Miles Before I Sleep (9 page)

When word came that Andrea had donned a disguise other than the ones she had taken from Lillian’s trunk, and had booked passage to New York, Sebastian became intrigued. Had she known beforehand who owned the H & O? Did she recognize Miles or know he was the man she was running from? Sebastian sent word immediately to New York that Andrea would soon be visiting New York. Should she make any request at the office, be it money, passage home, or anything else, they were to comply posthaste.

Sebastian looked down at the blank sheets in his hand and grinned. Damn if Miles didn’t remind him of himself.

10

Andrea was impressed with her accommodations. Her stateroom was as large as the captain’s quarters on several of her father’s ships. The bunk was wide enough for two with ample storage underneath for her luggage.  A horsehair sofa sat across from two wing chairs that flanked a small table. One wall was filled with beautifully polished built-in lockers and drawers for her clothing. She felt fortunate that she had been able to see it as it was intended to be viewed, not many years from now when wear and tear had taken its toll. Andrea’s only complaint was the constant roar of the engine.  It took some time to get acclimated to the sound, and made it difficult to go to sleep, but once she was asleep, it seemed to mask most other noises, helping her sleep longer.

She went to bed the night before smelling the salt in the air, and knew they had reached the Channel. It seemed to take forever to get out of London. There had been a great deal of congestion as they passed the Surrey docks. Andrea had watched out her small window for a glimpse of her father. She missed her parents terribly, but there was no sign of him. By morning,
The Lady Fair
should be past Dover and out to open sea.

Finally, the morning came, filled with expectations of newfound freedom. Having been confined in one way or another since she left her parents’ house, she was afforded the limited freedom of the ship, if she cared to exercise it.

Wearing a bright yellow dress and carrying a parasol, Andrea left her cabin. One might have thought it odd that she had made sure to bring her parasol, but to her it was as essential as any article of clothing. The instructions at her mother’s hand were so deeply ingrained, that Andrea would no more let the sun shine directly on her fair skin, than she would eat with her fingers in front of Queen Victoria.

Andrea stood at the rail of the side-wheeler looking out over the great expanse of tranquil sea.
Freedom
was the word that came to mind as she deeply inhaled the salty air, feeling nearly as excited as she had on her father’s ships. Excited, yet somewhat apprehensive, she amended mentally.

The shadow being cast on the rail next to her was the first indication that she was being approached. Her back stiffened involuntarily with the fear that she would turn her head to find Miles Huntington standing beside her, and she suddenly regretted her abandonment of her costumes.

Slowly, she turned her head, and was relieved to find that another passenger had come to stand next to her. The woman was in her fifties, her face slightly jowled despite her lean frame. She could tell immediately by her clothing and deportment that the woman was part of the ton.

“I don’t believe I’ve seen you on deck before,” the woman said brightly. “Seasick, I suppose, poor dear.” She patted the hand Andrea had resting on the rail. “It happens to the best of us. My poor husband is still abed. We haven’t been introduced, I’m Lady Alma Pike.”

Andrea saw no reason to contradict the woman’s assumption that she had been seasick. “I’m Jayne Andrews,” Andrea said without hesitation.

“Are you visiting someone in America or just going on a holiday?” she asked casually, and Andrea was sure the woman had struck up many polite conversations with the same question.

“Actually, I’m going there to live,” Andrea answered in her most refined voice.

“Then you’re traveling with your husband?”

“My brother,” she lied quickly, having not thought before to explain with whom she traveled. She preferred it not become public knowledge that there was an unescorted female aboard. “Jim, I fear, is not much of a mariner and will undoubtedly spend the most of the voyage in his cabin.”

The woman started to say something but Andrea didn’t hear a word of it. Her attention was suddenly seized by a sailor standing some ten yards behind Lady Pike. His eyes were fixed on her, and the moment she saw him, she could not draw her eyes away. Recognition was instantaneous. And by the smirk that formed on the man’s lips, it was apparent he recognized her as well.

