Quite exhausted from your little exploration of the area surrounding your house, the one a bit more secluded from most of the houses a Port Royal, you sit down on a fallen tree nearby. Staring around you notice that you can see the Port itself, a deserted bay not far from your house and a crystal clear stream not far from downwards from where you are seated.
How swiftly your life had changed on day you where the daughter of a noble man, then you became the proud wife of a Naval Officer, before you are turned into a weeping widow.
You think back of the passing year where you married the man you thought you loved but he never desired you. He loved his martial rights alright but not you as he made sure you knew, leaving you feeling cold on the inside.
Funny how things turned out after all, you smiled sadly as you think of your husbands untimely death, one week at see on a supply ship and he dies. Shivering you pull your shawl closer around your body, the feeling of his cold skin when you tried to rouse him that morning. Shacking your head you try to clear your mind of those ghastly thoughts.
The Captain of the ship, blessed be the man, offered to rendezvous with another ship to bring you back to London. You declined, of course, it had always be a long life dream to see more of the world. The Captain was forced to take the ship of course during a horrible storm and the voyage took three months longer than anticipate.
And then a week ago you finally made Port at Port Royal, stiffening a small giggle at that silly thought, you do not hesitate to buy clothes more suited for this weather. Gowns made of lighter material than the heavy dressed you have brought from London and several simple night shifts, after all no one was there to admire you or you would have bought some fancy ones.
Your father has left you quite a fortune so you are free to do as you please, surely men would come and to claim your hand because of that fortune, but for now you decided that you have had enough of men and their primal needs, instincts and lust.
That is of course until you meet him but you are still blissfully unaware of him as you get back on your feet to see how the workers are getting on with your house. Which is not to small nor to big for a woman of your stature, at twenty-five you have become more independent than most woman of your age.
A sudden creaking sound a little lower than your position startles you out of your thoughts, your eyes darting around in fright, fearing that some wild native beast has found you. You let the breath, unaware that you where holding it, out as you see a Naval Officer appear from the shrubbery near the crystal clear stream.
Quickly you hide behind a large tree not wishing to communicated with anyone and certainly not wanting to have that man guide her back to her house as it was not proper for a lady of her stature to be gallivanting in the wild like she was doing. God lord no, what was she thinking.
Stiffening a giggle you let yourself sit a the bottom of the tree you where hiding behind. Crossing your fingers and looking upwards to the sky you pray that the man finds what he searches and leaves very quickly.
The sky however does not look promising, the small rain clouds are moving in swiftly as the wind settles up so suddenly.
A soft summer drizzle came down from the rain clouds, without a conscious thought you throw your head back and laugh silently, you loved the way the rain feels on your face. You have do so ever she you where a little girl.
A splash of water brings your head out of the rain and back to reality. Peeking around the tree you squint your eyes to see what is going on below in the stream. The on a rock near the stream, neatly folded, a Naval uniform could be see complete with hat and white wig. Leaning over a little further you almost loss your hold as you are shock by what you see.
Feeling you cheeks turn hot you quickly hide behind the tree again, your heart pounding like mad in your chest, gasping for air. Surely my eyes are deceiving me. You gather your nerve and dare to take another peek, and there you that you eyes where not deceiving you.
The man belonging to the Naval uniform is standing naked as the day he was born up to his knees in the stream, with his back turned towards you. From the looks of it he must have jumped into the deeper part of the stream for his hair is wet. The droplets of rain mix in with the water already on his body slowly making their decent down the man's body.
Utterly mesmerized by the sight you seek support from the tree as you half lean against it. The first man to be truly see naked. Of course you had some sort of clue of the male figure but your husband had never stood naked in front of you like the man was doing right now. You take the time to marvel at the sight before you.
The man's body seemed to be in perfect proportion. Nothing to buff or bulgy. His skin did look pale but what was to be expected from a man of the British Navy, they where mostly covered from top to bottom with clothes.
