She found the captain’s cabin empty and slipped within, closing the door behind her. She had one dress left and contemplated changing into it, soiled as this one was becoming, but she didn’t dare. For the first time in her life, she couldn’t just buy another. Nor was she certain how to wash them without ruining the material. No, she’d have to make do.
Untying her makeshift apron, she tossed it over the rope that separated their rooms, and dared to go and sit at Jack’s desk. She really should wash up first, she thought, but she was far too tired to actually do it. She sank back in his chair and set her feet up as she’d seen him do while reading his papers, and smiled to herself at the picture she must present.
She imagined the look he’d wear if he walked in just now, and bit her lip to keep from laughing.
All she needed was a cigar and a brandy and a pair of pants and she’d be just one of the crew. Which made her wonder. What would it be like to be Jack? To simply be able to come and go when he pleased? To be in love with his work? To live life by his own rules?
Her gaze was caught by the portrait of Harlan. She removed her feet from the desk and leaned over to snatch it into her hands.
How could she ever have thought herself in love with this puny man? Somehow, he paled in comparison to Jack. Everything about Jack MacAuley bespoke vitality. He was passion incarnate and Sophie couldn’t see him doing anything halfway.
She admired him, she realized.
She set the portrait of Harlan down and scrunched her nose in disgust at it. His looks were deceiving. He seemed far too angelic when he should be wearing devil’s horns and an evil goatee.
On a whim, she picked up Jack’s quill and dipped it in his inkwell, then drew tiny little horns on Harlan’s head. She smiled, satisfied with the impression. Next she drew a small goatee, pointy at the end—almost like another horn—and went on to doodle a mustache as well. Funny, she had never noticed how weak a chin Harlan had before now. The goatee only seemed to accentuate it. She giggled as she drew, imagining the expression on his face were he to see her disfiguring his picture. Next, she drew little money symbols in his pupils ... so tiny one could almost mistake them for a simple gleam in his eye, and then she smiled at the finished product, her mood improved a hundredfold.
It was strange actually... She was no less determined to face Harlan and seize back her honor, but somehow... the edge had softened from her anger. She no longer felt such bitter fury when she thought of Harlan with other women. It no longer stung so much that he had no wish to see her.
In fact, it no longer even seemed to matter that he’d been so willing to leave her on a shelf until he was good and ready to encumbrance himself with the burden of matrimony.
The one thing that did bother her was that he had used her and her father ... and he continued to use her without compunction.
She set the portrait down again on the desk so that it faced her side of the room, thinking that there was nothing to stop her now from going to Paris to study art.
Or perhaps she would go to Italy ...
Or maybe she would go dust off some heretofore undiscovered pharaoh’s tomb in the great land of Egypt and give Harlan a better example to follow. She leaned forward and flicked her finger at the picture, knocking it on its face, smirking at it. It was really bad of her to feel so vengeful, but she couldn’t quite keep herself from it. She truly hoped it didn’t make her a terrible person.
Her thoughts returned to Egypt. Wouldn’t it be fun to explore new cultures and to piece together the puzzle of their existence through their artifacts? She envied Jack fiercely. She wanted to know the things he knew.
She glanced down at the small silver key that protruded from the drawer lock. It was too tempting. Her curiosity beckoned her to open the desk drawer.
She couldn’t resist.
His papers were all neatly stacked within and she pulled out a handful of them.
The documents were all titled, with myriad notes scribbled into the margins. Some caught her attention more than others...
“The Phoenician Connection” ... “Hieroglyphics at Closer Inspection” ... “The Maya Code.” Skimming the material, she noted that the last appeared to be an in-depth interpretation of the Mayan system of record keeping. She leafed through a few more, and paused at one that bore interesting sketches in the margins. It was titled “The Supernatural Association.”
One sketch appeared to be the body of an infantile human with the spots of a jaguar and a rather grotesque face. The figure was lying on its back and appeared to be having a tantrum of sorts. Under that particular drawing was scribbled “Baby Jaguar, Early Classic Tikal and Caracol.” The passage beside it was about the Bearded Jaguar God of the underworld, and Sophie surmised they were one in the same—a Mayan version of the devil perhaps?
The next paragraph spoke of a god who sat on his throne in judgment and destroyed an early creation by flood ... How strangely coincidental.
Or perhaps not so much at all...
She flipped a few more pages and found another drawing entitled “The Body and Its Accoutrements.” It was a gruesome picture of the skeletal remains of a Mayan man, with labeled artifacts outside the boundary of the drawing, and markings showing the position in which they were found.
Fascinating.
There were, after that, pages upon pages of crudely drawn maps, depicting what Sophie assumed were tombs. Had he drawn these maps himself? Had he actually, with his own two eyes, beheld the bodies at rest? How must it feel to unearth something that had not been seen by human eyes since the day of its interment?
She read on, devouring information like a hungry beggar, losing track of time. It wasn’t until the sun began to set and she was forced to light the lantern on the desk that she realized just how late the hour had grown. Still she couldn’t put down the manuscripts. They held her enthralled. Here in these papers were a man’s life’s work, evidence of the time and heart he had invested in his profession.
