Chapter Twenty-One

Ellsworth Hall's Unwanted Proposal

"Good afternoon." Daniel blocked the man's access to the house. "I'm Mrs Gregg's husband." He held out one hand. "Captain Daniel Gregg."

"Ah, so you are real, after all…" Hall frowned as he shook hands briefly. "I wondered. I'd imagined the Gregg woman to be one of those withered, blue-stocking women with a vivid imagination and no sense of business."

His stern look of discontent changed to one of satisfaction. "I'm pleased to find she has an adviser who can make her see sense. Women are always such emotional creatures given to foolish fits and ideas. I'm sure you and I can resolve the reason for my visit here today. Man to man."

"My wife is free to make her own decisions." Daniel shrugged, still blocking the other man's way into the house. "I support her in all she does."

Hall shook his head sharply. "It never pays to allow any woman to have a free rein in money matters," he advised sourly. "Nothing good has ever come of it. I am aware you and your wife have contracted some business with my daughter when you were in Boston. Sally is just like her mother. The most stubborn of women and a constant thorn in my side."

He grimaced as he looked Daniel up and down pointedly. "If the decision on our business must rest with your wife, then it is her I need to converse with. Is she at home?"

"She is…" Daniel turned aside reluctantly, indicating the open doors to the living room with one hand. "You may come in."

"I think you'll find what I have to say will be to your advantage," Hall assured him as he entered the house. "I am known to be a generous man to those who know how the game is played and can understand what I'm offering."

He stripped off his gloves and removed his hat, tossing them together onto the foyer chair. He looked around the house with a dissatisfied expression as he walked toward the living room.

Daniel followed him, disliking the man more and more with every passing minute. His air of haughty disdain grated against Daniel's sense of fair play. The man didn't know them but he'd already been judged by some big city standard of his own and found them wanting.

Daniel set his teeth and managed to hold his tongue. He'd run far better men than Ellsworth Hall off his ship for less discourtesy and sheer bad manners. But he doubted Hall had ever been told no, by any woman other than his daughter. He was about to get an uncomfortable set-down from Carolyn and Daniel was keen to see how the self-important magazine owner would take it. Not very well, he suspected.

"Good afternoon, Mrs Gregg…" Hall's manner changed smoothly from disdainful to urbane the moment he walked into the living room. "It's so very good to finally meet you. And a charming lady you are, too." He gave a small, indulgent chuckle. "I'm pleased to say you are not at all what I was expecting."

"Good afternoon…" Carolyn acknowledged briefly. "And thank you."

She was seated on the couch, her hands folded neatly in her lap. She looked demure and serene as she watched their unexpected visitor closely, her expression giving away nothing of her thoughts or feelings.

Daniel wasn't fooled by her softly voiced manner. But he could see that Ellsworth suddenly seemed very sure of himself and his ground. Daniel chuckled quietly, seeing the warning signs in the dissatisfied line of his wife's mouth and the firm set of her shoulders. There was a storm approaching and Hall was about to find himself at the centre of it.

"Ah, this is such a charming room, very charming…" Hall looked around, his gaze settling on Daniel's portrait above the fireplace.

He looked back at his unwilling host. "And an excellent image, I must say."

"You may…" Daniel stood in the doorway regarding the man through narrowed eyes, understanding the complete change in Hall's demeanour.

The man was supremely confident in his ability to get what he had come for now that he had finally met the reason for his long journey. Daniel watched him smile at Carolyn.

Obviously, Hall was used to manipulating women for his own ends. Daniel stroked his chin, wondering if the man would be smiling so confidently at the end of their meeting. From the look on his wife's face, he could see she was in the mood to argue and she needed no help from him to set fire to the smouldering embers of her temper.

He felt proud of how much Carolyn had learned about herself and how far she'd come from when he'd first bumped into her on that snowy sidewalk in the town. That haughty little lady he'd enjoyed sparring with. But he doubted Hall would feel the same.

"We do have an idea of why you're here, Sir," Daniel commented, crossing the room to stand behind his wife. "But as I said the decision is not mine to make." He placed his hand on Carolyn's shoulder as a mark of his unspoken support.

