Captives' Charade (15 page)
Authors: Susannah Merrill
Sarah found it easier than she expected to tolerate Stewart’s tour of his stately three-masted schooner built in Essex, Massachusetts. He was animated and cheerful as he explained the complicated workings of the sails and she was drawn to the modest pride he displayed as he caressed a solid railing here or a taut rigging there. Despite its cargo, it was agile and quick, averaging speeds of well over 20 knots.
As she took in the exhilarating salt air and sunshine, she found herself contemplating Stewart’s change of attitude even more deeply. He had always been at ease in any situation, but here, aboard his ship, he seemed even more relaxed and comfortable. Perhaps it was his appearance that prompted this observation. He was handsomer than she remembered, dressing casually in light-colored breeches, black boots, a nautical waistcoat left unbuttoned against the stiff breeze, exposing a linen shirt left open at the neck. His curling dark hair ruffled shaggily, accentuating his strong features already bronzed by the wind and sun. When he smiled, which was frequently, his even white teeth dazzled her and she found herself remembering the pleasure the last time she had been in his arms – in the stable where she had kissed him. Suddenly she recalled the woman at the dock and with a mental shake, she cursed herself for her lapse. She would never survive this voyage if she let her mind wander!
It was then that she found herself on the steps leading up to the bridge where Captain Slade was waiting to greet them. “Lady Sarah! I am glad to see you have joined the living!” he called above the loud rustling of the canvas sails. “I was beginning to wonder whether I would ever have the pleasure of seeing you on deck. How are you feeling?”
“Much better every moment, thank you, Captain,” she responded, of necessity speaking close to his ear. “I apologize for my indisposition and any trouble I’ve been to you and your crew,” she added as Stewart drew nearer.
“Pshaw. You’ve been no trouble at all, except as a distraction to Mr. Chamberlain. He has been fretting over you, you know. Fortunately, we are used to sailing without his help.” Slade laughed at his playful ribbing, and Sarah stole a quick glance at Stewart, who had cast his head downward to hide an embarrassed scowl.
Surprised by this uncharacteristic reaction, Sarah was at a loss for words, but Captain Slade appeared not to notice. He immediately began talking to her about the luck they were having with the weather and their course and she used the opportunity to study the man more closely.
He was taller than Stewart, by perhaps an inch or two, and was much thinner and more wiry. Years at sea had given his long, narrow face a permanent ruddy hue that made his crinkly bright blue eyes seem like two turquoise gems. His sandy hair was crushed beneath a captain’s cap and were it not for his youth – he was surely no older than Stewart – he would look like the proverbial ‘old salt’ of her storybooks.
“On the contrary, Captain,” she complimented him. “My maid and I are grateful for the comforts and for the fact that you have allowed us to sail with you. I understand that many sailors feel it is bad luck to have a woman aboard.”
“Inmyexperience,womenhavebrought nothing but good luck,” Slade smiling engagingly. “Until we began our family, my wife sailed with me frequently.”
“But I thought you knew!” Slade replied, looking over her head at Stewart, who merely shrugged. “I am married six years to the most beautiful girl in Boston. Perhaps my brother-in-law neglected to mention it.”
“Mr. Chamberlain is your brother-in-law?” Sarah eyed Stewart with an accusing look before returning to the captain.
“That and uncle to our three children as well. Shame on you, Stewart. Didn’t you tell her she’d be staying with us in Boston?”
Before Stewart could speak, Sarah answered, “My father told me we’d be the guest of Mr. Chamberlain’s sister, but I had no idea that you were her husband.” Smiling warmly to assuage the awkwardness, she added, “I am very pleased that I shall have a chance to learn about your family before we arrive. I hope we won’t be a burden.”
“Now don’t you worry about that, Lady Sarah. Peggy and the children will be thrilled. Unlike my tight-lipped partner here, Peggy loves nothing more than company. She will talk your ears off if you permit.”
Slate laughed heartily. “Guilty, as charged. It comes from spending so many lonely nights at sea. What else is there to do but spin a yarn or two?”
