Chapter Three

The Falmouth dining hall was elaborate and well lit. It was one of the grandest rooms Ori had ever seen and her eldest sister Imogen was married to His Grace, Marshall Sutherland, who owned a vast array of elaborate properties across the country. The hall was wide and narrow, an intricately beautiful golden chandelier directly hung above the oversized, polished table that stretched against one wall. The opposite side was interspersed with spacious windows that peered out over the ocean, scarlet drapes hoisted to the side by golden tassels. The tapestry on the other wall depicted a somewhat faded tale of knights in battle, their swords raised bravely and proudly against a cowed enemy.

Ori immediately found herself entranced and rather thought that this was her favourite chamber of all. The ocean on one side and a glorious tapestry on the other. It was romantic and she thought that Dani was the luckiest woman in the world to have such a spectacular home.

“Ah. I see you’ve made a friend,” Danielle said, coming in behind Ori and looking pointedly at the mastiff hound by her thigh.

“He won’t leave me alone,” Ori grumbled. “The pest follows me everywhere.”

An amused smile crept against Dani’s lips, but she gestured to the table regardless. “I’m afraid we are very informal at Falmouth,” she explained. “I’ve just had a word with Rhys and it appears both gentlemen were sorely incapacitated after the little incident this afternoon. They decided that they could afford themselves a nap. I have awoken Rhys only now and sent for someone to rouse Captain Stanley. Come, we can sit and have some wine while we wait for them to join us.”

An image of a grizzly Captain Stanley flashed through Ori’s mind and she smothered a smirk of distaste. No doubt the unsavoury man would refuse a bath or a shave and she largely suspected he shunned proper evening attire. He’d come down to dinner looking like a sewer rat and smelling like a brewery.

Ori followed Dani to the table and noticed Plank brushing against the side of her leg. “No, stay!” she commanded, irritated by the beast’s persistent efforts to befriend her.

Plank whined, his shiny black eyes swathed with wrinkled skin, and pleadingly considered her. The ice around her heart began to splinter. “Oh, blast,” she mumbled. “Alright then. I suppose if you sit quietly in the corner…”

The hound would have nothing of it. Plank insisted that he coil heavily about her ankles where they lay under the elaborately set table. It was here that the dog huffed out a content sigh and promptly went to sleep. “Bloody mutt,” Ori said disparagingly.

“It is rather peculiar that he has taken to you so fondly,” Dani remarked unwelcomingly. “He is usually quite protective of Captain Stanley and won’t let any of us near him until he can be sure that he can trust us.”

“Who? Captain Stanley or the dog?”

Dani pursed her lips. “Come now, Ori,” she urged gently. “The captain and you have merely gotten off on the wrong foot. Believe me when I say that he is one of the most amiable and brave men you’ll ever meet. You must promise me that you’ll at least try to put aside this animosity you bear for him, just for this evening.”

Ori gave her a dark look. “Dani, he saw me naked.”

“I’m sure it was nothing he didn’t want to see in the first place,” she crooned as a footman came forward and poured her wine.

Oriana narrowed her eyes at the little woman. “I’m not sure how to interpret that.”

A smile was her only answer as Dani sipped at the ruby liquid encased in the crystal of her glass. “Rhys told me he has never married,” she murmured speculatively. “Curious, don’t you think? A man such as he in the prime of his age with no wife to speak of?”

“No sane woman would have him,” Ori snapped peevishly. “I don’t care a whit for Captain Stanley’s marriageable attributes. Quite frankly, I shan’t be surprised if the poor fool that marries him ends up bludgeoning him to death in his sleep.”

“Hmmm.” Curiously, Dani tapped a tapered finger to her cheek. “He’s only one and thirty and he has amassed a fortune in investments and stocks through Rhys, so even if he is not titled-”

“Dani, I don’t care about Captain Stanley,” Ori grated. “He is the most insulting man I’ve ever met.”

