Page 64 of Unearthing the Smuggler's Heart
* Marry captain?
She tookthe space of two heartbeats to ensure she had read these words correctly, and then she had turned on her heel and taken off at a run.
CHAPTER29
She had taken a horse from the stables, one she had demanded saddled at a likely unreasonable pace. Despite the barrier in language, the man who had assisted her had understood her urgency perfectly well, and to her endless appreciation, had heeded it to the best of his ability.
She had never had occasion to become a particularly skilled horsewoman, and so she had to find a way to request that the stable hand attend her. She had pointed to the horse and said the few relevant words she knew in Spanish, putting emphasis onla playa—she wanted to go to the beach and she wanted to gonow.
The man had given one hopeful look toward a second mount, but mercifully had not put effort into attempting an argument. He had mounted up dutifully and allowed Jade to grip him around the middle as they rode at breakneck pace for the port. The transition from the packed dirt road to the sand on the beach rattled her teeth, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut to keep the sharp little grains from blinding her.
When the horse finally slowed to a stop, neighing in exhaustion and flicking its head side to side, she was uncertain about the integrity of her legs for a moment and allowed precious seconds to lapse while the stable hand dismounted and assisted her to the ground.
"Gracias," she panted, gripping the man's bicep. "Gracias."
He nodded, flapping his hands so that she might attend to whatever business had been so urgent. "Sí," the man said impatiently, and then in English, "go!"
She grinned at him, tears swimming in her eyes now from a wholly different source, and she released him, turning to run. She kicked her slippers off as she went, raising the skirts she wore in her hands so that she may go faster, her hair flying behind her in the late-afternoon sunlight. She ran until her legs ached, and though the sunlight on the water glinted so brightly it might have blinded her, she did not slow, nor did she take her eyes away from the pier in the distance.
She ran until her bare toes touched the sea foam, and only then did she lift a hand to her brow to get her bearings. Only then did she see theHarpy, already too far away to call back to shore, its central sail unfurled and sky blue, capturing the wind that would take it north to Britain.
For a moment, she could not believe what she was seeing. She dropped her skirts, the hems weighing down around her ankles in the salt water. She could not comprehend the ship already on the waves. It was not a possibility her mind was willing to process, to bring into clear focus.
And she might have stood there until the sun had set and the ship had vanished over the horizon. She might have stayed there for all the remaining days of her life, until the tide swept her out to sea for good. Many things might have happened if he hadn't appeared, sloshing into the shin-deep water, to stand at her side.
She turned to stare at him, her eyes wide and her lashes wet with tears and sea mist, and for a moment, he only looked back at her with a gentleness in his amber gaze that she had never seen before. She reached her hands forward, entwining her fingers with his.
"I was afraid you wouldn't come," he said to her, his voice only a whisper above the crash of the waves.
She nodded, laughing through a clenching desire to sob. "I was afraid you wouldn't stay," she replied. "I was afraid you were already gone."
He pulled her into his chest, embracing her tightly and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I am so very sorry,” he said. “I was a fool. I should have simply told you that I love you. I know that now.”
She nodded. “Yes. You should have.”
He laughed, stroking a hand down her hair. “I will assume that means you love me as well.”
“Of course I do.”
She felt the air drain from his lungs, the sigh of relief, although she must only be confirming that which he already knew. He held her for a moment longer, the surf coming in stronger, past their knees, before speaking again.
"Did you get my list?" he asked. “Your list?”
She buried her face in his chest, locking her arms around him, so tightly that she thought she might never release him again. "Yes," she said, "and yes."
"Yes you'll marry me?" he asked, and after a beat of silence, he reached down to tilt her chin up so that she would look into his eyes. "Will you marry me, Jade?"
"Yes," she said again.
"Yes?" he asked with a grin.
She nodded, lifting herself onto her toes to press a kiss to his lips, and against them she amended her answer. This time she said it softer, but loudly enough to ensure she was heard.
"Yes,” she said, “Captain."
EPILOGUE
Everything was perfect.
