“What about the fiancé you’re traveling to England to marry?”
She gave a ghost of a smile. “All fiction. I had to get you to agree to meet with me. Besides, men don’t really find me attractive. I’m not quite feminine enough.”
“I don’t believe that. I’m certain you’ll marry and have a slew of children soon enough. You won’t be alone for long.”
“I’d long ago given up hope of ever marrying and having children.” She gave a short laugh. “The only men I ever meet are seamen, and the only mistress they prefer is the sea.”
Rand could relate. Some men had saltwater running through their veins, he was one of them.
“Besides,” she continued with a shudder, “most of them have lost their teeth.”
He chuckled, grateful he possessed all of his. “So you took care of your father?”
She nodded. “He doesn’t have anyone to help him. All we have is each other, and I failed to keep him safe.” Her lip quivered but she whirled from him as if to hide her grief.
“It shouldn’t be your place to keep him safe.”
“Then who do you recommend?” A bitter, hollow laugh escaped her. “Who else is there but me?”
He frowned, saddened by the little girl who thought it fell on her shoulders to keep her father safe. There was little room for tea parties, balls, and pretty dresses in Jewel Derington’s life, and he sensed that she likely longed for those things. What woman wouldn’t? If anyone deserved those things, it was her. For such a beautiful, brave woman, it would be a tragedy not to see her in something more feminine than trousers.
“We’ll get your father back.” What the devil had made him say that? Had he lost his bloody mind?
Sky blue eyes pierced his soul, wide and eager to trust in him. “Really? How?”
He scowled, disgusted with himself for letting pretty blue eyes dictate his future plans. After all, there would be no profit. Now what the hell was he supposed to do? He couldn’t back out, nor could he miraculously make all her dreams come true.
Could Rand Whitton do something nice? For no profit? Was there a chance there was a hint of a good man inside him?
He shoved his hands inside his pocket, and his fingers brushed the letter from his grandfather. He withdrew the crinkled paper and stared at the lettering. Danby owed him.
And his grandfather could right this wrong. An idea began forming inside his mind. He shoved the correspondence back into his pocket and strode to his cabin. Unrolling his charts, he pored over the desk until he determined the correct heading. Relaying the order to his quartermaster, he made his way back to Jewel, whose hair and clothes had finally dried in the breeze. He cursed himself for not offering her a chance to get into clean clothes.
He took her hand. “We’re headed to England. Yorkshire to be exact.”
“Yorkshire?”
Rand shrugged. “Well, we’ll dock at Scarborough and ride the rest of the way.”
She blinked at him as though he was mad. “Why?”
“My grandfather is going to save our hides.”
“You’re grandfather?” Her brow furrowed in confusion. “What about Blythe?”
“I’m fairly certain he’ll follow us, and we’re going to lead him right into a trap of our own making.”
“But why would your grandfather help us?”
Rand curled his fists. “Because the bastard owes me a life, and I’m about to call in his marker.”
~ * ~
They entered Rand’s quarters, and the heat from within blasted Jewel like a twenty-four pound cannonade. Humidity sucked any source of air from the cabin. Caribbean summers were brutal and lingered far into the months of fall. Perspiration immediately formed and slid down her temple. She dizzied from lack of nourishment and exhaustion from the morning’s trials.
Rand’s hands closed over her upper arms and led her to the bunk, easing her onto the mattress. “Hungry?” he asked softly.
She nodded, her vision cloudy. “Thirsty,” she managed to get out after freeing her tongue from the roof of her mouth.
Rand returned to the entrance and yelled out orders before he headed back to her side. “Here, lie down,” he said, easing her back. “I’ve got a bath coming for you and some food. Drink this,” he ordered as he lifted her.
Jewel eyed him and accepted the flask of water, swallowing large gulps. He jerked it away. “Easy, not too much. It’ll make you sick.”
She nodded and brought the flask back to her mouth to sip the liquid. Jewel sighed and lay back against the pillow.
“Better?”
She nodded. “Yes, thank you.”
