“Please,” she said, one hand pushing against his chest, but her voice was weak and strained.
“It’s all right, love,” he said, his voice deep and clear, his breath warm against her cheek. His hair was against her face, smelling of the earth she so longed to touch again. Momentarily, she closed her eyes.
“I’ve waited so long for you, my love,” he said. “Months, years, centuries. Now we will be together always.”
The words were what made Nicole awaken. They were intimate words of love meant for another woman. She could believe that the caresses that had made her mind go blank were hers, but those words belonged to another.
“Clay,” she said quietly.
“Yes, love,” he answered as he kissed the soft skin around her ear. His big, strong body was beside her, half on top of her. Somehow, she felt as if she’d been waiting for this all her life. It seemed so natural to pull him closer to her, and it flashed through her mind that she should let him find out the truth in the morning. Instantly, she discarded the idea as selfish.
“Clay, I am not Bianca. I am Nicole.” She hesitated about telling him she was his wife.
For a moment he kept kissing her, but his head jerked up, and she felt his body stiffen as he stared at her in the darkness. In one movement, he was out of the low bunk bed. One minute he was in Nicole’s arms, and the next they were empty. She dreaded the next few minutes.
He seemed to be familiar with the cabin, or one like it, because he knew where he would find a candle, and the little room quickly blazed with light.
Blinking rapidly as she sat up, Nicole had her first good look at her husband. Janie had been right about his arrogance. She could see it in his face. His hair was lighter than she’d thought, the rich brown of it streaked with sunlight. Heavy brows shaded dark eyes above a large, chiseled nose that thrust over his mouth, which she knew to be soft but was now drawn into a tight, angry line. His jaw was strong and hard, the muscles working.
“All right, just who the hell are you, and where is my wife?” he demanded.
Nicole’s head was still foggy. He seemed to be able to turn their passion off rather quickly, but not so Nicole. “There has been a terrible mistake. You see—”
“I see someone else in my wife’s cabin, that’s what.” He held the candle aloft and looked at the trunks along the wall. “Those are Armstrong property, I believe.”
“Yes, they are. If you would let me, I can explain. Bianca and I were together when—”
“Is she here? You’re saying yo
u traveled with her?”
It was difficult to explain when he would not let her finish even a sentence. “Bianca is not here. She did not come with me. If you would listen, I—”
Setting the candle down on the cabinet, he moved closer, towering over her, legs wide apart, hands on his hips. “She didn’t come with you! What the hell is that supposed to mean? I just paid the captain of this ship for performing a proxy marriage and for transporting my wife to America. Now I want to know where she is!”
Nicole also stood up. It didn’t daunt her that her head reached only to the top of his shoulder or that the tiny cabin pressed them close together, but now they were more like enemies than lovers. “I have been trying to explain, but your complete lack of manners prevents any communication; therefore—”
“I want an explanation, not a school teacher’s lecture!”
Nicole was becoming angry. “You rude, boorish—! All right, I’ll explain. I am your wife. That is, if you are Clayton Armstrong. I have no idea, since your rudeness precludes any form of conversation.”
Clay took a step toward her. “You are not my Bianca.”
“I am happy to say I am not. How in the world she could agree to marry an insufferable—” She stopped, not wanting to get angry. She’d had more than a month to adjust to being Mrs. Clayton Armstrong, but he’d boarded the ship expecting Bianca and had gotten a stranger instead.
“Mr. Armstrong, I’m sorry about all this. I really can explain.”
He backed away from her, sitting down on a trunk. “How did you find out that the captain hadn’t seen Bianca?” he asked quietly.
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“I’m quite sure you do. You must have heard somehow that he didn’t know her, so you decided to substitute yourself for Bianca. What did you think, that one woman was as good as another? I’ll say one thing, you certainly know how to greet a man. Did you think you’d make me forget my Bianca by substituting your lovely little body for hers?”
Nicole backed away, her eyes wide, her stomach turning over at his words.
Clay looked her up and down critically. “I guess I could have done worse. I do take it you persuaded the captain to marry us.”
Nicole nodded silently, a lump forming in her throat and tears blurring her eyes.