"We shall see." Hall smiled as he walked to the armchair beside the fireplace and turned. "May I sit?" he asked of Carolyn, his tone still urbanely assured.

"Please…" Carolyn gestured her agreement. "But I fear you have had a wasted journey, Sir. Our business is with your daughter, not you."

"Oh, I don't think I have wasted my time." Hall sighed as he eased his length down into the chair, resting his crossed hands on the head of his walking cane. He sat forward, every inch the canny businessman who'd come prepared to make a deal they could not refuse.

"I will admit that when I first discovered my daughter had gone against my express wishes and contracted you to write stories for her magazine, I was not at all pleased. She would be better off concentrating her energies on making a home and finding a husband. I believe that is a woman's rightful role in life. Not running a magazine in a man's world. Best leave that to those who know better."

He stroked the line of his well-groomed moustache with one satisfied finger. "I will say I was pleased to discover you are a married woman, my dear. It is so sensible for a woman to have a man to manage her money matters. I wish some of your good sense would rub off on my headstrong daughter."

He smiled, showing a full set of strong white teeth in his carefully groomed greying beard. He appeared to be very sure of his ground and his purpose since Carolyn was still regarding him meekly, as if she was hanging from his every word like a dutiful woman should.

"My husband and I do have a good partnership," Carolyn replied, turning her head to glance up at Daniel. "We believe in supporting each other in all things."

She kept her voice low and even, still meek. As if she made no move without her husband's consent. But her eyes held a fire that Daniel found deeply alluring. He smiled down at her, wondering how much more of Hall he could take. They had other work to return to, though right then he was not thinking of their latest manuscript. There was more intimate work he would rather be getting on with.

Oblivious to the sudden sensual undertone in the room, Hall's smile widened with satisfaction. "Yes, well, I'm sure your husband will have the good sense to encourage you to listen with an open mind to my proposal. It is excellent, even if I do say so myself."

"I will do you the courtesy of listening to whatever you may have to say," Carolyn allowed, her cheeks warming beneath the look of naked longing that had appeared in her husband's blue eyes.

She turned back to their visitor, her eyes downcast as her colour deepened. "But we already have a signed contract with Miss Hall. We do not break our word."

Hall waved a dismissing hand. "Oh, no, my dear Mrs Gregg. Contracts are only as good as the willingness of both parties to honour them," he said smugly. "If a far better offer comes along, where is the harm in making an effort to better oneself? And your bank balance."

He studied Carolyn's sudden frown as she seemed to be considering his comment. He edged forward in his chair, watching her with narrowed eyes.

"I can see I have your attention, my dear," he said confidently. "From what I have discovered about you, Mrs Gregg, you are a young woman with two growing children. Sign a contract with me and you will secure their future beyond your imagination."

"Oh, can you do that for them?" Carolyn asked innocently, putting a hand to one cheek.

Daniel's grip tightened on her shoulder, as if he was encouraging her to be done with this man. She felt the same need, but she had to play the scene out. It was going to be good to dismiss Hall for the viper he was.

"Of course." Hall nodded quickly. "I'm a very wealthy man. I can do anything I want, if I want to." Again he stroked the line of his moustache. "With one word from me, I can secure entrance to the best educational schools for them. I sit on several boards. And yours would soon become a very comfortable life."

He glanced up at Daniel who was watching him silently. "And your husband would no longer need to face the dangers of being away at sea for weeks at a time. That would be a big burden off your mind. Surely that is the whole point of your taking up writing for a living, so you both may live together in comfort. What do you have to lose?"

Carolyn turned her head again to look up at her husband. "It would be a very large burden off my mind."

"Madam…" Daniel murmured under his breath, warningly.

"Captain…" Carolyn's lashes swept down beneath his look of growing desire.

She felt her whole body warming. Her breathing shortened and she wondered how much longer she could play out this foolish charade with a man she was quickly coming to heartily detest.