Until the previous spring, Clyde Sully had worked as a common seaman on her father’s ship,
The
Nightingale
. By his sailors’ uniform, it was apparent he now worked on this ship.

Andrea had seen him too many times in her father’s office not to recognize the tall, wiry man. After returning from sea, the ship’s crew would line up in the office to receive their pay. She had been relieved to find out he had been sacked. Of all the men employed by Sebastian James, he was the one man who had ever been rude to her. Offensive was more accurate, although he never spoke to her directly. He had been fired for making lewd remarks in Andrea’s presence—lewd innuendoes about her. His eyes, as they were now, would be fixed upon her, and the words that he spoke to the men closest to him carried across the small office, as his voice boomed loudly over all the others. It was pretty much the same each time. He’d say how much he’d like to “sail
The
Andrea
.” He would even describe the ship, its sleek hull, deep hold and billowing sails in a manner so lewd that it could only be called vulgar. No one doubted he was talking about the girl rather than the ship. She did her best to ignore him and had she not been too afraid to walk past the man, she would have left the office to find her father. Sebastian would have had him whipped if he had heard the man, but Sully was smart enough to wait until her father was aboard ship with the captain, leaving his clerks to dole out the pay.

Andrea never knew who told her father, but she would be forever grateful.

Clyde Sully was joined by another crewmember and Andrea forced her eyes back to the woman in front of her. The woman could have been speaking another language for all Andrea understood the continuous din of her voice. She glanced several more times towards Sully, only to see that he was still eyeing her as he conversed with the second sailor who also occasionally looked her way. But whether she was the topic of their conversation, or the man was only following Clyde Sully’s eyes, she did not know.

Breaching all rules of decorum, Andrea hooked her arm around the older lady’s elbow and began strolling away from Clyde Sully. Lady Pike gaped at Andrea, not certain how she should react to such an uncalled for intimacy. Andrea released her arm with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry,” she exclaimed as if she had not known what she was doing. She released her arm but kept walking. “You just remind me so much of my dear Aunt Nellie…I don’t know what I could have been thinking.”

Slightly flustered, Lady Pike accepted the apology after a brief pause.

“You will come to the ladies’ saloon with me, won’t you? I just can’t stay out in the sun a moment longer if I want to keep my complexion,” Andrea said.

“As it so happens, I was supposed to meet my daughter there in a few minutes.”

The two started towards the ladies’ saloon. As Andrea turned into the passageway, she cast a last look over her shoulder to see if Clyde Sully was still watching her and did not see him. Nor did she see the form emerging from the dark passageway until it was too late. The man agilely sidestepped, but was unable to avoid colliding with her. Automatically, he seized her elbows to steady her, but released her with equal swiftness when she regained her balance.

“Pardon me,” she said swiftly, her eyes adjusting to the dim light of the corridor. “I wasn’t watching where I….” She trailed off when she saw the man she had run into was Miles Huntington. The decisive moment was upon her. Would he recognize her? It had been five years since she had danced in his arms, but it was less than a fortnight since her self-portrait appeared in the paper.

“Are you all right? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“N-no, of course not.” Andrea heard the wavering of her voice. As if a switch were thrown, she raised her head regally to compensate. The response was instinctive after years of what her mother called
acting
. To show fear or nervousness would only work against her.

“Are you sure, my dear,” Lady Pike asked solicitously. “You look a little pale.”

Andrea laughed slightly. “Then I guess I wasn’t out in the sun for too long after all.”

“Indeed,” Lady Pike ruffled, trying not to indulge Andrea’s sudden humor with a smile. The girl did have the most unseemly, yet impish, manners. “And you, Mr. Huntington, I trust you are also undamaged?”

“Quite so,” he responded, affecting a British accent.

Surprised by his folly, a genuine smile spread across her face.

“Surely, Lady Pike, this is not a second lovely daughter?” Miles Huntington asked.

“Oh no,” she answered in her singsong voice. “This is Miss Andrews. We’ve only just met.”

