Silver Sea (31 page)

"Never mind those. All you need to understand is that he has always been used to his freedom. If he behaves badly toward you at times, it is not because he doesn't care, but because of his inner struggle with his nature."

"His reputation darkens by the moment." Adrienne wondered again if she could have misjudged him so perilously. "You said he's like his father... yet even Andre Raveneau learned to love, didn't he?"

"God, yes!" Minter laughed for emphasis. "Once he finally surrendered to loving Devon he went right off the edge. Nathan's parents have been happily married for thirty-five years!" He paused. "But he hasn't any desire to emulate them."

"I see..." Her heart sank even as she gathered the courage to ask Minter about Eloise. How could she explain the way she'd learned the other woman's name?

"Minter!" It was Captain Raveneau, shouting from the quarterdeck. His face was dark. "You are amusing Miss Beauvisage a bit too well! Leave her now and return to your duties."

Adrienne put one hand on her hip and shielded her eyes with the other as she challenged him from halfway across the ship. "Is it a crime for someone to befriend me?"

To her chagrin, Nathan did not respond, but presented his back to her as if she had not spoken at all.

* * *

The
Golden Eagle
sailed around the top of Barbados, then leisurely skirted the western coast, bound for the prosperous port of Bridgetown. At dawn, Adrienne was completely packed and ready to disembark from the ship, even though they hadn't reached land yet.

Standing at the rail, she gazed out at the aqua water that lapped against sugary beaches lined with slim palm trees and lush flowering plants. This was the side of the island that bordered the warm, gentle Caribbean Sea. To Adrienne, it was like a dream, wrapped in the glow of sunrise. Everything about Barbados seemed exotic, and the unpredictable newness of her future was thrilling.

"Second thoughts?"

She heard Nathan's voice over her shoulder and felt his breath on her cheek. A familiar, euphoric feeling tingled her scalp and traveled down to the tips of her toes. Given the mounting evidence of her fiancé's rakish past, Adrienne had spent much of the night worrying that her cause was hopeless and that she might be just the latest woman to wear the silky underclothes in his cabin. Still, when Nathan was near, hope swelled within her again.

"No second thoughts," Adrienne murmured. She didn't turn to look at him, but allowed the corners of her mouth to curve upward. "I think I may have been born to live here."

"Indeed?" Nathan reminded himself that even marriage needn't be permanent—particularly not
this
sort of arrangement. He didn't care to ponder his aversion to true love but supposed that it could be traced to his parents. Their marriage was so perfect that Nathan felt that anything less would be failure.

He also might be avoiding real romantic entanglements because of his own bitter history. Not only didn't he like to hear Eloise's name spoken, he tried not to think of her. It was easier to focus on Xavier Crowe and direct his hatred toward him. Meanwhile, it seemed likely that Adrienne would grow homesick on Barbados, and he would generously grant her a divorce.

"Is it your belief," he inquired, "that we are being guided by the hand of fate?"

Recalling Zachary Minter's cautionary words about Nathan's matrimonial jitters, Adrienne laughed. "Oh, no, nothing as serious as that, sir! I anticipate only a good adventure."

His brow cleared. Slowly he nodded, smiling. "That's good. Very good. We are of one mind, then."

"Are we?"

The
Golden Eagle
was coming around Needham Point, headed for Carlisle Bay and the port of Bridgetown. Sails were furled. Nathan went off with Minter to bring the ship in safely, and Adrienne stared in surprise at the bustling city of stone buildings that curved around the bay.

The slow voyage of imagining was over. Adrienne's dreams were turning swiftly to reality. She hadn't expected Bridgetown to look so civilized. Tarpeck was wandering the decks, getting in the way, and Minter sent him to Adrienne's assistance. The old man was half blind, but he'd sailed this route countless times.

"That upper part of the harbor is called the Careenage," he explained, pointing with a misshapen finger to colorful rows of vessels lining the quays. "They turn the ships on their sides and scrape the hulls there. That's 'careening.' "

Adrienne used Tarpeck as her guide then. He identified St. Anne's Barracks, which surrounded a neat square. At the other end of town was Fontabelle, now empty, where the governors of Barbados had once lived, and Pelican Island, covered with lovely palm trees. "The town's burned twice and survived some dreadful hurricanes," Tarpeck said. "Plenty o' wooden buildings and great plantations houses have been lost to fire and storms. It's the coral stone ones, with the thickest walls, that survive."

