Read Online The Winter Love by April Munday - Free Book Online Page A

again refused to eat while they were laid up in port that night, but he did drink some of Eleanor’s wine. This time he made room for her before she got into bed, but he still had to hold her or one of them would have fallen out. Between the gentle swaying of the ship and the comfort of Henry’s arms, Eleanor quickly fell asleep.
    When she woke up she was aware of a wonderful sensation around her breast. Henry was holding it in his hand and moving his thumb gently over it. She gasped at the pleasure of it, waking Henry, who pulled his hand away so violently that he fell out of the bed.
    Eleanor lit the candle as quickly as she could and turned to look down at Henry. He was wedged uncomfortably in a space that was smaller than he was between the bed and the wooden partition. “Are you alright?”
    “I don’t deserve to be, but I am. I’m sorry Eleanor. I have no excuse for what I was doing.”
    “You didn’t hurt me.” She didn’t add that she quite enjoyed it; Henry seemed upset enough already and she felt that it would not make him feel better.
    “That’s not the point. I was taking advantage of you.”
    Now Eleanor had to smile. “Henry, as you have already pointed out to me, if you had wanted to take advantage of me you have had more than enough opportunity. And I think that if you were taking advantage of me you would have done it more thoroughly.” She thought he blushed. “You think I don’t know about these things, don’t you? I know enough to trust you and not Edward.” She hoped he could not see that she lied. It was only after Edward had kissed her that she had realised why Henry had warned her. She thought he could have spoken more plainly, although she didn’t know what she could have done to protect herself against Edward.
    Henry sat up carefully. “I am sorry Eleanor. I meant for no harm to come to you when I took you from the convent and I certainly did not intend to be the one to do you harm.”
    “You have no t harmed me. I think you will have to try much harder to hurt me or to take advantage of me.” She smiled at him, but he refused to be cheered. “Henry, you have done yourself more harm than me. Now close your eyes, I’m going to become Tom so that I can take Solomon for some exercise before we leave port. I think my habit scares him.” Without waiting to see whether Henry obeyed, Eleanor began to remove her clothes and replace them with the clothes she had worn as Tom. Then she left the room and went on deck.
    It was still raining, but the sea was still. She found Edward quickly enough. He looked surprised at her attire. “Do I have enough time to take Solomon ashore for some exercise?”
    Edward brushed his wet hair out of his face. “If you think it worth it.”
    “He’s unhappy on the ship. Some exercise will calm him.”
    “And you? I thought you couldn’t bear to leave Henry.”
    “Henry is awake and well enough at the moment. Solomon will make less trouble if he is walked around a bit.”
    “You’ll get wet.”
    “I’ll get wet,” she agreed, with a smile, and went to fetch Solomon.
    The horse was glad to see her and barely moved as she put his reins on. She led him on deck and off the ship. They walked about for a while, but it was obvious that Solomon wanted to do more. She wondered if she could get onto his back without help. Looking around she saw a barrel on the quayside and climbed up onto it. She wasn’t scared that Solomon would move suddenly so that she would fall; it was her own balance that she didn’t trust. Once she was on him, she had no idea how to make him walk and she suspected that he was well-trained enough to stand until she gave him the correct signal. She tried to remember if she had noticed Henry do anything in particular before they had started moving.
    She remembered that he had done something with his legs and she tried to do the same, slowly, without falling off. Solomon moved off at a walking pace and she found that she could stay