Sophie read until her eyes grew weary, until she had to squint to see the letters because the room had grown too dim to make them out. Greedy for knowledge, she turned the lantern light higher, the better to read by, and removed it from its brace, drawing it near. As she huddled over its flickering flame, heat caressed her lips and cheeks, seducing her into a sweet languor...
She felt the heat like a whisper touch of his finger, and she closed her eyes...
Like a phoenix, his image rose before her, and Sophie dared to imagine what it would feel like if he came to her and took her face in his hands ... if he kissed her...
To her shock, her mouth remembered the taste of him, the feel of him... and she touched a finger to her lips... caressing them softly.
She never failed to surprise him.
Jack had expected Sophie to pout over the loss of her gowns but she hadn’t from the first. A simple grimace had been the extent of her lamentation.
She simply made do with what she had.
He’d also expected her to complain about her cabin; she hadn’t.
Instead she’d moved in with him.
He chuckled to himself over that one.
After she’d paid him ten thousand dollars for passage, he’d never anticipated she would willingly roll up her sleeves and work, but she had, and without ever having been asked.
Her meal tonight had actually been edible, and it was apparent she was trying.
She was either a very remarkable woman or a clever little spy who was bound to turn his entire crew against him. He hadn’t done a damned thing to her, but a blind man couldn’t miss the suspicious looks he was getting from his crewmen. She was winning them over with very little effort, and Jack could damned well see why.
Her smile alone, when she favored them with one, was enough to make a man’s gut flop. The thing was, Jack didn’t really think she even knew it. She seemed oblivious to the fact.
It had been a long day, and he was tired, but he was actually looking forward to the rest of the eveni
ng alone with her.
He whistled a cheerful tune as he approached his cabin, hoping it would be enough of a warning, just in case she was in the middle of her toiletry. There was no telltale scurrying behind the door, and so he knocked lightly and then opened it.
His good mood dissipated at once.
Rage filled him at the sight of her.
Chapter 17
She was a lousy as hell spy!
She’d obviously fallen asleep while snooping through his papers.
“What the hell are you doing?” Jack shouted at the top of his lungs as he entered his cabin, slamming the door behind him.
He startled her from her slumber, and she awoke with a gasp, her hands flying out, papers scattering.
Her gaze met his for the briefest instant; confusion in hers, then fear.
It happened too fast to stop it.
She knocked the lantern over. Its flame spilled onto his research, engulfing the papers at once. She shrieked in alarm when she realized and tried to put out the flames, blowing on them.
The fire merely spread faster.
His work was going up, literally, in smoke!
Jack moved quickly; he removed his shirt and began to smack at the flames, yelling for Kell to get water—something—anything!
By God! She was going to kill them all!
She ran out the door suddenly, shrieking, abandoning him to the fire—damned woman!
“Yah, right, save yourself!” he growled after her.
He was thankful the ship was small. Someone shouted at him and Jack ordered him to bring water to put out the fire—all the while continuing to slap out the flames, cursing Sophia Vanderwahl under his breath.
Had he really begun to soften toward her?
Dangerous prospect.
He was going to have to remember this the next time a good thought about her niggled its way into his brain.
“Kell!” he shouted. “Damn it, someone get in here!”
He heard footsteps and spun to see who was there. Water rushed past him, onto the desk, but not without drenching him first.
Before he could say anything, she ran away again, bucket in hand.
Stunned, he turned again to slap at the flames.
Kell was right behind her with another bucket, and someone else with another. By the time Sophia returned, the flames were extinguished, and she stood in the doorway, looking a little bit dazed and a lot sorry.
Jack wasn’t in the mood to be forgiving.
“What were you doing at my desk?” he railed at her. “Looking through my papers?”
She stood there clutching her bucket, and had the nerve to look injured by his anger.
“I should have known you couldn’t be trusted!” he told her, slamming his shirt down on the floor at her feet. She winced and took a step backward. Kell came up behind her, but Jack was undeterred.
By God, he had had enough!
“Did Penn put you up to this?”
He wanted to know right now. To hell with waiting to see. If she was Penn’s spy, for whatever reason, he wanted her exposed.
“Jack,” Kell objected.
“I... I don’t know what you are talking about,” she replied.
Jack ignored Kell, determined to find out the truth once and for all. “Sure you don’t.”
“I don’t!” she protested, her eyes filling with tears. “I fell asleep and then you scared me and then—”
“I know what happened then,” he countered. “What I want to know is why you were going through my papers!”
Sophie stood there, trying to make sense of his questions.
She shouldn’t have been snooping, that much was true, but she didn’t understand why he was so furious with her. She had almost burned down his cabin, that much was also true, but she certainly hadn’t intended to do it and it was as much his fault as it was hers for he had scared her to death. Still... it seemed to her that she was missing something...
