“You could have stayed with Eleanor for a day or two, before rushing right back. Something must have gone wrong.” Teddy eyed him. “I am anxious to know how Eleanor responded when you claimed you were her husband,” he chuckled.
“Gad, Teddy. I don’t know what I have gotten myself in for.” He slowly rose up and sat on the edge of the bed. He had slept in his clothes all night and was feeling more rumpled then his fine suit. “Your cousin, or rather your adopted cousin, has inherited a fortune. A massive fortune. The man owns the whole village, you know, and he expects Eleanor’s husband to take over his dominion once he dies. I don’t expect him to die any time soon, but that is a huge responsibility for someone, let alone someone who already has a huge responsibility of running a fleet of ships. How can I do both things?”
“You can’t take care of both?” Teddy questioned, running his fingers through his blond locks.
“Not only is Clifford House too far inland for me to take care of my business at port, but if I tried to do both, I would run myself ragged, what with traveling back and forth between my concerns at sea, and that huge estate. I would never have a chance to be with Eleanor for any length of time.
“And then there is my estate in America to think about. I can’t just leave it unattended, and start living here. The stress of it all would ruin any marriage we tried to work on, and besides, Eleanor really doesn’t even need me. Not on a financial level anyway. If she wasn’t saddled with having to give birth…”
“You’re looking for a way out,” Teddy said, aghast. “I thought you loved her? I thought you would search for her for the rest of your life if it came to that, and now that you find her, you are concerned about the hardship it might cause you?”
“I would either have to give up my fleet, or run myself ragged trying to cling to it,” Sebastian insisted. “Not to mention that I have an estate in America.”
“Well if Eleanor is so filthy rich, you could let the fleet go. After all, wasn’t that the whole purpose in doing business? Making a living?” Teddy pointed out. “Eleanor has enough money to support you and all your offspring for the rest of your and their lives. When you marry her, it will become yours.”
“That is not the point. I have spent my life on the sea working towards this one goal, and now that I have reached it, I should just toss it aside for a woman?”
“A woman? You refer to Eleanor as just a woman? Hell, I will marry her myself, if you leave her high and dry,” he stormed, and started to turn from the room. “I thought you loved Eleanor. I thought you were a man of courage and honor. I guess I was mistaken,” he threw over his shoulder as he left Sebastian staring after him.
Sebastian covered his face with his hands and then pushed them through his rumpled hair. Now Teddy was angry at him, which he had every right to be, but that did not solve anything. It just made it worse.
He had to go check on his ship, before it departed, he realized groggily. Another reason he decided he had better come straight back. It was a good excuse, and it would give him time to muddle through his problems, with a little bit of ale to assist him, he thought, wearily. He pulled himself to his feet, and almost stumbled down the dock.
“What are you doing here?” he growled at Ned who was starting to make his way up the ramp of the Annie Bell.
“The captain was short handed, said he’d take me on, as he had no other choice,” Ned mumbled.
“Over my dead body, he will,” Sebastian bellowed. Had it not been for Ned, at least Eleanor would have known who the father of her child was, or maybe she wouldn’t even be carrying it, he thought angrily. “It is time I have a word with the captain. You stand down, and get your filthy hide away from my ship!”
Ned glared at him as Sebastian passed him and started calling for the captain. He had never seen Sebastian in such a black mood before, except for when Annie had left him. He was told Sebastian had gone out of town, and wasn’t expected back for a few days. The captain had said what Sebastian didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him, but now it was too late to sign on to another ship, since there would not be one docking for another month, unless he was willing to put on to a fishing boat, which he wasn’t.
His eyes seethed, at Sebastian’s broad back, disappearing across the deck of the ship. What was so special about a homeless flower girl anyway? Sebastian had not considered it bad taste when he brought a woman on board. What was good for the goose was good for the gander, Ned thought angrily. Now he would be out of a month’s pay, and no guarantee of even finding a place on the next ship that docked. After all the years he had put in for that man, Ned grumbled to himself, and this is the thanks he gets for it.
Ned headed back up the dock and decided to drown his anger in a pint of ale, while he tried to figure out what to do. A half hour later, he noticed Sebastian coming into the same tavern, sitting over at a corner table, ordering ale himself. Ned’s temper simmered, as he watched the man drink down his pint and then order another one. By the look on his face, he was still in a black mood, but then Ned was in his own dark mood.
“I thought you would be long gone on that ship,” the voice of a causal friend, a fisherman that Ned had befriended while he was in port, said as he slouched up against a near by support beam. “You going to offer me a drink?”
“How can I? I am on my last coin, and that man over there, the high and mighty Sebastian Brentwood, forbade the captain to let me back on the ship. All over a no account flower girl who kept flirting with me and was just asking for me to have her,” Ned fumed. “But if ya buy your own, you can sit with me,” he offered.
“Very well. I had planned to have a drink anyway, so I guess I could stand your company along with it.”
“Seems my old employer is getting his fill and more. I wonder if he will be able to stand, once he leaves this place,” Ned mumbled. Then he eyed his friend.
“You want to make a little coin?” he asked suddenly.