The corner of his lips lifted a fraction as he continued to study her features. Silence descended between them. Waves broke on the hull as the ship glided through the water. The smooth rocking lulled her and her eyelids grew heavy. He grinned. “I need to go get this flesh wound patched up. I’ll let you sleep a little, and then we’ll eat.”
Rand straightened and moved about the room, opening portholes to let in the breeze. Once finished, he returned to her side. He lingered over her a second longer as if he wanted to say something. Jewel waited, but he didn’t speak.
Plopping back onto the berth, he ran his hands through his hair. “You should have let Blythe arrest me.”
“I couldn’t.”
“Why?” He swung to face her. A strange look surfaced in his gaze. “Why did you save my life?”
A bell clanged from somewhere on deck announcing the afternoon meal. Jewel sighed and sat, crossing her arms across her chest. “I don’t know actually. I just know that I couldn’t go through with it.”
He nodded as if he understood and yet his brow remained furrowed, which compelled her to continue. “He has my father, but I knew...Somehow, I knew Blythe would never honor the deal. I knew he would renege on his word and would likely kill my father anyway.” Her voice broke on that last word.
Pain clenched a fist over her heart and squeezed. How could she live without her father? For so long, he’s all she’d had. She couldn’t take care of the business by herself. While she did much of the legwork due to his inability to walk, he handled everything else. But more than that, she’d never been completely alone in her life. And it frightened her more than anything.
Rand stood. Her gaze roved up his tall form in fitted trousers and the loose white shirt still bearing evidence of their eventful morning. His right sleeve was torn and hung in tatters around his wrist, and large patches of dirt and blood covered the front. The open vee of his shirt revealed the dark skin beneath. Rand Whitton was a fascinating creature.
Her gaze swung to his face and heat flooded her cheeks as a slow, wicked grin spread across his features as if he knew her thoughts. She swallowed as everything else faded. Afraid to move, afraid to sit still, Jewel remained frozen under his intense gaze. His stare ravaged her body without him even laying a hand on her, but her flesh burned as if he had. Her breath grew shallow and warmth liquefied through her, pooling between her thighs.
Arousal beckoned like a forbidden fruit, luring her into the depths of the unknown. She was suddenly very unafraid and yet, very certain she wanted to explore these feelings. He lifted a palm and brushed the hair from her brow. She leaned into his hand, completely dazed by the flood of emotions.
“You should have left me there, Jewel.” His voice dropped to a gruff whisper. “I’m not worth saving. You would have been much better off.”
She shook her head, ready to deny it. Swallowing past the lump in her throat as uncertainty wheedled its way inside her, Jewel straightened. “I didn’t do anything worthy of praise. You would have done exactly the same for me.”
The softest smile touched his lips. He shook his head as if she were very naïve and silly. His palm cupped her cheeks. “You’re very innocent and inexperienced, Jewel.” She scowled in response. “I find that I like that about you. But you’re wrong. That’s the difference between you and me. I would have had no problem leaving you there
to face your fate while I made off with my neck still intact.”
Stunned, she shook her head fiercely, unable to truly believe that about him, afraid that her fantasy of the man had suddenly become very tarnished. Sunlight spilled through the windows to cast the truth between them. A truth she was beginning to believe. A truth she was afraid of. “I don’t believe that, Captain. You’ve saved my life. You’ve been kinder to me than anyone else ever has. I find it hard to believe you would just leave me there.”
With a soft smile, he turned and crossed to the exit, glancing back at her over one shoulder. “Then you truly are the fool, Derington, much more so than I had first imagined. Whatever niceties I’ve shown in the last twenty-four hours is overshadowed by a lifetime of greed. Rarely do I engage in anything I can’t make a profit off of. And so far there only seems to be one advantage to our little...arrangement. I can assure you it has little to do with niceties or lack thereof.” He yanked open the hatch and clicked it shut with a deafening finality, leaving her with an answer she was forced to swallow and a certainty that she was much more alone than she’d first imagined.