"I knew you would see it my way." Hall looked supremely confident as he drew a folded sheath of papers from the inside pocket of his jacket. "I have the documents right here. All that is required is for you to sign them, little lady. Then you may confidently leave everything else to me. You will find me very generous to those who work hard for my magazines. And my circulation is a hundred times larger than that piffling little rag my daughter is trying to run."

"But what about Sally?" Carolyn worried in a troubled tone, reaching up to take her husband's hand from her shoulder to hold it close to her chest. "I have made promises to her. She has been most generous."

"You may safely leave any objections my daughter may have to me," Hall replied confidently. "It is beyond time I took her down a peg or two. She needs to learn her place in life. And it is not as the editor of a failing magazine."

"Oh, I don't know," Carolyn replied sweetly, turning back to look at him. "From what we have seen she appears very capable."

"Nonsense!" Hall snapped. "I gave her two years and I have seen no reason to change my mind. But she insists on being stubborn and going behind my back."

When he saw Carolyn's discontented expression his brusque manner softened. "Of course, I would hate to see you without a magazine to publish your work in. Now that would be a great loss to you and yours. So I am here today to prevent that unfortunate event from happening."

He got to his feet, tucking his cane beneath his arm as he unfolded the paperwork, reaching back into his pocket for a pen. He advanced confidently toward Carolyn until only the coffee table stood between them.

"Yes, it would be very unfortunate if that happened," Carolyn agreed. "Especially when she has worked so hard on it."

She felt Daniel's hand tighten within hers. He murmured something she did not catch.

"I knew you would soon see it my way," Hall purred, laying out the document on the table and extending the pen. "I have every confidence we can do very good business together. I must say I find your work well enough written but rather too sentimental and overly sweet. But, with my sure guidance, that can be changed for the better. I know my female readers well enough to know what is good for them. They just need to be told."

"I see…" Carolyn considered him with his pen held out expectantly.

Hall was so easy to read. Undoubtedly no woman apart from his daughter had ever told him he may not get his own way. He was very smug in his superiority and his unwarranted criticism of her work. The stories she and Daniel had put so much hard work into. It made her temper simmer, but she managed to maintain an inquiring expression.

"I am very sorry that you have come all this way for nothing," she replied. "But if I broke my contract with Miss Hall then how much would my word be worth?"

"Oh, well…" Hall blustered. "That's by the by. When you're wealthy beyond your expectations, what does it matter? The world does not run on sentimentality, my dear. It works by getting ahead of your fellows and making them pay."

"It matters to me," Carolyn told him firmly. "It matters very much."

Hall straightened, frowning at Daniel. "Your wife obviously does not grasp what I am offering here. Financial security is better than anything. When you are wealthy you may do as you like. Surely you can see that, Captain."

"As you have obviously proved by coming here today," Daniel replied repressively. "You felt by throwing money at us, we would fold like a cheap suit and agree with your plans."

"I… well…" Hall looked momentarily non-plussed. "That is how business is done in my world."

"It is not how it is done in my world," Daniel replied evenly. "My word is my bond and everyone knows that I deal fairly with all. Everything above board as you might say."

Carolyn stood up, suddenly losing her look of demure sweetness. "What my husband is saying is that there is no way we will renege on our contract with Miss Hall. No matter what blandishments you may choose to throw at us. We cannot be bought off just because you say we must."

"I am sorry you feel that way." Hall stood looking at them with exasperation. "Very well…" he snapped. "Is that your final word on the subject?"

"It is…" Carolyn regarded him calmly. "We are more than happy with our arrangement with Sally. She is making an honest effort to become successful."

"I should have known that country folk like you two have no real idea of how the world works." Refolding the document, Hall pushed it back into his pocket followed by his pen.

He grounded his walking stick with a discontented thump. "When my daughter's magazine fails, and fail it will, you will not come crawling to me, begging for the favour of my time and patience. And I will make sure every publication in the country that I do not yet own, will eschew your work. All of it! See if I don't!"

"Do not think you can come into my house and throw such boorish threats around!" Daniel shouted back at him. "I will see you out, Sirrah! And immediately!"

"You give me no reason to stay," Hall replied loftily. "But you will regret your foolishness this day. You have my word on that!"

