Happily Ever After (19 page)

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 evening 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...”

“You
thought wrong!” Kell disclosed without reservation, and his harsh tone caught
her attention. She looked up at him then, gauging his expression. “I can safely
say there is no love lost between Jack and your fiancé.”

“Oh,”
Sophie said, realizing Kell had no reason to lie to her. The look on his face
was contemptuous, though it was obvious he tried to shield her from it.
Curiosity made her ask, “Please tell me, what did Harlan do?” It wasn’t as
though Sophie thought his integrity impeccable. He had already fallen from her
grace.