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‘Very well I hope he will not miss his mother’ She worried as she tipped the kitten into Alex’s waiting pale of his fingers Who could blame it?

‘If he cries I will take his to play with and ring down to the kitchen for sohtly poached salmon,’ Alex assured her, his expression serious

‘I wouldn’t want to put you to so much trouble Perhaps I should have him in my room—’ Then she saw the crease at the corner of his mouth and the wicked look in his eyes Tess drew herself up to her full five feet five inches ‘You, my lord, are unkind to htful supper’

She took a step to sweep past hiot her sore ankle and twisted sideith a yelp of pain

‘Definitely best not to drink the wine You are quite unsteady enough as it is’ Alex caught her one-handed

Her hip was against the table, her nose was buried in the V of his waistcoat and her hands, she discovered, were clenched around his upper arhten up, use the table as a support to ood, so warainst her cheek, silk waistcoat against her chin, fine linen under her nose Tess wanted to burrow into the luxurious softness with all that masculine hardness beneath it His chest, those biceps, that big hand pressed against her back, the tantalisingly faint edge of musk

‘Tess?’ His mouth was close to her ear—he must have bent down His breath tickled, his lips were so near

‘Yes’ Whatever the question is—yes

Froed yowl, a wriggle and a small paw reached up and fastened onto the front of Alex’s waistcoat

‘You little devil, that’s Jermyn Street’s best’ He stepped back, the kitten hooked to the fabric

‘I will leave you to deal with your kind present, , pink in the face and with ginger hairs clinging to her drab grey skirts, but at least Alex had thetiny claws froht’

Tess closed the door behind her, then cracked it open again at the sound of muttered curses She’d wished she knew some sords: now she did

‘Did you sleep well?’ Alex enquired His little nun was decidedly wan as they stood at the foot of the gangplank of the Ra a trifle wan hi inappropriate arousal and an unfauilty about he was not certain Hean unexpected physical attraction to an innocent young lady, but he was perfectly well able to resist it He’d coh of them in the past and simply diverted any physical needs to the mistress of the moment It was just that he had never spent so much time with one of the innocents before

‘Thank you, yes’ Tess was tight-lipped, her knuckles shohite on the handle of the wicker basket They had eaten in their own rooood look that he’d had of her in broad daylight

‘Nervous?’ Alex ventured A sharp shake of the head ‘Do you get seasick?’ Oh, well done, Tereen, then certainly an unhealthy shade of mushroom

‘I e cao I am sure I will be fine It is simply a matter of willpower, is it not?’

Not in Alex’s experience, not after seeing any nu up their accounts over a ship’s rail ‘Not so th of will, uide her up the steep planks ‘We stay on deck as much as possible, eat dry bread, drink plenty of mild ale

‘And don’t try to read,’ he added Even with his own cast-iron sto Chronicle in a crowded, overheated cabin brought back unpleasant memories Grant’s appropriately named filly Stormy Waters—by Millpond out of Gale Force—had rouineas on it that week at Newmarket

Most of the passengers werefor the companionway down to the first-and second-class saloons Alex steered Tess to a slatted bench under the mainmast and settled her on it with the cat basket, her porte, you set the kitten on anyone who tries to take my seat’