‘I love it here, on the islands,’ Emily admitted, threading her hand through his arm again once they were past the guards and taking the track that wound round out of sight along the contour of the peninsula. ‘This is called the Garrison.’ On their left a wall protected the steep slopes up from the sea, on their right the ground rose towards spindly trees on the summit of the peninsula. ‘The weather has turned so warm.’
‘The view is spectacular,’ Blake conceded. ‘Even after a week on board, I can see the charm of islands scattered over a blue sea.’ They passed a gun emplacement and the sentries snapped to attention. He returned the salute. ‘It is not my idea of a peaceful stroll to be encountering soldiers every five minutes.’
Emily chuckled. He loved that slightly wicked sound. ‘No. We take this path here and we’ll be up on the top and out of sight.’
Blake looked down at her, but her face, what he could see of it beneath the broad-brimmed hat, was open and ingenuous. It was obviously only his own mind that was running on the things a man and a woman might find to do outside on a sunny Spring day. It had obviously never occurred to his wife that he had other exercise than walking in mind.
Chapter Four
They reached the sheep-cropped top and found themselves alone except for the flock which ran away, bleating in foolish panic. Emily, for all that she was town-bred, had tackled the slope with ease and was not even slightly out of breath. He wondered just how hard she had been working on the filthy old house herself.
‘…cutting down trees because of the kelp-burners. Are you listening to a word I am saying, my lord?’
‘No,’ he admitted and surprised a snort of laughter from her. ‘And, while I appreciate you maintaining the formalities for the Mortons’ alarming butler, I prefer my given name, Emily. Please resume your lecture on the islands.’
‘I am not lecturing, my… Blake. I was endeavouring to make conversation.’
‘Indeed?’
‘And do not say indeed like that! I am nervous enough as it is.’ Emily’s tone was light and her lips were smiling but tension threaded through her voice.
‘Nervous?’ Blake stopped dead. ‘Still? Why? Surely the worst is over?’
‘The worst? Is that how you describe your lovemaking?’ Despite her blushes, she was smiling.
‘You were a virgin. It must have been uncomfortable, at least. It will be better next time, I promise.’
‘It is not that. It is because I had been married to you for less than a day and then you vanish and I find it ta
kes some time to become accustomed to having a husband again, if you must have the truth.’ She hesitated. ‘Especially one I do not know.’
‘Emily, what do you feel – ‘
‘Where did you go?’ she asked, cutting across the question he had not realised he had meant to ask her. Not yet. ‘Oh, I am sorry. You were about to say something.’
‘It does not matter.’ It did, but he needed to think through why he was asking the question before he posed it. ‘I went to Spain.’ He caught her hand. ‘Emily, this spot is sheltered, let us sit here a while.’ Blake unfastened his cloak, spread it over the turf in a little dip in the lea of a hedge-bank, sat and held up his hand to her. She curled down beside him and watched his face.
‘I am sorry I left you with the house and estate in such a mess,’ he said. ‘I should have warned you. I had expected at least a month at home, but something came up.’ He shrugged, he had a reputation for tricky missions, it was not the first time he had been summoned at short notice.
‘Why was it in such a state?’ she asked him, suddenly serious. ‘I know you warned me, but I had not expected it to be so bad.’
‘My uncle was eccentric, to put it kindly, and he had fallen out with my father. He would never let me interfere, as he put it. Now, with it in such a state I may have to sell out.’
She kept her eyes fixed on the sea, but he sensed she was only feigning an interest in a frigate that was beating out to the open ocean. ‘Why? Why sell out? You obviously do not wish to.’
‘I suppose I have always known I might have to once I inherited the title and the estate. You know what condition it is in now. I have a responsibility to get it into good order again for the tenants are suffering, the land is deteriorating and, much as my great uncle despised it, I feel a duty to carry on the name.’
‘So you had decided to leave the army before you met me?’ she asked, frowning a little at the retreating ship.
‘I told you, I was thinking about it. I still am. If I have to leave the army it won’t be your fault, Emily.’
‘Oh, good,’ she said. ‘I would have hated to be the reason you felt you had to give up the army.’ There it was again, that thread of tension in her voice as though she was feeling something quite opposite to what she was saying.
He did not want to think about it, let alone talk about it, not yet. Blake leaned forward to tweak the ribbons securing Emily’s hat. ‘The sun is not strong enough to burn your nose and this thing is devilishly in the way.’
‘What of?’ she asked, as he tossed the Villager hat aside.
‘Of this.’ He leaned in and caught her by the shoulders, pulling her to him so she came up onto her knees, breast to breast with him. ‘It seems an age since we made love, Emily.’