"And you have our word that we do not care for your empty threats," Carolyn replied. "Your daughter was right about you. You are a sore loser and a very poor father."

"Good day, Madam." Hall regarded her with dislike before he walked from the room, collecting his hat and gloves from the foyer chair. He donned them all with harsh movements of simmering discontent.

"I'm surprised you allowed your wife to talk to me in that waspish manner," he complained as Daniel opened the front door wide.

"I'm not," Daniel replied, indicating the man was to leave. "My wife believes in speaking the truth. And the truth of it is you had no right to be coming here."

"Business is business," Hall sneered as he walked past him and out of the house. "And my business is booming. I doubt my daughter will be able to say the same come the year's end. Then there will be no magazine."

"Oh, I don't know. I do think Sally may yet surprise even you," Daniel replied briskly, as he shut the door in the man's outraged face.

Martha appeared in the kitchen doorway, wiping her hands on her apron. "Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. Young Malcolm told me who he was. I heard what he said. A nasty old man who doesn't know how to take being told no."

"Yes, he certainly got more than he came for," Daniel acknowledged.

The housekeeper frowned. "Is he going to cause trouble for you and yours, Captain?"

"I hope not." Daniel shook his head. "We shall just have to wait and see. But I do not think we've seen the last of Ellsworth Hall."

Martha nodded her understanding. "Then I'll keep a good watch while you're away at sea. We'll not have your good lady upset for all the world."

"Thank you, Martha," Daniel acknowledged as he turned back toward the living room.

Carolyn was standing at the window watching Hall's departure. Daniel walked in to congratulate her.

"He made my skin crawl," his wife admitted honestly, watching Hall stalk back down the front path and get into his coach.

"He's a man who has never been told he may not have everything he wishes, until today." Daniel walked up behind her to wrap his arms around her waist and draw her back against him. "And what he hated most was that it was a woman who refused him. A slip of a woman at that."

"He's a vile, nasty man." Carolyn shivered. "I'm glad Sally had time to warn us. I was prepared to deal with him."

"And deal with him, you most certainly did…" Daniel kissed the side of her neck before he turned her around in his arms. "I don't think I have ever seen you in a finer temper. I must say I like you in this mood. You have fire in your eyes, Mrs Gregg."

He lowered his head until his lips were a whisper away from hers. "And I find that not only rather fetching but also very, very attractive…"

"I was so worried when your ship didn't return on time. I have missed you so very much. I cannot sleep unless you're beside me…" Carolyn accepted his kiss with a soft groan.

She pressed still closer into his powerful body as she reached up to cradle the back of his head in her palm. Her murmured need to be even closer still drew a groan from her husband as his hands moved down to cup the rounded softness of her behind, drawing her up and hard against him.

Sunlight streamed in through the windows, outlining them with bright warmth. The world seemed to melt away and there was only the two of them lost in their own romance. But like all good things, eventually they needed to break apart to catch their breath.

"We have some unfinished business we need to be getting back to…" Daniel sighed as he rested his forehead against hers, his hands still holding her tight against him. "Malcolm will have walked back to town by now. There's only Martha in the house and she knows not to disturb us since we told her we're going upstairs to work on our next manuscript. Which, of course, we will most certainly not be doing this afternoon."

"It seems the world cannot stop pushing its nose into our business," Carolyn complained softly.

"Well, for now, the world can wait. We won't need a couple of hours for what we both have in mind," Daniel replied softly, his long fingers moving purposefully against her soft flesh.

Carolyn smiled knowingly as she dropped her head to peek at him through her lashes. "Why, Captain Gregg, whatever can you be suggesting?" Soft laughter shook her.

"Mrs Gregg, you know very well what I mean. We have had so little time together. Have a word with Martha if you must, but we are going upstairs, Madam, and it will not be to work on our manuscript. That can wait until tomorrow."

His lips compressed. "And for extra insurance, we will most certainly be locking the bedroom door behind us this time. I am not taking any chances of being interrupted. Even if the devil himself comes knocking…"

"Yes…" Carolyn nodded, kissing him again swiftly before gathering her skirts in both hands. "I'll meet you upstairs. Just give me five minutes," she asked before turning away to hurry toward the kitchen.

