He heard her gasp as he kissed her neck and then her shoulder, and pulled her closer without even a glance as a pair of strolling lovers passed by.
He said into her skin, "I want you, Kate."
She pretended to push him away, but he knew her excitement matched his own.
She touched his mouth with the fan as he released her and said, "But first we eat. I have arranged for a booth. It will be a private place." She gave her infectious laugh, something which at times in the past Bolitho had thought never to hear again. "As private as anything can be in VauxhallPleasureGardens! "
The time passed with an impossible speed while they sat in their little flower-bedecked booth, toying with their salads and roasted chicken, enjoying the wine and the music, but most of all each other.
She said, "You are staring at me." She dropped her eyes and took his hand in hers across the table. "You make me feel so wanton-I should be ashamed."
"You've a beautiful neck. It seems wrong to hide it, and yet…"
She watched him wondering.
"I will buy something for it. Just to adorn what is already so lovely."
She smiled. "Only in your eyes." Then she squeezed his hand until it hurt. "I am so in love with you, Richard. You just don't know." She touched her eyes with a handkerchief. "There, see what you've done! " When she looked at him again they were very bright. "Let us go and find our lecherous wherryman. I have such need of you I can scarcely wait! "
They walked back along the path towards the gates. Catherine pulled her long shawl over her bare shoulders and shivered. "I never want the summer to end."
Bolitho smiled, passion and excitement making him light-headed, as if he had had too much wine.
"Wait here in the shelter. I will make certain that the waterman you described so well is alongside."
She called after him as he turned by the gates. "Richard. I do like your hair like that. You look so… dashing."
She watched him pass into the shadows and drew the shawl more tightly around her; then she turned as a voice said, "All alone, my dear? That's very remiss of somebody! "
She observed him calmly. An army captain; not very old, with a lopsided grin which told of some heavy drinking.
She said, "Be off with you. I am not alone, and even if I were-"
"Now let's not be hasty, m'dear." He stepped closer and she saw him stagger. Then he reached out and seized the shawl. "Such beauty should never be hidden! "
"Take your hand off my lady." Bolitho had not even raised his voice.
Catherine said shortly, "He is full to the gills! "
The captain stared at Bolitho and gave a mock bow. "I did not realise; and in any case she looked like the sort of woman who might favour a poor soldier."
Bolitho was still very calm. "I would call you out, sir-"
The captain grinned stupidly. "And then I would willingly accept your seconds! "
Bolitho opened his plain blue coat. "You did not let me fin-ish. I would call you out if you were a gentleman and not a drunken lout. So we will settle it here." The old sword simply seemed to materialise in his hand. "And now! "
Another soldier lurched through some bushes and gaped at the small, tense scene. He was tipsy, but not too drunk to recognise the danger.
"Come away, you damned fool! " To Bolitho he exclaimed, "On his behalf, Sir Richard, I crave your pardon. He is not normally like this."
Bolitho looked at the captain, his eyes hard. "So I would hope, if only for the sake of England 's safety! "
He slid the sword into its scabbard and deliberately turned his back on the pair. "The boat is ready and waiting, my lady."
She took his proffered arm and felt it shaking.
"I have never seen you like that before."
"I am sorry to behave like some hot-headed midshipman."
She protested, "You were wonderful." She held up the small reticule which hung from her wrist, and added, "But if he had tried to hurt you he would have got a ball in the buttocks to quieten him down. My little carriage pistol is quite big enough for that."
Bolitho shook his head. "You are full of surprises! "
By the time the wherry was halfway across the river, weaving expertly through packs of similar craft, he was calm again.
Then he said, "It really was a night of enchantment, Kate. I shall never forget it."
Catherine glanced at the staring waterman and then allowed the shawl to drop from her shoulders as she leaned against Bolitho and whispered, "It is not yet over, as you will soon discover."
The waterman left his wherry to assist them out on to the pier. In his trade he carried them all. Men with other men's wives, sailors and their doxies, young bucks on the hunt for excitement or a brawl which would end blade to blade. But his two fares this evening were like none he had ever carried, and for some strange reason he knew he would always remember them. He thought of the way she had teased him with her shawl and gave a rueful grin. It had been well worth it.
He called after them, "Any time, Sir Richard! Just ask for Bobby-they all knows me on the LondonRiver."
The carriage which had been put at their disposal was standing in line with many others, the coachmen nodding while they waited for their masters who were still over at Vauxhall.
Bolitho saw Ozzard's gilt buttons glinting in the carriage lamps. It was like a silent warning, and he felt Catherine's grip tighten on his wrist.
"Is something wrong, Ozzard? There was no need for you to wait with the carriage."
Ozzard said, "There was a messenger from the Admiralty, Sir Richard. I told him I didn't know where you were." His tone suggested he would not have told him anyway. "He left word for you to present yourself to Lord Godschale at your earliest convenience tomorrow."
Somewhere in another world a church clock began to chime.
Catherine said in a small voice, "Today."
As they reached the house in Arlington Street, Bolitho said, "It cannot be so urgent. I have no flagship yet, and in any case-"
She turned on the stairway and tossed her shawl impetuously over the curving banister rail.
"And in any case, my gallant admiral, there is still the night! " He found her waiting for him beside one of the windows from which, in daylight, you could see the park. She looked at him, her face almost impassive as she said, "Take me, use me any way you will, but always love me."
Down in the deserted kitchen Allday sat at the scrubbed table and carefully filled a new clay pipe. It had cost him a fortune in London but he doubted if it would last any longer.
He had heard the carriage return and had seen Ozzard going quietly to his bed. Something was troubling him sorely; pulling him apart. He would try and find out what it was.
He lit the pipe and watched the smoke rising in the still air. Then he pulled a tankard of rum towards him and tried not to think of them upstairs.
All the same, he thought, it would make everything just perfect. To feel her defences giving way.
Allday snatched the tankard and took a great swallow.
Aloud he said thickly, "Just watch out for squalls, that's all I asks of 'em! "
But as he thought of them up there together, he knew that nothing would make any difference.
But as he thought of them up there together, he knew that nothing would make any difference.
11. The Mission
BOLITHO pushed open the tall doors of the drawing room and stood for a few moments in silence.
Catherine was by one of the windows, looking down at the street, waiting as he was for the inevitable departure.
Then he crossed the room and put his hands on her shoulders, and touched her hair with his mouth. "It is nearly time."
She nodded and seemed to lean back against him. "I will not let you down, Richard. We have been free to love these past weeks, free from everything. For that I can only be grateful." She twisted round in his arms and searched his face despairingly. "But perhaps I am greedy, and want so much more."