Helen Dickson - Mistress Below Deck

He looked quite splendid in his well-cut clothes, his shirt front snowy and his cloak thrown back over his wide shoulders in a dashing way, his teeth startling against his brown skin. Then, gathering her wits, the memory of what she was being forced to do because of him made her go hot, then cold, with anger and she glared at this incursion of her freedom.

Tobias admired the way she handled her horse—a sleek, graceful, spirited, dangerous beast when crossed—very little difference, it seemed, between the horse and its mistress. Leisurely, his gaze wandered over the lovely face that was frowning with indignation. A faint smile of appreciation twisted the corner of his mouth.

‘Oh, it’s you! I might have known,’ she retorted irately into the mocking blue eyes that gazed back at her.

‘Aye, Rowena, it’s Tobias Searle at your service,’ he murmured with a slight incline of his head, sweeping his hat from his head in gallant haste, revealing his thick dark hair, which gleamed beneath the sun’s rays.

‘Do you have to keep bothering me?’

One eyebrow crawled up his forehead and his smile was almost lecherous. ‘So I bother you, do I, Rowena?’

‘Like a wasp. Do you wish to speak to me, Mr Searle?’ she asked haughtily, her manner implying that, if not, he could take himself off and look sharp about it.

‘I was merely riding my horse when I came upon you by surprise. Now we have met, there is no reason why we can’t be congenial to each other and converse on a matter that will not give offence to either of us.’

‘And what do you suggest? That we should discuss the weather, perhaps, or the latest gossip in Falmouth?’ she retorted, her lips twisting with sarcasm. ‘I cannot think that you and I have common interests, Mr Searle.’

‘I find you to be a more interesting topic, Rowena. Once again I find you courting danger. This track is not meant to be ridden at breakneck speed by a horse controlled by a foolish woman.’

Rowena’s face tightened and she gave him a frigid stare. ‘For your information, I have ridden it many times—so many times, in fact, that I could ride it blindfold. I value my freedom, Mr Searle—the freedom to do as I please—a desire which is sufficiently met up here on the high ground.’

‘Be that as it may, but you should have more concern for your own safety. Have you no sense at all?’

‘Apparently not, and as I have told you before, it is no concern of yours—and I cannot for the life of me think why you make it so. Nor can I imagine what you are doing hanging about up here, unless it is to waylay unsuspecting females. I am neither fragile nor defenceless,’ she told him sharply.

‘Is there a reason that brings you up here today?’

‘You have a nerve, Mr Searle,’ she snapped, casting an indignant glare at him. ‘What I do—’

He raised a hand to silence her. ‘Is not my concern.’ His gaze went beyond her to Tregowan Hall. ‘Tregowan Hall is close by.’ He fixed her with a direct stare. ‘Hoping to catch a glimpse of your new neighbour, Rowena? I’ve heard he’s come to take up residence, though whether there is enough interest to keep him here is a matter for conjecture.’

‘Are you acquainted with Lord Tregowan?’ she asked, reluctant to fall into conversation with him, but she was curious about her suitor and felt it was important to glean any information she could about him.

‘As a matter of fact, he is well known to me.’ His gaze softened. ‘Why the sudden interest in Lord Tregowan, Rowena?’

She gave a casual shrug. ‘I suppose you’ll find out soon so I might as well tell you. I am to marry Lord Tregowan. He—offered for me…I have accepted.’

Tobias looked at her long and hard for several moments, and then his lips curved slowly, his eyes, filled with some secret amusement, raking her. ‘Ah, now I see. I really do. So, you have given your father his way, and by accepting Lord Tregowan’s proposal he will not have sold you for a mere pittance. My own wealth does not compare with that of Lord Tregowan’s—so I must accept that any hope I may have had that you might succumb to my offer and marry me is a lost cause. It appeals to you to be Lady Tregowan, does it, Rowena?’

Rowena stared at him dispassionately. Her longing to sneer was overwhelming. It was his smug, conceited expression she hated most. How she yearned to set him in his place. ‘I am sure Lord Tregowan is kind and polite—’

‘And hardly the sort a beautiful young woman would want to be married to, to spend the rest of her life with, in a draughty old house. But if you are to marry him, then may your union be long and fruitful.’ His chuckle sounded low and deep when Rowena’s colour heightened on being reminded of the intimacies she would have to endure to bring about this fruitful result. ‘Married to you, Lord Tregowan might never wish to leave Cornwall again.’ He saw the flash of fire in the blue-green depths, but went on undeterred. ‘Despite our unfortunate encounters, Rowena, would you not find my company more to your liking than that of a stranger?’

‘He won’t always be a stranger to me—and will you please stop trying to proposition me.’

‘I’m only trying to convince you of my merits, Rowena.’

She tossed her head haughtily. ‘Then don’t try. It would be a complete waste of time. How conceited of you to think you are better than Lord Tregowan—although I would expect nothing less from you.’

‘One thing I will say to you, Rowena, is that you would never be bored with me.’

‘And what exactly would you want from me?’ she queried with icy sarcasm, gentling her mare as it shifted restlessly beneath her.

Tobias disregarded the sardonic edge to her voice, his expression almost leering as his eyes ran appreciatively over the soft swell of her breasts inside its green velvet, and the long column of her slender neck, the bright flame of her lips.

‘That question could be settled with no discussion at all,’ he murmured softly, ‘and conversation is not what I have in mind.’

Rowena gasped and felt a scalding heat creeping over her. His words, though spoken in hushed tones, tore through her with more force than all her father’s blustering demands could ever do. ‘How dare you?’ she hissed, lifting her slim nose to a lofty angle, her eyes dark and dangerous. ‘You are insolent, Mr Searle, and you have a propensity to say things that go beyond the bounds of proper behaviour.’

His eyes glowed in the warm light of the sun as he gave her a lazy smile. ‘Your endearments intrigue me, Rowena—but why so hostile towards me? What is it in me that arouses this anger, this dislike you have of me? Your father owes me, that I freely admit, but I am no black-hearted villain.’

‘I would hardly expect you to admit it if you were,’ she retorted crisply.

‘I am a fairly honest man in my dealings with others. I have offered you no injury, not ever, and nor will I. Rather the opposite. I admire a woman who knows what she wants and goes directly for it, whatever the consequences, and you really are a lovely woman, Rowena. We could be splendid together, you and I, well matched, if you take my meaning, so I am at a loss as to why you seem to find me so objectionable.’ He was still smiling, nudging his horse forward until it was alongside her own.

Rowena drew herself up to her full height and pulled her horse back, as though to ward him off, as though he was about to make some physical attack of her, and the look she gave Tobias Searle was one of icy disdain. ‘I want nothing from you in any way. I would sooner starve and see my family homeless than have anything to do with the likes of you.’

He laughed low in his throat and in one effortless motion he reached out and, finding her waist, drew her close, their horses coming together as though in collusion. ‘Shall I show you how thinly veiled your insults are, Rowena? Shall I show you what it is like to be kissed by a real man?’