A Lady's Taste For Temptation (Historical Regency Romance)

by Emily Honeyfield

  “With all due respect sir,” Blenkinsop said. “That is exactly the issue. The ship is closer to the rocks and the cliff than we think. If the fog lifts, we would be able to see that we are not quite where the map says we are.”

  “How can you tell?” Konrad asked. “We cannot see our hands in front of our faces.”

  “If you count the waves and the pattern, you can feel that they are broken up by something in front of us. Given the irregularity, I would guess it’s the rocks,” Blenkinsop said. “I don’t mean to disrespect…”

  “Can you show me our new position?” Horrow asked, as he unrolled a map from his pocket. Blenkinsop quickly scrambled to pinpoint it and Horrow’s expression changed to one of panic. “Are you sure?”

  “As sure I can be,” Blenkinsop replied. “I’ve done the calculations I can show you my…”

  “I believe you,” Horrow said. “We’re going to have to see if we can bring the sails in. If he’s right and this fog doesn’t lift, we’re going to slam right into the rocks.”

  “I’ll tell the captain,” Konrad said.

  “Should you not let me do it?” Horrow asked. “You’re off duty and just off a long watch. I –”

  “I am fine,” Konrad replied. “In addition, it’s not as if I would truly be able to sleep, if we are about to shipwreck.”

  “Fine,” Horrow said, and Konrad shot off. “Mr. Whitehall, I am aware that you have no learnt skill on a ship…”

  “I will help in any way I know how,” Myles said. His heart rate was rising in panic, and he was eager to do something with his hands. As a silversmith, he was used to working with his hands every day. The time on the ship had made him restless and the threat of being shipwrecked had not assisted the situation.

  “Shadow Lieutenant Konrad,” Horrow said.

  “Why?” Myles asked, dumbfounded that would be the order.

  Horrow winced and then clearly decided that the truth was best.

  “Lieutenant Konrad has a tendency to become rapidly unwell if he does not sleep,” Horrow replied. “And while he seemed all right to me just now, I have seen him turn in an instant.”

  “Unwell how?” Myles asked, in shock.

  ‘“You will know,” Horrow said. “Please, go with him. Wait outside the captain’s cabin and then shadow him through the deck. It is better if someone is aware of what could happen.”

  “Should I tell…”

  “Tell no one,” Horrow snapped at him. “Or he will not be able to maintain his position on the ship. Now, Midshipman Blenkinsop, come with me.”

  The two men headed towards the rigging, and Myles shot off in the direction Konrad had gone. He had explored the ship quite thoroughly, but in the moment, he had forgotten where exactly the captain’s cabin was. It took him several wrong turns before he found it. He stood outside diligently, and sure enough, Konrad shot out of there within a few minutes.

  “What are you doing here?” Konrad asked Myles, in confusion.

  “Lieutenant Horrow asked me to –”

  “Of course he did,” Konrad rolled his eyes. “I would tell him if I wasn’t well.”

  “I’m sorry?” Myles replied. All of a sudden, the ship pitched to the left and both of them hit the wall. Myles felt his left shoulder connect with it, and he felt sparks of pain through his entire body. Konrad’s head ricocheted off the wood, and while he remained standing, he looked stunned for a moment. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” Konrad said, although he had lost all colour in his face. “The captain gave permission to try and divert course. We must get the message to Lieutenant Horrow.”

  Without missing a beat, he scrambled back up the ladder. Myles followed, unsure of how long he was supposed to shadow him for.

  On deck, it seemed things had become worse, and quite rapidly. The fog was even thicker than before and did not show any signs of lifting. The ship was pitching to and fro, and most of the men were on the deck, scrambling to change the sails, or keep the water off the deck. There were some bailing, and others pulling ropes, and Myles felt entirely useless. Suddenly, there was a lightning strike from above and then a clap of thunder.

  The thunder was so close to the lightning strike that Myles was surprised it wasn’t already raining. He looked up to the sky, and the cloud burst directly above him. Within in moments, they were caught in a torrential downpour.

  The ship rocked again, and he was thrown against the side of the deck. He felt his shoulder throb, and he tried to right himself. It appeared his sea legs were not as good as he thought.

  Across the deck, he could just make out Horrow and Konrad exchanging words. They had to scream at each other over the wind and the rain, and Horrow had to grab the overhead ropes just to stay upright.

