“Yes.” That spark, a distant echo of his old laughter, flickered in his eyes. “Which doesn’t mean I won’t knock Garson’s block off, if he dares so much as a blink in your direction.”
She smiled. It might be childish, but she liked to hear that Robert felt possessive about her. Because the fact was that she felt possessive about him.
“Were there...were there women?” she asked, as they stepped into a hall tactfully devoid of all other Nashes.
“No.”
They started to climb the stairs. “I can accept if there were.”
He arched his eyebrows. “Can you?”
No. “If I must.”
“You don’t have to. Even if I was interested, and I wasn’t, I was kept in solitary confinement. And there were no women on the whaler.”
At least she needn’t pretend to tolerate the thought of him seeking comfort elsewhere. Although given what he’d been through, he’d desperately needed a woman’s tender touch to lighten his suffering. “Then no wonder you have such a powerful appetite.”
They’d reached the landing. Before she could turn toward her room, he swung her around and kissed her so fiercely that he stole her breath.
The kiss was over in one blazing instant. A thrill rippled through her, and her heart pounded madly against her ribs. Dazzled, giddy, she stared up at him. His black eyes glittered dangerously, and the slash across his face stood out white against his skin.
She placed her hands on his chest to confirm that he really was with her. It still seemed like his return was a dream, even now when relentless hands gripped her hips and his tongue had just been inside her mouth.
“I have a powerful appetite, all right.” His voice was almost savage. “A powerful appetite for you, Morwenna.”
“Oh,” she said, as a warm bubble of happiness rose to fill her chest and squash the possibility of further response. Instead, she took his hand and led him into the room where last night he had seemed such a stranger.
She hadn’t yet solved all his mysteries, but she began to feel that he wasn’t a stranger anymore. One thing was certain. The man she loved had come back to her.
Once they were safely inside, she shut the door and rose on her toes to press a kiss to his lips. This kiss was more thorough, and it left her head swimming and her knees weak. She curled her hand over his shoulder to keep her balance.
“I feel like I need to get to know you all over again,” he said slowly.
Something in his tone pierced her rising excitement. “Are you sorry I’m not as you remember?”
His hand cupped the side of her face, and for the first time since he’d come back, tenderness rather than desire was paramount in his expression. “You are as I remember you—beautiful and fascinating. But you’ve changed, too. In so many intriguing ways. I look forward to discovering the differences.”
That bubble of happiness expanded, threatened to break free and fill the entire world. Last night, it had been miracle enough that he was alive. But their growing closeness was a gift beyond her dearest dreams.
“Me, too.”
He kissed her again, softly. “Tell me about Kerenza. I’m agog to hear of my daughter.” He drew Morwenna to sit beside him on the brocade sofa near the blazing fire. “You didn’t say you’d conceived.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t know until a couple of months after you’d gone. I wrote, but I knew you hadn’t got the news because the letters weren’t amongst the effects we received back from the ship.”
Morwenna stopped to push back a wave of painful emotion. He might have returned to her, but the shadow of losing him lingered. Speaking of this swept her back to the black days when she’d wished herself dead and with Robert, despite the child growing in her womb.
“Those letters must be lost in the Admiralty somewhere.”
“Perhaps you should ask when you’re there.” She started to rise, remembering that he had other commitments beyond those he owed to her. “Should we do this later, once you’ve made your report?”
“That can wait. This is more important.” He pulled her down beside him and curled his arm around her shoulders. She leaned back, drawing strength from his touch. “I should tell you that I’m going to resign my captaincy.”
She stiffened and sat up to stare at him in consternation. “The navy was your life.”
“Not anymore. I’ve come home now, and I intend to stay. Can you bear the thought of a husband under your feet instead of away at sea?”
Bear it? She wanted it more than words could say. “Of course I can. And Kerenza will be in alt to have her papa living with us.”