“I’m just saying that after Gabriel-”

“Really, must we speak of this?”

Dani’s eyes glinted determinedly. It was no wonder Rhys had relented so willingly to his wife. The woman had a mind of steel and relentless determination. “All I am saying is that you haven’t set your heart on any other man since Gabriel and that was three years ago.”

“When I do set my heart on another man,” Ori pointed out, “it will certainly not be a man like Captain Stanley.”

“There is nothing wrong-”

“The man is insufferable.”

Dani wrinkled her nose. “You know, Ori, that our heroes can be found in the most ordinary or surprising of men, and not only in a romantic novel or play.”

“Are you talking about Rhys?”

“Yes,” Dani admitted softly. “I have no shame in admitting that I never thought I’d see myself married to a reclusive grump. But I am and I love every day I spend with him.”

“Are you telling me my expectations are too high?” Ori demanded.

Dani waved her hand about dismissively. “It has nothing to do about expectations,” she remarked. “One really shouldn’t have expectations when it comes to men, I think.”

“Is it because they never live up to them?”

Dani grinned. “Now you are being silly. Have your expectations, then. The chances are that when you fall in love you will find that they were never really there in the first place.”

Ori sighed and tried not to let the tone of the conversation pull at her heart. It had been a long time ago but still the memory of Gabriel’s rejection hurt. Dani’s words wrung of truth and Ori reluctantly admitted that she had buried her ideals of her future husband right on the pages of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. A few years ago when she had been rather naïve, she had allocated all these glorious traits of manhood upon the sole head of Gabriel Sinclair only to have her dreams shattered when he married Victoria Colton.

But, she reasoned, her aspirations were not unreasonable. In fact, Ori firmly attested that it was good for one to place expectations in one’s betrothed. It was not unreasonable for her to expect her beloved to harbour favourable qualities that she would be attracted to. Of course, she didn’t expect him to embody all the characteristics on the list she had compiled when she was but an idealistic young girl. Oh, bother. She couldn’t even lie to herself. She kept that list hidden in a small jewellery box atop her bureau. She had memorised the contents to heart and every man she met held up against it.

Oriana Harmony Brightmore’s, it read at the top in her own individual penmanship, qualities that her betrothed should at least attempt to embody and more.

Her reminiscence was interrupted by the entrance of two incapacitated men. Rhys entered first and Captain Stanley a few steps behind him. They were both finely attired in their dark evening wear and freshly groomed and shaved, but Oriana’s eyes were not drawn to the handsome figure of Rhys, but rather to the latter of the two who had shortly become one of the most irritating men she’d ever come across. His transformation from scraggly bearded vagrant earlier that afternoon into refined gentleman this evening… it was startling and Oriana did not particularly like the fact that she even found him so in the first place.

Unwillingly, the first aspect of her list popped into her mind.

Although largely unimportant, my husband must be at least somewhat pleasing to the eye.

Freshly shaved and adorned in immaculate gentleman’s clothing, Captain Stanley was definitely pleasing to her eyes. His coat was a deep claret in colour, buttoned closed over a torso that was flat and rippling with undeniable strength. Even with the coat, Ori marvelled at the broadness of his shoulders and the thickness of his arms. There was no padding for this man, she thought idly as her eyes settled on the neatly folded cravat beneath his chin. His face held a certain masculine appeal, equipped with hard lines and jagged contours, infinitely square. His brows were harsh, dark lines above eyes that were deeply set and shimmered like molten silver A hawkish nose centred his face and his lips were wide, the bottom thicker than the top, but like everything else about him they too were hard, unrelenting.

Rhys stopped by his wife’s chair and dropped an affectionate kiss to the top of her head. “Feeling better?” she asked, smiling up at him.

“Every time I see you I do,” he grumbled, abashed, and took his seat beside her.

“Ugh, revolting,” Captain Stanley scowled at Rhys.