“Did your boyfriend put you up to this?” he asked again, and Sophie blinked at the question.
She clutched the bucket in her hand. “Put me up to what? I don’t understand.”
What did Harlan have to do with this?
“The bloody hell you don’t!” he snapped, and his eyes flashed with anger.
She felt Kell’s hand on her shoulder and was thankful for it.
“Your boyfriend is a thief, Mizz Vanderwahl—and you’re no better if you think you can just come in here and help yourself to my research!”
Sophie’s eyes widened in surprise as understanding dawned. “You think I am here to steal your research?”
One brow shot up. “Yes, I do!” His gaze bore into her accusingly.
Sophie couldn’t believe what he was thinking. She couldn’t even fathom that someone would think her a thief! And Harlan was many things but she hardly thought he would stoop to taking another man’s work. And more, that he would employ Sophie to do his dirty work, was simply unthinkable!
However contrite she had felt about starting the fire, she was no longer.
In fact, she was becoming quite angry.
The more she thought about it, the more she felt like shouting back. Except that she had not been raised to engage in shouting matches with any man!
Her grip tightened on the bucket in her hands.
“Let me get this straight,” she said as calmly as she was able.
His eyes glittered ferociously, but he said nothing, merely stared at her.
“You think that Harlan engaged me to spy for him?”
“Damned right, I do,” he admitted, and his glare dared her to deny it. The wretch!
“And you think that is why I obtained passage aboard your ship? To spy for Harlan?”
He smiled a merciless smile. “Bright girl we have here!”
Sophie bristled, ready to do battle for her honor, but there was nothing she could say to defend herself if he chose to believe it. There was no proof she could give him to make him see the truth.
She clenched her teeth, fury seeping into her every nerve. She didn’t think then, just reacted. She heaved the bucket at him, tossing cold water into his face.
It was the very least he deserved and she didn’t bother to feel contrite. It served him right.
He yelped in surprise, and she spun on her heels and left him wiping the salt water from his eyes.
She was gone by the time Jack opened his eyes.
Only Kell remained. The few others who had come to his rescue had slunk away when he’d begun to shout.
“You’re not going to like my saying so,” Kell told him. “But you deserved that, Jack.”
And then he left too, leaving Jack to deal with piecing together the charred remains of his research, and thinking that his entire crew had defected to the enemy’s camp.
They’d been blinded by that damnable smile of hers, he decided, and was determined not to succumb to it as well.
The problem was... he was afraid he already had.
The night sky was nearly starless over an endless mantle of marbled blue. The moon itself was invisible but for a sliver behind dark ominous clouds. It was almost impossible to distinguish between ocean and sky.
The breeze lifted, cooling her temper as well as her body. Sophie was no expert on the weather but instinctively she sensed the brewing storm. They had been spared the last few days and nights, had merely been teased with a light drizzle late each afternoon.
Tonight would be different, and the electric feel in the air left her agitated.
Jack MacAuley was an impossible man!
She couldn’t believe he thought her a spy and a thief! Nor could she believe he would think it of Harlan and was piqued that she should feel the need to defend that rat even now. And yet she felt terrible for having destroyed his work, unintentional though it had been.
“He’s really not so bad a guy,” Kell said, coming up behind her.
Sophie turned to face him, crossing her arms to keep the chill at bay. It
was cool, and getting colder with the increasing wind.
She believed Kell, and had seen glimpses of a different man, but wasn’t feeling the least bit charitable at the instant. “I don’t believe you,” she said irascibly.
Kell laughed softly.
Sophie turned again to face the ocean, turning her face up into the breeze. It was peaceful out here, almost as though nothing existed in the Universe but them.
“You kind of like him anyway, don’t you?”
He came to stand beside her, and Sophie peered up at him through her lashes. “He doesn’t like me,” she countered. “That much is evident.”
He stared at her, and she averted her gaze.
“You don’t believe I’ve come to spy, do you?”
“No, I don’t, but if you’ll forgive my frankness, Sophie, I don’t think you’re telling us the whole truth, either.”
Sophie refused to look at him. It wasn’t any of their concern why she chose to visit her fiancé. And she hadn’t lied about that—she was going to see Harlan. Her reason for doing so was her affair alone.
“Jack’s not stupid, and he’s sensing something,” he persisted. “He’s a good man, a fair man.”
“I didn’t lie,” she assured Kell. “But I am not a spy!” She turned to meet his gaze. “Why would he think so?”
He hesitated a moment. Sophie could tell he was weighing his words.
“Honestly, I’m not sure it’s my place to say so, but he has good reason not to trust your fiancé, I can tell you that much.”
Sophie tilted her gaze, questioning him, “Why?” she wanted to know. “What has Harlan done to him? I thought they were friends!”
Kell seemed completely shocked by her declaration. “Why would you think a thing like that?”
Sophie turned back to stare out over the ocean. “Because... Harlan mentioned him in his letter to a mutual friend of ours... I thought perhaps...”
To Love a Lord: A Victorian Romance Collection Page 41
