by Deborah Hale
At last he spoke up. “Yer singing sounded pretty.” He could not keep himself from humming part of the tune.
Though she’d given no sign of knowing he was there, Jenny did not startle at his words. She replied matter-of-factly. “Kirstie taught me that song.” Her voice took on a note of private remembrance. “We used to argue over it all the time.”
“Argue over a song?”
“Aye. Kirstie said it wasn’t very romantic for Lizzie to quiz her beau about his prospects. She said the lass should’ve accepted Lord Ranald before she found out who he was.”
Perhaps Kirsten Robertson had a crumb of sense in her pampered golden pate, after all.
“Ye disagreed?”
Jenny gave a derisive sniff. “I should say so. Lizzie Lindsay was a wise lass. It’s as easy to love a rich man as a poor one. A sight easier to stay in love with him after the courting and the wedding, too.”
“Do I hear the voice of experience?” Harris asked quietly. He had the feeling Jenny was talking more to herself than to him.
“Aye.” It was a small word to hold so much bitterness. “There’s nothing romantic about working yerself to death to make ends meet. Worrying how ye’ll scrape together a few bawbies to pay the doctor bill. Flowery dreams are well enough, but they wither fast in a cold wind.”
“Ye do love this Roderick Douglas, though. It’s not just his money?”
“I used to sit in kirk and watch him,” murmured Jenny. “He was that handsome, with his dark hair and dark eyes. He had such a fine, confident way of moving and speaking. Ye just knew he’d go places and do grand things. Wedding him will be my dream of a lifetime come true.”
Harris listened as Jenny recounted the merits of her future husband. With a pang of regret, he realized that he could never measure up to her ideal.
“Ye ought to get some sleep.” He didn’t mean them to, but the words came out as a gruff command.
“Aye.” Her reply floated on the wind like a sigh. Turning from the rail, Jenny picked a cautious path to the companionway. Harris dogged her footsteps like a morose shadow.
At the door to her cabin, she turned to him. “We’ll start reading Waverley tomorrow. Good night, Harris. I had a fine time this evening.”
Before he could turn away, she raised herself on the tips of her toes and planted an impulsive kiss on his cheek. It landed a little low of the mark, brushing against the scars on his jawline. Harris opened his mouth to say something. Before he could get anything out, Jenny bolted into her cabin and firmly closed the door in his face.
Chapter Four
“Where are we now?” Jenny peered around Harris, toward a distant smudge of land perched on the horizon.
After six weeks at sea, she felt as though she’d always lived on a boat, instinctively adjusting her walk to the roll and pitch of the deck. For the longest time there had been no tangible evidence they were getting closer to their destination. Captain Glendenning had his chronometer, of course, and something he called “dead reckoning.” As far as Jenny could tell, they might have been sailing in circles around the Atlantic.
Then, suddenly, there it was. Land. It beckoned Jenny with promises of her new life.
“Ye’ve asked me that same question every hour since yesterday when we hailed that Nantucket whaler,” Harris snapped, without even bothering to look at her. “We’re an hour closer than we were the last time ye asked.”
Abruptly he pulled back from the bow railing and stalked off without a further word. Jenny, who’d been leaning against him, lurched forward, barking her shin in the process.
“Now what’s got into him?” she grumbled, rubbing her injured leg. “Much good it’s done, my trying to teach him some manners.”
In the past twenty-four hours, Harris Chisholm had reverted to his old sullen self. Brusque, unapproachable…downright rude at times, Jenny would have been quite happy to leave that Harris Chisholm back home in Scotland. Harris, the patient teacher. Harris, the enthralling storyteller. Harris, the endlessly stimulating companion. Where had he gone?
“We’re offshore of Nova Scotia, Miss Lennox.” The master of the St. Bride appeared at Jenny’s elbow. He pointed westward, at a slight indentation in the irregular strip of coastline. “We’re making for a wee channel that cuts between the mainland and the Island of Cape Breton. It’ll take a day or more off our journey, not having to sail all the way around Cape Breton.”
