Rogue of the High Seas

by Cynthia Breeding

  “They are,” Shauna said and pushed the plate of scones toward Fiona. “Now eat, before Mrs. Fields feels insulted.”

  As her sister lathered a scone with clotted cream, Shauna sat back on the sofa and thought of her family. Her brothers and cousin were honorable, truthful men. They kept no secrets from their wives. Perhaps one day, she would find a man equal to them to marry. Perhaps.

  And she tried to put thoughts of Captain Henderson out of her mind.

  They only had three days before Shane would be sailing the Sea Lassie back to Edinburgh. Since the night Shauna had left the ball, Robert had racked his brain how to approach her. He couldn’t call on her as a suitor might. He was in no position to court anyone given what might await him back in the States. Since his own ship needed repairs, he wasn’t in a position to return. His younger brother had promised to continue searching for Jane, but finding her could be a double-edged sword.

  He’d tried to get information from Shane and Jamie about whether Shauna would be returning to Scotland. Shane had shrugged and told him Mari wanted Shauna to stay in London. Jamie had asked why he wanted to know. He’d mumbled something about just being curious, which had caused Jamie to raise an eyebrow. Robert had gotten his message clearly.

  He didn’t want to trifle with their sister. In his head, he knew he was walking on boggy ground since his other head seemed to have developed a mind of its own, growing hard whenever he thought about Shauna. Never in his life had he reacted like this just thinking about a woman. He’d had plenty of voluptuous, seductive females to choose from in New Orleans. But that was how he’d gotten himself into the mess he was in.

  No, he would not trifle with Shauna. Over the past year, he’d learned to control his urges. But damn, he wanted her to come back to Scotland.

  As luck would have it—or perhaps the Fates were at work, since sailors were a superstitious lot—Jamie told him that afternoon that Mari had decided to host a small bon voyage dinner for Shane and Abigail, and Robert was invited. Jamie hadn’t seemed too enthused about delivering the invitation, but Robert ignored that.

  At least he’d have a chance to try and convince Shauna to sail back with them. Usually flirting worked, but given Jamie’s glowers, Robert knew he had to take a different approach. And he doubted Shauna was the type to appreciate flirting. Besides, he reminded himself for umpteenth time, he had no plans to seduce Shauna.

  None. He would be the perfect gentleman.

  Shauna didn’t have to try very hard to persuade Mari to host a dinner party. Just a gentle hint had worked. Mari had grinned and asked if she wanted to invite Captain Henderson, which had invoked a black scowl from Jamie, although Shauna didn’t know why.

  The next evening, seated at the far end of the dinner table, Jamie watched Shauna like a hawk. Or maybe his golden-eyed gaze was trained on Captain Henderson, seated next to her. Shauna recognized the overly protective look—both her brothers and Shane used it—but she couldn’t fathom why. Captain Henderson had excellent manners and had said nothing untoward. Besides, at two-and-twenty, she was not a child. Since another couple sat between her and Jamie, she couldn’t kick him under the table to get him to stop.

  “Did you not enjoy the ball the other night?” Captain Henderson asked. “I noticed you left early.”

  He’d noticed? Shauna smiled. “I…’twas a wee bit crowded.”

  “You do not care for crowds?”

  “Nae. I doona care to be jostled about.”

  “Well, there is lots of jostling, as you put it, in a large city. Do you like London?”

  “Nae so much.”

  Captain Henderson gave her an intent look. “Then you will not be staying?”

  “Nae, I—”

  “Aye, she will,” Jamie said.

  Shauna and Mari both looked at him in surprise.

  “Mari wants the company,” he finished.

  “But Shauna misses Scotland,” Mari said.

  Jamie set his jaw. “She can visit in the spring. It will do her good to spend some time with us. Shauna always said she wanted to go to museums. I can take her.”

  Shauna nearly gaped at her brother. Take her to a museum? To Jamie that was akin to spending an afternoon at a ladies’ tea, something he’d done once only to please Mari. “What has gotten into ye?”