“Come, Lady Sarah,” Stewart said after clearing his throat. Sarah was surprised to hear him address her formally. “Perhaps you’d like to rest until dinner?”
“I hope you will join me and Stewart for dinner, then,” Captain Slade offered enthusiastically, “We will celebrate your resurrection.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Sarah smiled, genuinely pleased with the invitation, even if Stewart was included. “I shall be looking forward to it.”
As Stewart helped Sarah o ff the bridge, Slade could not squelch the smile that came to his lips as he watched them go. What a striking pair they make! Peggy would be pleased to see her brother in the company of such a beautiful yet unpretentious young woman – someone marriageable for a change. From the way Stewart looked so uncomfortable, the captain was willing to bet that his brother-in-law was more than casually interested in the lady – and yet, with Stewart, one could never really know for sure.
Slade was all too familiar with the carefree nature of his brother-in-law’s relationships with women. The two of them had broken many hearts in many places before Jeremiah met and married Peggy. His craggy face softened as he allowed himself a moment to reflect on those rollicking nights they spent in ports around the world.
They had been quite a team in those days. Women would notice Stewart immediately for his dark, aristocratic features made him stand out in any crowd. Even in his sailor’s garb, he was always immaculately groomed. As he would coolly survey his surroundings from the vantage point of his height, women would interest through coy conversations. Jeremiah, the more gregarious of the two, would be the one to capitalize on the attention Stewart’s presence created and in no time at all they would engage in conversation with the mostly likely prospects – always convenients and light skirts – women who were both beautiful and experienced. There was no time for innocents, the hesitant, or marriage-seekers.
immediately show their
In those days, the two were much too busy to consider permanent entanglements. They had met in a Virginia military school and upon graduation, opted to serve their country as blockade runners, unofficially commissioned by the infant U.S. Navy to wreak havoc on the high seas in order that American goods could be transported to foreign markets without interference. At the same time, they were developing their own shipping and trading business, making the necessary European connections that would insure the success of their Endeavours.
It was a complicated, often treacherous combination of allegiances – to country and to their own private interests – but Chamberlain and Slade were equal to the task. Jeremiah had established himself as one of the most able and cunning ship’s captains in Atlantic waters and Stewart, a worthy seaman in his own right, possessed an unequaled ability to manipulate the most experienced business and political strategists. In addition, both were charming, dashing characters, able to make themselves at home in any situation.
As their reputations as sailors, businessmen and rogues grew, so did their status. In nearly every capital, Stewart and Jeremiah became sought-after guests to men of power and women of influence. When in port, they began to mingle with society and royalty in private clubs and homes; Jeremiah the engaging and quick-witted conversationalist; Stewart, the charming, yet remote and mysterious young blood.
But that free-spirited and more-often-thannot dangerous life was long over for Jeremiah and it happened the day he met Margaret Chamberlain. He had fallen in love with her the moment he’d first seen her in New York City, where she was attending school. She was a beauty, with her curling black hair and fair skin, but what had most attracted Jeremiah was the spark of mischief and defiance in her warm, brown eyes. Unlike most young girls, she was incapable of feigning shyness or reserve. Instead, she unabashedly stared at anyone who caught her eye and struck up immediate conversations with strangers, regardless of whether she was properly introduced or not. Her questions were direct and she made uncommonly astute observations about the people who caught her attention.
When Jeremiah first approached her party during intermission at a theatre, on the pretense of saying hello to an old schoolmate standing near Margaret, she immediately extended her hand to him, saying, “Sir, it is about time we met.” Ignoring her friends’ uneasiness, and finding her boldness refreshing, he took her gloved hand in both of his and squeezed it affectionately, a gesture that did not seem to offend her.
“I know. You are a frequent topic of conversation in our home. I would have recognized you anywhere.”
“I am sure the same will be said of you, if only I might know who you are,” Jeremiah replied, pleasure showing clearly on his attractively weather-beaten features.