“Do all the ships from Miramichi go that way?” Jenny asked, Harris Chisholm temporarily forgotten. She was eager to learn as much as possible about shipbuilding and seafaring, so she could discuss those subjects knowledgeably with her betrothed.
Captain Glendenning shook his head. “Canso’s a treacherous passage in foul weather or with an inexperienced crew. We’ll get through her fine today, though. I can smell a squall brewing in the sou’west, but we’ll be well through Canso afore she hits. With any luck she’ll hold off until we make harbour at Richibucto. The shoals and sandbars at the mouth of the river are dangerous enough in fine weather. More than one ship I’ve lost…”
“Richibucto?” Jenny asked, with a mixture of annoyance and alarm. “I thought we were destined for the Miramichi.”
“So we are, lass. So we are,” the master reassured her. “We only stop in Richibucto a day or two—more’s the pity.”
Jenny cast him a questioning look.
“It’s my home port,” Captain Glendenning explained. “Got a little farm near there, where my wife and family live. I won’t get much chance for a visit with them this time. Though I may be able to help my brother-in-law get some hay in.”
“It must be hard for yer wife, having ye away from home so much,” said Jenny.
The captain shrugged, but she detected a slight flinch in his craggy, weathered features. “It costs money to build up a good farm. Money for seed, tools and stock. A man can make good pay with his master’s papers. Besides,” he owned, somewhat sheepishly, “I’m one of those bootless fellows with salt water for blood. Every winter I say I’m done with it, going to settle down on the farm for good. Then come spring, when all the wee shipyards on the river launch their new crop of barques and brigantines, I get bitten by the sea bug again, and I’m off.”
Jenny had to admit the attractions of the life Captain Glendenning described. In six short weeks, she’d come to feel quite at home on the St. Bride. She loved the clean tang of the ocean breeze, and the rhythmic slap of the waves against the hull that lulled her to sleep each night. When a freak easterly filled the barque’s sails and sent her bousing along with her rigging taut and straining, something in Jenny’s soul stirred with a sense of expectancy and adventure.
“If you’ll excuse me, Miss Lennox.” The captain touched the peak of his cap. “There’s a few things I must see to, before we make Canso.”
Jenny excused Captain Glendenning with a cheery smile. At the moment her heart brimmed with goodwill toward the whole human race. By nightfall they’d be through the Strait of Canso, heading for a short stopover at Richibucto and then on to the Miramichi. Impossible as it had once seemed, her dream was coming true. Thinking of her dream made Jenny remember the man who had made it a reality.
“Thomas,” she called up to the apprentice boy scaling the rigging. “Any sign of Mr. Chisholm?” If Harris was on deck at all, Thomas Nicholson could easily spot him from aloft.
“Back by the poop deck, Miss Lennox,” the boy yelled down.
So Harris was waiting for her in their outdoor school. That was it, Jenny decided in a flash of insight. Preoccupation with the end of their journey had made her forget her reading lessons. That was why Harris had spoken to her so impatiently. She’d sensed his enjoyment of their studies together. It must be a marvelous feeling to open another person’s mind to the world of books and knowledge. One day she would pass along the precious gift Harris had given her, by teaching others to read.
She must settle down and concentrate on her lessons, Jenny chided herself as she went in s
earch of Harris. For one thing, it would help make these last anxious days pass more quickly. Besides, she should enjoy it while she could. Soon there would be no more lessons. No more stimulating discussions. No more good-natured arguments. Somehow, that thought cast a dark cloud over Jenny’s dream of a sunny future.
Harris sprawled on the steps of the poop deck, gazing blindly at the pages of Scott’s The Heart of Midlothian, open before him. He knew enough anatomy to realize that the human heart was merely a muscle pumping blood through the body. Yet he could understand why people had once believed it to be the seat of emotion. Love, in particular. For when love went awry, as it invariably did, it left a heavy weight pressing down on one’s chest. With every beat came a twinge of pain.
Harris heaved a sigh that started somewhere in the region of his toes. He’d been right, back in Dalbeattie, to avoid women. The creatures were nothing but trouble. Not knowing what he might be missing, he’d felt a certain restlessness, a vague sense of discontent. Now his longing had a focus—Jenny. That focus served to concentrate and hone the feeling, until it was heavy enough and sharp enough to lance his heart.
