Finding Bliss (30 page)

Lady Adelaide Muriel “Admiral”
Loudon is averse to life on land. Having been raised at sea with a no-nonsense
father and a crew of sailors, Admiral is more than capable of defending
herself. After taking a pointed dislike to the swarthy Lord “Lazarus,” Admiral
cooks up a plan. Since the handsome rake is notoriously unconcerned with
relationships, but mysteriously honorable for whatever reason, Admiral schemes
to trap him into a bloodless union with her unfortunately seasick and
off-balanced friend Lady Marie Snow—who needs a husband to allow her to remain
on terra firma!

Believing the rakish
soon-to-be captain would likely leave his unwanted bride onshore, Admiral plots
to have him compromise Marie and catch him in the act. But when things don’t go
as planned, it is Admiral who ends up compromised and married to the infamous
rake. She’s forced to plan an escape to try to talk some sense into her
father’s thick head. But when her groom ends up being one step ahead of her,
sparks and swords soon fly.

No Escape from Love is the
Second Book in The Penwood Legacy, an adventurous tale of infamy, seduction and
swordplay that you won’t want to miss!

No Escape from Love: Book Two of
the Penwood Legacy Series

Admiral felt her stomach twist as
she rode toward Bristol. She had three hours of hard riding ahead of her. She
would tie the horse at Lord Osterburg’s estate, Whisper Chase.

Leaving the horse at the gate and walking back to the docks
on foot was her only option. She was no thief. Lord and Lady Osterburg would
return Lord Penwood’s horse eventually. The only thing she regretted was lying
to everyone. Only Lady Bliss hadn’t been fooled. Her parting words were
frightening.

“You can’t run from fear or fate, darling,” was all the
woman had said. Admiral couldn’t even acknowledge the statement. Instead she’d
hugged the others and claimed a meeting with her husband.

They’d all find out soon enough. She only hoped no one told
her father before he left a little later. He was never one for goodbyes anyhow.

Lord Captain Loudon never liked anything maudlin or
sentimental. Every time she’d been sent away to school, he never once said
anything. She was unceremoniously hauled away in a carriage that he “just
managed to miss,” or so he always said later.

Riding was not easy. Admiral was a priestess on the high
seas, but a bumbling idiot on a horse. She made her way in the lengthening
shadows of afternoon and prayed she wouldn’t be caught by any highwaymen. She
had no cutlass or even a dagger so it would be wits and fists, definitely not
her best defense arena. But no one was on the road as she made her way toward
Bristol.

At around six p.m. she pulled up her reins and dismounted
painfully to the hard cobbled street. She left a note pinned to the mare’s
blanket explaining the horse’s ownership, untied the knots to free her valise
and barely acknowledged a stable boy running toward the horse as she walked
briskly away. Expecting at any second to hear the lad calling, Admiral hurried
around the nearest corner and ran full bore for the Allegro.

Once she reached the dock, Admiral
moved through the slipway and up to the Allegro’s main deck undetected. A voice
met her when she was halfway up the gangway to the galley stairs.

“What are you doing back here so soon? Father said you
wouldn’t be back for this trip,” Hark asked accusingly. Admiral whirled around
to face him, sullen and bitter without just cause.

“Never mind that. I’ll deal with your deception later,
brother! How could you throw me to the sharks that way? You’ve broken my trust,
and it deserves no less than a stiff battle once we’re moving. For now, I will
consider letting you live if you’ll keep quiet about me being aboard. I’ll hide
in my room. No one will look for me in there,” Admiral announced with a sneer.

“Wait a minute, what’s that you’re wearing?” Hark asked
following her close at her heels. He tugged at the ribbons now flowing in
tatters behind her back.

“Nothing, just a silly gown for the ball I didn’t stay for.
Now, are you going to keep jabbering like a popinjay, or are you going to keep
shut of this? I’ll fight you now if it’s the former.”

Admiral turned to peer back at him up the galley stairs. She
hurried past the wardroom and into the mid-deck lastage that had served as her
room since she was old enough to need privacy.

“Is that a wedding ring you’re wearing?” Hark teased
quietly. “I believe it is. What in the hell have you done, sister?”