For his part, Rhys didn’t show an ounce of repentance as he unfolded his napkin. Ori studied him closely, the one side of his face perfect in its handsomeness, the other marred cruelly with jagged scars running from temple to jaw. Any other woman would have baulked at his maimed appearance, but not Dani. It unnerved Ori a little but she quickly adapted and focused her attention on the unscarred side of his face rather.

“Do you have sensitivities towards affection, Captain Stanley?” Dani asked, swivelling her wide-eyed blue gaze in the other man’s direction.

Captain Stanley placed himself in a seat that was directly beside Ori. Curse the man, she thought vehemently. The table was huge, ostentatiously so, yet he had deliberately sat beside her. As if sensing her vexation, the man pointedly looked at her before he chose to answer. “Not specifically, Lady Ashcroft.”

Involuntarily, as Ori met his level gaze and felt a blush of discomfort warm her cheeks, the second item on her self-made list popped into her head.

He must be agreeable and openly engaging with me and others around him.

“I’m much more inclined towards a bit of exhibitionism,” the captain murmured, his perceptive silver eyes meaningfully boring into Ori’s very flesh.

God, she must have been mad thinking that dinner could be a normal affair what with two gentlemen having seen her nude. Furiously, she set aside her napkin and rose to her feet, Plank complaining gruffly from her feet at the abrupt disturbance. “I apologise, Danielle,” Ori murmured to her friend, “but I simply cannot abide-”

“Sit down, Miss Brightmore,” Captain Stanley commanded gruffly. “I will endeavour to behave myself, uncivilised barbarian that I am.”

Rhys muffled a cough against the sleeve of his coat before hurriedly taking a sip of his own wine.

“Of course you will behave!” Dani told Captain Stanley with an overly bright grin.

“I doubt the good captain knows how,” Ori muttered darkly.

“If I do not,” Captain Stanley said, “I give you my full permission to wallop me.”

At that, Ori paused. The actual thought of hitting the man held a certain appeal. She stared down her nose at him. “Truly?”

“I give you my word.” Solemnly, his expression grave, he placed a hand over his heart. “Should I utter but one untoward sentence that besmirches my lady-”

Ori snorted indelicately and coloured at the unconscious sound. “You are being facetious, captain.”

A smile ignited his silvery eyes, yet his firm lips remained staid. “I promise.”

“For God’s sake,” Rhys growled. “Oriana, I’ll gladly throw my boot at his head if you’ll remain at the table so we can put this sordid affair behind us. It is not the first time a man has ever laid eyes on a naked woman, nor will it be the last.”

“Rhys!” Dani reprimanded sharply. “You are making things worse!”

Ori sighed, the sound harsh, but she perched her bottom on the padded chair regardless. Plank immediately propped his leaden head on her thigh and made a muffled grunt of appreciation. “You are right, Lord Ashcroft,” Ori allowed graciously. “I am fussing overly much about something as trivial as this afternoon. Perhaps I should adopt a more cavalier demeanour to my state of undress and waltz about the room in naught but my garters, just as Eve did at the beginning of time.”

“Now, there’s an idea,” Captain Stanley growled lecherously.

“I fully concur,” Rhys agreed. “Perhaps my wife-” A blistering glower from his spouse quelled the rest of the words on his lips.

Ori collected her wine glass and poised it just below her chin. “Given the circumstances,” she mumbled, “should Captain Stanley wish to address me in an offensive manner, I should be the one to toss a boot at his head and not you, my lord.”

Rhys grinned.

Captain Stanley sighed and settled back against his chair. “I’ve allotted you the right to commit physical harm against my person,” he muttered, “and now my dog has turned traitorous. Perhaps you’d like to inflict some other form of punishment, too?”

A tiny smile curled the corners of Oriana’s lips up ever so slightly. “Well, come to think of it, it wouldn’t hurt to have you parade about in your drawers as retribution for disturbing my toilette earlier.”

