For Love of the Earl

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  FOR LOVE OF THE EARL

  Jessie Clever

  For Mr. Cusimano.

  You told me I could. So I did.

  This books is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Published by Someday Lady Publishing, LLC

  Copyright © 2013 by Jessica McQuaid

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-9895682-1-0

  CHAPTER ONE

  On a ship bound for France

  April 1815

  Sarah shoved her elbow into him, pushing him further against the wall. So Alec shoved back, sending his wife off the bunk and onto the grimy, disgusting floor of their prison on the ship bound for France. Alec closed his eyes and prayed to every god he knew for patience. His wife was going to come up fighting, and he would not be tempted to fight back. He was a gentleman, an earl, and earls did not box with their wives.

  When he opened his eyes and looked at his wife, he felt his patience start a war with his temper.

  Sarah looked furious. Her nostrils flared, and her hands fisted, ready to strike. Her lovely golden hair was clumped with seaweed and other unknown sea things, and her once pretty pink dress was covered in saltwater stains. The high lace collar was torn and hung limply down her heaving chest. Alec resolutely moved his gaze away from that heaving chest and up to her face, but then he found his gaze focused on her mouth with its delicious slight overbite.

  He had tasted that mouth. But it had been in a fit of near rage and frustration and had been far too brief. He had tasted other parts of his wife as well, but again, it was a stolen taste that he now regretted. He would have apologized for it, but he suspected his wife would hit him. And he really didn't feel like having a broken nose.

  "This is all your fault, you know," Sarah said, her teeth barely opening long enough to get the words out. Her nostrils flared with greater force.

  Alec took a deep breath and sat up, swinging his legs to the side of the bunk. He ran his fingers over his face and through his hair, dislodging his own piece of seaweed. He looked at it before tossing it aside. He watched his feet slide around on the gunk on the floor as the ship rocked its way toward the Continent. The weak light from the lone lantern swinging from the rafters sent shadows dancing around the berth.

  What was he going to say to his wife?

  It seemed whenever he opened his mouth she ripped out his tongue only to ram it back down his throat until he choked. So he looked up at her now, her beautiful face so full of hate, loathing really. Loathing him. And he looked at the floor again.

  He did not know what to do. After four years, he still did not know how to make his wife believe that she was worth it. Worth everything. Worthy of being the wife of the Earl of Stryden. He just didn't know what to say or how to say it to her.

  Alec Black, the Earl of Stryden, the son of the Duke of Lofton, and brilliant spy for the War Office, could not talk to his wife.

  "I know," he finally whispered.

  "If you hadn't taken off, your family would have been able to protect you. But you packed your things and left!" Sarah yelled now.

  Alec raised a finger.

  "I did not pack. There wasn't time," he said and watched the loathing flare in her eyes.

  He brought his finger down.

  "Do you really wish to argue over semantics right now, my lord?"

  Her tone had gone flat and smooth, the loathing searing into a blade of hate that pierced him just above his heart. Alec stopped pushing the gunk into piles on the floor with his boots. One of the piles looked suspiciously like the prime minister, which normally would have made Alec laugh, but laughing wasn't on his list of things to do just then.

  "I know," he whispered again, this time not raising his head or a finger.

  "Now you can't even look at me?" Sarah fumed.

  Alec felt the need to swallow as four years of frustration boiled inside him. Looking at his shoes was not correct. Looking at her was not correct. Looking at her with love in his eyes was definitely not correct. So he raised his head with nothing but coldness in his eyes and looked at his wife.

  But he didn't speak.

  He really didn't feel like speaking again.

  He might say something stupid like, I love you, I've always loved you, why can't we act like a real married couple and not like a the-War-Office-made-us-get-married couple, and why can't we make love all day long and only pause long enough sometime in the dark to eat little cucumber sandwiches with the crusts taken off in bed only to stop halfway through our snack to make love again until dawn when we finally collapse with words of love trailing off our exhausted lips?

  Yes, he really shouldn't say that. His wife would castrate him with her bare hands. He crossed his legs.

  "You really don't have anything to say?" Sarah asked, her voice suddenly, painfully quiet.

  Alec shook his head negatively. He was not going to be tricked into saying what he was thinking. He had been thinking the same thing for four years, and it never changed no matter how he voiced his thoughts. How many times had he told Sarah that she was beautiful? That she was smart and witty and kind? And how many times had it not mattered?

  Sarah threw her hands up in the air, and a guttural scream of rage tore itself from her throat. Alec looked back down at his shoes. He watched the shadows' dance be interrupted as Sarah paced the length of their prison. Five long shuffles of her feet up and five and half long shuffles back down to the door. The ship rolled unexpectedly, and Sarah's feet slid out from underneath her. Alec looked up too late to see her fall. Her head cracked against the wall of the small berth with a sickening thud. Alec tried to stand and ended up half scrambling across the slippery floor. He fell on his knees beside her, gently picking her up as his heart battered around in his chest.