“None of your bloody business! Now shut your gob, or I’ll shut
it for you!” Admiral hissed.

Hark chuckled darkly and continued to hound her all the way to
her chamber. When she was inside, she didn’t light a candle. Closing the door
behind her, Admiral dropped her bag to the floor in exhaustion.

Before she took two steps, she heard a noise. Without
thinking, she turned to open the door again. It was locked from without.

What the hell?

“Hark? Open my door right this minute!” Admiral yelled, not
trying to be sneaky now. The next sound she heard was from inside the room. A
feeling of dread soaked her skin in a cold sweat.

“Is that noise really necessary,
dove?” Russ’s thick, dusky voice called from the far corner.

“You! How did you …” and suddenly she knew so she added,
“Let me guess, Lady Bliss?”

“You have no idea the times in my life I’ve cursed her
gifts. But I think today I might owe her an apology. She saved me from a most
embarrassing reception faux pas my three hour bride committed. I should buy her
something large to express my gratitude,” Russ’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
Admiral turned again to work on the knob.

“You should be quiet unless you want your father to hear. He
was readying his horse at the same time I was. He was hard on my heels. Everyone’s
probably already on board. Now, I want to know first off, why did you leave?”
Russ asked simply

He walked forward and struck a match in his fingertips. He
lit the candles on her desk near the left wall of the room and waited. In the
flickering candlelight, Admiral could see tense lines of anger. But his fury
was barely registering compared to hers.

“You had no right to do what you did! Why on earth did you
offer
for me? I would have talked my way out of it!” she shouted, moving away
from the door. Russ stood by and casually fingered the dead match with his
thumb.

“The way I understood it, you were
counting
on my
offering marriage after my little indiscreet liaison,” he answered without yet
meeting her intense glare. Admiral quickly and dangerously moved until she was
directly in his face.

“I intended to have you offer for Marie because she bloody
wanted to marry! I only meant to aid her in her quest, because I wasn’t
particularly keen on having her displace all the water in the Atlantic with her
vomit!

“You didn’t give me time to explain before you put your
hands on me! I’m not accustomed to being pawed. I didn’t react appropriately,
or I surely would have sheared your manhood with a sharp blade,” said Admiral
coldly.

“Tsk, tsk, Lady Varenne, is that any way to talk to your
husband?” he said leveling her with a steely gaze that nearly unhinged her
knees. She backed away instinctively.

“You … that’s … you didn’t even try to let me apologize
before you were kissing me,” Admiral stammered.

“It didn’t seem to me that you intended to utter another
syllable after your tongue entered my mouth. But if you’d like to apologize
now, I’m listening,” Russ’s tone stayed level, but his eyes burned into her
face like hot pokers. Admiral staggered toward her desk in stunned frustration.

“What do you want with an apology now? It’s too bloody late!
We’re married except for the wedding night, which I assure you will not happen
until Hell itself freezes like the Alps in winter!”

To punctuate her statement, Admiral flounced around to face
the door again and began pounding incessantly.

“Hark, I will gut you like a tuna if you don’t open this
door at once! Hark? I know you can bloody well hear me! You bastard son of a
whoring pirate! Open the bloody door!”

“Is this the same mouth you kissed me with last night? I’m
surprised my lips didn’t burn! What kind of language is that for a lady?” Russ
was closer to her, and she could feel his heat.

Admiral stiffened and waited for his attack. When it didn’t
come, she turned to face him.

“You knew what you would be getting when you made that
stupid marriage offer in the face of my father’s indignation. Don’t play
innocent with me, Lazarus! I’ll cut out your heart,” she spat.

To her utter fury, Russ chuckled.

“You don’t have a weapon in this room, darling. Believe me I
would have never allowed Hark to lock me in a room with you anywhere near a
blade. You see, I’ve heard all about your reputation, too … with swords. I
don’t mean to suggest you could beat me in a battle fully armed, but I didn’t
plan on licking my wounds during my honey month.

“Now, dear, listen to me and listen well. This is going one
of two ways. Either you can leave here with me quietly and discuss this rationally
at my home here in Bristol, or we can wait for Lord Captain Loudon to arrive
and suffer his displeasure at his daughter’s disloyal treatment toward her
husband. I’d guess you have less than fifteen minutes before he is made aware
of our presence,” Russ said walking toward the bed and sitting to wait.

