[i]"Maybe?" [/i] 

Strong, knowing hands snaked around the waist of Thomas' coat, The slight weight of a woman's soft body leaned against the length of his wide back. She stood to the tips of her toes, all the better for her velvety, lush lips to brush against the tender edge of his ear, her breath a gentle whisper against the nape of his neck.

Antonia had not wished to keep Thomas wandering through the wild Jamaican groves that bordered Commander Murray's estate, but she [i]had[/i] to be sure her lovely man was not followed. Doubt had plagued her every step, from the very moment she conjured her makeshift escape from the ball. Questions hissing suspicions, knotting her gut with confusion, had haunted her thoughts and turned every last minute out here among the mangrove and the lemon trees into a small yet hellish eternity. 

"Why, if you'd prefer the sweet-yet-carnally adventurous French gentlewoman, Antoinette Greene?" the rogue's warm Creole voice offered breathlessly, "I still have her clothes right here, and her jewels - though perhaps you would prefer her in her jewels alone? She shan't argue."

Long, deft fingers slipped within the confines of the dark silver jacket, leisurely unbuttoning the vest beneath. "[i]Much.[/i] I imagine it would be quite a sight after all, and Antoinette is [i]such[/i] a tractable, accommodating creature... "

Antonia laughed softly to herself, mirthlessly, as she leaned back off her tiptoes. And then she sighed, heavily, as she wrapped her arms tighter still about Thomas' waist, laying her soft cheek against the silver silk of his justacorps jacket. 

"Bah, forgive me my silliness. Worry makes me act such a fool. What is happening, my sweet Silverfish?" she whispered, closing her eyes tightly, utterly defeated by her useless speculation. "What happened between the end of our single dance, and your conversation with Commander Murray? And what of the First Mate, do you know nothing more of her flight? I have a thought, and yet... "

Antonia bit her lip, hard, mortified by the breadth of all the questions for which she could offer her lovely man no good answers. "Forgive me please, for failing to show my worth. What have I missed tonight?"