Again Adrienne was struck by the extremes of life in this paradise. How could a place as idyllic and beautiful as Barbados be so dangerous? It was unnerving to think that one's home could be standing one day and be blown away the next....

"Those hills out yonder are part of other parishes," Tarpeck growled. He stuck his gnarled finger out again, in the direction of low, undulating hills in the distance beyond Bridgetown. There were houses here and there, and an abundance of feathery palms. "Pardon me, miss, but I see that I'm needed. I have duties to perform, y'know."

"I deeply appreciate your assistance, Mr. Tarpeck!" Adrienne gave the grizzled old seaman a glowing smile and was rewarded by a dip of his head, accompanied by a gruff sound.

When the
Golden Eagle's
anchor was dropped, tiny native boats circled the ship. The boats' occupants offered services of every sort, from clothes-washing to baggage transport. Adrienne had seen few Negroes in France or England, so she couldn't help being curious. Dressed in light, brightly colored clothing, these people were friendly and welcoming.

It wasn't necessary to make good-byes to the ship and her crew. The
Golden Eagle
would remain anchored off Barbados until her captain rearranged his life and decided what his next voyage would be. The men saw Adrienne off with warm smiles and whispers of good wishes, which made her wonder how many of them knew that she would soon be Mrs. Raveneau.

Their luggage went to the docks first, and then Adrienne and Nathan, with Minter, descended the accommodation ladder and found places in the longboat that would take them to shore. Dressed in a simple muslin promenade gown with green ribbons to match her eyes, Adrienne was becoming more and more aware of the heat as the morning advanced. There was a nice breeze, but the humidity was a condition she had never experienced.

"I feel rather silly with my parasol," she confessed to the men. "Everyone will think me a spoiled Englishwoman."

"I don't doubt that you'll be an unladylike shade of golden brown in no time at all," Nathan replied, "but I would advise that you use your parasol, or a bonnet, as often as you can bear it. Too much sun too quickly will make you ill, and very pink!"

"Besides," Zachary chimed in jovially, "the Bajans will expect you to act the part of a wealthy planter's wife. You ought to—" He broke off under the fire of Raveneau's stare. "Did I say something amiss?"

"Your captain doesn't like to contemplate his approaching nuptials," Adrienne said tartly. "I daresay he'd like to lock me in my room after the wedding so he won't have to admit to anyone on the island that he's gotten married at all!"

Nathan gave her a menacing stare. "I was hoping you had left that acid tongue in England!"

Meanwhile, Zach tugged at his collar. "God's foot, isn't it getting hotter by the minute? And I think this boat is shrinking! Ah, here's the quay, and not a moment too soon!"

If she hadn't been so furious with Nathan, Adrienne would have laughed. As it was, she caught sight of Minter's reassuring wink and gave him a tiny smile in response.

Raveneau was looking around as he jumped onto the dock and took the luggage Minter handed up to him. "What a relief. There's Philip, reliable as ever. Thank God some things don't change."

An old white-haired Negro gentleman made his way through the people, barrels, crates, and coils of rope that covered the quay. Somehow, perhaps because of his direct gaze and dignified bearing, Adrienne guessed that he must be Philip, the person Nathan was so happy to see.

"I be happy to be findin' you, Captain," he said in a low, melodious voice.

"Philip, you are a sight for sore eyes!" Nathan's temper was replaced by high spirits. "Look at that handsome waistcoat! Did Orchid make it for you?"

A warm smile creased the older man's face. His ensemble of loose beige trousers with a white shirt was crowned by a vest of tangerine and lime striped silk. "You do be a kind man, sir. Sorry to say dat Orchid feelin' weak dis pas season. We daughter, Lily, make de waistcoat for me."

Nathan looked concerned. "Orchid will be all right, won't she? I've been away too long. I want everything to be unchanged when I come home, but how can that be when I am at sea for so many months?"

"I wonder dis too, sir," Philip murmured with a nod. His brown eyes wandered toward Adrienne.