  “And I can escort both my wife and my sister to the theatre too,” Jamie continued as though she hadn’t spoken. “’Twill be a bit of culture the lass always talked about.”

  Shauna glared at him. “I am sitting right here, brother. If ye are to talk about me, do it to my face.”

  “Perhaps you could discuss this later,” Abigail said from across the table and gave a brief glance toward the other guests.

  Shauna heard the gentle warning in her friend’s voice. There were eight others seated at the dinner. If she argued with Jamie in front of them, the gossip would be all over town by the next morning. But then she was Scot, not English.

  She folded her hands in her lap and gave him a direct look. “I appreciate your invitation, brother, but I am needed at Shane’s office in Edinburgh.”

  Her cousin, Shane, looked startled. “Ye are—” He stopped abruptly, turning to his wife with a frown.

  Abigail gave him a wide-eyed look and Shauna would bet that her poor cousin had just received a sharp kick.

  “Aye,” Shauna said. “Abigail will nae be tending the counter and ledgers much longer.”

  “Why not?” Jamie asked.

  “Because she is with child.”

  There was a collective gasp from the ladies present. Shauna supposed talking about pregnancy in any form wasn’t proper either, but her brother was not going to win this argument.

  The tips of Jamie’s ears turned pink. “It doesnae make a difference—”

  “It does,” Shauna interrupted. “Abigail and I learned to do the books last year. Having us do them freed Albert from the bookkeeping. Since his assistant, David, is still recovering from being attacked, Albert will have time to get more cargo orders for the ships if I work in the office.”

  “That is true,” Shane said, giving his wife a wary look.

  He probably anticipated another encounter with her booted foot. Shauna would have smiled, but she needed to be serious. “There you have it, Jamie. I can be useful.”

  “I doona think—”

  “Shauna is already packed, husband,” Mari said.

  Captain Henderson’s lips twitched as he glanced at Jamie and then looked at Shauna. “It appears you will be going to Scotland then.”

  “Aye.”

  He smiled. “And so will I.”

  Shauna was delighted with the news. Not usually one to give way to giddiness, she was hard-pressed not to dance circles around Abigail and Mari as they approached the gangplank of the Sea Lassie shortly after dawn two mornings later, but Jamie was scowling, so she refrained. Robert was already on board, conferring with Shane near the helm, maps spread on the deck locker that also served as a seat for the helmsman when seas were calm. Both men kept looking from the maps to watch the sun rising.

  “Are we late?” Shauna asked. “Shane said dawn would be best to catch the tide. Maybe we should have started out sooner.”

  “It is not us,” Abigail answered. “They are concerned about the sunrise.”

  Mari shrugged. “Does it not always rise in the east?”

  “Of course,” Abigail replied with a smile. “It is just very red this morning.”

  “’Tis because there are nae clouds,” Shauna said.

  “Yet.” Abigail squinted, shielding her eyes with her hand. “There will be.”

  “How do you know that?” Mari asked.

  “The exact why of it Shane can explain,” Abigail said. “There is a saying, ‘Red in the morning, sailors take warning’. It has something to do with a storm brewing.” />
  “But the sky is clear.”

  “Right now it is,” Jamie told Mari, “but I’ve heard Shane say that plenty of times. Maybe ye ladies should let the men sail on and stay here in London.”

  “My place is with my husband,” Abigail said.

  “But in your condition—”

  “I feel fine, Jamie. Thank you for your concern.”

  He frowned and turned to Shauna, but she cut him off. “I am sailing too. I doona want to argue about it longer.”

  Jamie drew his brows tighter and hoisted Shauna’s trunk on his shoulder, muttering something about stubborn lasses as he walked up the plank.

  “I doona ken why he doesnae want me going back to Scotland,” Shauna said to Mari after Jamie left.

  “It is not your returning to Scotland,” Mari answered. “He is worried that Captain Henderson might take advantage of you on the way.”

  Shauna felt her face warm. “Captain Henderson has nae expressed an interest in courting me.”