  "Sarah?"

  He brushed her filthy hair out of her dirt smudged face. Her eyes were closed, but her lips parted and soft words tumbled forth.

  "Alec, don't leave me."

  ~

  Several hours earlier on the English Channel

  "You just had to leave, didn't you?" Sarah screamed over the sound of the water coming over the side of the dinghy. She didn't catch the look on her husband's face. She was too busy not being swept into the Channel. The dinghy lurched suddenly, going deeper than it had before. Someone grabbed the back of her dress. She saw the surface of the water rise up precariously close to her face.

  And she knew she didn't want to die.

  She wanted to live a very long life. Preferably with her husband. She wanted babies, sons that had Alec's eyes, daughters who had his smile. She wanted to fight with her husband just to have the pleasure of making up with him. She just wanted life with him.

  But he was going to leave. He had left. And right after very nearly, almost making love to her. It was cruel enough to just leave. He didn't have to leave during.

  And all because she was a bastard, undeserving of a husband like the Earl of Stryden.

  So that was why she seriously doubted she would be making babies with the man she loved so much it hurt. Earls did n
ot make babies with orphans. Especially an orphan who had roots in a brothel.

  The dinghy pitched again, and the hand holding the back of her dress tightened, dragging her backwards. She landed against her husband's chest. The wind rushed out of her as his other arm came around her, anchoring her to him. His lips were suddenly against her ear, and he spoke, but she wasn't sure if she was meant to hear it.

  "I'm not losing you to the damn Channel."

  Despite everything, she shivered. Shivered from his nearness, shivered from his words. Just shivered because it was him. And they were there. Surrounded by French sailors on their way to a ship that was going to take them to France, to the Comte de Montmartre, where they would be prisoners until someone came to rescue them. Although, if the comte's plan succeeded as the French wanted, then the comte would only be adding prisoners to his dungeon, not releasing any.

  But right now her husband's arms were around her, and he didn't have to know how much she enjoyed that, wanted that. She could hide her response. After all, the Channel was attacking them. She doubted he would be paying much attention to how she reacted to his nearness. So for now, even though she was on a dinghy that could very well be swamped and she could very well be dragged to the bottom of the Channel, she was going to enjoy sitting in her husband's embrace, because it was very unlikely that she would ever be able to enjoy it again.

  The dark blob on the horizon that was probably the ship they were being taken to didn't seem to grow. Sarah wondered if the sailors who were rowing were actually moving the boat. She leaned her head back, trying to get her lips against Alec's ear. Her mouth skimmed the rough stubble of beard along his jaw, and her toes clenched in her sodden slippers. Finally, her lips settled on his ear, and she could admit that they lingered longer than necessary before forming words.

  "What are we going to do, now?" she asked.

  She turned her head back around and tilted it, bringing her ear closer to his mouth. His lips were suddenly soft against her skin. She wondered if he might slip out his tongue to take a taste and almost shook her head to dislodge the thought, which would have sent her head into her husband's chin, and she doubted he would like that.

  "We hope that Thatcher gets to Father in time."

  Sarah turned her head around in the general direction of the shore as if she could see Thatcher there, riding off into the heart of England in search of another spy who could save them. But instead of the English coastline, she met the awful sneer of one of the French sailors. She raised her eyebrow at him, and the sailor started to rise. She swung her head around and burrowed deeper into Alec. His arm tightened immediately, which had her toes clenching again. She tilted her head back, this time resolutely ignoring the feeling that spiraled through her when her lips slipped over his skin.

  "And what if he doesn't?"

  They switched positions.

  "We pray for a miracle."

  Sarah swallowed.

  "How is he going to get to London that quickly?" she asked. "It took us days to get to Dover."

  The wind blew Sarah's hair over her ear. She reached up to swipe it away and instead connected with Alec's hand, moving to do the same thing. Her eyes found his and locked. She thought maybe she should look away or at least blink, but she just stared at his green, green eyes. Blink, damn it. And finally she did. When she opened her eyes, Alec was frowning, and her stomach flipped in sudden dismay. She tilted her head obediently and waited for his answer.

  "I think Father may be in Dover already after what Nathan and I learned when we found Samuel."

  Sarah had nearly forgotten about that. It was true that she had tried to purposely block out some of the events that resulted from Samuel, the infallible housekeeper Miss Eleanora Quinton's son, being kidnapped. But it had been days ago, probably weeks by now. It was getting hard to keep track of time, so she couldn't be sure. Samuel had been kidnapped right after Alec's brother, Nathan Black, had accidentally shot the brother of the man who was a spy for the French. Instead of shooting the spy, Lord Archer, Nathan had in fact shot Frederick Archer, and only learned of the mistake from the infallible Miss Quinton. Which in turn resulted in Miss Quinton and Nathan being shot at and Miss Quinton's son being snatched. When Alec and Nathan had rescued Samuel, they had been implicitly instructed to go to Dover. But then Alec had run off in the middle of making love to his wife, well at least she thought it was the middle because Alec was still dressed when he decided to not finish what he had started, and then she had run after him, and she didn't really know what had occurred after that.

