by Kimberly Nee
“What did you wish to ask me, Addy?”
She pressed her lips together and took a deep breath to let it out slowly. “Did something happen between you and Captain Markham on the island? Anything at all?”
Diego stretched his hands, pressed his fingers flat against the table’s sleek surface. “I think you already know the answer to that.”
Spots of color appeared on her bronzed cheeks and her eyes grew shiny. “Yes,” she replied slowly. “I suppose I do.”
He swallowed a rising oath as her gaze rose, over his head, to focus somewhere in the distance. She remained silent for a bit, then asked, “Do you love her?”
Though he knew she would ask, he flinched all the same. “Addy, why are you—”
“You do, don’t you? It’s written all over your face.” A hint of longing wove into her murmured words and she shook her head. “Why are you still here, then?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You’ve allowed me to come here every evening to cook for you, to keep you company. And in return, I suppose I’ve allowed myself to be used that way in the hopes of rekindling something you once felt for me. But, if you love her… Well, why are you here then?”
“Addy—”
Adeline reached across to cover his hand with hers. “You should be with her, Diego.”
“She and I want different things, Addy. We always have and we most likely always will and the reason why I am still here is because she is gone.” He couldn’t keep the bitterness from his words, and ignoring the kink in his gut was impossible. It was just as powerful as it was ten days earlier, when he learned Gabby sailed out on the Perseus, bound for Carolina in the colonies.
“I see. And you have been forbidden to take to the seas?”
He met her steely gaze. “I beg your pardon?”
“I understand your ship is gone, but does that mean you are land bound?” She shook her head as she rose from her chair. Clicking her tongue against her teeth, she added, “This is not the Diego I know, the one who stops at nothing to get what he wants and lets no one stand in his way. The man I knew would never have let her leave and if she managed to, he would go after her.”
“I am hardly the beast you describe—”
She cut him off. “I didn’t say you were a beast, Diego. But you are single-minded when a woman catches your eye. And I cannot believe you would simply sit back and let her leave.”
“Perhaps you do not know me as well as you think you do.” Irritation flared in his gut, a combination of anger over his own idleness and disbelief over Adeline’s frankness. Though, as long as he’d known Addy, she always spoke her mind. She was very much like Fiona in that respect. And very much like Gabby as well.
“Oh, I do. You just like to think you are more complicated than you are.” She reached across the table to pat his hand. “You need to go. I hate seeing you this way. You are miserable. And lonely. And most likely hate that your bed is empty night after night.”
He smiled. Yes, all three women were very much alike, indeed. It was only too bad Gabby was the one he’d lost his heart to so long ago.
No, he didn’t mean that. Not one bit.
“You should go.” Adeline came around behind him, her hands coming down onto his shoulders to squeeze gently. “I do regret that she met you first, but I am not so selfish that I do not want you to be happy, even if it is with another.”
He sighed as she pressed a kiss against the side of his head. Why was it the woman who would probably not make him insane was also not the one who made his blood surge through his veins or made his breath hard to catch? Why did that woman have to be the one who made him want to tear his hair out?
Adeline stepped back. “I hope you will swallow your foolish pride and go after her, Diego. You will hate yourself forever if you don’t.”
He glanced over his shoulder at her. “I am sorry. You deserved better than this.”
“Go. Before I change my mind about my generosity. I believe Finn mentioned the Aidrian returned to port this morning. Iñigo was going to be at the harbor until late.”
He nodded and rose from the chair before he changed his mind. Adeline offered up a sad smile. “I only hope Captain Markham is smart enough to realize how fortunate she is. Now go,” she waved an airy hand at the remaining dishes, “before I change my mind and throw myself at you right here.”
He smiled as he bent toward her to brush a gentle kiss over her forehead. “Thank you.”
“I will see myself out,” she murmured. “Go.”
Though most of the shops were closed for the night, there was still quite a bit of bustle at the harbor. Several Sebastiano ships were among the half dozen still being off-loaded, and the top floor of the warehouse was ablaze with lights.
