Free Bolitho 19 - Beyond the Reef by Alexander Kent Page B

perhaps the three months ashore, with occasional trips to Portsmouth and London had worked in his favour.
    Without turning he knew she had entered the room, her naked feet soundless on the carpet. She came up behind him and put a coat around his bare shoulders.
    “What are you doing? Trying to catch a cold, or worse?”
    He put his arm around her body and felt her warmth through the plain white gown, the one with the gold cord around her throat which if released could bare her shoulders or her whole being.
    She shivered as he ran his fingers over her hip. “Oh, dear Richard—soon now, and all this will be over.”
    “I have been poor company of late.”
    Catherine turned in his arm and looked at him, only her eyes shining in the faint light.
    “So many thoughts, so many worries. They strike at you from every side.”
    She had read Herrick’s letter aloud to him, and he had been moved that she had shown more regret than anger. In it, Herrick had thanked her for staying with his wife to the end. A letter between total strangers. He ran his hand under her long hair and kissed her lightly on the neck.
    She covered his hand with hers. “Much more of that, Richard, and I will forget the importance and the formality of this day.”
    She looked out at the paling sky and the last weak star. “I love everything we do, all that we have found in one another.” He tried to turn her towards him but felt her strong supple body resist him; she would not, could not face him. “When you are away from me, Richard, I touch myself where you have touched me, and I dream it is you. The climax is matched only by the disappointment when I know it is … just another fantasy.”
    Then she did turn, and embraced him so that their faces were almost level, her breath mingling warmly with his, her body pressing against him.
    “So when you come back to me, be the navigator and explorer once more. Seek out every mood and every part of me until we are joined again.” She kissed him very gently on the cheek. “… and again.” She stood against the light, so that he saw her body through her pale gown. “Now go and prepare yourself. I will further shock the servants by preparing some breakfast for my man!”
    Bolitho stared after her, then sighed as the drums began to rattle to beat up the marines at their barracks.
    A glance; a word; a promise. They could not dissolve the immediate problems. He straightened his back and touched the crudely mended wound in his left thigh, a legacy of eight years ago, and his mind lingered on what she had told him. Dissolve, no; but once again she had made him feel restored. He was ready.
    John Cotgrave, the Judge Advocate, stood up and faced the seated officers in the great cabin.
    “I am ready, Sir James.”
    Hamett-Parker grunted. “Proceed.”
    Cotgrave said, “Captain Hector Gossage has stated that he wishes to complete his evidence, and the surgeon has assured me that he will be able.” He glanced briefly at Herrick’s set features. “However, with the Court’s indulgence, I would suggest that Captain Gossage’s appearance be made later, when he has been examined again.”
    Hamett-Parker asked, “Well sir, how is this to be managed, Mr Cotgrave?” He sounded irritated by the sudden change of tack.
    “May I suggest, Sir James, that the last witness for today be called first? I do not intend to summon Captain Keen of this ship; it would merely be to corroborate this important witness’s testimony.”
    Bolitho saw the quick exchange of glances. Gossage would be the final witness, so any previous evidence of an indifferent nature, or testimony which might be in Herrick’s favour, would be forgotten. Gossage was hostile—a broken man, but one whose ability to hate was clearly unimpaired.
    The officer of the Court next in seniority, Vice-Admiral Cuthbert Nevill, asked mildly, “It is all rather unusual, surely?”
    Hamett-Parker did not even turn. “The case itself is more so, what?”
    Cotgrave