My Lord Deceived (34 page)

Jonathan
watched her slam into the sea several feet away. Seconds ticked by
but she didn’t surface again. He shook sea water out of his eyes
and studied the area but couldn’t see her. He sucked in a huge
breath and dived underwater. He had never been a particularly
strong swimmer, but had enough strength to fight the raging torrent
as he searched the darkened depths for the woman who held his
heart.

It took too
long. Far too long before his fingers touched something soft and
silky. Frantic fingers reached out but he couldn’t feel it again.
The sea water was dark and frigid, and gave him no hint of where to
find her. His mind raced and desperation surged. Around and around
he swam until his fingers touched the fine tendrils of hair once
more. Determined that he wouldn’t be thwarted a second time, he
grabbed a fistful and reached down.

One hand
beneath her chin confirmed that it was her and, with hard kicks of
his feet, he pushed them both upward. They burst through the
surface and gasped for air. His frantic gaze studied her. He almost
wept with relief when she gasped a huge gulp of air and blinked at
him.

“Thank God,” he
whispered. A white, frothy wave rolled toward them.

“Haul her out,”
Archie snapped and watched as Robert leaned over the side of the
boat and lifted Kat effortlessly out of the water. Once she had
been unceremoniously dumped in the boat, he turned and helped
Jonathan heave himself aboard.

They lay
gasping on the bottom of the boat for several long moments. Archie
began to row again, this time accompanied by Robert who took up an
oar. Between them they turned the boat around, and headed toward
Bentney on Sea.

Jonathan sucked
in several gulps of air, more shaken than he had ever been in his
entire life. He had come so very close to losing the most precious
thing in his entire life. He realised then what a huge mistake he
had made in ever leaving the village without making her his wife
many years ago. They could have spent the last several years as man
and wife, and have loads of children by now. It was a future that
he was now determined that they were going to have.

He turned his
head to one side to study her. Even pale and shaken, and dripping
wet, she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his
entire life, and he was so very glad she was his.

“Kat?”

Kat turned to
look at him. His wonderful eyes were rueful as they studied her.
She could detect no anger or condemnation in their beautiful
depths. Tears pooled her eyes.

“There is one
thing I want to say,” she gasped around the need for air.

“What?”

“I love you,
Jonathan Arbinger,” she whispered. “I know I have been your worst
enemy but you have been a thorn in my side since I was a young
girl. I fell in love with the boy you were many years ago, and that
love has grown with me to the point that I now desperately love the
man you have become. I know that we cannot be together. You are a
lord after all, but I just want you to know that you will always be
in my heart.”

“God, Kat,”
Jonathan growled. “All I seem to do of late is drag you out of the
sea,” he laughed ruefully. Emotion lodged in his throat and,
despite the rocking of the boat, he turned onto his side to face
her. He placed one hand beneath her chin and dipped his head for a
very thorough kiss. “I may be a lord, but I am also a man, and a
man who adores you. I have loved you since I was nine years old. I
work with the Star Elite. I have killed, maimed and fought to
survive. I have seen things and done things that would horrify you.
I may be a lord, but sometimes I worry that I am not worthy for
you. Having said that, if you are prepared to make a few
sacrifices, I know that we can have a long and happy life
together.”

“Sacrifices?”

“Well, as my
wife you will have to move to Dentham Hall to live. I am afraid
that will mean you will be sequestered into reading for Uncle Bruce
practically daily, and will undoubtedly have to help your mother
set up a small holding on the estate so we can grow our own fruit
and vegetables to sell at market.” He grinned at Kat’s gasp. “Billy
will just have to learn how to ride because the estate is massive,
and it will save his boot leather enormously if he doesn’t have to
walk. Aside from reading to my uncle, and me, you will have to
spend your days with me and our children.”

“Children?” She
replied weakly.

“Several, in
fact.”

Kat studied him
for a moment. “You have thought this all through, haven’t you?”

Jonathan
grinned. “I have had a lifetime to plan it.” He brushed a trickle
of water off her cheek and couldn’t resist the temptation. She
looked so strikingly wonderful, and so blessedly alive, that he
couldn’t keep his hands to himself. A quick glance over the side of
the boat warned him that he didn’t have long to get an answer out
of her. The harbour of Bentney on Sea loomed into view. He could
see Agnes and Billy, alongside what looked like half of the village
on the side of the dock.

“I love you Kat
Baird. Will you marry me?” He whispered, and placed a gentle kiss
on her lips. When he drew back he studied her luminescent eyes and
felt his heart leap with joy at the answer in her eyes.

They bumped
against the harbour wall all too quickly but, rather than let her
go so the waiting people could haul her onto dry land, he slid an
arm around her waist and held her still. She lifted her brows and
knew he was waiting. She glanced at the harbour side and smiled at
her mother, who looked worried and bemused at the same time, before
she glanced back at Jonathan with a laugh.

“Of course I
will,” she whispered and much to his surprise, and the delight of
the crowds on the harbour side, gave her future husband a very
thorough kiss.

She may have
smuggled cargo, but in doing so had found a far more precious
bounty that she knew she would never give up.

The End.

The Star Elite
Series

Capturing Sir
Dunnicliffe (Book 1) - released July 2013

Smuggler’s
Glory (Book 2) – Released 20
^th
November 2013

His Lady Spy
(Book 3) – Released 8
^th
February 2014

Lord
Melvedere’s Ghost (Book 4) – Released 24
^th
May 2014

The Lady Is
Innocent (Book 5) – Released 10
^th
June 2014

My Lord
Deceived (Book 6) – Released 15
^th
July 2014

Captive
Surrender (Book 7) – To Be Released 30
^th
August 2014

The Tipton
Hollow Series

Capturing
Harriett Marchington – released August 2014

(Victorian
romantic murder mystery with Tipton Hollow’s Psychic Circle)

The Cavendish
Mysteries

If You Were
Mine – released December 2012

Cinders and
Ashes – released February 2013

Chasing Eliza –
released March 2013

The Gallows
Bride – released May 2013

Children’s
Books

Archie’s
Battleflat Adventures: The Harriman Mystery – December 2013