Heart's Compass, page 66
Phillip set down his fork and took a drink from his glass. “If you look around, you will see that everyone around the table has one main thing they are known for. Sure, some of us have secondary items as well, but obviously there is one thing that works the best for us, because that is what we move mostly. I have been looking at the numbers and it hurts to see how much money is just tossed away because we are too proud, or arrogant, or whatever reason for not being willing to work together.”
There were some murmurs but no one argued outright.
“I am not sitting up here saying you have to do this or I will kick you out of the events that are happening this week. I only ask that you think about it. I have some time set aside for us to discuss it, otherwise there will be a slew of other activities going on. I will say this, though.” He paused while everyone looked up the table to him. “I will not work with people who still use slaves and refuse to pay their workers a salary. So if that is your belief then please, feel free to get up and leave right now.”
The room was quiet until Mr. Caulfield spoke almost cautiously, like he expected to be tossed out for speaking. “I notice not all of the people on the island are here. Is this something we are trying to keep from them?”
“Not at all. I will be reaching out to the others. But I wanted to start smaller to see if this was something that could get going. Then once it is set, we bring in more.”
He looked around the room at them all, noticing how most nodded at him. Even Elonne seemed like he was on board.
“And the women?”
Phillip glanced over to Mrs. Chari and gave her a smile. “You are a business owner. I want you here.” He pushed his plate to the side, giving the footman who picked it up a slight nod. “Waiting for things to arrive from England and other places can be unpredictable. And expensive. When we order something and it gets here, there are times that the price has nearly doubled.”
Everyone nodded in agreement about that. The problem was this was something that was happening more and more often, so the people of the island weren’t able to get all the items they had requested without spending nearly double what they had expected to spend.
This was his home and these were becoming his people. He wanted to protect them. And himself.
“How would it work?” Mr. Larson posed the question.
“I do not see anything changing other than we go to one another first. Like if I need building materials, I go to Mr. Oler and see what he can provide for me instead of putting in a huge order to England and waiting for months to get the items at a higher rate because of the distance.”
Mr. Caulfield nodded. “And if I had a crop ready to ship out and had the passage booked, but because I am a smaller plantation and won’t take up all the cargo space I see if, say, Mr. Tennemin had a shipment ready to go and then we split the cost of the ship.”
Phillip leaned back in his chair with a grunt. He may not like the man but Caulfield was getting the point of this. “Exactly. Needs will still be met, but we will no longer be working against one another. Mr. Caulfield and Mr. Tennemin do not sell the same thing. Again, they are not, nor should they consider they are, working against each other.”
Small murmurs of discussion broke out as those gathered talked about and mulled over what he had proposed. Pushing away from the table, Phillip gave them all a nod.
“That is the main reason for us gathering here, but it is also to get to know one another better. There will be drinks served in the sitting room in about an hour. I have a few things to attend to but I will see you there.”
He walked out and immediately found Keating’s sharp gaze. The man gave him a slight negative head shake and his gut dropped.
Where was she?
* * * *
Fyre wrung her hands together as the footman pulled down her two pieces of luggage and placed them on the ground. It was late. Too late for her to be arriving at the earl’s estate for a party. Darkness had already settled across the island.
Davie paused beside her as the carriage rolled away. “Miss Gwen?”
“It is late. I should not have come.”
“Nonsense. He has been worried about you. Your room is ready.”
Two other footmen came down and picked up her bags, leading the way to the door. She followed, paced by Davie. Unease was a tumultuous storm in her gut. She tried desperately not to think about Davie’s proclamation that Phillip had been worried about her.
I have to stop all this fancy in my head. He is an earl, and not for the likes of me.
Keating’s was the first face she saw when she stepped through the door. His cool gaze brushed over her before he inclined his head.
“Miss Gwen.”
“Mr. Keating. I apologize for my late arrival.”
“You are a guest, Miss Gwen. Your apology is not necessary.”
She forced a smile to her face. “Either way, it means you and more of your staff have to go out of your way to accommodate me and I do apologize.”
A maid arrived and Keating gestured to the stairs. “Please show Miss Gwen to her room.”
“Right this way, miss.”
Her smile to Davie was not the least bit faked. “Thank you, Davie.”
His cheeks flushed. “It was my pleasure, Miss Gwen.”
She lifted her skirt and hurried up to the second floor after the maid. The young woman didn’t speak, just walked to a door off to the left and opened it. Peering inside, Fyre noted her bags had already been taken up.
“Would you like me to put away your things, miss?”
Fyre didn’t realize that the maid was asking her, for a moment. She blinked and shook her head. “No, thank you. I will do it in the morning. I think I have kept enough people in the house awake. Thank you.”
“Abbie, miss. If you need anything just pull the cord and I will come right away.”
“Thank you, Abbie. I will be fine tonight. Could you make sure I am up by six please?”
“Of course.”