~ 5 ~
The brilliant sun seared the horizon, making it appear almost colorless in the sky as the hull skimmed through the waves like a frisky dolphin. After two weeks at sea, plagued by sickness, Jewel finally ventured on deck. The light speared through her eyeballs and her stomach roiled at the intrusion. She should probably just return to bed.
A chuckle sounded behind her. She didn’t turn. She didn’t have to. “What do you want, Whitton?”
“Back to last names, are we?”
Misery gripped her as she groaned and leaned over the rail. “Go away.”
“Still haven’t found your sea legs, eh?”
She peered over at him as the roll of the ship threatened to spew the contents of her stomach across the decks once again. “No, they remain as elusive as your humor.”
His quiet laughter sounded just over her shoulder as he handed a stack of rolled maps to his quartermaster. “You’ll grow accustomed to it eventually, Derington. I had wondered when you might venture on deck. A bit of fresh air may do you some good.”
She nodded. She couldn’t imagine feeling good about anything at this moment. His warm palm cupped her elbow to hold her steady. “Come, we’ll take a little stroll and then put you back to bed.”
Nodding, she released the rail and attempted to walk beside him but stumbled, unused to the sway of the ship. His arm wrapped around her waist and held her close to his side. Awareness plunged through her veins liked warmed honey and completely overshadowed the woes of her queasy stomach.
“What do you know about Blythe’s plans?”
Jewel glanced at him quickly and then focused back on the sea. “Once he blackmailed you into taking the job, we were supposed to pick up the shipment from South Hampton. He gave me an address and a name.”
“Why did Blythe choose you?”
She shrugged. “You must understand that I oversee everything, the sugar cane fields, the staff, the boiling houses, the mills, the hiring, and the firing. My business requires me to visit the shadier part of Barbados quite frequently, and one day I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Once Blythe learned that I ran the plantation and not my father...well, it gave him an advantage, and I became his pawn.”
Rand peered at her. “So many responsibilities for such slender shoulders. It must have been difficult to give up your own life.”
She shook her head. “Not at all. I was always fascinated by the refinery process and I’ve lived on the plantation all my life. After my mother passed on when I was five, my father said there was no reason to return to the mainland.” Shrugging, she smiled tremulously. “I can’t imagine living anywhere else, actually.”
They strolled for several long seconds as the wind grazed them with a gentle breeze. “How do you know that you could never live anywhere else if you’ve never been anywhere else? I’m under the assumption that this is your first trip aboard a ship, or am I mistaken?”
A splash of heat scalded her cheeks. “Yes, I’m not very acquainted with sailing yet.” She ducked her head in embarrassment before continuing. “I love the island. I’m not indicating that I would never live anywhere else. I just can’t imagine it.”
He chuckled and contentment washed over her. For two weeks, he’d cared for her while she had been ill, bathing her face, bringing her meals, and holding her hair back as she retched. She couldn’t remember anyone being so nice to her other than her father. Rand wanted her to believe he was a wretched smuggler with no heart, but she sensed something in him he may not be aware of himself.
“What made you become a smuggler?” she asked and instantly regretted the question.
He faced her. His dark brown eyes hardened with intensity, almost merciless in their regard. “My grandfather is a duke. My father was his second son, and duty dictated that he join the navy to make his own way in life. But my father declined. Danby refused to have any scandal attached to his name, including having a son in the merchant class. So my father relocated here on bad terms. He fell into smuggling and failed miserably, dying a lonely, drunk, old man.”
Rand scratched the growth of beard across his cheeks which gave him a sinister appeal. They neared the quarterdeck as he helped her up the steps, clasping her hand tightly.
“So you see there was no happy ending for the duke’s second son.”
Silence settled between them. Bitterness laced his every word and she avoided his direct gaze, sensing the tenderness of the subject. Could there be a happy ending for the duke’s grandson?
She focused on the scenery beyond, uncertain where such a question had stemmed from but unwilling to give a voice to it.