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Carolyn stood at the bedroom window, watching the late summer sunlight slowly fade into the gathering darkness. She'd risen from their bed, wrapping her naked body in a silk robe before drawing back one curtain to look out at the rising moon. She rested her forehead against the cool of the glass.

She smiled mistily, remembering the afternoon they had just spent, alone together. Their intention had been to spend no more than a snatched hour of mutual pleasure and then get back to reality. It had been an illicit idea.

But that hour had somehow lengthened and stretched into the evening. Guilt had prompted Carolyn downstairs to greet her children as they came home from school. She hadn't stayed long. With Martha taking good care of them, she didn't linger, making her excuses of work to do. The lure of her husband's waiting embrace had quickly drawn her upstairs again.

The warming fire in the grate had burned low and an early evening chill was creeping into the room, making her shiver. She hurried to the coal scuttle to add more fuel.

She bent to warm her hands before the flickering flames, sighing with regret that her husband must leave her again so soon. Suddenly, warmth surrounded her as her husband came up behind her, wrapping his strong arms around her slenderness and drawing her back to rest against his solid masculine strength.

"I heard you sigh. You are troubled, my love," he whispered. "Tell me what ails you so…" He leaned down to kiss the side of her neck.

"This was all so beautiful, so magical…" Carolyn replied as she leaned her head back against his shoulder. "We have everything we could ever need, except…"

"Except?" Daniel prompted when she didn't continue.

"Except we cannot seem to be left alone. My family feel the need to push in all the time. And you will soon return to sea. I wish we could just run away together with Martha and the children and forget them all for a while."

"A wishful dream, my love." Daniel kissed her cheek. "The new cargo will be loaded aboard in two weeks' time and l must sail for London on the tide. The winter will be here before we know it. Then we will have time enough."

"London…" Carolyn sighed, drawing his arms around her closer still. "How I should love to see it. And Rome…"

"And you shall," Daniel whispered against the shell of her ear. "I have often pictured you in Rome, beside me, with me. Perhaps next season…"

"Is that a promise?" Carolyn turned swiftly within his embrace. "Do not toy with me, please."

"As if I would do any such thing," her husband teased lightly, his hands moving beneath the front opening of her silk robe. "We are still working through your list of likes and dislikes, remember? And I know how much you detest being teased."

"I remember…" Carolyn's breath hitched as his long fingers found just the right spot on her warm skin below the curve of her hip. That certain place that stripped her of her breath. "I want you…" she managed to gasp.

"Right now?" Daniel whispered as he drew back, his hands moving down her barely covered nakedness in appreciation before settling over her lower abdomen, his long fingers spreading out across the feminine angles of her upper thighs.

"Yes, right now." Carolyn's breathing suspended as his intimate exploration continued further beneath the cover of her robe, moving it aside until the belt slipped its knot and fell apart.

"Why, Mrs Gregg…" Daniel smiled, pushing the robe down from her shoulders to pool at her naked feet. "You really are becoming quite forward."

"We're blessedly alone…" Carolyn caught his hands, bringing them up to her lips before she turned within his embrace. "You told me I needed to be more adventurous, remember?"

"I did say that, didn't I?" Daniel teased, drawing her up almost clear of the floor as he lowered his mouth to hers and for a long while there was silence in the shadowed room.

Finally, he pulled back to rest his forehead against hers. "Never hide what you are thinking and feeling from me," he commanded softly. "How can I know what I must do if you do not tell me."

"Aye, aye, Captain…" Carolyn managed to salute him naughtily, her lashes sweeping down.

"For that little piece of insolence, there is a forfeit to be paid…" Daniel cupped her bottom with his hands, lifting her high against him.

"There is?" Carolyn smiled as her legs parted to encompass his waist almost by instinct.

"Always…" Daniel turned, carrying her back to the bed, tumbling them both laughing, back into the tangle of sheets and blankets covering the deep softness of the thick feather mattress.

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