Fyre knew she should wake by then but wasn’t positive her body wouldn’t protest the early wakeup. She did not want to be the last one to anything.
After assuring Abbie that she would be fine getting ready for sleep on her own, she got the girl on her way. Washing up, she swiftly changed and crawled between the crisp sheets of the bed. Never had she been on anything so soft.
Getting up in the morning would be difficult for sure.
Eyes closing, she drifted off into a dream world that she didn’t want to retreat from.
* * * *
As she’d requested, Abbie was there to wake her in the morning.
Crawling with reluctance from the comfort of the bed, Fyre yawned and stretched.
“Would you like a bath, miss? I can have one brought up.”
“It sounds divine. Thank you, Abbie. What about others? Are they up yet?”
She shook her head. “No, miss. Only you and the staff are up right now.”
“Thank you.”
“I will have it here right away.”
True to her word, Abbie had a steaming bath waiting for her within a short time. Once she was alone, she stripped and sank with a moan into the heated water.
Oh, this is heaven.
“Those moans, baby. You are killing me.”
She turned with a gasp that morphed into a low groan as Phillip’s mouth captured hers, his tongue dipping with familiarity between her lips.
“What are you doing here?”
His hot gaze moved over her as if she weren’t beneath the water, hidden from his view.
“I missed you and you got in late. Everything okay?”
“My lord—”
“Phillip.” He dragged his hand over her cheek and down her throat.
Nipples tight and the throbbing between her legs picking up its pace, she swallowed back her whimper.
“This is improper.”
“Want me to leave?” His lips followed the path his hand had just taken, nipping and laving her skin, leaving her more flushed than she had been.
“No.”
“You are such a fucking temptation sitting here. God, I know you are naked and I want to plunge my hand below the water and feel you come apart around me again.” His lips were at her ear. “I relive that moment every night when I jerk myself off to the memory of how you bowed your back and cried my name.”
Head against the edge of the tub she was in, she watched his face. The raw need there was a thing of beauty.
He pulled back a tiny bit but she felt it. Everywhere.
“Why were you so late?”
“I had to help Mrs. Marta with a few things. I did not think it would matter when I arrived.”
“I was worried.” He unpinned her hair from where she’d gathered it on her head. He thrust his fingers into the strands and she didn’t care about the ends landing in the water.
“I am fine.”
He huffed. “I am allowed to worry about my woman.” She widened her eyes at his statement and he shook his head. “Are you going to argue with me?” He captured her chin. “Because if you are, we really need to have another discussion.”
“You need a woman befitting your station.”
“I am looking at her. Right now.” He slid his hand under the water and in her periphery, she watched him grip the edge so hard his knuckles paled beneath his tan. His shirt sleeve instantly soaked, molding to the powerful muscles in his arm.
He locked his gaze on hers, refusing to release her. Beneath the water, he skimmed his hand up her thigh and wedged it between her legs. She widened her thighs for him without him saying a word, and gasped as one finger dipped into her heat.
“Oh, Phillip.”
The moan tumbled from her lips without thought or care to who may hear it. His lips were there the next second, covering the cry that slid free as he pushed another finger inside her, his wrist pumping with leisurely strokes.
Like it wasn’t scandalous for him to be in her room as she sat in a bath. Like no one would say anything if they were discovered with his fingers deep in her pussy, kissing her like he owned her, heart, body, and soul.
Even though he did.
“Fuck, baby. The way you moan my name makes me want to claim you in a way that will make you never want another man.”
She had already crossed that threshold.
Pulling his mouth from hers, he kept their foreheads touching. “Tell me you know this, Fyre. You are my woman and I am going to claim you. For all fucking time.”
“It is—”
He thrust his fingers deep and her protest gave way to the gasp of pleasure that poured from her.
“Mine,” he growled, curving his fingers just so to hit that spot in her that tumbled her over the ledge and into blissful oblivion.
Knock knock.
“Fyre. Open up. It is Elonne.”
Panic flared but Phillip didn’t even remove his fingers from her slit. No, the infuriating man continued to pump them, waylaying her thoughts.
“One moment, Elonne. I am just getting out of the bath.”
“Hurry.” His snapped response earned a growl from the man who touched her body with such reverence and hunger.
“You have to stop,” she whispered. “And hide.”
“Stand up then.”
Her eyes grew round. “You are here.”
His smile made her toes curl. “I am, and if you do not want Elonne to see us like this, you should probably stand up and get in a robe.”
“Phillip, please.”
“Fine,” he groused, thrusting deep once more before pulling his hand from between her legs. He didn’t leave but held the robe for her to step into.
After Phillip planted another mind-blanking kiss on her, she tied the robe’s sash and went to the door, opening it to find her brother there and the man who had turned her weak gone from the room behind her.
“We have to talk.” Elonne tried to walk into the room.
