The Siren's Song Part 30

Excitement bubbled from Gilly as she turned to the bunch. "You all will come see me sing before you leave, won't you? Oh, I'd be so grateful to have you there. It would mean everything to me. Please? Oh my, Thayer. What will I wear? What an honor to sing for you. I should practice my scales."

"Gilly. Gilly." Drake clasped her hands in effort to calm her. By George, she was like an excited sparrow hopping across a meadow. And just as delightful. "Yes. They'll come see you sing. And yes, you will have the prettiest dress I can find. You can have anything you want. Henri. Play a tune. Let us celebrate."

Henri pulled his favorite broken flute from his vest pocket and piped out a lively melody. Knee thumping and toe tapping commenced, and the group warbled out an old sea chantey. Drake slid a look to Valeryn. His mate nodded a silent approval.

"Come," he whispered in Gilly's ear. "I want to show you something."

Drake led her from view of the others to the opposite side of a knoll. The few trees jutting from the rocky hill leaned southward from the perpetual sea winds. Yellow flowers peeked up between where craggy stones met lush gra.s.s. The simple beauty of the bluff couldn't compare to the woman beside him.

"See there." He pointed out toward the rolling land where forest met a small farmhouse and stretches of fields. "That was my papa's land, all the way to that ridge. And down there, in the rocks along the beach, that is where as a boy I would play, capturing little crabs in the tidal pools. As I got older, I'd spear fish just past those stones there."

He turned to find Gilly staring at him. "It's beautiful."

"Yes, it is. I often dream of this place." He chuckled. "Of course, that was when I didn't drink myself into a dreamless stupor. Now my dreams are filled with visions of a lovely woman. She beckons me, waving for me to join her. Children run past, and she chases after them, laughing. They're dreams of you, Gilly."

Her smiling lips quivered, her searching eyes hopeful. He couldn't keep her waiting if he tried. Never had he imagined he would live this day. "Gilly, will you be my wife?"

She squealed and leaped into his arms. "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

Laughing, he spun her around. "You've made me the happiest man alive." As he stood there on the ridge holding Gilly near, nothing else in the world mattered. Only his woman and the future he sought for them both. He eased her to the soft ground. "It will be a fortnight before the jeweler will have the diamond ring ready."

"The diamond I gave you?"

He smiled. "My wedding gift to you."

"Oh, Thayer. You've given me so much already. More than I could ever want."

"I've another gift for you." He quite enjoyed bestowing presents upon her. He also enjoyed all these new emotions Gilly had brought about. She had put the fire back into his heart. No longer did he look to the past with drunken regret, but ahead with a clear mind.

He took her hand and placed the object in her palm. She looked up at him before unwrapping the silk cloth. He felt he might burst from the antic.i.p.ation of her reaction. She unfolded the last corner of fabric and gasped.

"Is this..."

"Aye, love. Your father's pocket watch. Before we set sail from Na.s.sau, I bought it back from the apothecary. I had the jeweler fix the gears. See, it works again."

Gilly wrapped her arms around him. Her hair smelled of lavender and cream and he breathed her in as if her essence was what kept him alive. Indeed, she was all he lived for. Her whispers rustled in his ear like the murmur of sugar cane in a gentle wind.

"I love you, too, Gilly." And there on the hillside, he made sweet love to her.

Not ready to trim the sails and head for sh.o.r.e just yet? Stay the course with A Kiss in the Wind, another book in the Romancing the Pirate series, available now.

Marisol Castellan is in trouble. Against her pirate father's orders, she snuck off their s.h.i.+p to intercept a message meant for a rival captain. Pirate captain Blade Tyburn is not pleased to find the letter he's been waiting for is missing. He's even less pleased when he discovers the thief is a raven-haired beauty who bewitches his senses...

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About the Author.

Jennifer Bray-Weber has always wished for real life to mimic fantastical tales of adventure, especially those of the high seas. Holding two degrees, one in music and video business, the other in liberal arts, she continued her higher education, that is, until a professor challenged her to further express her creative talents and write a novel. Never one to back down from a dare, her pa.s.sion led her to write stories of pirates, with her debut novel, Upon a Moonlit Sea, among the 2009 Golden Heart Award historical finalists.

Though she hopes to one day live out her life as an island G.o.ddess somewhere in the Caribbean, Jennifer currently lives in her native state of Texas with her husband and two daughters.

For more information on Jennifer and her upcoming releases, please visit her website at www.jbrayweber.com.

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ISBN: 978-14268-9374-2.

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