  “That is what Jamie is afraid of.”

  She widened her eyes. “Captain Henderson is a gentleman.”

  “He probably is, but he is also a sea captain—”

  “So is Shane,” Abigail interrupted, “that does not make him a rake or scoundrel.”

  “I am not saying that.” Mari held up her hands. “You know how protective Jamie is. He just does not want Shauna getting hurt.”

  “I am nae foolish—”

  “Of course you are not,” Mari said and gave her a hug as Jamie came back down the plank. “Just take care of yourself.”

  “Och, I will.”

  “Shane wants ye both on board,” Jamie said, his tone clearly not agreeing with his cousin’s request. “’Tis nae too late to—”

  “Come on.” Shauna tugged at Abigail’s arm. “We will be fine,” she said to her brother and Mari. “Once we are away from London and on open sea, we will be in Edinburgh in nae time at all.” She didn’t think Jamie needed reminding it would probably take four days to reach the port. Even though Captain Henderson would be taking his ship back to America soon, those would be four pleasant days to spend time with him that she quite looked forward to.

  Shauna looked up at the cloudless sky. All the weather had to do was cooperate.

  “You ladies might as well enjoy the view while you can,” Robert said as the Sea Lassie cast off and one of the foresails was raised to help maneuver down the Thames.

  “From the water, London looks entirely different.” Shauna kept a hand on the rail as Shane had instructed her to do whenever she was on deck although the river was smooth. She didn’t want a reprimand from Captain Henderson, who she thought would be equally adamant about safety. “Do ye really think it will storm?”

  “Probably. The prevailing wind has calmed. That usually indicates a shift. This time of year, anything blowing in from the North Sea will mean rough water.”

  Shauna frowned. “Then why didn’t Shane wait?”

  “Because it’s January,” Robert replied. “From what Shane told me, these storms follow each other pretty regularly. There’s not a real good window to sail.”

  “Besides, Shane needs to get back. Albert has had to take care of everything while we have been gone,” Abigail said. “Now that the sun is up, it feels warm.”

  “For now.” Robert pointed toward the northeast as the ship steered around a bend in the Isle of Dogs. “Those light-colored clouds will be dark before long. Hopefully, we will be in the Channel when the winds pick up.”

  “I have never really understood why open water is better,” Abigail admitted, “but Shane always says it is.”

  “Open water allows the ship to maneuver,” Robert answered, “although out in the Atlantic, that doesn’t always help. Not when the waves are thirty or forty feet high.”

  Abigail’s eyes rounded. “I had not thought about that. Shane generally sails to Ireland or the continent.”

  “Is that the kind of weather ye will be facing when ye return to America?” Shauna asked.

  “Perhaps. I have a broken rudder to fix before the New Orleans is going anywhere though.”

  He wouldn’t be leaving right away? Shauna tried to keep the excitement out of her voice. “How long will that take?”

  “It depends on the extent of the damage once I get her hauled to dry dock,” Robert replied, “but I am thinking of staying over until the spring when the shipping routes are a bit smoother.”

  “Oh!” The word came out a surprised squeak. Not even in her wildest imaginings had she anticipated months.

  Robert gave her a quizzical look. “Was that approval or disapproval?”

  “Aye, I mean, nae. Ah…” She was still squeaking. Shauna cleared her throat. “I mean, approval.” Her voice sounded more normal. “I would nae want ye to put yourself in danger.”

  A corner of his mouth turned up slightly. “Thank you. I offered to help Shane run his ships while mine is out of commission. He took me up on it.”

  Shauna’s breath caught. Captain Henderson was going to be helping Shane? That meant she’d probably see him at the dock’s office… She started to smile. So that was why Jamie had been so adamant she not come to Scotland right now. Shane must have told him about Captain Henderson’s plans. Her smile grew. And Jamie wasn’t here to hover over her.

  The happy feeling stayed with her until mid-afternoon when the winds picked up, the sea built to a chop, and Shane ordered her and Abigail below decks. While the women might very well argue with Shane on land, the captain’s word was law at sea.