Diego made his way to the offices atop the warehouse, where he found Iñigo and Fiona together, seated at desks abutting one another, each bent over a sheaf of papers. As his eyes adjusted to the brightness of the lamps, he said, “Who is minding the children?”
Neither one jumped as Fiona replied, “Flora. We were not expecting three ships to arrive at the same time today.”
“Ah, but one never complains when one arrives well ahead of a deadline,” Iñigo reminded her, a grin in his voice. He dropped his quill and twisted in his chair. “What brings you down here at this hour?”
Diego hesitated, casting a glance at Fiona. The last thing he wanted or needed was another lecture from her. She would take it as a personal affront, that he and Adeline were not about to rekindle their romance, and he could only imagine the eruption when she heard he was, in fact, going to hunt Gabby down. “Iñigo, there is something I need discuss with you. In private.”
Both Iñigo and Fiona offered up queer, questioning looks. “What is it?” Iñigo asked, a frown creasing between his brows.
“It is a private matter.”
Fiona offered up a crooked grin. “Something my delicate feminine ears should never hear?”
“Something like that, yes.”
Her grin faded and her eyes narrowed. “I was but joking.”
Diego folded his arms over his chest, leveling a long look at her. “I, however, am not.”
Two spots of color appeared on her coppery cheeks and her expression suggested he’d gravely insulted her. “You truly wish me to leave?”
“Finn, give us a moment, won’t you?”
She turned her glare on her husband. “But—”
“Finn.”
She made no move to rise from her chair and Diego growled with impatience. Much as he cared about her, Fiona could behave like a stubborn, spoiled child at times. More than once, he thought Iñigo indulged his wife a bit too much.
He had no patience to sit and wait whilst Fiona argued with her husband, so he broke in with, “I need to make a run to the Colonies.”
Both Fiona and Iñigo fell silent as they stared at him. Fiona broke the silence with a suspicious, “Why?”
“Because I do.”
Iñigo sighed softly. “The Serena will be ready in a day or so. But, you will, of course, forgive me if I have any reservations.”
“You are not ready to take to the sea yet,” Fiona added.
Diego glared at Fiona, whose lips pressed together so tightly they disappeared into a thin white line. Her eyes were gray and stormy, but she met his stare easily. He shook his head. “That is not your call to make, Finn. You are not my mother, nor are you my keeper.”
“Are you certain you are ready?” Iñigo asked slowly. “You still move with a bit of a limp.”
“A limp that might never leave me entirely.” Diego ignored the burn in his gut. They meant well, of course, but he never was one for coddling, no matter how well-intentioned it might be. “I think I am the best judge of my condition and what I am ready for.”
“But I am the best judge when it comes to my ships.”
Diego let out a humorless laugh at that. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought this was a partnership.”
Iñigo sighed softly, rubbing his eyes with his left hand. “Where in the Colonies?”
“Carolina.”
Fiona’s back straightened. “You are going after her, aren’t you?”
The burn in his gut spread outward, a hazy warning signal to mind his temper. “That is none of your concern, Finn.”
She threw her hands up. “Of course not. What about Adeline?”
“Finn.” Iñigo’s voice was low. “Don’t start.”
“No!” She jumped up from her chair and faced Diego, her hands balled and on her hips. “Don’t you realize Gabriella Markham is only going to destroy you again? Why on earth would you go running after her when there a woman here who absolutely adores you? Why would you toss her aside again? And for that…that…bitch?”
“Finn, I am only going to say this once, so listen closely.” He stepped up to her. “I do not need, nor do I want, you meddling in my life any longer. I am not your son. I am not your concern. I need not explain my every thought and action to you.”
“You are a fool, Diego.”
