"05.The King's Buccaneer" - читать интересную книгу автора (Feist Raymond E)

"I'm getting on in age—"

"You're still a youngster," she said playfully.

"Dammit, woman, this is difficult enough without your trying to flatter me!" His tone was more exasperation than anger, so she was not offended. Her eyes betrayed a merry glint while she kept a straight face,

"I've done many things I'm not proud of, Alicia, and some I've confessed to you. Others I'd just as soon forget." He paused, searching for words. "So, if you're not of a mind to, I'll understand and take no offense."

"Mind to what, Amos?"

Amos almost blushed as he blurted, "Marry."

Alicia laughed and squeezed his hands tightly. She leaned forward and kissed him. "Silly man. Whom else would I marry? It's you I'm in love with."

Amos grinned. "Well then, that's it, isn't it?" He threw his arms around her and held her close. "You're not going to regret this, are you?"

"Amos, at my age I've had my share of regrets, I can assure

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you. I married Erland because he was the King's brother and my father was the Duke of Timons, not because I felt anything for him. I came to love my husband, for he was a kind and lovable man, but I was never in love with him. When he died, I assumed that love would be something I would watch in others younger than I. Then you showed up." He sat back, and she gripped his chin in her hand, playfully shaking his head as she would a child's. Then her hand went to his cheek and she caressed it. "No, I haven't enough time left for making poor choices. For all your rough edges, you've a quick mind and a generous heart, and whatever you did in the past is in the past. You've been the only grandfather my grandchildren have (mown—though they know better than to say it to your face— but that's how they feel. No, this is no mistake." She leaned into his arms and again he held her tight. Amos sighed in contentment.

Alicia felt tears of happiness gather in her eyes, and she 'blinked them back. Amos had never been comfortable with open displays of emotion. Their relationship had been intimate for years now, but she had understood Amos's reticence in making a proposal, for she knew him a man not given to close attachments. That he cared for Arutha and his family was clear, yet there was always a part of Amos that was distant. She knew that he held back, and nothing she could do would force him to give freely. Age had lent her a wisdom many younger women would not have understood. She had not wished to drive Amos off by asking him to choose between his love for her and his love for the sea.

Amos reluctantly released his hold on her. "Well, much as I would love to stay awhile, I have been given a mission by your daughter's husband."

"You're leaving again? But you only just got here." There was genuine disappointment in her voice.

"Yes, true. But Nicholas is to go to Martin's court for a year or two of seasoning, and some stores must be taken to the new garrison at Barran on the northwest coast." He looked into her green eyes and said, "It's my last voyage, love. I'll not be gone long, and then you'll find how quickly you grow tired of having me underfoot all the time."

She shook her head and smiled. "Hardly. You'll find much to keep you busy on my estates. We'll have lands to tend,

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tenants to supervise, and I doubt Arutha will let you stay away from court more than a month at a time. He values your insights and opinions."

They talked for a while, and then Amos said, "We have much to do. I must ensure the ship is ready, and you and Anita will no doubt wish to get about the business of a wedding."

They parted and Amos walked away from her apartment, feeling both elation and an unusual desire to keep sailing west once he dropped Nicholas off. He loved Alicia like no other woman he had met in this Hfe, but the prospect of marriage was more than a little frightening to the old bachelor.

He almost knocked over Ghuda Bule as he rounded a corner. The grey-haired mercenary backed away, bowing awkwardly. "Excuse me, sir."

Amos paused. Switching to the Keshian language, he said, "No excuse needed . . ."

"Ghuda Bule, sir."

"Ghuda," finished Amos. "My mind was other places and I wasn't watching my way."