by Abigail Agar
“But we did not,” Gwyn countered. “Father will remember eventually. He just gets confused.”
Jack said, “Sometimes I get confused.”
Gwyn’s eyes cut over to the man warily. “Do I dare ask what you get confused about, Captain Shelton?”
“About how you can love me and yet not marry me,” Jack said as he pursed his lips out in thought.
Gwyn knew that look. It was the look Jack had always gotten when he was ragging on her when they were children. “This is really not an appropriate conversation, Captain Shelton. We are unchaperoned at the moment, and I am being courted by another man. Surely you do not wish to bring any more shame upon your family.”
“You think this is the scandal that will bring us down?” Jack asked with a grin.
Gwyn shook her head at the man. She asked in a whisper, “What is wrong with you? You are not acting like yourself at all.”
“On the contrary, I am acting like myself for the first time in a very long time. I will do what I must to right my family’s name, just as I am sure that you will. You are the one who keeps insisting that we are friends; well, this is how I am with my friends. Do you not remember that?” Jack had come to a stop and was eyeing Gwyn curiously.
Gwyn put her hands on her hips as old habits took over. “I remember exactly how you are with your friends, Captain Shelton,” Gwyn said honestly. “I have no issue with being your friend, but I will not have you dangling my feelings out like that as if they are a toy to play with. Do I make myself very clear, Captain Shelton?”
Jack looked impressed. “There she is. That is the Gwyn I know. I knew she was in there somewhere, instead of this meek little mouse that had taken her place.”
“You are an impossible man, and I pity the woman who gets stuck with you, Captain Shelton,” Gwyn said as she pushed her chin up into the air and turned on her heel. Jack’s chuckle behind her only made Gwyn walk faster towards the kitchen. It would not do to be alone with the man, after all.
Jack caught up to her and said, “Forgive me, Miss Stanton. I overstepped my boundaries. I will endeavour to keep the peace between us.”
Gwyn cut her eyes towards the man. He did not look remorseful, and Gwyn shook her head. “That poor woman who marries you will need all the help she can get,” Gwyn muttered. Gwyn cleared her throat and said louder, “I heard about Miss Rayburne from my mother. I guess you got lucky with that one.”
“I do not see it as that lucky,” Jack said honestly. “I certainly had no real interest in marrying the young lady, but I would have done to save her and my family’s reputations.”
Gwyn said, “I know you would have. I assume your parents took the decision away from you.”
“Helpless as a lamb,” Jack muttered, obviously annoyed at the turn of events.
They made it to the kitchens and fell silent as Gwyn and Jack got a cup of tea. The staff bobbed their heads but otherwise left them be. They took their tea into the dining hall. It was not completely private with the staff coming and going, and that made Gwyn feel better.
Jack sipped his tea for a long while as if he were lost in thought. Gwyn finally asked him, “You will continue seeking a young lady?” She knew the answer, but she just had to have something to fill the silence.
“Yes,” Jack said quietly. “Mother wants Henry to get a bride, but the likelihood that that will happen is, shall we say, low.”
Gwyn shook her head. “Your father thinking of stepping down early, is he?”
“Hardly,” Jack scoffed. “No. I think Father will pass on the title on his deathbed.” Jack chuckled and shook his head. “I think he would retire sooner, but Henry seems determined not to settle down until he is forced into irons.”
Gwyn sighed. “That sounds like Henry. He always was a bit wild, even when we were kids.”
“He just never outgrew it,” Jack agreed. “I think sometimes, my father wants to take the title away from Henry, but he is loathed to go against tradition.”
They both sat and thought for a moment. Gwyn tried to picture Henry as Duke of Castleberry but could not see it in the man. While she could picture Jack in the role, she did not think he had any interest in the title.
“Your mother said you were staying for the evening meal,” Gwyn said conversationally.
Jack nodded. “I thought it a bit rude to just invite ourselves over, but Mother was insistent that we come. I have honestly been meaning to come to talk to Lord Shelton since I came back home. It just never seemed a good time.”
“I do not think there is such a thing as a good time to do anything,” Gwyn said with a shrug. “I think we merely have to make the time and do the best we can.”
Jack whispered, “You sound like a grown-up.”
Gwyn laughed despite herself, and she nodded. “It is odd, is it not? It seems some days that we were just children and now here we are with all these years behind us.”
“Does not change who we are inside,” Jack said thoughtfully. “Even war cannot change that I am still me underneath the scar and platitudes. I might have learned patience and restraint, but I am still a pirate captain at heart.”
Gwyn smiled and shook her head at the man. “If you do not mind telling, how did you come by your scar?”
