LatinSpaceAngel-Thank you so much for the correction! I've fixed it. My bad. See why reviews are so helpful! I appreciate it!
Chapter 4
Norrington had been running all over the village for the past three hours searching for Miss Gold. He'd been up every street and in every store in the port and was still unable to find her. He'd asked every worker in each store he had entered, no one had seen a red haired woman. She had vanished without a trace.
Frustrated and fighting disappointment, he began making his way to the Defender. It was getting late and they needed to set sail. With or without Miss Gold. Why had he left her there alone, he abused himself for the fiftieth time.
What if she hadn't run off in anger? What if she had been abducted, he thought with panic as his imagination began to run wild.
He didn't know what he was going to say to the crew. Should he admit the truth and tell them that their Commodore lost her or lie and tell the crew that Miss Gold had decided to stay in Port Oreal?
That was the question he wrestled with the remaining way to the docks. But Norrington was, above all else a responsible man and he would hold himself accountable for his actions. He took a deep breath and boarded the ship.
"There you are Commodore." Said Lieutenant Gillette. "We were starting to wonder about you. Are you ill? You don't look well sir."
"Lieutenant, please see to it that we get underway. I'll be in my quarters. I'm not to be disturbed." Norrington replied and strode past him without a backward glance.
He knew better than to wish for her to have returned to the ship by herself but his last hope was dashed when he knocked on the door to his cabin and received stone silence.
"Miss Gold?" He questioned softly as he opened the door.
Norrington stepped inside and surveyed the room. It felt cold and empty and there was no sign of her anywhere. The bed was made, the pillows fluffed and there were no belongings other than his. It was as if she didn't even exist. Only her lingering scent convinced him that she was real.
He sank down on his bed and pulled the pillow to him, inhaling deeply. Her intoxicating aroma filling his nostrils. He sighed heavily and went to stand at his porthole where he stared unseeingly as Port Oreal shrank into the distance and contemplated where Miss Elise Gold was.
Not only did the cabin feel empty without her presence, he felt empty inside. Like something was missing. He wondered how she had managed to inject herself so fully into his mind in less than twenty-four hours.
Norrington stood there so long that the sun had set and he was no longer able to see anything but his own torturous memories. He would never forgive himself for the way he had spoken to her and caused her to disappear.
His stomach growled loudly, pulling him from his revere. He didn't feel like being around his men and judging from the time most would be at their posts anyway. He would address this with them in the morning he decided as he made his way to the galley to hunt up some dinner.
Norrington ate out of necessity, not really tasting anything and not really feeling as if it were filling him up. There was still a pit in his stomach and the only thing to call it was guilt. No amount of food was going to satisfy it. He pushed away his plate with vexation.
He rose dejectedly to begin his nightly rounds of the ship and was relieved to the find the deck blessedly deserted. He began, as always, at the bow and walked toward the stern. He strolled slower than normal, not really seeing anything around him. Until he reached the stern and he gasped as his stomach dropped and hope flared.
There was Miss Gold, leaning on the railing. Her lapis blue dress whipping in the wind and her hair dancing as the breeze kissed her as she read a book by the silvery moonlight.
"Elise?" Norrington called loudly in disbelief, so surprised at the sight of her there that he forgot his propriety.
She turned quickly, startled at his voice and the use of her first name. The intimacy of the gesture confused her yet at the same time sent a shiver down her spine, loving the way it rolled off his tongue.
"Yes Commodore?" She asked as she straightened and stiffened, watching as he ran toward her.
"Where did you come from?" He said as relief flooded him.
"Come from? You pulled me from the ocean." She answered coldly.
"No. I mean how did you get back to the ship? Where are your things?" He asked.
"Mr. Smith walked me back and my things are under the bed so I wouldn't trip over them." She said.
"I thought I'd never see you again." He admitted.
"Thought or hoped?" She replied turning her back on him, still hurt from the way he had talked to her earlier.