  Konrad pitched forward with the ship and Horrow grabbed him just in time. There was more yelling, as Horrow pointed to the ladder. Myles watched as Konrad seemed to argue, and then relented. The younger lieutenant fought to make his way back to the ladder, and then fell.

  No one seemed to notice that Konrad was not getting up. Myles dragged himself forward, shivering violently in the rain.

  “KONRAD!” he cried, but his friend didn’t answer. “KONRAD!”

  He went to shake his shoulders, but it quickly became unneeded. Konrad began to shake violently on his own, and it appeared he was being possessed His eyes rolled back in his head, and his nose and mouth began to leak blood.

  Myles briefly wondered if this was what Horrow meant by saying he was unwell. He had absolutely no idea what to do and so he did the only thing he could think of. He reached out to steady him, the ship rocked under them. He wanted to call someone for help, but there was no one available.

  Myles wished that he had said more of a proper goodbye to his parents. He was certain they were all going to die here, in the storm. Even though the men seemed to all be busy, nothing was making a difference. The ship was rocking to new heights with each wave, and everyone was fighting not to be thrown into a wall.

  “Konrad,” Myles said, weakly, as his friend stopped shaking. He wasn’t even sure he was still breathing, and he certainly couldn’t tell in the chaos around him. He leaned forward, trying to see if there was breath coming from him. “KONRAD!”

  Luckily, Horrow had noticed the issue, and managed to leave his post long enough to slide over on his knees. It was the safest way to get to Konrad and Myles without toppling over himself.

  “I’m sorry,” Myles said. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened. I just...you told me...I didn’t…”

  “It’s all right,” Horrow said, as he leaned over to check his friend. “He’s all right.”

  “How can he be all right?” Myles blurted out.

  “This is what happens,” Horrow screamed, over the wind. “He’s had these fits all his life. They are frightening but so far, not life-threatening.”

  “There’s blood,” Myles said. “He hit his head.”

  “How wonderful,” Horrow replied sarcastically, as he leaned to check Konrad again. “I have to stay up here. Can you get him below deck?”

  “Yes,” Myles said, even though he wasn’t sure that he could. “I’ll do my best.”

  “Good man,” Horrow replied, and then leaned over Konrad’s unconscious form. “You’ll be all right, Konrad. We’ll get you back to Sarah soon.”

  With that, he got up, leaving Myles to struggle on his own.

  Konrad wasn’t a particularly heavyset man, but the dead weight of his limp form and the rocking of the ship did not make it an easy journey below deck.

  Myles had a brief idea of where the lieutenant's bunkroom was, and he managed to get him in there and into the hammock. Konrad's eyelids were flickering at this point and Myles was relieved to see some colour come to his face.

  “Hello,” Myles said, as Konrad started to look around, confused. “You gave me quite a fright.”

  “What…” Konrad said.

  “You had a fit above deck,” Myles said. �
�Horrow told me to bring you down here.”

  Konrad covered his face with his hands, and Myles realized that he was embarrassed.

  “It’s all right,” he said. “Didn’t appear to be your fault.”

  It took a while before Konrad was able to speak, but when he did, it was haltingly.

  “The rigging…”

  “I do believe that they are doing something with the rigging,” Myles replied. “There was a lot of yelling and then something to do with the ropes.”

  Konrad glanced towards the open door of the bunkroom and then tried to get up.

  “Whoa,” Myles said. “I don’t think that is the best idea you’ve ever had. Lie down!”

  “Help,” he said.

  “Help? You need help?” he asked, and Konrad looked frustrated.

  “No,” he said. “Want to…”

  “Oh, you want to help,” Myles replied. “To be honest, I don’t think they need any more help up there. It appears that there were too many hands already. Horrow said to tell you that we will get you back to Sarah soon.”

  Konrad seemed to respond to that, and Myles smiled.

  “Can you tell me about her?” he said. “Or your daughter? You have a daughter? What is her name?”

  Instead of answering, Konrad pointed to his sea chest. Myles went towards it as careful as he could and undid the latch.

  The sea chest almost exploded with the number of items that were in it. Myles leapt back, but he caught a few things from falling.

  On top of the cornucopia of items, there was a letter, already addressed and sealed.

  Sarah and Katie, it said, with an address written below it.

  “This is to them?” Myles asked him. Konrad nodded and held out his hand. Myles placed the letter in his hand and Konrad ran the fingers of his other hand over it. His hands were shaking, and there were covered in blood. Myles noticed right away that he was bleeding from the nose again.