“What are you talking about. You just said you didn’t have any funds.”
“But that man over there has pockets full of coin, and it doesn’t look like he is planning to leave any time soon. I have a payback for him, and if you are willing to help, I’ll cut you in.”
“You aren’t planning to kill anyone are you?” his friend asked.
“No, but I am going to give him something to think about for a long time,” Ned promised. “Wait until he is so soused, that he can barely stand, and then you and I are going to escort him onto his sloop, where we shall tie him up, take his money, and then set him adrift. By the time he wakes up and gets himself untied, he should be pretty far out at sea, and it will take him some time to get back here, if he ever does. What do you say? You want to help me?”
“You sure he has money?”
“Even if he doesn’t, it would be worth it to me to set that bastard afloat for his treatment of me, all over a damn woman.”
“Depends on how drunk he gets,” his friend mumbled.
“He’s already in his cups as it is. I don’t know how much more he can hold before he just passes out.”
“Let’s wait and see if he passes out, and if he does, we can just claim we are his friends, and help him from the tavern, and onto his sloop.”
“Yeah,” Ned’s eyes narrowed as he thought of how helpless Sebastian would be when he found himself tied up on his sloop out in the middle of the ocean someplace. He started chuckling to himself. Serves him right, he thought, as he continued to watch Sebastian down another pint.
Sebastian suddenly became aware that his head was splitting, but there was something else he realized, and it puzzled him. Not only couldn’t he move, but the floor kept rising up and then falling. Was he so drunk that it caused him to feel dizzy while lying on his face on the floor? He started to move, and then realized what was keeping him from doing it. His hands were tied behind his back, and his feet were tied as well. What was going on?
Sebastian forced his eyes open and looked around. He recognized his sloop, an
d then he suddenly realized that the small sailing vessel was not anchored. He knew what it felt like to be aboard a sailing ship. He struggled to sit up, in spite of his bound condition. His head was bursting and his stomach rebelled. He found himself retching all over the floor, and swore under his breath. How much had he put away last night, and how did he get on his sloop, all tied up like this? He couldn’t think. His head hurt too much. He would just rest, he thought, and laid his head back down on the floor, falling back into the oblivion that he had been in before he had opened his eyes.
The next thing he was aware of was that he was being tossed across the room by the force of the side of the vessel rising and then falling suddenly. It must be a storm, he thought frantically. He had to get loose some way, he tried to think. There was a knife in one of the drawers in the galley, but he wasn’t in the galley. He was in the front cabin and the door appeared to be closed. He inched his way over to the door, and managed to stand up, only to be thrown to the floor again, hitting his head on something and being engulfed in blackness.
When Sebastian opened his eyes again, the sloop was calmly floating, lifting and falling on gentle waves. He did not know how long he had been under, but his mouth was dry and he was so thirsty he could barely stand it. He sat up and pulled his arms under himself, managing to get his hands in front of him in order to reach the knots of rope at his feet. With inhumane effort, he started working the knots with his tied hands, and finally managed to loosen them, so his feet were now free. He pulled himself up, and stumbled to the door of the front cabin, only to discover it was locked. This was unbelievable! Who tied him up and tossed him on his sloop, and then locked the door? If he ever discovered the answer there would be hell to pay for who ever did it, he vowed.
There was an extra key in a drawer somewhere, but he couldn’t remember which one. He began pulling draws out and dumping their contents onto the floor, rummaging through the clutter, looking for the key. It seemed forever before he found it, and managed to fit it in the lock. By then he was weak and more thirsty than ever. There would be water in the galley, not to mention a knife he could use to cut the ropes from his hands. He staggered in that direction.
When he reached the galley, he found everything in complete turmoil, with pots and pans, and dishes, and other objects flung all over the room. The storm had taken its toll, and the only things that survived was the supplies and objects that were safely locked in the cupboards. He spied a stake knife on the floor and kicked aside objects in his path in order to get to it.
When at last his hands were free, he found the water barrel and opened the spigot, putting his mouth under it, not even looking for a cup. Luckily he had filled it a couple of days ago, but no telling how far out he had been washed from shore, considering he had been through a storm.
His thirst quenched, he went above board to see if he could see any land, his gut wrenched when he came topside. The first thing that met his eyes, was the mast, laying across the deck, its ragged sails flapping against the decking. Only the jib was filled with wind, pulling the sloop towards open water. There was no land in sight, and he did not know how long he had been out here. He had no way to repair the mast, and with only the jib to pull the sloop, no telling how long it would take him to get back to port.
He would have to wait until dark and look at the stars, just to figure out where he was, before he could check his charts and set a course. The sun was setting in the distance, so at least he knew what direction he was heading now. England was in the opposite direction. He was certain of that, so he swung the sloop around and headed back. Once he consulted the stars, he could get his campus out, and set his heading. While he waited, he decided to find something to eat, and then set the sloop back in order again. He was going to kill the man who did this to him, he resolved.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
It had been a week since Sebastian had left Clifford House, and there had been no messages from him. Of course, Eleanor had not really expected any, but it would have been kind of him to send her some indication that he was thinking of her. The Ball was still two weeks off and she wondered if she could endure the tension of waiting, wondering what was going to happen when Sebastian did come to the Ball.