Fyre countered, “I am not dressed, Elonne. Brother or not, you can do me the courtesy of waiting until I put on my clothing.”
He scowled. “You really were bathing?”
She rolled her eyes and swung the door open for him to see the tub. “Yes. Now give me a moment to dress.” She closed the door on him and turned back around, hoping that the earl would be there again. He was not.
Chapter Eighteen
Phillip leaned against a tree and watched the women and children enjoying a game of croquet. So much so a few of the husbands had begun venturing over to join in. This was the third day of the party.
He had his staff keeping an eye and an ear out for anything that would be considered discontent among those there. He had made his stance clear and he would not hesitate to toss someone if they were rude to another because of race.
“Good afternoon, Lord Edais.”
He glanced to his left and hid his irritation, which never failed to surface the moment he spied Miss Asherford crossing the ground to his side.
Offering her a little bow, he returned, “Miss Asherford.”
Her light blue dress was one of the finest here but honestly, it wasn’t the dress he cared about. The one he was keeping an eye out for was lavender, and covered the body of a woman he could not stop thinking about.
Last night, after the evening meal, she had joined those gathered in the room and had gone over numbers. A few of those there had been offended at first when they’d discovered she had been there to talk that very thing she was so good at. Until the people she worked for had spoken up on her behalf. Phillip’s chest had swelled with pride as he’d watched a roomful of business-minded people, men mostly, who were set in their ways, listen to the woman he would have by his side. Even Caulfield and her brother Elonne had not been able to speak against her.
“Are you not participating in the games?”
She offered him her hand and he took it, assisting her in the final few steps to his side. Then he released her immediately.
“I do not think I am cut out for this game,” she said, fingers glancing over her chest.
“Some of the others are inside playing cards. Perhaps that is more your speed.”
“Oh, I misspoke. I am not too old to play this, just feel like there are other things I could be doing to work up a sweat. If you catch my meaning.”
He’d caught it since he’d met her.
Holding her gaze, he tipped his hat before pushing away from the tree. “I fear you are looking in the wrong place for that. I am not interested, Miss Asherford.” He began walking off. “Enjoy your afternoon.”
Elonne was out there with his children. He and Mr. Tennemin were talking as the children had abandoned croquet and made up games with their own rules. The adults continued to play with them. He didn’t see Cara, but he did see Albie Caulfield.
And Fyre.
They were walking together toward the group, but where they had come from, he wasn’t sure. Jealousy ran hot and swift through him.
Caulfield lifted his head and locked gazes with him seconds before he laughed aloud. Others glanced at them, and Phillip had to swallow the growl that threatened to erupt.
“Are you going to play, Lord Edais?”
He glanced down to see one of Mr. Tennemin’s sons standing there.
“Is there room for me?”
“Of course,” the boy said with a smile. “Lord Edais is playing and he is on my team. We have to play one the adults know.”
He struggled to hide his smirk. “How about you, Mr. Caulfield? Fancy a game?” Phillip pitched his voice to carry over those gathered, conversing. Looked like they were back to playing the game where you hit the ball through the wires with the mallets.
He watched as Fyre encouraged the man to play. Feeling obligated to extend the invitation to her, even though he wanted her far from Caulfield, he did. “And you, Miss Parker?”
“No thank you, my lord. I learned at a young age that this game and I are not friends. I am sure my brother could tell you how many times I tended to hit him with the ball instead of sending it where it should be going. I will content myself to watch.”
She was invited to sit beside Mr. Tennemin’s wife, and once she had settled on the blanket, he made sure not to stare at her like he hungered for her more than food.
Caulfield was on the other team and the game got rowdy and loud. The children and adults alike had a grand time from all appearances.
His heart approved because he got to hear Fyre laughing and cheering on the children. For a few moments he got to witness her and her brother interact in a way he’d not seen before. And as fast as it had come on, it vanished the moment Cara made her way out to the field. Her children pulled into themselves and weren’t as joyous. An unfortunate change and one the other children picked up on. Eventually, the game finished with lackluster enjoyment. Even Elonne carried himself in a different manner when Cara was around.
He didn’t like the change. The only one who outwardly was the same was Fyre. Not that there was any way to mistake the dislike between the two women, but she didn’t cower from her sister-in-law or appear frightened by her.
* * * *
By the time the sun had begun to lower itself to the horizon, all of his guests had come out to get in on the games. He’d had to set up another course as well. It had taken a bit for the children to accept it was okay for them to play with Cara out there, but it did him good to see them loosen up once more.
Even Mrs. Tennemin got up for a few whacks with the mallet. Only Fyre didn’t play. Neither he nor the children could entice her. It sat wrong with him, for he could see her desire to be included. The servants came out to clean up and to carry in the blankets and dirty dishes from the numerous finger foods that had been brought out. Everyone had begun to head inside for the evening meal.
“You have a visitor, my lord.” Keating stepped into view when he reached the door.
