I Married the Duke (7 page)

“P’raps more. But I’ve only got twenty fingers.” Joshua shrugged.

Luc turned his back on the other ship, leaned against the rail and folded his arms. “Why do you suppose the men are doing such an odd thing, Josh?”

“P’raps on account of the women’s flimsies hanging from the beams, sir.”

Luc stood up straight. “Women’s flimsies?”

“There’s one bit, Cap’n, ain’t nothin’ more than a scrap of nothin’, but it’s got them all castin’ wagers as to who gets it. That is, if she forgets to take it with her when we make port, you see.” The boy winked.

“I see. Thank you, Joshua.” He strode toward the companionway. He should send Miles to see to the matter. But he’d be damned if his crewmen and blasted steward would ogle her undergarments while he had to content himself with heated fantasies.

What in the devil had Miles been thinking to hang her clothing to dry in the livestock pen? Warmest location aboard,
hell’s thunder
.

Halfway to the hold he heard her scream.

Sailors’ heads came up around him.

“Orlop deck, sir,” one of them said.

He leaped down the stairs and bolted toward Stewart’s office, men in his wake. No time to load a pistol. He reached for his sword and slammed the infirmary door open.

With her back pressed to the wall and color flushed across her cheeks, she wielded a bone saw in one hand and a pewter jug in the other like a Valkyrie, with regal fearlessness. A yard away, the sailor pointed a dirk at her neck. His other fist was clutched tight, but between the awkward bones shone gold and red.

“I told you they would come.” Her voice was strong but compassionate, as though her pale throat were not inches from the lad’s blade. “You should have listened to me.”

He was one of the new men that Luc’s quartermaster had hired on at Plymouth. Barely old enough to raise a beard, now he stared at Luc with fear, the dirk shaking in his grip.

“He told me he’d pay me three guineas to do it,” came his raspy reply. “Three
guineas
.”

“Whoever he was that made you such a promise, boy,” Luc said, lifting his sword and stepping between them, “he’s left you to swing for it alone.”

The youth made no move to resist. The dirk fell to the floor with a clatter and he seemed to crumple in upon himself.

Luc gestured for one of his men at the door to take up the dirk, then he reached for the thief’s hand and pried the ring from the slack fingers. He nodded to his crewmen crowding the door. With a growling cheer, they burst into a volley of shouts, grabbed the thief and shoved him before them from the cabin.

Her eyes were wide, her face pale now. She lowered her arms. Luc took the saw and jug from her and set them on the examination table.

“He carries a bottle of arsenic in his coat,” she said.

“The men will find it. Are you—”

“I am well,” she interrupted him. Her throat constricted but her chin ticked up. “I am well.”

“You showed great bravery. Greater than many a man I’ve seen when threatened.”

“He was frightened. He did not want to do what he had agreed to do.” Her attention went to the ring in his hand.

He placed it upon her palm and she wrapped her fingers around it.

“I regret to have misled you, Miss Caulfield. He’s a new man aboard. I should have taken better care.”

“What will you do now? Will he be tried by a court when we reach port?”

“He has already been convicted. He will serve his sentence within minutes.”

Her eyes snapped to the door where the sounds of the cheering sailors had faded. “What sentence?”

“Theft aboard ship is a flogging offense.”

“Flogging?”

“Twenty-five lashes.”

“Twenty-five?”
It would kill him. “Here? Immediately?”

He nodded.

“No. No, he mustn’t be beaten.”

Captain Andrew slid the sword into his belt. “The law is clear, Miss Caulfield.”

“You are the captain. Does that not make you the law on this ship, as you warned me? Spare him.” She stepped forward. “I beg of you.”

He looked down at her, his scrutiny intent now. “He has stolen from you. And you say he stole from Stewart as well. Why do you wish him spared?”

“I cannot be the cause of a man’s death.” The ring was meant for life, not death.

“Perhaps you won’t. Perhaps he will live.” The captain turned and left the cabin. She rushed after him. Ahead, the cheering of the crew on the main deck came down the stairway.

“He is starving,” she said behind him, gripping the stair rail. The sea spread out to all sides of the ship, brilliant in the sunlight. “Can you not see that?”