Suddenly the man turns around but he keeps his head slightly declined, otherwise he would have spotted your little hiding place. Not expecting that move your mouth hangs open when the man wrapped his hands around…
Oh dear lord above. You have quickly closed your eyes not entirely sure you want to be a witness to this man's carnal behaviour, biting your lip you cannot help but peek a little more. You are to late the man had since waded himself into the river. The water reaching just below his hip bone, your eyes trailing the dark patch of hair upwards, over his chest and look at his face.
A look of concentration and pleasure was on his face. He was still pleasuring himself, more intriguing he had started to moan slightly. You watch the man pleasure himself until he was fully erect. You feel slightly nervous all of a sudden, your stomach is twirling and you feel the ever lasting ache between your legs.
The ache that would rise when ever your now deceased husband would claim his marital rights , the ache that would never be satisfied by that same husband. You feel flustered and hot all at the same time and you where merely looking at this man. Who is he?
Your eyes are drawn back to him when he sighs heavily and resumes to cleaning himself within the water. You watch him raise his arms to trickle the water down his backside, watching his chest muscles strain with every move. Unconsciously you like your lips…
I should not be a witness to this. How embarrassing but ever so tempting. A wicked smile grace your face somehow you manage to tear yourself away from the naked man, not wanting to be caught.
The small rain clouds have gather themselves and have formed a big one, accompanied by thunder and lightly. It had started to rain harder while you where distracted by the naked man. Your path has become a slippery and muddy mess and you still have a at least a quarter of a hour to walk back to your house, but that quarter could easily become half an hour in these conditions.
After some strenuous effort you manage to reach to foot of the hill only to get your foot caught behind a tree root, letting you topple over and landing face first in the mud. You let out a loud cry of pain as you can feel your ankle twist in an awkward position.
"How goes there," A voice refined voice called out which had an edge like a fine blade, a voice that was accustomed to commanding , "Show yourself."
Please do not let that be the voice that belongs to the man I was just spying on.
Startled you sit yourself in an upright position as the man , you did in deed spied on, comes in front of you, pistol in had and aimed at you. The man looked imposing with his clothes on and the fact that he was tall was not helping you at all become less frightened.
Thankful for the mud on your face as it hides the enflaming of your cheeks. Holding your hands in front of you as if they would stopped the bullet from harming you. You suddenly feel really stupid and start to laugh full heartedly.
"Miss?"
There was that low, deep voice again this time filled with concern as he moves closer towards you. You looked at him eyes wide open and filled with some fear of him know exactly what you had been doing.
"Are you injured?"
Only managing in nodding your head at your question you avoid his gaze as you try to climber back onto your feet. Carefully avoiding the use of your left foot, you dare not lift your skirts to see if there is a swelling at your ankle. It would after all be inappropriate to bare ones legs to a man. Even if you have just seen him in all his glory.
He stands a bit away from you, to your right, as if he is contemplating whether to help you or whether he should not. His gaze does not miss the fact that you are covered in mud and that his cleaning bath would loose all of its desired effect of being clean.
"Can you walk?" His gaze still lingering on you as you dare to look him in the eye, "You do speak English?"
"Of course I speak English." Appalled by his assumption that you are a native of this island.
"What is the nature of your injury?"
"I fear that I have sprained my ankle."
"And how did this unfortunate event come about?"
His gaze follows the path that you have just come down and he appears to be in deep thought for a few moments.
"I see and if I might inquire what exactly where you doing when this happened?" His eyes have turned slightly narrow as he must have realized where she had been and what she could have possibly seen.
A sudden streak of boldness posses you, for a short moment letting you forget your position, your stature and the thumping pain in your ankle.
"I was exploring the extends of my property and came across the most excellent view I have had in over a year." You look him squarely in the eye ,a small twinkle making it self present in yours as you try to keep your emotions concealed.
A moment you have seemed to make the man speechless as he has the decencies to actually acquire quiet a lovely blush on his cheek bones. He however hides it swiftly beneath an icy glare which he aims at you.
