Authors: Abigail Barnette
Silent Surrender (17 page)
She pressed a hand to her chest, relief letting loose one of the many knots inside her.
“You can’t think I would let you go now?” Esau kissed her forehead, an odd, chaste gesture from a man who was, in Honoria’s eyes, made of hard work and sex and power. She leaned against him, her body already alight with familiar yearning. The crossing would be hard on her, hard on all of them, as Jude had cautioned them that discretion would be paramount. They didn’t want to arrive in America with a reputation waiting on the docks to ruin them.
A cab arrived promptly at seven and they climbed into it. The only baggage with them was Honoria’s reticule, and she clutched it as though it contained the crown jewels, though most of her money was more safely stowed. The night before, she’d sewn most of it into the lining of her corset, where it could not be filched by a pickpocket’s light fingers.
In the early morning, the docks were surprisingly crowded. A man in dirty canvas trousers gaped at them as Esau helped Honoria down from the cab.
“Do you know him?” she asked, wondering why Esau looked so grim. But he did not answer her.
In a few moments, it didn’t matter. She stood on the deck of the ship that would take her home. Though she had never been there, she could already imagine her life. A little house, a cottage perhaps, or rooms over her shipping office. It mattered not, because in her mind the only bits that mattered were Jude and Esau, both there with her. Maybe they would be poor and they would have to cook their own dinner. Maybe they would be rich and dine off crystal and china finer than she’d ever seen. It didn’t matter. She was free.
She made sure she was standing at the rail when the great ship began to move away from the dock and into the harbor. She watched as the waterfront drifted slowly past and thought how easy it would be, still, to jump over the side and swim for the shore, to run back onto the land and back to her house. To whip the coverings off the furniture and climb into her bed, to never face the unknown. But that idea of sameness frightened her more than the promise of an uncertain future, and when the sails unfurled and caught the wind, driving them out to sea with surprising quickness, she untied her bonnet and let it fall to the churning black sea with a whoop of joy.
Esau came to stand beside her and covered one of her hands with his big square one, resting them together on the rail. At her other side, Jude stepped up, looking out over the endless expanse with them.
With her two loves, she fixed her eyes on the horizon.
About Abigail Barnette
The alter-ego of USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer Armintrout, Abigail Barnette was born during a conversation with author Bronwyn Green, who encouraged Jennifer to develop an elaborate fantasy persona--complete with nom de plume--under which to pen erotic romance.
Abigail enjoys long naps in fairy-filled glades, running through corridors in tragically romantic haunted castles, and drinking goblet after goblet of spiced wine.
Abigail welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her
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Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Silent Surrender
ISBN 9781419938757
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Silent Surrender Copyright © 2013 Abigail Barnette
Edited by Raelene Gorlinsky
Cover design by Dar Albert
Photos: Guiseppe Parisi, Dmitriy Kapitonenko/Fotolia.com and Dmitiry Raykin/Shutterstock.com
Electronic book publication January 2013
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