that message. He knew I’d come-and he’s damned lucky I didn’t throttle him. I went mad looking for you that morning. God knows what could have happened to you if you’d gone off on your own. I didn’t get Zeke’s message until that night-and by then I’d searched the whole town. He’s lucky it took so long to reach your ship-I had time to remember that he is my brother.” He hesitated, then shot her an uncertain look. “Why did you leave me, Amanda?” he suddenly asked in a softened tone.

She met his eyes with a tender gaze. “I couldn’t bear it any longer. It was torture being with you, thinking that you didn’t love me-when I love you.”

“Is that the truth?” His voice was curiously unsteady.

“Cross my heart.” She laughed a little, but there was a faint mist clouding her vision. He made a muffled sound deep in his throat, then held out his arms to her. She ran into them with a little choked cry.

They closed around her, squeezing her so tightly she could hardly breathe. His face came down to rest on her soft hair, lightly kissing the sweet-smelling strands. Amanda’s arms went around his waist, holding him close. He felt so hard and strong and solid against her. She knew, with a heart-quaking sense of wonder, that at last she had come home.

“I wanted you from the first moment I saw you on the beach,” Matt whispered into her hair, his voice thick. “You were so small, and so exquisite. But then I found out that your heart was as beautiful as your face, and I was lost. I loved you, Amanda, when you cried over my scarred back, though I wouldn’t admit it even to myself. And I loved you more the first night we made love. When you said you loved me… You don’t know what you did to me, Amanda. I was yours from that night on. I wasn’t going to abandon you to the machinations of that swinish brother of yours. When I left, I had already decided that you would come with me. I wanted to take care of you, spoil you a little, give you everything you didn’t have.”

“Oh, Matt…” That was all she could force through a throat that was suddenly tight. She had never dreamed that he loved her this much; it was everything she had ever wanted and more.

“I’ve been a swine to you,” he muttered. “I know it. How could I have thought you had betrayed me?”

She pulled a little away from him then, smiling up at him mistily and placing silencing fingers over his mouth.

“Hush,” she said softly. “We won’t talk about that. I understand.”

He smiled back at her, a crooked twist of his lips that said almost as much as the soft blaze in his eyes. “You’re an angel,” he said, catching her hand and pressing his lips into the palm. “My own red-haired angel. Marry me, Amanda.”

Her eyes glowed. “Yes, darling,” she answered, loving him with her voice as well as her eyes. His eyes flamed down into hers, and then he was swinging her off her feet, finding her mouth with his as he carried her to the bunk.