“Finn—”
“Do not Finn me!” She cut her husband off as she whirled about to fire back, “He is behaving as a lust-crazed boy would and that—”
“Will you stop acting as though I were a child?” Diego’s voice bounded off the walls and echoed loudly enough that even the bustle down below went silent. “I have had enough of your meddling and enough of your deciding what’s best for me and I’ve had more than enough of your shoving Adeline down my damned throat! Get this through your thick skull for once and for all. I will sleep with whomever I choose. I will decide for myself which woman I want. And you will keep your bloody nose out of my damned affairs!”
Both Iñigo and Fiona stared at him with wide-eyed disbelief. Then, with an injured sniff, Fiona shrugged. “As you wish, Diego.”
With that, she tossed down her quill, rose from her chair and stormed from the office without so much as a backward glance. Her footfalls boomed loudly as she stomped down the stairs, fading into a welcome silence.
The thick, uneasy silence settled through the office, though the noise below picked up again. Diego held Iñigo’s stare, waited for him to say something. Finally, Iñigo cleared his throat. “I do believe that is the first time I’ve seen anyone render my wife speechless.”
“If you expect me to apologize—”
“I don’t.” Iñigo cast a glance at the now-empty doorway. “I’ve been telling her for weeks to ease off a bit. She means well, but tends to be a bit overbearing.”
Diego sank into Fiona’s vacated chair with a heavy sigh. “Perhaps I am being a fool, but that woman is under my skin and I cannot get her out of my thoughts.” He closed his eyes, leaned his head back and rubbed his forehead with one hand. A dull pain throbbed behind his eyes to spread through his entire body.
“That’s what happens.” Iñigo’s chair squeaked and he sighed heavily. “And that’s exactly how they get us to do something as mad as marrying them.”
Diego couldn’t hold back his dry chuckle. “Yes, and we know how miserable you are.” He opened his eyes and sat upright. “I suppose I owe your wife an apology.”
“Think nothing of it.” Iñigo waved one hand toward the door. “She overstepped and I’m sure she’ll realize the same when her temper cools.”
“I apologize to you if my words earn you several nights on the sofa in your office.”
It was Iñigo’s turn to laugh. “It wouldn’t be the first time, and it won’t be the last.” His smile faded then, as he asked, “Are you certain this is what you wish to do?”
Iñigo meant well, but he was tired of the second-guessing and couldn’t quite keep the annoyance from his voice. “Yes. I’m very certain.”
“Then go.”
“So you are not about to lecture?”
Iñigo shook his head. “I would be the last person to lecture. Remember, if you will, Finn ran away from me and yet, I went and tracked her down. Of course, my intention was to throttle her…” His voice trailed off and he shrugged. “But it was out of my hands by that time.”
“Nonsense. We both know you intended nothing of the sort.”
“Very well. I don’t suppose I did. Though I kept telling myself I would do exactly that.” Iñigo let out a long, almost wistful sigh. “Sometimes I miss that passion, though. That fire. That woman drove me madder than any other person ever has… She still does to some degree, actually, but it isn’t quite the same these days.”
“Is that so?”
“It is. But it is also impossible to sustain. It would have killed both of us years ago. Of course, as I said, I do miss it sometimes.”
Diego leaned forward, resting against the desk. “So, dull is what I have to look forward to, then?”
“Now, I never said that, Diego,” Iñigo chuckled, shaking his head. “I never said that at all. The fire may dim some, but it smolders very nicely. And there is something to be said for going to bed each night with a woman you love, as opposed to simply satiating animal lust.”
For the first time in his adult life, Diego understood what Iñigo meant. Adeline was beautiful. St. Phillippe was overrun with beautiful women. Yet none of them stirred his arousal the way the mere thought of Gabby did. None of them stirred him at all. He had no interest in taking any one of them to bed.
But he could easily see himself falling asleep with Gabby in his arms night after night, whether they made love or not.
An image leapt into his mine that made him sit up straight. Him and Gabby surrounded by children. Their children.
“What is it?”