  “Hey, let me get you something…” Myles said and found a handkerchief in the sea chest. Before he could press it to Konrad’s nose, the lieutenant handed the letter back to Myles. Myles took it, and tucked it in his pocket. “I’ll put this back in a moment,” he promised as he pressed the handkerchief on Konrad’s face.

  The lieutenant sank further back in his hammock, and then he stopped moving.

  It took Myles nearly half a minute to figure out what had happened.

  “Konrad,” he cried, and reached for his shoulders. “Konrad! No, no, no…”

  “Myles!” Horrow appeared in the doorway then. “You need to…”

  Whatever he was about to say died on his lips when he saw the look on Myles’s face.

  “He’s gone,” Myles said. “He’s gone. I’m sorry, I tried.”

  “What?” Horrow asked and moved forward as if he were underwater. His face drained of colour. “No…”

  “I’m sorry,” Myles said. “He just...it was so fast.”

  “No, this can’t be,” Horrow said. “He was only…”

  There was no doubt between the two men that Konrad was gone. His eyes were staring up at the ceiling, but they saw nothing. His lips were slightly apart, and his hands were motionless. The bloody handkerchief had fallen to the side.

  The ship rocked and all of them were thrown to the right. Somehow, Konrad’s body stayed in the hammock, but Horrow and Myles were thrown into the wall. There was a giant crack, and Horrow gasped.

  “We’ve run aground,” he said. “Myles, get to the top deck. NOW.”

  “But…” Myles said and Horrow grabbed him by the arm.

  “We have to go, now,” he said and started to drag Myles towards the ladder. Myles scrambled up the ladder without even fully comprehending that he was upstairs.

  Blenkinsop was moving under the rigging, screaming and giving orders. The ship was being thrown forward, and Myles heard another giant crack.

  “Abandon ship!” was the last thing he heard Horrow yell, before he was suddenly thrown over the side. Myles didn’t realize he was flying through the air until he hit the cold water below him.

  The water was frothy white, and Myles felt as though he could not breathe. The shoulder that had previously been exploding in pain was now numb.

  He was so far from the ship that it was certain he had lost consciousness while he was thrown. He couldn’t believe that he had not hit a rock or the cliff at any point.

  The ship was in pieces, and there was suddenly an explosion. It sounded as if all the kegs of gunpowder had gone off at once. Myles dived under the waves, in the hope of avoiding the fireballs that were thrown towards him. It took him a moment to realize that they were lit pieces of wood from the ship, which had no doubt caught fire.

  The water was like ice and he knew that he wouldn’t survive long. Every part of his body ached and was simultaneously going numb. Every time he took a breath, he saw Konrad’s sightless eyes in front of him.

  Was this how it was going to end? So close to Cornwall and yet so far from help?

  His only chance was to swim, and so Myles began to force himself to swim. He knew that if he could make it to dry land, he would have a faint chance of survival.

  He was trying to think of anything he could that would help him. It wasn’t as if anyone told him what to do in the event that they were shipwrecked. No one had even thought it was a possibility. In fact, when he had secured passage on the ship, they had told him he was lucky, because it was going to be safer and more well-manned than a passenger ship.

  Myles felt anything but lucky right now. He felt like he should have chosen the passenger ship, and the slower journey.

  He cursed the fact that he was always looking for the fastest way to do something. His mother had often told him to stop, and look at life around him, and he hadn’t listened. Now, it had nearly killed him.

  Myles was trying not to look around him, because he knew what was floating in the water beside him. He couldn’t even look at what brushed up against his elbow, because he had a feeling it was part of one of his friends.

  His friends; these people he had got to know over the past few weeks. He had heard their stories, and their hopes and dreams when they returned to Cornwall. Konrad’s letter was still in his pocket, although he was sure that it was going to be unreadable and soaked now.

  He could tell by the silence in the water that he was the only one who had survived. He called out a few times, but he was just met with the crackle of the pieces of wood still burning, and then the cawing of birds.

  His heart was pounding in his chest. He wasn’t sure he could get over to the cliffs, and even if he could, he wasn’t sure if he could climb up the cliff wall. As far as he could tell, there was no way he could get a grip on the rocks.

  He also knew that he couldn’t tread water for ever. The water was cold, and his shoulder was starting to ache, and the sun would set soon.

  He felt something else start to brush up against his arm and he closed his eyes. It was clearly a body. The water was red with blood and his hands were tainted with it.

  Dear God, Myles drifted his gaze up to the sky and started to pray. Dear God, protect me.