Miles extended his hand to her. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Andrews.” Before she could return the platitude, he released her hand and turned back to the older woman. “I was going to have a message sent around to your cabin to ask if you and your family would care to join me at my table again this evening. But since I have found you, I can ask you in person.”

“My husband is still suffering from these sea maladies, but Callie and I would love to join you again.”

“Good. Eight o’clock then?”

“Very well.”

He nodded to Lady Pike. “It was nice to meet you, Miss Andrews.”

Andrea nodded slowly and said nothing, but followed him with her eyes as he departed. When she realized Lady Pike was bustling down the hall, the younger woman hurried to keep up.

He had not recognized her! She could hardly believe it. She had not known how she would have dealt with him if he had. It was exactly as she had hoped. However, it did rankle her pride just a bit that he did not remember her, because she had never forgotten him. Even five years later, she still remembered the moment they had bumped into each other as they stepped onto the dance floor. Over the years, it seemed that the moment her breasts flattened against his chest had escalated tenfold. She had been too aware of her nervousness at the time to give meaning to the new sensations. But she had thought about that moment many times. Sometimes at night, as she lay in her bed, she would tentatively press her hands to her breasts trying to recreate the feeling. It was never the same.

She certainly did not understand why the image of Miles Huntington in her imaginings made her feel so contented, but it did. She knew men only used women’s bodies as a release for their lust. Miles Huntington would be no different. But for some reason, when she thought of Miles, that act didn’t seem as repulsive. Andrea did not have to worry about that since she was never getting married. Ever. Besides, for all she knew, he was already married.

Andrea would have been surprised to find out Lady Pike’s thoughts were also on Miles Huntington’s eligibility.

“I hope Callie is here already. I can’t wait to tell her about Mr. Huntington’s invitation.” She leaned closer to Andrea and confided in hushed tones, “I wouldn’t mind having Mr. Huntington for a son-in-law.”

“I would have thought a man his age would be married.”

“Or looking.”

The conspiratorial tone of the woman’s voice gave Andrea pause.

Both women scanned the saloon, Lady Pike looking for her daughter, Andrea staving her curiosity. Andrea’s eyes stopped on a vivacious brunette chatting carelessly with several other ladies of varying ages. Her tinkling laugh drifted across the room to Andrea making her envious of the young woman’s self-confidence and natural charm. As the woman brought her mirth under control, she looked in their direction and waved at Lady Pike. Excusing herself from the group, the woman came towards them and Andrea got this sickening impression that this was Alma Pike’s daughter.

Her first instinct was to dislike her. Outwardly, she was everything Andrea wished to be. Her smile was wide and friendly, almost toothy in its zenith. Her coloring was rich, with her thick brown hair and dark expressive eyes. She had deep red lips and high color in her cheeks, which Andrea would later discover, under closer inspection, were enhanced by cosmetics. Andrea felt washed out and dull next to her.

Lady Pike made the introductions and as soon as Callie Pike spoke, Andrea lost much of her envy. The tone of her voice was as grating as a waterfront fishwife’s.

Mother and daughter seated themselves on a small couch in the corner and Andrea took an open chair nearby.

Nearly bursting with excitement, Lady Pike gushed, “Guess who’s invited us to dinner again.”

“He did? Really, Mama?” At her mother’s nod, Callie sighed. “He’s the one, Mama. I can feel it in my bones. Before this voyage is over, I’m going to be engaged to Mr. Miles Huntington.” She looked off into the empty air, a dreamy smile across her face. “Do you think we will live in New York or London? I don’t know if I want to live so far from you and Papa.”

Lady Pike glanced at Andrea and shook her head like an overindulgent mother. “My dear, the man owns this ship. You can come home and visit three or four times a year, if you have a mind to.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.” She laughed airily. “Have you met Miles?” she asked Andrea.

Bristling over the way she called him
Miles
, Andrea would have loved to have said, “I met him years ago at a ball given in my father’s honor and danced half my dances in his arms.” Instead, she simply said, “Yes, we’ve met.”