“Ah, well, see I was having a disagreement with this enemy soldier. He wanted to kill me, and I preferred to be alive,” Jack said with amusement.
With a shake of her head, Gwyn admonished, “Jack.”
Jack grinned. “I knew I could get you to say my name.”
“Yes, you can be very proud of yourself for being so annoying. Now tell me what happened,” Gwyn said as she lifted her teacup to her lips.
Jack lifted his arms up off the table in a helpless gesture. “I parried a bit too late, and his sword caught me. Luckily, it just adds to my dashing demeanour.”
Gwyn fought to keep from laughing with the tea in her mouth. When she swallowed the sweet liquid, she shook her head at Jack. “Just think, if it had gone a bit higher, you could have had an eye-patch like a real pirate,” Gwyn said with a smile.
Jack laughed. The rich sound of the man’s deep laughter made Gwyn smile. Jack shook his finger at Gwyn and said, “That very thought had occurred to me, but alas I still have both my eyes.”
“I like your eyes,” Gwyn said without thought.
Jack raised an eyebrow at her curiously. It was an expression that as children had never failed to make Gwyn laugh, and now it caused her to blush. She waved off the man’s look. Jack seemed to concede and let her keep her peace as he dipped his head.
“There you two are,” Henry said as he came in. “Tea? Really?”
Gwyn sighed up at Henry. “I was thirsty. I ran into Jack, and we went to get tea.”
“Literally, she ran into me,” Jack said as he leaned back in his chair.
Gwyn had the urge to kick the tall man underneath the table, but she restrained herself. Gwyn cleared her throat as Henry gave her a curious look. “He was coming around a corner,” Gwyn said to explain.
“Right,” Henry said as if he did not believe her. “So, I guess you have heard about Miss Rayburne?” Henry asked the question as he dropped gracefully into the chair beside Gwyn and gave his brother a smile across the table.
Gwyn said, “Yes. I heard from my mother. I feel sorry for the young lady, to be honest.”
“Yes, well,” Henry said as he tapped the table. “Lying is never a good thing, is it?”
Gwyn narrowed her eyes at Henry and opened her mouth, but she never got to say anything as Jack intervened. “Henry, if anyone should not speak of lying then it would be you,” he reminded his older brother.
Henry pouted a bit. “Oh come, Little Brother. Surely what I did is not as bad as trying to rope someone into marriage under false pretences?”
“Lying is lying, Brother,” Jack said as he lifted his tea. “Besides, Miss Rayburne did nothing that a hundred other ladies have not done in the past. She was merely trying to get herself and
her family out of a bad situation.”
Gwyn nodded slowly. “Yes, but I do not think she should have used you as the catalyst. At the very least she could have come to you directly instead of the scandal.”
“Oh, my dear Miss Stanton,” Henry said with a chuckle. “You have a lot to learn about society. She wanted leverage, and she got it.”
Gwyn gave Henry a disapproving look. “That she did,” Gwyn replied.
Jack cleared his throat. “It is settled, and let us leave it there,” Jack said amicably.
Henry conceded with a nod to his brother. “If you wish,” Henry said.
Gwyn felt irritated by Henry’s presence, but it was better for them to be chaperoned even if it was by Henry whose moral lines were a bit fuzzy at times. She sipped her tea as the brothers struck up a conversation about some business dealings their father was involved in. Gwyn had little interest in the conversation, but she picked up bits and pieces despite herself.
“I just think that India is a rich land for sugar and spices,” Jack said with a shrug. “The Caribbean colonies are not a reasonable bet anymore. With all the acts in recent years to aid humanitarian causes, it has frankly hurt the bottom line despite Parliament’s best efforts to limit repercussions.”
Henry groaned and rolled his eyes. “We have always imported from the Caribbean.”
“If you stay stuck with what you have always done, then you will dwindle with it,” Jack said with a shrug.
Gwyn piped up, “The spices in India really are of lovely quality.”
“Yes, you would know, would you not?” Henry said as he propped his elbow up on the table. It was not the proper way for a gentleman to sit in the presence of a lady, but that did not seem to bother Henry at all. He leaned his head on his hand and eyed Gwyn curiously. “You will probably be back off to India once you are happily wed, I assume?”
Gwyn sighed and folded her hands in her lap. “It really is not polite to ask that, Henry, but out of deference to our childhood together, I will answer. Sergeant Chavers and I will live here at the request of my mother. We will need to be here to oversee the running of the house and expenses after all.”
“Ah,” Henry said with a nod. “Sergeant Chavers must be pretty wealthy.”
Jack growled, “That is quite enough, Henry.”