Caribbean seas stretched for miles in all directions like a swath of azure silk. Serenity captured her as silence, like a breath at midnight, swept over her. The breeze wafted through her hair and the lure of the sea’s mysterious call whispered in her ear. There was something infinitely beautiful about being in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the brush of God’s hand around her. She sighed and leaned against Rand’s shoulder. “It’s beautiful.”
“Isn’t it?” he murmured. Warmth emanated from him and enveloped her in a gentle cocoon. It seemed as though the very world faded and only the two of them stood on deck.
A shout from high overhead broke the silence. “Hull down, cap’n. Two points off the starboard stern.”
Jewel jumped slightly and glanced into the shrouds.
“Spyglass, O’Conner.”
Seconds later, the quartermaster handed the device to Rand, and he peered through it. His brow pleated over a frown and his shoulders visibly tautened.
“What is it?” She dragged her gaze to his face. “What does that mean?”
He collapsed the spyglass and handed it back to his quartermaster. “Hull down means there’s a ship with the hull down below the horizon and only her sails can be seen.”
“It’s Blythe.”
He nodded. “I’m certain of it. We’re at full sails now, which mean they’re gaining on us.”
“What happened to this being the fastest ship in these waters?”
He glowered. “A ship is only as good as the wind she sails in. Apparently, Blythe has the better wind. There are other factors that come into play, Derington. Currents, wind direction, and the weight of the hull.”
“So what do we do?”
He shook his head. “Stay on course and pray to all the sea gods to grant us better wind. Perhaps one of them will hear our prayer before it’s too late.”
~ * ~
La Obsidiana sailed into a tiny cove of one of the Cape Verde islands and rested at anchor by nightfall off the coast of São Vicente. Darkness swamped the decks, and the gentle lap of waves brushing the hull lured Jewel to the porthole. Moonlight spilled through the gallery windows in the captain’s cabin and bathed the room in a muted silver glow.
Jewel sighed and raised h
er face to the soft Caribbean breeze wafting through the openings. She’d basted inside this cabin for almost two weeks, and going on deck wasn’t much better under the direct sunlight. There was little shade and little relief from the heat.
When Rand had offered her the bath this evening, she thought he’d been jesting but indeed, he and several crewmembers had brought her a wooden tub and water—which had since cooled.
Damp curls rested across her shoulders and back as she let the humid night air dry her skin. The bath had been exactly what she’d needed, and she was eternally grateful to Rand for doing something so wonderful for her. He truly had surprised her at every turn.
The cabin hatch opened and clicked shut in the darkness. “Are you all right, Derington?”
She faced him and leaned against the wall, completely aware that she wore little but for one of his overlarge shirts. “How long must we stay in the dark?” All the lanterns were extinguished and the ship lay in complete darkness.
He chuckled and crossed the room, close enough she could make out his form, but not close enough to see his features. “It’s necessary until supplies are loaded from Mindelo. Sean and several men have gone ashore. We should be underway by morning.”
“We didn’t enter the port, so why the secrecy?”
“Blythe will realize we won’t enter the port, and he’ll be searching for us along the coastline in these tiny coves.”
“How the devil will he know that?”
Rand stepped into the circle of moonlight, mere steps away, and his gaze lingered on her. “We’re smugglers. We’d be fools to dock at such a popular harbor. But Mindelo is the only deep water port in the Cape Verde isles, and therefore the only place to renew supplies, so he knows we’ll dock close by.”
She sighed at his logic. A pulse pounded in her temple and she wished she were home. The tension of the crew and their captain finally crawled under her skin. “How much longer is this voyage? I feel like I am slowly losing my mind. The days are so long and they creep by. And the heat...”
When she glanced up, he stood before her so close she smelled the earthy scent of nutmeg and papaya on him. Awareness rushed through her body, and a new kind of heat settled within her belly. She tried to ease away from him but trapped as she was, there was nowhere left to go. He reached up and cupped her cheeks. “I know it’s not been an easy journey for you.”
Summons From the Castle, Regency Christmas Summons Collection 3 Page 9
