Vehement protestations danced vigourously at the very tip of her unusually sharp tongue, and it truly was ALL she could do to keep them from spilling from her lips as he bridged the majority of the distance that had lain between them and allowed his hands to find purchase on her shoulders. ( So warm, and deceptive; to look at them, one might be inclined to believe that such beautiful hands were incapable of posessing such strength, but it was there. She’d felt it. And, of course, her mind drifted back to those fleeting moments in the past when they’d touched her.. ) ❝ Nothing chills me more than watching you stand so far away.. as though you’re afraid to come close. – I know I’ve no choice but to accept that Oceans lay between us for so long while you’re away.. but when you’re HERE, Horatio, I.. can not abide the needless separation. ❞ ( If that made her weak? So be it. )
In the interest of being heart-rendingly candid, suddenly finding herself swept off her feet was the LAST thing she would ever have expected. In fact, she was at such a loss that the silence she slipped into the moment she realized what had transpired could only be described as stunned. – She lay beneath him for that brief moment - blinking somewhat owlishly as her heart struggled to recover from the number of beats it had surely skipped. Not daring to breathe a word, she simply watched as he shifted to lie down at her side and drew the covers over them. ( Admittedly, she found herself wondering if this was merely an especially vivid d r e a m; it seemed impossible that it should indeed be coming to pass - perhaps because she’d wanted it for so l o n g, now. ) – Only when it felt as though he had settled in comfortably did she dare to do the same - even going so far as to shift in his embrace. Turning so she could face him. So she could wrap her arms around him as she buried her face in the column of his neck, and silently marveled at the feeling of his pulse thrumming against the bridge of her nose. ( He was real. Really there, and s a f e. )
‘ ‘ I will keep you warm my Darling. ’ ’ Hornblower yearned to sleep with her cradled in the safety of his embrace. More than that he longed to awake && find her in his arms. He pulled her closer still. His long elegant fingers splayed through her hair, gently cradling her head. This was what he longed for. It was self-indulgent to allow himself this gross impropriety. At the moment he could not find it in himself to regret it. He never wished to be separated from her. He craved her presence like a man at sea craves fresh water. Hornblower had no gift with words. Instead, he clasped her with greedy hands that wordlessly told the story of his longing for her companionship. It was heaven to have here in his arms all that he desired: her warm soft body, her familiar scent, her silken hair, && her gentle reassurances. In that moment he felt as if he could not bear to be separated from her. For once he did not loathe his own weakness. It did not seem like weakness to want Helena. It was then that his mind began spinning its mad schemes.
‘ ‘ Then let us not be separated, ’ ’ he insisted. His usual silence was overridden by his enthusiasm for the plan. ‘ ‘ We wish to wed each other so why should we wait any longer to be wed? ’ ’ There was no way to keep her with him unless she was his wife. He had never approved of wives aboard ships but Helena was no ordinary woman. Helena was Pellew’s niece. She was sensible. She would not be prone to the irresponsibilities of other women at sea. He drew her closer. ‘ ‘ The Hotspur is small. It is not a ship becoming your station my Love && yet I offer it to you if you wish it. ’ ’ His reckless passions now run amuck, Hornblower clasped her lovely face in his hands. ‘ ‘ I will stay with you this night if you wish or else I will take you to church in the morning, ’ ’ offered Hornblower. Now was the chance, now, before he received the orders that would surely arrive in the coming days. It was a ghastly thing to seduce his host’s niece beneath his roof && yet what anyone else might want was far from Hornblower’s mind.
