“Then where have you been all this time?”
“I was press-ganged,” Reuben said simply. “Went to town to buy the black bull, and before the sale, had an ale with some lads celebrating a wedding. They must’ve slipped sommat into the drink. Next thing I knew my wits were addled and I was on a cart bound to Bristol—a member of the Royal Navy.”
“Press-ganged?”
Reuben nodded. “I’ve spent the last couple of years sailing the seven seas in the service of Mad King George. India, the Americas, Tahiti—you name it, I’ve been there.”
“Why didn’t you let me know?”
“How? No post offices in foreign parts. Besides, I couldn’t write and you can’t read.”
“I can now,” Lizzie told him with pride.
“Me, too.” Reuben grinned with a flash of white teeth. “A shipmate taught me to read and write. I’m an educated man now. And”—he took out a leather pouch and jangled it—“I’ve still got the money for the breeding bull and a bit of extra besides.”
Lizzie’s jaw dropped. “You didn’t spend it?”
He grinned. “No black bulls at sea.”
“Oh, Reuben,” Lizzie breathed.
Reuben’s face softened. “I missed you mortal bad, Lizzie.”
Nash nudged Maddy and jerked his head. Reluctantly she agreed. She was dying of curiosity, but Lizzie and her long-lost husband needed to be alone. “Lizzie, take Reuben away where you two can be private. Give him something to eat and spend as long as you need catching up and sorting out your plans. I won’t need you until tomorrow.”
“Lizzie will be giving her notice, ma’am,” Reuben said quickly.
Lizzie thumped him on the arm. “I speak for meself, Reuben Brown. I haven’t decided whether to take you back, yet.”
“Have you not?” Reuben said with an unworried grin.
Lizzie tried to look severe and failed. “Can this big lummox stay here with me tonight, Miss Maddy?” she asked, blushing.
“Yes, of course,” Maddy said and hugged her. “I’m so glad for you, Lizzie.” She gave Reuben a clear, direct look. “Lizzie is my friend, Mr. Brown, and she’ll always have a place with me if she needs it.”
“And for that I thank you, ma’am,” Reuben said easily. “She won’t be needin’ it, but I’m grateful she’s had a friend like you while I was gone. Her Uncle Bill told me what you done for Lizzie and I’m in your debt.”
“Thank you ever so much, Miss Maddy. I’ll stay with you until the wedding. Give this man time to find us somewhere to live.” Lizzie glanced up at her husband with a glowing expression, turned, and dragged Reuben toward the stairs.
Nash laughed softly and wrapped his arm around Maddy’s waist. “Couldn’t we take a leaf out of their book and just disappear upstairs for the rest of the day? And night,” he murmured.
She sighed longingly. “I wish we could. Propriety is such a burden at times, is it not?”
Nash came to her room that night, as he had every other night, but he didn’t bring her a drink, or compliment her hair, or make light conversation about the day, as he usually did.
He simply strode into the room, and without a word, swept her into his arms and kissed her, deeply, passionately, so that by the time he finished, she was on her bed, her senses spinning, her nightgown up around her neck, and her legs locked ecstatically around him.
She wasn’t sure if he’d been inspired by the romance of Lizzie and Reuben’s reunion, or whether it was a result of their argument about his plans to give up diplomacy. Either way, she didn’t care.
But he lifted himself a little away from her, cupped her face between his hands, and fixed her with an intent gaze. “I do have faith in you,” he told her. His blue eyes glittered in the candlelight. “More than faith.”
And then he proceeded to make love to her with a bone-melting combination of tenderness and intensity, and as the candles guttered in their sockets, she shattered in his arms, tears pouring down her cheeks.
Shattered. And was made whole.
He hadn’t said the words she ached to hear, but he’d shown her, in more than words. Nash Renfrew had given himself to her, as much as he was able. It was enough.
It would have to be.