Day after day he’d sat beside her, their hands sometimes brushing or their eyes meeting over the pages of a book. She had a way of looking at him, with those immense heather-colored eyes, that made Harris feel he was the font of all received wisdom. A sage. A hero. Capable of any daring exploit. Her soft, musical voice had wrapped itself around his heart and invaded his dreams.
Jenny Lennox was everything a woman should be—an amalgam of the best of Scott’s romantic heroines. As beautiful as Rowena, as tender as Rebecca, as spirited as Flora MacIvor. And Harris had promised to deliver her to another man. With the date of delivery rapidly approaching, Jenny was eager for it to come. Only one other time in his life had Harris felt so abjectly miserable.
He had no one to blame but himself. He should have known better than to fall in with Jenny’s plan. Six weeks spent with any lass in the close quarters of this barque—had she been half as bonny as Jenny and one-tenth as good-natured—a man would still likely have developed feelings for her. How could he have been so daft?
Well, the time had come to cut his losses. Bandage up his poor mauled heart and buffer it against any worse abuse at the deft, gentle, deadly hands of Jenny Lennox. Harris felt his features freeze into his old intractable mask.
“Harris?” Jenny offered him a conciliatory smile. She was graciously willing to overlook his recent churlish behavior. “Am I late for lessons?”
He didn’t move aside to offer her accustomed seat. Glancing up absently, Harris looked as though he’d been thinking of something else and had scarcely heard her.
“Captain Glendenning says we’ll be through the Strait of Canso by nightfall,” Jenny informed him. “If I promise to concentrate and not go tearing off to the railing every five minutes, do ye think we stand a chance of getting through this next book before we reach the Miramichi?”
“There’s nothing more I can teach ye.” He thrust the book at her. “All ye need now is practice. It’s a sight quicker to read it yerself than to read aloud. If ye keep at it, I’ve no doubt ye’ll get it finished in time.”
Jenny just stood and stared at him. She could not have been more taken aback if Harris had hurled the heavy volume at her head.
“I…I ken ye’re probably right,” she finally managed to say. “It’s just, I enjoy talking the story over with ye, Harris. Ye’re a dab hand at explaining all the parts I don’t understand.”
“Aye, well…” His expressive brows drew together and his lip curled in a frown of distaste. “I fear I won’t have time, Miss Lennox. As ye’ve pointed out quite frequently in the past twenty-four hours, we’ll soon be reaching our destination. I have plans to make.” He waved a hand airily. “Important considerations to review.”
Miss Lennox, was it now? A wonder she didn’t get frostbitten by Mr. Chisholm’s chilly politeness. Jenny composed her face into a mirror image of his haughty expression. She felt a little sick flutter in her stomach. Curse these choppy offshore waters. Her eyes were beginning to sting as well. Blast this briny wind!
“I’d hate to be responsible for taking up yer valuable time, sir. Not when ye have grand plans to make and important decisions to consider.” She snatched the book from his hand. “I’ll remind ye, though…this business of teaching me to read was yer idea, not mine. So ye can quit acting like I’ve imposed on ye.”
Harris refused to meet her challenging stare. “I only thought it was time for ye to get used to reading on yer own. Ye soon won’t have me around to read with.”
Contemplating that prospect made Jenny’s knees tremble. This whole upset, this sudden unexplained hostility between them, provoked a battery of strange and unwelcome emotions in her. Damn Harris Chisholm for getting her all riled up!
“No doubt ye’re looking forward to having me off yer hands,” she said coldly.
“Now, Jenny, I didn’t mean to imply that.”
“Oh didn’t ye, indeed? I’m sure ye’re too polite to come right out and say so. All the same, ye must be relieved I’ll soon trouble ye no further.”
“Now see here…”
“I’m willing to absolve ye of all responsibility here and now,” Jenny pressed on, proud that she’d been able to marshal a couple of impressive words from her growing vocabulary. “I’ve nothing to fear from any man on this vessel. My father’s a thousand miles away. He’ll never know the difference. Consider yer duty honorably discharged and we can go our separate ways.”