Diego smiled. “My mind playing games with me.” He sat back, slapped his palms against his thighs and rose. “I should be going. I wish to leave at dawn.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“That won’t be necessary. I will take my normal crew. Or what’s left of them. When I finish in the Colonies, I am going to see about hunting down Carmichael and I am fairly certain my men would be most put out of they were deprived of a chance for revenge.”
“Of course.” Iñigo grinned as he rose and skirted the desk to embrace Diego warmly. “Take care.”
“Apologize to Finn for me.”
Iñigo squeezed him and replied. “Apologize yourself when you return. By then she might even be willing to forgive Gabby as well.”
Diego chuckled as he stepped back. “You think I will be gone that long, do you?”
“No, but if Gabby makes you as happy as Finn’s made me, it will be enough to assuage her anger on your behalf.” Iñigo rolled his eyes. “Something tells me that, had I not met her first, you would be the man sleeping beside her every night.”
“No offense, my friend, but I would have strangled her within the first week she came aboard the María.” He pushed his chair back to the desk. “How you didn’t, I’ll never understand.”
“There were times when it was tempting.” Iñigo returned to his chair and his stack of papers. “I will be here at dawn to see you off. Go and get some rest now.”
Diego nodded as he moved to the steps. Morning couldn’t come quickly enough, though, as he wanted only to be out on the water, closing the distance between Gabby and himself.
Chapter Twenty
It was a lovely night, clear and cool, the sky littered with thousands of sparkling stars. But for Gabby, the seas might as well have been storm tossed. She stood on the quarter-deck against the rail, and stared out at the silvery path of their wake.
The Galatea was not in port at Charles Town, much to her disappointment. Fortunately for them, though, the harbormaster not only remembered seeing the ship, but offered up her destination as London. The city of her birth. The city she called home until her father’s death.
So the Perseus was now three-quarters of the way across the Atlantic and Gabby couldn’t decide which emotion ran the highest over returning to the home she hadn’t seen in nearly five years. She wasn’t exactly happy a
bout returning to London. After all, it was difficult to miss a place she no longer considered home. Not to mention she was not exactly looking forward to confronting William regarding Carmichael’s theft of the Galatea.
She frowned. Was it theft? Could it be theft if, in fact, William was working in tandem with Ryan Carmichael?
Her belly turned over. It wasn’t exactly a stretch of the imagination to think he would conspire against her. They shared a father, but that was it, and they were not close. While she led a life of excitement, sailing with their father, traveling about the world, William was being schooled in what would be expected of him upon his age of majority. Richard Markham was a gentleman pirate. On the seas, he was Captain Charles. But on land, he was Earl Hampton, and very few people knew his other persona.
Upon Richard’s death, William inherited the earldom and though he made a wonderful show of taking in his half-sister, it was exactly that—simply for show. Theirs was not a close relationship, and she always had the feeling he resented her closeness with their father. It hardly troubled her, as she cared nothing for the stuffy life of a peer. All she ever wanted was her ship, and when Richard gifted her with the Galatea, it mattered not that she was born on the wrong side of the blanket.
She sighed softly, resting her forearms against the slick railing. “Carmichael will not know what hit him when I am finished with him,” she muttered as she stared out at the glinting water.
The Galatea was more than simply a ship. It was the last connection to her father, whom she adored beyond all reason. To know scum such as Carmichael was at her helm was enough to make her grind her teeth until her jaw ached and tension tightened down through her shoulders and back.
“Where are you?”
She jumped as Gregory leaned up beside her, arms on the railing, hands clasped. “You shouldn’t sneak up on a body that way.”
“My apologies. You just seem very far away.”
“I am.” A heavy sigh worked its way up from the soles of her boots. “I dread reaching London. I have this terrible feeling I’ve made a bad mistake worse.”
“You keep mentioning this terrible mistake you’ve made, and yet you refuse to tell me what it was you did.” The wind whipped about them, tossing his jumble of sandy curls this way and that. He turned about to lean back against the railing. “What is it?”