"You must be curious about this young lady." Nathan took Adrienne's arm in time to save her from being knocked over by a passing sailor. "This isn't the place for conversation, but I should perform an introduction. Philip Smythe, this is Miss Adrienne Beauvisage." As they exchanged smiles and greetings, Raveneau grew paler. "I—uh—I should add, Philip, that Miss Beauvisage is my—uh—intended."

"Sir! It can be so? Dear Lord, we do have blessing! Orchid be so happy. She t'ink dis day not come in she lifetime!"

Adrienne gave her betrothed a sidelong glance, imitating his own arched eyebrow. "My darling, why would Philip and Orchid think that you would not be the marrying sort?"

His grip on her arm tightened. "I haven't a clue. Let's go before we're pushed into the water."

Minter helped them transport the baggage to a waiting wagon, then took it upon himself to hand Adrienne into the neat little carriage that Philip referred to as a sulky. As she took her seat under the sheltering hood, the small man leaned closer.

"Good luck, miss. I mean that sincerely." He gave her another wink. "Try to be patient with him, even though he won't deserve such mercies."

His words made her smile, but her face fell as she realized Zachary wasn't coming with them. "Must you stay with the ship?"

"Don't look so terrified. He won't gobble you up, no matter how loudly he may growl." On impulse, Minter reached out and patted her creamy cheek.

Nathan was climbing in on the other side, and Philip perched in front, gathering the reins. "Zach," Nathan warned with a satirical undercurrent, "don't grow too attached to Adrienne. It's not seemly."

Minter blushed. "I'd better be getting back to the
Golden Eagle.
I wish both of you good fortune."

"But, wait—surely you'll be coming to our wedding?" Adrienne cried suddenly, remembering.

"I don't think it will be that sort of wedding," Nathan said. He leaned forward and tapped Philip on the shoulder, signaling that they were ready to proceed.

Adrienne's world was whirling with a mixture of confusion and delight. As they clattered over the narrow, cobbled streets of Bridgetown, Nathan acted as guide. It seemed that everything had an English name, from Trafalgar Square, just south of the Careenage, to the main thoroughfare called Broad Street. However, Bridgetown looked nothing at all like London. There were people of every color and class, and animals ranging from donkeys to monkeys, and vendors selling a variety of bright, exotic fruits and flowers. The shops, inside the sturdy stone buildings, had small windows that showed no goods to the curious newcomer. Perhaps, Adrienne decided, the last hurricane had convinced the merchants to keep glass to a minimum.

"I don't think I realized," she said softly, "that there would be so few white people and so many..."

"They prefer to be called colored," Nathan supplied, "and, yes, the slaves and free colored people far outnumber the rest of us. Five to one, I'd guess."

She made a little sound of surprise. "Slaves! I—I don't think that had even occurred to me! I suppose I thought it was only the Americans who engaged in such barbarism."

"Not all Americans; just in our South." he corrected. "And, yes, unfortunately, the plantations here and on other West Indian islands are staffed mostly by slave labor."

"I cannot tell you how shocking I find that. I don't know if I would have come had I known."

"Indeed." Nathan flicked up an eyebrow and lounged against the upholstered seat. "Would it be easier to tolerate if I tell you that the slave trade was abolished here twelve years ago?"

"You mean the slaves have been freed?"

"No... we just can't bring any more to Barbados. That doesn't mean that there aren't already enough, or that the children of these slaves won't be slaves themselves." He shrugged. "It's a fact of life, I'm afraid—although I do think that we may see emancipation on Barbados in my lifetime, which is more than I can say for America."

"Nathan..." Her pretty chin was set in an unforgiving line. "Surely you do not own slaves? You, as an American from the northern states, could never be a party to something so cruel and degrading to your fellow human beings!"

"No one has ever challenged me on the subject in quite those terms," he allowed. His own expression took on a stubborn hardness. "I have never purchased a slave, and I have offered many their freedom. When I bought Tempest Hall, I got everything, including its slaves, and it hasn't seemed wise to tamper with the workings of the plantation when I am scarcely home as it is."

"Then you
do
own slaves!" Adrienne spoke the words as if she were accusing him of torture and murder.

"For God's sake, keep your voice down! Yes, I suppose I do, but it was never a conscious choice. Many of my workers are free now, but frankly, I can't afford to pay them all a wage yet."