I'll Be Yours

I'LL BE YOURS

By

Marly Mathews

© copyright by Marly Mathews, August 2004

Cover Art by Jenny Dixon

ISBN 1-58608-213-2

New Concepts Publishing

Lake Park, GA 31636

www.newconceptspublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

Chapter One

Maryland, 1822

Miss Elizabeth Caulfield was an heiress. She was quite possibly the richest woman in the United States of America. Schooled in England, she had been away from Baltimore, Maryland for fourteen years. She had gone away at the age of twelve and had finished her education at the age of eighteen. But she had remained on in England, living in a variety of locations, including London, Bath, Brighton, and at numerous country estates.

She walked along the dock and whirled about when someone placed a hand on her shoulder. Perturbed at the man’s impudence, she stepped back away from him and sniffed disdainfully at the air.

The man was tall, impossibly so. She perused him with unabashed interest. He seemed familiar to her, and yet she could not quite place him. His hair was kissed by the sun and wildly untamed. It was far too long for her sensible tastes, and she almost wished that he would scoot along to the barber.

“Do I know you, sir?” she asked. Her female companion lingered not two feet away from her. For the first time since she had set sail from Portsmouth, she actually felt glad to have Sarah Browning with her.

His black trousers clung to his long legs, and his loose white shirt revealed just the barest glimmer of his blond chest hair. His hand touched her shoulder and rested there. He stared at her with an intense gaze that made her skin tingle. The way he looked at her she felt alone with him even when she was surrounded by the activity of the docks. His hand had slipped down her arm as she had turned around and now rested ever so lightly on the back of her left hand.

Refusing to give him the satisfaction of staring down at her where his hand lay, she fixed her eyes on his azure blue ones. They were most disturbing and sent a thrill up and down her spine. She did know him.

“Are you one of my father’s men?” she asked. Her mind continued to race. She needed to place him and quickly. He had a most disturbing effect on her, one that she didn’t like in the slightest. Her heart skipped in her chest, and her palms grew sweaty beneath her gloves.

“I was one of your father’s men.” He answered curtly. At the mention of her father’s name, his warm blue eyes had flickered with Arctic cold.

Oh, this was bloody brilliant. Here stood another man that the great Geoffrey Caulfield had angered.

“Ah, well, I’m sorry for that. Truly,” she murmured, dropping her voice to a low contralto. “Since we’ve exchanged our niceties, I’ll just be taking my leave.” Shrugging his hand off her shoulder, she started to walk away from him when he grabbed her hand, pulling her back.

“I think not!” he murmured huskily, his eyes glittering with mirth. His full mouth slanted into a smile that made her stomach plunge.

Was he actually contradicting her? No one ever went against her wishes. It just was not done!

“Perhaps, sir, you did not hear me the first time.”

“There has never been anything wrong with my hearing. My hearing is as keen as a lad in grammar school.”

“Then maybe you’re just a daft man.” Her snappy retort made his eyes flicker with something she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

Her suggestion seemed to annoy him for a muscle had begun to twitch in his clean-shaven cheek. He pursed his lips in a distasteful line. Delighting in her clever barb, she once again tried to wrench her wrist free from his ironclad grasp. But it was to no avail. He was stronger than any man she had ever commanded.

She clutched her reticule in her right hand, which blessed be was still free. An uneasy feeling began to grow in the pit of her stomach. Suddenly, everything and everyone around them had become eerily still. Biting her lip in frustration, she winced when she tasted blood. This man unnerved her to her very core. Exhaustion pulled at her, making her irritable, not to mention cranky. All that she wanted was to return to her mansion on the outskirts of Baltimore.

“You, Miss Caulfield, are accompanying me.” He gave her a wicked grin, flashing his perfectly straight white teeth at her. She was at a loss for words for exactly two seconds.

“To hell, I am! Straightening to her regal height of 5’4 inches, she watched as that damnable muscle twitched in his cheek again. Narrowing her eyes, she resisted the uncommon urge to laugh in his face.

“You, miss, are not making this easy for me.”

“You have me at a loss, sir. What am I not making easy for you?”

“Kidnapping you.” His words threw her for a loop, and she snorted indelicately. She could hear her headmistress’s voice resonating in her head again.

‘Someday, Miss Caulfield, you will learn that you can not always have everything your way.’

Well, Miss Grady’s words were certainly ringing true now. This man standing in front of her would not be easy to outwit. Why did her father have to anger such an astute and daring man? Couldn’t he have bothered to madden a dolt that didn’t know his arse from a hole in the ground?

She sighed heavily and coyly batted her eyelashes at him. “If you let me go, I shall pay you my weight in gold.” Her eyes rested on Sarah. Her companion was making a discreet getaway. Thank heavens. She knew that Sarah would come through for her by going to fetch help.

He tilted his head to one side and raked her with his searing gaze. “I wouldn’t think that to be too much gold.” His quip stung and fury began to boil through her. She searched for Sarah but could not find her anywhere. What was taking her so long to summon help?

“If you are seeking the lovely Miss Browning, you will not find her. I’d warrant that she’s with my first mate, Ethan. They are no doubt having a lovely time trying to break the bed in the Rembrandt Inn.”

She sent him a bewildered look. His throaty chuckle that followed her dumbfounded expression only served to rile her further.

“Did you not know Miss High and Mighty?” Shaking her head she wished desperately that he would explain his little game to her.