“Delightedly so! Your brother barely mentioned your existence, let alone described your beauty. I now see clearly why he did not wish to arouse my curiosity.”
Peggy smiled happily and made no move to take her hand away from his. “He’s told me that you are a scalawag. But I am sure that is not the sole facet of your character.”
“With pleasure, sir. If you are free, you may call on me tomorrow at the St. Regent, say 11 o’clock? We have a great deal to discuss, don’t you agree?”
“Most heartily,” Jeremiah responded, giving her hand a final pat as the lights dimmed to announce the end of the intermission. “Until the morrow then.”
And from that moment on, there was no other woman in the world for Jeremiah Slade. He was so intrigued by her beauty, her wit and her strong will that he would have done anything to make her his. She, too, was swept up by the dashing, yet sentimental and kind captain, who had been her brother’s most trusted friend for many years.
After a six-month courtship, made up mostly of long and loving letters, Jeremiah asked, indeed begged Peggy to wed him, promising to give up his responsibilities as captain, if only she would consent. Much to his amazement, she refused, declaring she would find no happiness with a “landlubber.” But, she countered, if he promised to allow her to accompany him, she would accept his proposal.
Despite his concern for her safety and wellbeing, Jeremiah loved her too much to lose her, and finally acquiesced. But the road to matrimony was further impeded by one irate and overprotective brother. Jeremiah sighed to himself as he remembered the one time he had ever seen Stewart completely lose his temper.
“I’ll see you planted twenty leagues under before I allow you to wed my sister!” Stewart had bellowed. “You conniving lecher! You may have fooled Peggy but I know you better than anyone alive and I won’t have you stealing her virtue – if you haven’t already, you bastard – and breaking her heart because of your penchant for warm brandy and hot women.” His tirade had continued with a detailed description of all his vices, capped by the exhortation that no decent captain would ever marry and leave a sea widow. When Jeremiah explained what Peggy wished to do, Stewart had become more belligerent, accusing his partner of further charming her out of her senses.
The epithets continued until the calm, controlled Slade was forced to play his ace. “I am sorry, Stewart, that after all these years you have found not one virtue within me that is good enough for your sister, but the matter, quite frankly, is out of your hands. Your father has already given his consent.”
His waning control shattered, Stewart reacted out of blind, senseless rage. Before Jeremiah could even recognize the threat, Chamberlain had smashed him square in the face with an incredibly forceful blow from his right fist. While picking himself up off the floor, Stewart had fled. Fortunately for Jeremiah, a broken nose was the only damage and it mended well in time.
Jeremiah had been willing to forgive and forget the whole episode, understanding that Stewart was moved by an extraordinary love and concern for his sister, as well as a firsthand knowledge of Slade’s dubious past. But Peggy was livid. It was a year before she would read any of Stewart’s letters and even longer before she acknowledged that the affection between them was greater than the rift they had suffered.
In those first two years of Peggy and Jeremiah’s marriage, Stewart removed himself from the business and on an impulse, signed up as first mate on an independent Spanish trading schooner, managing to see the world and learning a great deal about emotional and physical survival for a young man completely on his own.
When he finally returned to Boston, his entire family, including Peggy, Jeremiah and their infant son, young Jeremiah, found it easier than they expected to convince the wayfaring Chamberlain to take up his life exactly where he had left it.
He found Jeremiah eager to continue their business relationship. And even though there was to be no more bachelor camaraderie as in the olden days, both men found their partnership as enjoyable as before ... and even more profitable. CHAPTER 15
Sarah took special pains with her appearance that evening on the rather weak excuse that dining with the captain demanded elegant attire. But deep down, she hoped to see the light of approval flicker in Stewart’s warm, brown eyes. She had the disturbing notion to compete with the beautiful woman he had so passionately kissed at the dock, and yet, she was still quite certain that she must, for her own safety, spurn Stewart’s attentions. This conflict made her uncharacteristically cross and poor Tegan was forced to bear the brunt of her moodiness.