  Unfortunately, the pitching and rolling of the ship was more pronounced when confined to a cabin, and it didn’t take long for Abigail to be reminded of her condition. She was soon in bed, clutching a tin basin while her stomach heaved. When Shauna went up on deck to inform Shane, his first impulse was to turn the boat around and head back to London, but Abigail would have none of it. She said she wanted to go home to Edinburgh. Shane wanted to turn over command of the helm to Robert so he could sit with his wife, but she would hear none of that either. She didn’t want him watching her casting up her accounts.

  The storm continued to rage, like a sulky child building to a mighty tantrum. By evening, knowing the cook would not even attempt a hot meal, Shauna left the captain’s quarters in the stern to make her way to the galley located by the forecastle in the bow. A number of looped leather handholds suspended from the underbelly of the deck kept her from being tossed against the tied-down crates as she passed through the cargo hold, but the ship’s yaw caused her to weave back and forth like someone who’d imbibed in too much uisge beatha. Which she wished she had right now. Never had seventy feet of boat seemed so long.

  The galley was unattended when she finally made her way to it, but all hands were probably needed on deck. Shauna took a tin of hard salt biscuits and broke off a hunk of cheese, not wanting to attempt using a knife in such rough sea conditions. She contemplated trying to take some food on deck for the men but knew Shane would be furious if she even popped her head above the hatch.

  Since she had only one hand available for the straps on her return, by the time she reached the stern cabin, she’d bounced against too many hard objects to count—already the bruises were beginning to hurt. She practically fell through the stateroom door as the ship lurched sideways, catching a rogue wave.

  Abigail lay clutching the rails of the bunk, her face eerily green.

  “Try to sit up and nibble on a salt biscuit,” Shauna said as she opened the tin and set the food on the fiddled table attached to the wall. “It will help settle your stomach.”

  Instead, Abigail rolled to lean over the rail, grabbed the basin and began retching again. “The cheese,” she managed to say when her stomach delivered no contents. “The smell…”

  Shauna grabbed a drying cloth off the dresser that had a built-in ba
sin, wrapped the offending cheese in it and then stashed the lump inside a drawer. “I am sorry. I should have thought about that.”

  “It is not your fault,” Abigail said and then moaned as the boat pitched and dropped into a trough.

  “Try and get some sleep,” Shauna urged. “Things will be better tomorrow.”

  But they weren’t. By morning, the wind had turned into a howling fury and Shauna could hear it screeching through the rigging even in the stern cabin. Shane made an appearance as Shauna was attempting to get Abigail to try a biscuit. He looked as tired and worn as Shauna had ever seen him. His face became more drawn as he saw Abigail and rushed to her to cradle her in his arms.

  “Has she been sick this whole time?” he asked.

  “Aye.”

  “Good God. I kenned I should nae have taken the two of ye—”

  “I want to go home,” Abigail said weakly.

  “Ye could have taken a carriage. I should nae have allowed—”

  “Hush, husband.”

  To Shauna’s surprise, he did, but a helpless look crossed his face. “How bad is the storm?” she asked to take his mind off Abigail.

  “The barometer dropped faster than I thought. ’Tis a confused sea. We hauled down most of the sails.” He gave his wife an apologetic look. “’Tis why the boat is pitching and rolling so.”

  Abigail moaned and buried her face in his shoulder. Shane tightened his hold, a muscle twitching in his jaw and he muttered something under his breath.

  “When do ye think the storm will let up?” Shauna asked.

  “’Tis hard to say. With the glass falling so fast, Robert thinks we may be having two or three following each other.”

  “Does Robert have the helm?”

  “Aye, for now.”

  Abigail raised her head. “Then you should get some sleep.”

  “I cannae,” Shane said, gently sliding her from him as he stood. “All hands are needed on deck.”

  “But you need sleep.”

  “I will sleep on deck. Robert and I will switch the watches.” Shane went to the door. “Try to rest if ye can.”