"I must go," Lewrie softly pronounced.
"I know," Theoni Kavares Connor sadly replied, barely mouthing her words, her eyes already moistly aglitter. "I promised not to go on so, but… two years or more, so far away…"
She reached across the remains of their breakfast table to twine her fingers in his; slim, graceful, but incredibly strong and urgent.
"It's what sailors do," he told her. "We're not known for bein' a dependable lot." He strove to be winsome and Devil-I-Care, as well as noncommittal. Noncommittal won, with "winsome" a distant second.
" 'Absence makes the heart grow fonder'?" Theoni asked, citing an old adage, striving for a cheery note herself, forcing a smile.
" 'Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise'," Lewrie countered, tongue-in-cheek.
"Quoting a revolutionary?" Theoni attempted to tease. "The American rebel, Benjamin Franklin… Poor Richards Almanack, I believe?"
"Knew I'd heard it somewhere." Lewrie chuckled as he rose, with her hand still in his-leading and prompting his departure. Theoni sprang to her feet and rushed to embrace him, pressing her soft, sleek body tight to his in a twinkling, still toast-warm from the bed and their last "eye opener" bout, still redolent of perfume, musk, and sex.
"You're certainly healthy, dear Alan," she snickered against his cheek, as he stroked her back, so pliable and tender beneath the flimsy and revealing morning gown she wore, despite the chill. "Last night… it was heavenly!" Theoni sighed in recalled bliss.
"Don't know much about the 'wealthy' or the 'wise,' though," he pointed out, his voice deep and gravelly. "Nobody with a lick o' sense would get out o' bed so early, nor sail off to the West Indies, if…"
Nor take such a hellish risk as this! he chid himself, and not for the first time since the week before, when Theoni had breezed into Sheerness and announced her presence! Madness, sheer madness!
She rose on tip-toe to kiss him, as if to stifle any objections he might have voiced, her slim arms a vise about his neck, her breasts heavy and hot against his shirt and waistcoat.
"But you must," she said more soberly, after a long moment. "I will write you! I'll write daily… long reams of letters, what you call 'sea letters'!"
"As shall I," he found himself promising in return; such vows were easy at pre-dawn partings, though fulfilling them was a different story… depending on the excuses of Stern Duty once back aboard his ship, with its ocean of minutiae.
"Oh, I can hardly bear it!" she whimpered, going helpless and slack against him, forcing him to hold her tighter. "So few days we've had… hours, really!"
"But rather nice hours," Lewrie muttered in her hair.
"And when you return, there must be many, many more!" she vowed with some heat. "Nothing will keep us apart then. It would be unjust if… No matter how things fall out, I'll…"
"I know, Theoni," Lewrie cooed back, both hands now sliding up and down her slim back, from her hips and wee bottom to breast-level, to hoist and fondle…
There came a rap upon the door.
"Damn!" Theoni fussed, stepping back and quickly gathering her dressing gown over her bed-gown and morning wrap, and scowling crosspatch for a second before vigourously brushing her hair into order.
"Enter?"
" 'Ere fer yer traps, sir," the manservant chearly said, bustling in with a boy servant in his wake. "Sailin' t'day, are we, Cap'um?"
"Aye," Lewrie replied, hands guiltily behind his back, quarterdeck fashion; as if to say, "I never touched her, honest!"
"Just th' one wee chest, an' these two soft bags, sir?"
"Aye, that's the lot," Lewrie answered.
"A fine mornin' t'set sail, Cap'um sir. Clear skies, an' fair winds," the manservant nattered on. "Does yer gig come t'fetch ya, or should I whistle ya up a boat, yer honour?"
"A hired boat would suit, thankee," Lewrie told him. "I'll be down, directly. T'settle the reckoning, and…"
"Rightee-ho, then, sir… Missuz Lewrie," the servant said as he doffed his battered tricorne to them and departed with the luggage.
Ouch! Lewrie thought with a wince; salt in the wound, why don't ye, ye clueless bastard!
When he turned red-faced to Theoni, though, he noted that she was
amused, smiling to herself in the mantel mirror as she fiddled with the long reddish-chestnut curls at either side of her neck.
He slung his hanger through the sword-frog on his belt and took up his boat cloak to swirl about his shoulders, gathering his cocked hat and a pair of wool mittens… the ones that Caroline had knitted for him! His mouth made a tiny tic of ruefulness.
"There… think I'll pass muster?" he asked, once his hat was firmly clapped upon his head.
"Always, dear Alan," Theoni assured him, smiling even wider as she came to his side once more, flinging her warmth against him, kissing a'tip-toe. "The handsomest… most fetching… bravest… and cleverest… hungriest Sea Officer in all Creation!" She even managed to giggle between compliments and teasing, coy kisses.
"All my love goes with you," Theoni whispered at last, going all earnest, staring him directly in the eyes.
Crikey, what else can ye say t'that? he asked himself; it's jive thousand miles or so, two years at least… well, hmm.
"And all of mine remains with you, my dear," he declared, though quickly burying his face in her lush hair and the hollow of her neck to nuzzle, savour and groan a semblance of agreement.
It ain't a total lie, he qualified to his conscience; had I not wed so young, not met Caroline, before her, Theoni'd be…
No matter her suspicion that he was lying like a rug, that made her seem to purr with contentment, to cuddle close and sigh happily.
"I am yours completely, Alan," Theoni softly swore. "Forever. Now go!" she suddenly ordered, playing at pushing him away. "Go beat the entire French Navy. Win the war all by yourself, then return to me… soon!"
"I'll work on that," Lewrie said with an honest laugh, letting her go as she played up brave for him, even essaying a playful pat on her rump, a love swat. No, his hand lingered; so soft and wee!
"I'll watch from the window. Blow me a last kiss, give me one last smile and wave," she demanded.
Dear God, it simply wouldn't do to saunter off with a last kiss, no matter it was all a sham! He swept her into his arms once more, to devour her mouth with his, to slither his hands beneath her gowns, for her warm flesh.
"Now that's a. proper sailor's good-bye!" he cried, breaking away and all but sweeping his boat cloak 'round his body like an actor making a grand exit, stage left. "Good-bye, Theoni. Anything I can fetch you from the West Indies?"
"You!" she quickly announced, smiling and chuckling, even if she was again at the edge of hot tears. "As hungry for me as when you left me. Oh, perhaps a coconut or two. Well. Good-bye, my dearest Alan… safe voyages.…"
"Adieu, " he declaimed by the door, ready to sweep out after his congй, hat on his chest, and the other hand on the doorknob. It need not be said that Captain Alan Lewrie, RN, knew a good moment for escape when he saw one!
"I've already paid the inn their week's reckoning," she said.
"Err… uhmm, well, then…" he flummoxed. "Thankee, for all you've done for me! Encore, adieu, ma chйrie amour!"
"Bonjour, mon amour… mon vie!"
He tromped down to the public rooms, made a production of shivering at the cold, of studying the barometer, and japing with the two servants as he stepped outside into the dread chill, stamping his feet along with them as they trundled his chest and bags in a wheelbarrow toward the quays, and a hired rowing boat.