Lady Clementine by Marie Benedict

Author:Marie Benedict
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2019-11-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

February 24, 1935

Bay of Islands, New Zealand

The wind whips my hair, and the relatively mild morning sun warms my cheeks, even through the shade of my wide-brimmed hat. I wonder what’s happening at Chartwell and how they are faring since I’ve been gone these eight weeks. A mere week before Christmas, the entire family waved me off at Victoria station, and I hopped on the train to Messina where I joined Moyne’s yacht, the Rosaura. Stepping on board the Rosaura initially reminded me of stepping on board Winston’s beloved Enchantress, but there the comparisons stopped. A festive, devil-may-care mood imbued everyone and every occasion on board the Rosaura—not a whiff of political chatter to be found—and I surrendered to it. It is a lightheartedness I’ve never before experienced, certainly not in my own peripatetic, anxious youth. Even the guilt of missing Christmas slips away.

I open my eyes, squinting into the delicious sunlight. The light blinds at first, and with the swaying of the boat as it courses through the Pacific Ocean, it takes a moment to orient myself. When I do, I see Terence, a wide grin spread across his handsome face.

“Why the smile?” I ask, grinning myself. I find it impossible to keep a straight face when Terence is beaming. His smiles are infectious.

“Can’t I smile at a beautiful brama?” His bemused expression turns mischievous.

“Oh you!” I throw a towel at him for calling me the slang word for a pretty woman. It’s an oblique reference to Brahma, the supreme god of Hindu mythology and, while geographically appropriate, has a hint of lasciviousness. Eight weeks ago, when I first boarded the Rosaura, I would have stormed off in a huff of righteousness when faced with such a comment. How my time on board this boat with Terence has changed me.

He suddenly strides over to the railing and peers into the distance. “Come here, Clementine. I think we are approaching the coast,” he calls to me.

Pushing myself up from the deck chair, I quickly wrap my robe around my bathing costume and stand beside him. The air smells of sea and salt as well as something new and fragrant. Perhaps the magnolia-like flower I’ve seen growing along the New Zealand beaches?

Without thinking, I clutch his arm. “That’s the island!”

He places his hand over mine. “It is indeed.”

Our eyes meet, and I think about the moment I first met him. After changing in my stateroom after my arrival on board, I entered the dining room to join my host, Lord Moyne, and his mistress, Lady Vera Broughton, or so I thought. When I stepped into the room, it wasn’t Moyne who welcomed me but Moyne’s more agreeable cousin Lee Guinness and his wife, Posy. It seemed that Lord Moyne wouldn’t be joining us for three weeks, not until we reached Singapore. I assumed that the Guinnesses and I would be a threesome for those weeks, and while three can be awkward, I consoled myself with the fact that it might give me the time alone I craved.

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