"I thought that you had decided to stay in Port Oreal. I was afraid that I would never get a chance to apologize to you Miss Gold. I looked for you for three hours." Norrington said softly.
Elise looked over her shoulder with her eyebrows raised. "You did?"
Norrington grasped her by the shoulders and turned her around to face him. She looked down awkwardly but he slipped a finger under her chin to tip her head back so he could stare into her eyes.
"Yes. I did. I needed to find you. I owe you an apology. I was inexcusably rude. You had every right to talk back to me. No one has ever done it because I've never given them cause. I was wrong and I apologize. Truly." He said, losing himself in her moonlit blue gaze.
"Thank you Commodore. I appreciate your apology." She answered as she pulled away from his warm grasp, unable to handle his close proximity. "May I ask what I did to anger you?" She continued as she stared out over the inky black ocean.
"I was angry at myself, not you. You just happened to be there so I took it out on you." He said simply. But nothing with this woman was ever simple and she pressed on.
"Why were you angry at yourself?"
"For my lack of discipline when it comes to you. Everything you do seems designed for me to lose control." He answered looking away.
"I beg your pardon? I don't do anything of the sort!" She admonished.
"It's nothing you do on purpose Miss Gold. It's just a natural part of who you are." He said glancing at her.
It was her turn to look away as she replied. "Well I'm sorry I've made you feel that way. It was not my intention."
"I know that. It's something above both of us but I cannot be seduced by it." He said honestly.
"I see." Was the only thing she could think of to say to that, not seeing at all. She reached to smooth a nervous hand over her throat.
"That reminds me." He began as he reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a black velvet cloth, unfolding it carefully. "I have something of yours."
"Oh?" She asked curiously and moved to look at what was nestled there.
"My pendant!" She exclaimed.
"You should not have traded this. It has far more value than four dresses." Norrington chastised, handing it to her.
"I realized that after I had given it to her. She was far too eager to trade." She said as she tried to fasten it.
"Could you possibly..." She began but he had already stepped to help her. She lifted her hair out of his way and closed her eyes as his fingers brushed against her skin and his hot breath whispered over her neck.
"There." He said as he stepped back, trying to will his heated blood to cool.
"Thank you. Very much." Elise whispered, staring into his mossy green eyes as the air around them crackled with awareness.
"See? This is exactly what I'm talking about. That constant feeling of...drowning. It's as if I'm being sucked to the bottom of the ocean and I can't come up for air. I'm a man of duty and the sea. I do not have the time nor the inclination to form an attachment." He stated as he backed up even further.
"I must you leave you now. Good night Miss Gold." He said quickly as he whirled on his heel.
"James?" She called suddenly and watched as he started at her familiarity.
Elise strode toward him purposefully and almost smiled as he watched her with trepidation. She stopped directly in front of him, stood on tip toes and wrapped her arms around his neck before tugging his head down to meet her lips. She kissed him gently at first until his mouth opened in what she was sure was going to be a protest and nipped his bottom lip to stop it, using the opportunity to deepen the kiss.
She tugged his wig off and let it drop to the deck so she could sift her fingers through his soft brown hair as she thrust her tongue to meet his. Elise moaned and pressed closer as their tongues mated wildly, exploring the warm recesses of the other. She raised her hand to stroke from the heated skin of his jaw to the corded muscles of his neck.
Norrington forgot where he was and who he was as he succumbed to her. The only thing he knew was the taste of this woman. He groaned low in his throat and shifted to sink his fingers into her hair so he could angle her head better but that was the moment she broke the kiss and stepped back.
"I just wanted to see what it would have been like. Awful wasn't it. You are quite right. Well good night. Commodore." She said, dizzy with pleasure but trying for all the world to appear unaffected. With that she left him staring after her with his fingers pressed to his burning lips and his body on fire.
Thank you all for reveiwing! I appreciate them! All I can do is beg for more.