The Pleasure Seekers by Melanie George

Author:Melanie George [Melanie George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2003-01-05T05:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

I am about to take my last voyage,

A great leap in the dark.

Thomas Hobbes

Bliss stared out her bedroom window at the endless night that blanketed the moors. A warm, sea-scented breeze billowed the curtains around her as she watched a string of glowing lights blinking and bobbing in the distance. The ghostly spectrum headed toward the western-most point of the quay before disappearing one by one, as though falling into the gaping maw of a black hole.

The sight made her think of Caine’s story about his father haunting the cliffs. Though her heart wanted to believe that deceased loved ones could somehow remain within the realm of the living, she knew what she had seen was not the glittering, demonic eyes of a pack of hounds following their disembodied master, but rather the lanterns of a group of fishermen.

She had overheard someone say that the fishing fleet often went out after midnight if the tides were low, to catch salmon. She had also seen the long rope ladders leading down to secluded inlets where coracles danced on the windswept tide. There were no ghosts, except those that existed in the imagination.

Since the incident in the morning salon, Bliss had kept to her room, claiming a headache when Court came for her at dinnertime. She knew he had heard about what had taken place. Undoubtedly he also knew her role, yet he made no comment, though his eyes conveyed she could talk to him if she wanted.

But what could she say? That he was right? That she should have stayed away from Caine? But how could she have known that the dark and brooding Earl of Hartland would become far more a risk to her heart than to her body?

She had to leave. She had decided hours ago that she would. The more time she spent with Caine, the more he drew her in. She had thought him a challenge once, but he was so much more than that. He was a journey, a winding trip that threatened to disrupt her life.

The plain truth was, she was scared. Something was happening to her, something she had never experienced before—an eclipsing of common sense, a feeling of spinning out of control, as if the very fabric of her life was shifting, and piece by piece the person she had always been was being replaced by someone else. What she feared, dreaded, was that she was coming to care for Caine.

Beneath that ruthless exterior was a man who amply matched her passion for life, who never backed down, who took what he wanted, said what he felt, and who possessed a depth of emotion she had yet to encounter in anyone.

And he belonged to another woman.

Bliss pressed her forehead against the cool window-pane, wondering when Caine had gotten under her skin and lodged there, and how long it would take before the ache in her heart dissipated.

She had thought about stealing out at first light, before the house was awake. Before Caine was standing in front of her, and the sight of him stopped her cold.

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