Page 13 of Devil of the High Seas
“My lord—”
“Griffin, please,” he corrected with an encouraging smile.
“Griffin... what I want is to be free. I want...” She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. “I want a life I cannot have.”
They paused in the center of the gardens, and Griffin gently turned her to face him. He tenderly brushed his fingers over her cheek.
“You remind me of my late wife. Charity was vibrant, so full of life and dreams. My world ended the night she and our child died. I understand more than you know what it means to lose one’s freedom.”
A flicker of shock must have shown on Josephine’s face.
Griffin chuckled ruefully. “I’ve surprised you.”
“Well, yes. I mean, you are a man. You can do whatever you wish in life. A woman cannot. She is bound by the rules of others.”
“In some ways I can, but I am still bound to these lands and this house by my title. I was not supposed to be the earl, you know. Like you, I had a twin, Gavin. He was the firstborn, the one destined to live this life, but...” His gaze turned to the garden and the blooming roses.
“But what?”
“I made a grave mistake. We fell in love with the same woman. They were supposed to marry, but I stole her from him.”
Josephine gasped, her heart aching for both men and the woman who had perished. “Gavin was in love with your wife?”
“Yes. She was his long before she was ever mine. I broke his heart when she was forced to choose between us and she chose to marry me. He left that night, and I haven’t seen him since. Eventually our father died, and I was declared the earl because Gavin was presumed dead. But it was not the blessing one would assume. I was twice punished for displacing my brother. I was forced to take his place as the earl after our father died, and I lost Charity with our child.” Griffin smiled sadly, and his distant gaze focused on her face again. “I believe love can grow between us, if we give it time. If we give it a chance.”
Josephine’s heart clenched. Griffin cupped her chin and slowly leaned down, giving her plenty of time to pull away, but she didn’t. And then he kissed her. His lips were warm and soft, and she felt a stirring within her. The promise of a sweet life, a life of gentle love and tenderness and warmth. She knew she could be happy as his wife, happy enough, but the moment he deepened the kiss, Gavin’s face flashed across her mind and she pulled away from Griffin.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken advantage,” he apologized, a hint of color touching those aristocratic cheekbones of his.
“No, it isn’t that,” Josephine insisted. All she could think was how deeply she would be hurt if her brother left her for seven years and then secretly returned without telling her. It would be a pain she could never forgive, that awful not knowing.
Before she could consider the consequences, she blurted out, “Gavin’s alive.”
CHAPTER4
Gavin examined his clothes from the previous evening where they lay in a shabby pile on the floor next to Josephine’s abandoned pallet. Had she really spent the night beside him in case he should need her? Something in his chest shifted, like currents sliding deep beneath the waves. No one had worried about him like that in a very long time.
With a grunt, Gavin climbed out of bed and retrieved his trousers. It wasn’t easy to pull them up, but he managed it without straining his stitches. The pants were stiff with dried seawater, but he was used to that. When one lived on a ship, one’s clothes were often drenched with sea spray. He reached for his shirt, only to remember that it was badly torn. He fingered the frayed edge of the cloth, smiling a little at the memory of Josephine’s hands digging into it. The lass was fierce indeed, ripping a shirt like that nearly clean in two. It made him want to return the favor and rip the laces of her bodice to get to her bare skin the next time he saw her. The thought of her stripped naked and at his tender mercy made his smile widen.
He turned toward the passageway leading back to the house when the scuffle of feet alerted him to Josephine’s return. Perhaps he might just get his wish...
But itwasn’tJosephine who came through the doorway. It was his brother.
Griffin stood there, his eyes adjusting to the dim light, his lips parted in shock. Just behind him hovered Josephine, her lovely features tight with worry. It was the first time he’d seen her in something other than a thin chemise. The pink-and-blue striped gown made her look like a sweet from a confectioner’s shop in London. Yet no matter how much he wanted to look at her, his attention was riveted on his brother. They had not seen each other in seven years, and the room was thick with tension.
“You’re... here.” The way Griffin saidhere, like he couldn’t believe Gavin was alive, opened up all of those old wounds he’d convinced himself had healed. For a second, he couldn’t draw in a breath and his lungs burned. His chest ached with the pain of the years lost between them, and Gavin could feel the echoing pang within his brother at the same instant.
“Seven years. My God...” Griffin rubbed a hand along his jaw in disbelief. He still stood in the doorway, and Josephine remained at his side, glancing anxiously between them.
“Griffin.” The name came out hoarse, as though he hadn’t spoken in a century.
His brother drew a step closer. “Why now?”
When they were no more than a couple of feet apart, Gavin felt that old familiar tug at his heart. The connection that tied him to his twin was still there, even after all the time that had passed between them.
“My ship was...,” he started, but then swallowed the words that would have caused him shame to speak. “I needed a place to rest for a few days.”
Griffin’s eyes fell to Gavin’s stitched shoulder. “What happened?”