Ah if looks could kill.
Taking a careful step on the path you find that the you can not lean on your foot, for support your grab a nearby tree. As the man rushes towards your side to support you, his arm support yours as his other arm slides across your waist.
"It would seem that I require some help into getting back to my house." You say hoping that your voice is not trembling as much as the rest of your body appears to do at his touch.
"It would seem so."
Letting him help you back towards your house without the knowledge of his name, nor he of yours. There is a certain amount of tension between the two of you as you slowly make your way back to the house. It would seem neither of you are great with social talk, nevertheless you take your chances.
"Is it standard Naval training to point your pistol at an unarmed woman?"
"I can assure you that it is not milady."
The deep voice, with the crisp accent makes you want to hear him speak even more. However uncertain with the course of protocol under these circumstances you know not what to say or ask.
The protocol flew out of the window the moment you saw him naked.
Your own thoughts make you blush and he appears to have notice the change in your behaviour.
"Are you certain that you are well enough to continue."
"Yes, yes I am certain," Taking in a deep breath to steady your nervous but the smell of him only adds to them, "Besides it is not much further."
At the next corner you are able to see the house located close to the beach on of the workers spots the pair of you and rushes over to help you. He calls out for your Maid Adele, a stout Jamaican woman , who comes rushing towards you.
"Dear child what has happened to you?" Fear sounds clearing in her voices as her eyes narrow on your companion.
"I fear that I have sprained my ankle whilst I was walking." Adele makes a disapproving clicking sound with her tongue.
"I have told you not to go wandering off on this island alone." Adele shakes hear head again clearly showing her disapproval of your behaviour. "I will go a ready a salve and some bandages for your ankle if the gentleman would help you into your bedchamber."
Both your heads turn towards your maid almost causing them to collide together.
"Bedchamber?" You ask almost whispering, a little confused ,avoiding your eyes from the man who holds you.
"Why yes, you must be exhausted from the events of this day." Adele answers without blinking any further.
"Aha yes, quite exhausted." Choosing to go along with Adele for you did not wish to cross her even if you where her employer.
Letting the man help you up the stairs you have him settle you down in one of the chairs. You look up at him as he seems to be a bit decisive less for a moment. What is taking Adele so long.
"It would be wiser to keep that ankle higher." The man looks around and finds a small stool in your bedroom.
As he places it under your ankle you let out a small groan of pain. It must have been worse than I thought. The pair of you stare at each other for a moment his hand reached out to remove your silken slipper. Why on earth did I not wear boots and stockings you add in an afterthought. Oh yes the are yet to be unpacked…
"That looks rather nasty should I not call in a doctor?" The concern in his green eyes is real.
He takes a few steps back when Adele enters the room with the salve and the bandages. "I am sorry madam but one of the workers needs my help this instant. Can I ask this fine gentleman to bandage your ankle, he is after all a Naval Officer surely they are thought how this is done."
At first he looks shocked at the suggestion than Adele makes but he quickly recovers himself. "Yes we are taught those things in case of an emergency."
"I will return as soon as I can sir to aid you." Adele's skirts flounder around her ankles as she turns quickly to help the workers.
Scrapping his throat he knees next to the stool his back towards you. Looking at his neck you can see it is starting to flush ever so slowly. His fingers carefully touch your ankle, the touch however soft it is makes your leg move and he pulls his hand away.
"Sorry." He avoids eye contact but reaches for the salve and the bandages and gently sets to bandage your ankle.
You watch the flush crawling higher and higher above his cravat, while his touch makes your leg quiver ever so slightly. When he is finished he stands up abruptly and turns around to face you.
"Duty calls." Is the only thing he say before he turns around and stalks out of the room with long paces. You listen to the closing of the front door before you let out the nervous giggle that has formed in your mouth.
From that moment on you knew that you desired that man.
Authors Notes: Reviews are welcome and check in again tomorrow for the fourth installment.