“Then he should have availed himself of the plentiful rations aboard this ship,” he said without turning to her.

She made herself release the rail and step out onto the open deck. “If he’s new aboard, how would he have known the rations would be plentiful?”

He halted and turned to her. The deck was crowded, her view of the frothy sea and the activity around the forward mast limited.
What she could not see could not hurt her
. Her limbs loosened uncontrollably. She felt dizzy.

“You are defending a thief, Miss Caulfield. A man who intended harm to you.”

“But the objects of theft are restored and he did not commit murder.” She clasped her hands together before her in supplication. “Captain, you must see reason.”

“Madam—”

“I cannot bear the burden of this man’s punishment upon my soul.”

“Then you should not have come aboard my ship with a possession worth stealing.”

He was not speaking only of the ring. He was speaking of her. She had put him off, told him not to touch her, and now he was making her pay for it.

It could not be
. She could not be infatuated with a man who could be so cruel. But she had trusted in a man’s character and suffered for it before.

Dr. Stewart approached. “Captain, the men be ready for ye to pronounce sentence.”

Arabella swung to him. “Doctor, you mustn’t allow this.”

He shook his head. “ ’Tis the way o’ it, lass.”

She pushed through the crowd toward the mast. The crewmen made way for her. The youth stood lashed about both wrists to the yardarms to either side of the mast. His ribs poked out.

Three guineas
. A fortune for a common sailor. Enough to feed his family for a lifetime.

“Look at him, Doctor,” she said. “He is skin and bones.”

The Scot frowned. “Lass—”

“He stole nothing,” she said. “I gave them to him. I gave them to him!” she shouted.

The sailors went silent amidst the clatter of rigging in the wind and the creak of planks and the ever present whoosh of the ocean.

“If you will flog anyone today, Captain,” she said, “I am afraid it must be me. I discovered a rat in my cabin and I borrowed the bottle of arsenic from Dr. Stewart’s cabinet to dose it so that it will not visit me again tonight. This sailor was helping me with the task. And—” She faltered.

Captain Andrew’s knuckles were white around the hilt of his sword.

“And I gave him my ring in thanks,” she said firmly. “I—I gave it to him as a gift. I am . . .
terrified
of rats, you see.”

Not a man aboard made a sound.

“Lass—”

“It is true, Dr. Stewart.” She pivoted to him. “I gave it to him. So he did not in fact steal anything. Captain, you must let him free now.”

Slowly, with deliberate movements, Captain Andrew sheathed his sword and walked toward her. “You gave him both the bottle and ring?”

“I did. I— Yes.” She trembled. The wind whipped through the flimsy skirt of her chemise below the concealing coat. She felt undressed and out of control, as always with him.

“What do you say to this, Doctor?” he said without removing his attention from her. “Shall I flog the little governess for stealing poison from your infirmary to treat a miscreant rodent?”

She gulped over her alarm.
He would not
.

“Cap’n, I admit, I maself gave the lass the poison for the rat,” the doctor said.

She sucked in breath.

The captain nodded. “Gentlemen,” he said, still watching her. “Release the prisoner. Our guest has an item of value that she must return to him.”

Reluctantly the sailors untied their captive and shoved him toward her. Head hanging, he shook like the rattling rigging. In his sunken eyes fear and uncomprehending gratitude warred.

Her throat closing, Arabella reached into her pocket for the ring.

“Naw, miss,” the youth rasped. “I can’t take it, now I think on it.” His words came quickly. “My ma, she wouldn’t like me taking gifts from a lady. She’d think she owed her life to you and she’d never let me hear the end of it.” He backed away a step.

“Mr. Church,” the captain called to his lieutenant. “Escort Mr. Mundy to the brig, if you will. And give him his dinner ration now. No one—not even those saved from a whipping by heavenly intervention—goes hungry aboard this ship.”

The lieutenant grasped the youth’s arm and led him away. Arabella’s fingers clamped around the ring in her pocket.

The doctor came to her side. “Ye’ve done a fine charity, lass. Bless ye.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” she whispered. “Thank you.”

“Miss Caulfield.” The captain strode toward the stairway. “Do attend me in my day cabin, if you will. I have a matter I should like to discuss with you in private.”