“Oh, sorry,” Henry said with very little feeling. “I forget myself sometimes. I think of us as all still children and slip into old habits. I imagine that you two understand that well.”
Gwyn blushed at what Henry was insinuating, but it was Jack who responded. “I said that was enough, Henry,” Jack said with a stern look at his older brother.
Henry sighed. “You two are no fun. You know that?” He stood up and stretched. “Guess it is for the best that you two will be far away from each other once you are wed. Would not want any jealousies to be aroused.” With that, Henry turned on his heel and marched out of the room.
Gwyn frowned. “You are moving away from Shelton Hall?” Gwyn knew she should be mortified by Henry’s comment, but her mind had stuck on the piece of information that Jack would not be living next door to her as she had imagined.
Jack nodded. “It will be inherited by my brother. There will be no place for me there. I fully intend to go run my father’s trade from abroad. It is what I had intended on doing before Mother besieged me with this whole marriage nonsense.”
“You are going away,” Gwyn said again as she tried to wrap her mind around the idea of there being no Jack here.
Jack agreed with a nod. “I am,” he said quietly.
“I hope your bride likes India. It is beautiful,” Gwyn said more out of reflex than genuine well-wishing.
There was a pause before Jack said, “That is if I find a woman willing to agree to it. The dance of courtship is wearing very thin for me.”
“But you are so popular,” Gwyn teased.
Jack scoffed, “Perhaps I was, but I have yet to see how things play out after the scandal. I do not know how Henry can face such scrutiny with so little concern. I find it jarring at best.”
“I am sure it will all work out,” Gwyn said reassuringly. Gwyn reminded herself that she did not need to be concerned with Jack Shelton’s well-being. After all, the man was soon to be gone from her life as if he had never been. She would be starting a new life with Sergeant Chavers.
Gwyn frowned. Jack asked, “What is the frown for?”
“It is nothing,” Gwyn said as she waved off Jack’s concern. “It was merely a passing thought.”
Jack eyed her curiously but let the subject drop. “If you say so,” he said.
Before the conversation could go any further, the rest of the household came in. Gwyn sighed and resigned herself to pondering over her fate silently. The thought that bothered Gwyn was how she always thought of Jack as Jack, but she never thought of Sergeant Chavers as William. It had never even occurred to her to do so.
Jack gave her a smile as everyone settled into their places at the table waiting for the meal to begin being served. Gwyn hesitantly returned the gesture with a smile of her own. She put her eyes firmly on the plate that one of the staff set down in front of her. This might be a very long season, Gwyn thought miserably.
Chapter 7
The ball was in full swing when Gwyn arrived with Sergeant Chavers. She smiled at the way the light twinkled over the dance floor as if the whole event really was lit by flickering fireflies. Sergeant Chavers led her through the people talking around the fringe of the ballroom floor and out among the dancers.
The music was a sweet and lovely waltz that Gwyn at least could dance to without having to try too hard. Sergeant Chavers smiled at her, and Gwyn found that she was very much enjoying herself. Perhaps she really could be happy with this man, Gwyn thought. She reminded herself that his name was William, but it felt so awkward to even think the name, let alone say it.
She and Sergeant Chavers danced through two more songs, and Gwyn had felt guilty for how mixed up she had been feeling. It would be better once Jack—Captain Shelton was gone. Gwyn had to remind herself that she had to let go of her childhood sweetheart. He was Captain Shelton now, not the boy she had known.
“It is a lovely ball,” Gwyn noted as the dance slowed yet again. She breathed a sigh of relief for the slower pace.
Sergeant Chavers nodded. “It rivals the balls they had in India, only here you do not have to worry about getting pelted with coloured powder.”
Gwyn giggled softly. She had attended balls like that a time or two during her time in India. She had found the events freeing, if a bit jarring. “It is nice to know my clothing will return home the same colour it was when I left. I do miss certain things about India, though. The way the breezes always seemed to smell of spices, for instance.”
“There was one station that I used to stand guard at quite often that always smelled of ginger. I found it made me quite hungry, at least at first,” Sergeant Chavers said with a grin. “Speaking of refreshment, I could use something cool to drink. Shall we leave the dance for a bit?”
Gwyn nodded and agreed, “Something cool would be wonderful.”
Sergeant Chavers escorted her off the dance floor with his hand behind the small of her back. The dancers made way for them. Soon they were at the refreshment table watching as some of the cool strawberry wine was poured up into glasses for them.
“Thank you,” Sergeant Chavers said politely as the woman behind the table handed their drinks to him. “Here you go,” Sergeant Chavers said as he handed one of the glasses to Gwyn.