“Fair enough.” Without contemplating the matter at all, Captain Stanley yanked hard at his neat cravat and practically ripped it from around his neck, flattening it on the surface of the table with implacable force.

Dani gasped. “Captain Stanley, desist at once!”

Next, his fingers worked steadily at the buttons of his cloak, his eyes transfixed upon Oriana, who was too shocked to do anything but redden and gape at the outrageous man. “I must please the lady,” he stated emphatically, shrugging from his coat and tossing that to the side.

“Good God, are you mad?” Seeing that the captain was in no state to be reasonable, Danielle turned to her husband. “Rhys, will you stand for this?”

Lord Ashcroft merely smiled. “I’m wondering whether the cad has enough courage to go through with it,” the earl told his wife, which only earned him a furious glower for his efforts.

Captain Stanley next removed his waistcoat, tossing that atop his cloak where it lay crumpled on the floor. “Of course I have the courage, Ashcroft,” he practically purred.

“Oh for the love of-” Angrily, Dani pushed her chair back and stood over the lot of them glowering. “Have you all lost your minds? Oriana, for God’s sake, the man is about to disrobe for you! Have you lost all sensibilities?”

Transfixed by his silver gaze, Ori scarcely heard her friend. It was when his large fingers worked deftly with the buttons of his shirt, first undoing the cufflinks at the base of his sleeves and then working from the top down, that she fully comprehended the lunacy of the situation. “S-stop!” she said, her voice wavering unsteadily. Suddenly she became aware of the erratic pounding of her heart and the searing heat blistering her skin.

Cole’s fingers halted their precarious descent, a brow raised in her direction. “Pardon?”

“Stop!” Ori repeated, her voice firmer this time. Thank God.

“Are you sure?”

The affirmation stuck in her throat. Oh, the humiliation was agonizing. A simple “yes” would suffice but her tongue was determined to swallow her words. Although she not once removed her gaze from his, the swarthy expanse of chest now exposed by the removal his shirt tempted her eyes like nothing else.

She refused to look though. The man would gain far too much pleasure out of it, knowing that he had triggered an undeniable response from her. God, did she find him attractive?

Pah! Unthinkable. Captain Stanley was ludicrous, a heathenish individual intent on shaming her and now Danielle.

Ori found him preposterous, not attractive. Stronger now, she nodded her head vehemently. “Of course I am sure! How utterly shameful of you!”

His hands dropped and Ori was certain she heard Dani mutter, “Oh, thank God.”

Yet he did not seem to feel inclined to button his shirt closed. Dratted beast. It was as if he knew Oriana was struggling to stave off the urge to glance at the expanse of naked chest exposed to her. Perplexed, she tore her gaze from him and focused on the other couple. Rhys appeared to be fighting off heaves of laughter while Dani glared venomously at his companion.

“Right,” she began in a determined voice, “now that all indecency is behind us, could we please continue like normal, civilised guests?”

“My apologies,” Ori told her. “I should have never instigated such behaviour from such a man.”

Dani accepted this with a slight incline of her chin.

Plank licked Ori’s hand.

“I believe proper introductions are in order,” Danielle went on sturdily. She extended her fingers towards Oriana while she directed a very matronly stare at Captain Stanley. “Captain, may I present to you Miss Oriana Harmony Brightmore, whom you have had the pleasure of meeting previously I believe, but never been formally introduced. Miss Brightmore is second oldest in a rather large family and she is an avid Shakespeare enthusiast.” Pausing imperceptibly, Dani made a great show of gracefully extending her hand towards Captain Stanley and redirected that level glare on Ori. “Miss Brightmore, may I present to you Captain Cole Stanley, whom- if I understand this correctly- commandeers my husband’s vast fleet of shipments.”

“Something like that, dear,” Rhys murmured to his wife, amused.

Dani’s face wavered uncertainly. “I believe Captain Stanley is, uh, interested in sailing.”

“Who’d have thought?” Ori mumbled caustically.