He said he would come, and that was all Eleanor had to cling to. What if he didn’t come? She didn’t think she could bare the thought, even though at one point she felt she would rather have him never come back, than come back only to reject the love she felt for him.
Garth had stayed the week and tried desperately to cheer her up. She had been kept busy with the refurbishing of the house. Her grandfather asked her opinion on everything, because he told her this would be her house eventually and she should make it the kind of place she could feel comfortable in.
Invitations for the ball had all been sent out, and she had given the address of the Belingtons, wondering what they were going to say concerning her pretend marriage to Sebastian, if Sebastian didn’t even show up. Or what if he did show up, only to leave again? How could she explain her husband refusing to remain with her? Maybe she could tell everyone he had to go to sea again, and this time he would really be lost at sea, she thought with a lump in her throat. Her stomach was in a constant churn, just worrying about it.
“Are you sure you will be all right on your own?” Garth asked, as they were strolling through the garden, which was turning into something beyond Eleanor’s imagination, as the grounds were slowly transformed into a garden paradise. “I could stay longer if you wish,” he offered.
“You can’t just uproot yourself over me,” Eleanor insisted. “You have been too kind as it is, and have lifted my spirits. I should be able to plod on without you,” she laughed.
“I am sure Sebastian will come through for you. He will have time to think about it and…”
“I have not heard a word from him,” Eleanor admitted. “I thought for sure he would at least send me a message to let me know he is still thinking of me, and not to worry about him. Or at least assure me he will be attending the ball.”
“Perhaps you will get a message from him soon,” Garth encouraged. “Looks like someone coming up the drive. I have never seen that person before,” he said suddenly as he put his hand to shade his eyes.
“Oh, goodness! It is Teddy! Maybe he has a message from Sebastian,” Eleanor cried, as she lifted her skirts and ran towards the drive. But if Teddy was here, why hadn’t Sebastian come with him? Garth decided to hold back and let her speak to her cousin alone. He would learn soon enough what the news was, he decided.
“Teddy, Teddy, I have missed you so much,” she called, as she came abreast of his horse.
Teddy swung down in one easy move, and captured Eleanor in his arms, swinging her around in circles. “How are you, Eleanor?” He kissed her on the cheek. “I have missed you too. How cruel of you to just take off like that. Sebastian and I went all the way to London looking for you, and he was at his wits end worrying about you. Then that piece in the paper shocked us all. Father and Mother was so beside themselves trying to figure it all out. They could not understand why you claimed Sebastian was your dead husband, and I had to get them to agree on a story about how Sebastian was lost at sea, and then returned again. They do not like all this cloak and dagger capper though.”
“How is Sebastian?” Eleanor asked eagerly. “I have not heard from him, and he left so suddenly. We barely had time to talk. Oh Teddy, I am so worried that…that…well he said at first he was my husband, and even told grandfather that he was. He said he would claim the child as his own, and I was so beside myself with happiness. And then…he realized what a sacrifice he would have to make to be my husband, and he seemed to change his mind.”
“I know. He told me. He was so torn, but I think he has made up his mind.” Teddy’s eyes looked worried and Eleanor held her breath. “He’s gone, Eleanor. I spoke to him the morning he returned, and by evening he had gotten on his sloop and sailed away. I was shocked. No one has seen him for the last wee
k, so I am sure he has decided to leave this whole situation behind. I don’t think he will be coming to the ball. I wanted to tell you in person, so you could prepare yourself, instead of anticipating his appearance. So the cad did not even send you a message to let you know of his decision? He is more of a coward than I thought him to be.”
“Why should he tell me? After all I left him without a word, so I suppose we are even,” Eleanor said, her heart falling fast.
“But Eleanor, don’t worry, I will marry you. I have always loved you, and now that you are respectable, father can’t complain.”
“Respectable? I am with child, Teddy, and I don’t even know who the father is! How can that be respectable?”
“We can say that Sebastian really did get lost at sea now, when he doesn’t return. The child can be considered his. I will step in and save you from grieving for the rest of your life, and be a father to the child. It is an acceptable remedy and a gallant move. People do it all the time with widows who are expecting,” he informed her.
“But I can’t let you do that, Teddy. What about Brenda? I thought you were going to court her.”
“I have been so busy trying to find you, I barely have had time to see her. She is rather put out that I put her on the shelf while I hunted for you,” he admitted.
“But you know I only love you as a brother. It would not be fair to you, as much as I do love you, I cannot let you take this on. I have all the money I need and I can hire a nurse to help me if I need support with the child. You should not trouble yourself with me. Besides, wouldn’t I have to wait seven years before Sebastian would be considered dead?” her voice broke, with a bitter laugh. “I am not even married to him, and I will have to wait to be considered a true widow. It is ironic!” She clung to Teddy’s neck. “I can’t believe he would just leave like that,” she rasped, crumbling into Teddy’s arms. “I should have told the truth from the beginning. Maybe I still will if Sebastian does not return soon,” she threatened.
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