Admiral knew she had to think fast
if she were going to escape from this unscathed. But there was nowhere to go.
Aside from fleeing to Norwich, which in and of itself defeated the purpose of
running in the first place, she didn’t want to go with Russ and be alone when
he demanded his husbandly rights. The idea was too unsavory for her taste. Surely
her best option was to wait for her father while trying to talk sense into her
new husband.

“Russ, let’s be reasonable. You don’t want a wife any more
than I need a husband. So why not save us all the trouble and get this bloody
farce of a marriage annulled?”

“Do you know what it takes to get a sanctioned annulment?
One of us will have to cry foul. And there is no way on God’s green earth that
I’m going to admit being unable to fulfill my husbandly duty,” Russ scoffed
indignantly.

“Then say I tricked you into a marriage. Say you discovered
I was impure,” Admiral said softly.

The room fell silent for a full five minutes. Russ had to
struggle to master his emotions suddenly, which caught him off guard. At
length, he asked her a simple question.

“Is that why you ran?” Watching closely he saw the fidget of
her hands as a sign that he’d hit close to the truth.

“That’s none of your business,” she whispered low as she
stood and began pacing.

“Well lucky for you I’m not inclined to care. We made vows
before God and my family, and I intend to honor mine. What you do will
determine the rest,” Russ said in a gravel-laden retort. Admiral shivered.

“Then say we are unable to agree on our marriage, or say I’m
insane. But please, don’t make this any harder than it already is,” her voice
trembled slightly with the panic she was fighting. Stopping mid-stride she
faced him expectantly.

“No, I won’t do that to your father. I might not agree with
him on many points, but I would never intentionally dishonor your family that
way. Besides, he’s retiring. How else can you sail as easily unless you have a
sailor, a captain at least, for a husband?”

Russ stated the facts in such a way as Admiral couldn’t
dispute them. But she was too far in her abuse of him to back down now.
Squaring her shoulders she made her last effort.

“I don’t want this. I can’t believe you do either. Let go,
Russ,” her tone was pleading.

“No. I’m not giving in to your stupid, childish threats. We
are married. It’s done. You made your bed, now we both have to lie in it as
husband and wife. Make your decision,” Russ said woodenly.

“I’m not leaving the Allegro,” Admiral said without emotion.

“Fine, then, we’ll wait for …”

Russ didn’t get the chance to finish his statement. From
outside the cabin they heard Lord Captain Loudon storm up to the door, shouting
threats and profanity in his path.

“What in the bloody hell are you doing in there? You are
supposed to be on your honey month! How in the devil did you get on my ship?”
the door burst open, and Lord Captain Loudon flew in with his eyes blazing and
his fists clenched.

“Papa, I can explain. I came here to try and make you see
reason. This is absurd. I don’t want to be married,” Admiral began. Her father
spun around and glared at her.

“It’s too bloody late! We’re already weighing anchor. You
and your unfortunate new husband will go along on this journey. You will bloody
well act like a married couple, or so help me I’ll tie you to the bow and leave
you there!” Lord Captain Loudon bellowed.

“But sir, Russ has to sail with his own merchant ship! You
can’t kidnap a peer of the realm. That’s worse than piracy,” Admiral countered
vehemently. Her whole body shook with the effort to remain calm.

“Lord Penwood made out a letter on his behalf stating his
intention to take his honey month. The commander cannot dispute these claims.
Is that clear,” he turned to face Russ with murder in his eyes. Russ shrugged
dispassionately and didn’t contradict him.

“But Father! I’m not going to be his wife! If I need a
husband I’ll choose when I have to, but not now and not him!”

Admiral wouldn’t resort to tears, choosing cold resolve
instead. Russ bristled at her stubbornness, but didn’t speak. In a way he
understood.

The girl really was scared as his sister Bliss had hinted.
But this wouldn’t win any battles for him. He made a mental note of things to
discuss when they were alone again. Lord Captain Loudon laughed coldly and
turned back to his daughter.