  And now they were on a dinghy, fighting the Channel to make it to the ship that would carry them to France. Sarah tried very hard to filter the events that had occurred between her husband running off and them ending up in this dinghy. After all, when this was all over, she would go back to being the wife in a marriage that the War Office had forced. And there were some things she just did not want to remember.

  Like what it was like to fall asleep in Alec's arms.

  She didn't want to remember the look in his eyes when –

  She dug her fingernails into her palms, hoping to draw blood. A terrific wave came over the side of the dinghy, and Alec's grip tightened. It became hard to breathe, but she didn't want him to loosen his hold on her.

  A sailor behind them shouted. Sarah tried to get the water out of her eyes. The salt stung them, and more water appeared where she had just removed it. When she could finally see, the horizon had been blotted out by an enormous, black hole. But it wasn't a hole. It was the ship. Sarah clenched her teeth even as the blood rushed out of her head. Once they were on that ship, that was it. They were bound then. There was no hope of escape the moment they boarded.

  A sailor was pulling her up, but Alec had not let go of her. She was torn between the two of them, but Alec won, keeping her anchored against him.

  The sailor yelled in French, and Sarah only blinked at him. The water surging all around them made it impossible for her to hear him. But Alec responded. Sarah swung her head around to stare at him.

  Alec spoke French?

  Of course, he did. It would be ridiculous to think otherwise. He was a spy for the English in a war against the French. Of course, he spoke French. She wasn't sure why she thought she may have to translate for him. It was moments like these that made her detest his effect on her. She was a perfectly competent spy when he was not so close.

  Now, Alec was pulling her toward the ship. A rope net had been flung down the side. Sarah stared at it before gazing down at her filthy, ruined dress. How was she supposed to climb that in her current state?

  "I'll be right behind you," Alec shouted in her ear.

  Sarah turned around and feeling not at all like shouting, pointed at her skirts. Alec looked down at them and then back at her face, an expression crossing his features that she had not seen in quite a while.

  Alec looked positively delighted.

  Sarah started to raise her eyebrow, but Alec was already bending down toward the hem of her skirt. He reached between her legs and grabbed the back of the skirt, drawing it forward and dragging all the skirts up into the sack created by the back hem of her dress. He shoved the wad of fabric into her hands and smiled wickedly. The water stabbed through the sheer lace of her stockings, but the leers of all the French sailors stabbed even more sharply. She stared at her husband, her skirts in her hands and her legs bared for all the French Navy to see.

  Alec could not have looked more pleased.

  Fury swamped her, and her fist came up before she could stop it. Alec avoided it, and the momentum swung her completely around. She would have kept reeling right into the Channel had Alec not caught her.

  "Easy, love," he said against her ear, as he placed her now uncoiled hand on the rope net. He nudged the back of her thigh with his knee. She lifted her foot, placing it on the net before she regained the sense to strike him again. So they climbed the net, Alec literally on her back, pushing her up the entire way.

&nbs
p; And she knew she wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

  They reached the deck before she wanted to, and the heat of her husband's body left much too quickly. She stood for a moment, balancing herself with the new rocking motion on this much larger vessel. She realized Alec was frowning at her, but her brain wasn't working any longer. She had been wrapped up in the man she loved for much too long, and when that happened, she turned into a complete mess. Gone was the capable and well-skilled spy for the War Office. In her place stood Sarah Beckham, orphan, incapable of almost nearly everything.

  But then Alec reached over and ripped her skirts out of her grip, hastily striking the wet material back down to cover her legs. Her brain clicked back into motion as he frowned more deeply at her. This was delightful. Now he thought she wanted to show all to a bunch of randy sailors. That must be typical behavior for the daughter of a whore.

  An officer approached them. At least Sarah figured it was an officer. The sailors were obviously not dressed in uniform as the ship sat in the middle of the Dover port, so she couldn't be sure. But this man walked with an elegant, pompous posture that dared anyone to question his rank.

  "Bienvenue, mes amis," he said, "Or is it hello, welcome, my friends?"

  His voice had an odd grating sound that tickled Sarah's ears. She wanted to reach up and scratch them.

  "Hello is correct. I'm not so sure about the welcome part, and the friends part is definitely not true," Alec said, smiling through the whole statement. Sarah wanted to scratch her ears again.

  "Perhaps in time," the officer said, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Octave Teyssier. I am captain on this vessel. I have had excellent accommodations prepared for your journey to the Comte de Montmartre's chateau." Sarah wanted to scratch her ears at the tone he used to say chateau. "I wish you no discomfort, and I assure you, you will be taken care of with our best intentions."

  Sarah doubted they had the same definition of best intentions. The captain spoke with an odd cadence. Every few words were paused with a strange moment of silence as if the captain searched for the next word.