A battalion of gulls careened in the sky above the barque’s mainmast, screeching shrilly at one another. Before Harris had a chance to reply, Jenny spun about on her toe and flounced off. She clutched the weighty tome of Walter Scott’s prose to her heart like a protective shield.
In her dark, cramped little cabin, Jenny made a stubborn effort to read by the wildly swaying beam of her lantern. Her lips moved as she scanned each line of print, clamping together angrily when she came upon an unfamiliar word.
Blast Harris Chisholm straight to Hades! Jenny’s strong, slim fingers tightened around the pages of the book. She’d felt a connection with him, a friendship even sweeter than the one she’d enjoyed with Kirstie Robertson. It hurt to discover he’d only been suffering her company, gritting his teeth, biding his time until they reached North America. Then he’d drop her at the feet of Roderick Douglas, like some odious parcel he was glad to be rid of.
Suddenly she noticed the tempo of footsteps quickening on the deck above. How long had she been shut in her cabin? Jenny wondered. Perhaps they had reached that Canso place already. Closing the thick book, Jenny laid it on her berth. She smoothed her skirts and pinned a wayward lock of her hair severely back in place. She’d go up and catch a closer glimpse of North America as the St. Bride sailed through the narrow strait. She’d show a certain person she was quite capable of looking after herself, and that she didn’t care a whit for his regard.
As she emerged onto the deck, squinting against the bright sunlight of late afternoon, Jenny collided with the tall, substantial person of Harris Chisholm.
“Jenny.” He grasped her by the shoulders. “Ye’ve got to get below at once.”
Drawing back from him, she fixed Harris with a stare of chilly severity. “I’ll thank ye to move out of my way, sir.”
In spite of her stiff retort, Jenny’s heart gave a traitorous leap, for Harris had called her by her first name in a tone that had lost its cold, clipped edge.
“I’ve no time to stand here arguing with ye, Jenny. Ye’re going below.” With that, he grasped her around the waist and hoisted her effortlessly over his shoulder.
“Put me down, Harris Chisholm!” Jenny flailed her feet and pounded in vain on his back. Her cries filled the narrow companionway. “Let me go this minute, ye great ruffian!”
To restrain her squirming, Harris adjusted his hold on Jenny, bringing one hand to rest on the swell of her backside. The pressure of hi
s hand set a tight, tingly sensation quivering deep in the pit of her belly. It fueled her anger and outrage. “Let me go, or I’ll have Captain Glendenning throw ye in the brig!”
Pushing open her cabin door, Harris tossed Jenny unceremoniously onto her berth. “The captain has worse ruffians than me to contend with just now.”
“What blather are ye talking, Harris Chisholm?”
“It’s no blather. There’s pirates in the gut and they want to board us. I have to go above and do what I can to support the captain.”
“Pirates?” Jenny felt her insides twist in reef knots.
“When I shut yer door,” Harris ordered, “push yer trunk against it. Douse yer light. Don’t make a noise and don’t come out till I tell ye it’s safe.”
He had the door half-shut when Jenny called out. “Harris, for God’s sake, be careful!”
Turning back for a moment, he fixed her with a fervent look. “I’ll protect ye to my last drop of blood, Jenny.” The flimsy deal boards slammed shut behind him.
With trembling hands, Jenny pushed her trunk against the cabin door. She doubted it would hinder anyone really determined to enter. Following Harris’s instructions, she put out the cabin light and felt her way back to her berth. Crouching there in the dark, she concentrated on the noises filtering down from the deck, trying to piece together what might be happening.
She heard angry shouts but could not make out the words. Then a musket shot rang out. Jenny whimpered a desperate prayer for Harris and the crew of the St. Bride. Some heavy object rolled across the deck. More gunfire. Someone cried out in pain. Suddenly a noise like a hundred claps of thunder exploded above Jenny’s head. With a shriek, she pulled the bedclothes over her head. Her imagination boiled with lurid images of what pirates might do to a defenceless young woman.