Cole cast an amused glance at her, not immune to sarcasm. The little thing practically oozed her disdain for him from the very pores of her deliciously soft skin. “Have you ever been aboard a ship, Miss Brightmore?”

There were subtle fluctuations in the hue of her eyes. When she was annoyed, they would darken, becoming almost wholly green in colour, and when she was sceptical or wary- like now- they darkened with the dilation of her pupils. Cole found himself fascinated.

“No,” Miss Brightmore said carefully. “I have never had the fortune to leave England, captain.”

“Such a pity.”

“Captain Stanley has been to many a land,” Dani said quickly, as if she were fearful of the conversation taking a turn for the worse. “Do you have any particular favourites, captain?”

“Every continent has its merits,” he spoke softly, looking at Oriana, “as do they have their disappointments.”

Abashed at his vagueness, a small sigh escaped Lady Ashcroft and finally the first course of the meal was served. Usually loquacious, Cole allowed himself to succumb to silence as the other three kept talk frivolous and lively. He did this mainly to absorb Oriana’s presence.

Strategically manipulated to cover as much of her ears as possible, Oriana’s golden tresses curled loosely and gracefully about her face and neck. She was a petite little thing with a fiery temper. He would never have believed that a prim lady like herself would have courage enough to challenge him- disrobing, no less! It amused him and, for some reason, pleased him.

Immensely.

As the hours wore on since their meeting that same afternoon, Cole was beginning to realise that his attraction did not merely stem from her pretty exterior, but also from what he was gradually learning from her.

And some of it was hopelessly simple to predict.

He was adept at reading people- he had to be. He was not born to nobility. Indeed, had it not been for Lord Ashcroft’s employment, Cole would never have been thrown into the same circles. Although most of his associations were only coordinated through business, he had been exposed to enough of the ton to know that he would much prefer a life at sea than one in a London ballroom.

Oriana Brightmore looked as if she belonged right in the centre of one.

While they dined, the sun began its descent over the cusp of the horizon, illuminating the sky with soft pinks and oranges; a spectrum of warmth. The colours of the sky reflected off the surface of the ocean, churning the water with a myriad of golden streaks. It was while he allowed himself a moment to admire the view through the large windows, and silently envying Rhys for his ownership of the castle, that Cole caught Miss Brightmore doing the exact same thing.

Their gazes locked and for the first time he did not detect animosity.

The final course was being cleared away and, according to protocol, Lady Ashcroft and Miss Brightmore were about to adjoin to a drawing room. For the life of him, Cole did not want Oriana to leave so soon.

“Perhaps,” he broached, one of the first things he had said in the last hour, “if I may be so bold, I wonder if you would be interested taking a stroll about the gardens on the morrow, Miss Brightmore?”

Her eyes widened with shock.

“It seems as if you will have the honour of acting chaperone, my dear,” Rhys told his wife humorously.

“I’m sure I will be a capable one,” Dani said, frowning slightly.

“I have not concurred!” Oriana protested.

“It’s merely a stroll, Ori,” Dani told her. “Perhaps you will enjoy it.”

Doubtfully, Oriana cast him an irked glare. “If Captain Stanley will promise to behave himself-”

“I promise.” Cole was adept at lying, too.

Ori nodded. “Very well. I shall be... delighted.”

He nearly laughed aloud at her tone. What a charming little devil she could be! Such dry wit and humour- unbidden, an image of her splendidly naked flashed across Cole’s mind.

God, he better train himself to keep his hands from her. She was certainly the marriageable type and he was simply not.

Although, there certainly was no harm in a little flirtation for the duration of their time together, was there?

Cole smiled languidly and couldn’t help his admiration for Miss Brightmore’s delightful blush as it crept up her neck. She practically glared at his mouth, as if half expecting it to jump from his face and latch onto her cheek.

“No, Miss Brightmore,” he murmured appreciatively, “I’ll be delighted.”