Dr. Stewart shook his head then turned to the gaping crewmen. “Back to work,” he ordered. “All o’ ye nou.”

The day was warming, the sun poking through wispy clouds. But Arabella shivered as she went to the captain’s cabin.

He stood with his back to the door, facing the open window. On the sea beyond, a huge ship flew the flag of England. His stance was rigid, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“You would not have flogged me,” she said.

He turned about. “Wouldn’t I have? How do you know? I thought you said you knew nothing of me.”

“I could not allow him to be punished for my foolishness.”

“Foolishness?” He moved toward her. “Was it upon a whimsical order from you, duchess, that he removed the poison from Dr. Stewart’s medicine cabinet?”

“Do not call me that.”

“Why not? You behave as one, mismanaging justice according to your wishes.”

“I could not—”

“Are you his confederate?”

Her eyes flew wide. “
No
. No, of course not.”

“How did you know?” He was angry, emerald flashing in his eye, but controlled, restrained. The night before she’d sensed his restraint with her too. “How did you know he intended theft? Harm to another? Even my quartermaster who is an excellent judge of men had no idea. How did you know he was lying when he asked the doctor for medicine?”

“I . . .” He would not understand. The Reverend never had.

“You?”

“I can read people.”

“You can
read
people?”

“I can read people I encounter.” Except him.

His eye narrowed. “You can read a man’s thoughts?”

“No. It’s not like that. I can sense feelings—desires and fears—and I guess at the reasons for them. Usually . . .”

“Usually?”

“Usually I am correct. It is what makes my services so sought after in society. It is very useful when seeking status or connections to know the unspoken wishes of others.”

He took another step toward her. “You do this with everyone?”

“Only if I wish to.”

“Do you wish to read me?” It was not an idle curiosity. But there was no desire in his gaze now, no teasing, only that intensity that had frightened her in the tavern in Plymouth.

She willed her feet not to retreat. “Yes.”

There was a moment’s silence.

“And what have you discovered of my desires, little duchess?”

“Nothing.”

“What prevents you from making the attempt?” He moved close. “Fear?”

“I have tried.”
She should not tell him
. “I failed. I don’t understand you.”

“Convenient,” he said.

“Not at all.”

He did not speak. She could no longer meet his gaze.

“What will you do now?” she finally said.

“Make you walk the plank, of course.”

Her eyes shot up. His face was hard but the anger had gone.

Her lungs filled. “Of course.”

“Miss Caulfield, do not interfere again with the justice that I mete out, do you understand?”

She swallowed over her relief and nodded. “I understand.”

He studied her face. “What did he intend to do with the arsenic?”

He believed her
. He believed that she could read people. Or he believed her to be the thief’s accomplice.

“I don’t know.”

“No?”

“I told you, I am not a mind reader. I only . . .”

“Only?”

“Feel. I feel the emotions of others, Captain, because I have none inside myself to stand in the way.”

He stared at her. “A remarkably candid admission, especially from a woman who claimed minutes ago that a man’s punishment would be a burden upon her soul.”

Her heart beat too swiftly. “What will you do with him?”

“Remand him to the navy.”

“That ship—”

“A naval vessel. Its captain will make good use of him. The lad will not realize how fortunate he has been for many years, I suspect. But eventually he will.”

“You will let him go free?”

“Have you ever rowed in the galley of a hundred and twenty-two gun frigate, Miss Caulfield? It’s hardly freedom.”

“But, he is a thief.”

He lifted a brow. “Now you wish to see him flogged? Little governess, do make up your mind.”

“Why did you spare him? Everyone knew I invented my story.”

“And dragged the good doctor into it,” he said ruefully. “Clever witch.”

“Witch?”

“Another word came to mind, actually. I edited it before speaking.”

One moment in anger, the next teasing. “You are a strange man, Captain Andrew.”

“And you are a most unusual governess, Miss Caulfield.”

“I thank you for the compliment.”

The crease appeared in his cheek. “Was that what it was?”

Arabella’s heart thumped again, but not from fear. “You must at least question him. Someone hired him to steal poison, it seems. Perhaps his employer wished one of your crewmen harmed. Or dead. Perhaps . . .”