Petals on the River (8 page)

"I could not disobey my superiors," Harper argued.
 
"Nor was it my place

to debate the matter with them."

"So, by your silence you consented to the whipping," Shemaine chided

softly.
 
"How chivalrous you are."

Harper blushed profusely, realizing her arguments had uprooted him from

his firm stance.
 
Her persuasive reasoning would no doubt sway the

colonist in her favor.
 
In hopes of dashing any idea of a gallant

spirit, he sought to justify his claims.
 
" Twas certainly not your

place to accuse the captain or his wife and encourage the other

prisoners to revolt!"

"Revolt?" Shemaine laughed in rampant disbelief.
 
"They merely voiced

their objections.
 
Believe me, sir, revolt was not within their

capability, not when they were half starved and weighed down with so

much iron they could hardly move!"

"The bosun's right, gov'na," Morrisa interrupted, shouldering others

aside.
 
"That Irish tart gots a spitefully mean temper, she does.
 
Laid

me low more'n a few times, she did, without me e'er knowin' what set her

off."

"Ye liar!" Annie shrieked.
 
Catching hold of Morrisa's arm, she swung

her around and then let go, sending the harlot reeling haphazardly into

the churning body of women.

There had been times during the voyage when Annie's temper had

completely amazed Shemaine, and the present moment was no exception. The

woman had seemed like such a retiring little mouse at the onset of the

voyage, but since that fateful day of her whipping, Annie had grown

bolder, as if she had made a silent pledge to herself to reap vengeance

on those who had abused her and to repay Shemaine for everything she had

suffered after coming to her defense.
 
To be sure, Annie had

demonstrated her gratitude far more than Shemaine had ever expected from

anyone or, for that matter, had ever thought her deed warranted.

It was Annie who returned to shake a dirty finger beneath the noble nose

of Gage Thornton.
 
'Whipped by order o' the cap'n's missus, I was, but

m'liedy called her a mean an' heartless shrewþ"

"Aye!
 
An' Sh'maine had the lot o' us agreein' with her!" the

snaggletoothed crone interjected.
 
"Even chained, we were set ta break

the bilboes an' waylay the crew til the cap'n agreed ta stop the

floggin'."

Annie persisted in her defense.
 
"An' we were bent on protestin'

m'liedy's stay in the cable locker, too, but Sh'maine told us ta take

care o' our own hides.
 
She vowed ta show Mrs.
 
Fitch the true cut o'

her jib an' said she'd come out no worse for wear...."

Shemaine groaned inwardly, convinced that her friend was far too vocal

about her fleeting moment of folly.
 
She had lost her temper, nothing

more.

" Twas only the cap'n reducin' her stay ta four days stead o' four weeks

what saved her skin," Annie added.

In all actuality, Annie's discourse had had little effect on Gage

Thornton.
 
He had made up his mind some moments earlier, during the

argument between Harper and the girl.
 
In protesting the bosun's

accusations, she had readily confirmed her intelligence and schooling.

Gage was delighted that she met his requirements so completely. The fact

that she did allowed him to avoid a conflict within himself, for he

really didn't want to deal with the dilemma of wanting her irregardless

her merits.

Still, he could not let himself appear overeager when he had to lay out

a significant sum of money.
 
He had to be careful with the coins he had

earned, at least until he finished building the ship he had designed and

could find a buyer for it.
 
Though he had every intention of becoming a

rich man someday, he was by no means one yet. Having been denied any

right to his father's fortune because of a rift that had sprung up

between them, he had come to the colonies a veritable pauper.
 
It had

only been by a like amount of wit and grit that he had managed to

succeed as well as he had.
 
In truth, if he could somehow manage to give

up his dream of building ships, the furniture that he and his four

employees made in his cabinet shop would provide him with a goodly

income, but there lay the crux of the difflculty.
 
How could one give up

a lifelong ambition?

"You don't mind if I have a closer look at the girl, do you, Mr.

Harper?" Gage raised an eyebrow in cynical wonder, half expecting the

bosun to deny his request.

Harper scowled sharply.
 
The man's persistence grated on his temper.
 
"

Twill do you no good."

"Why not?" Gage asked curtly.
 
"If I'm willing to take a chance on the

girl's disposition, what else might prevent me from buying her?"

At the seaman's taciturn frown and rigid shrug, Gage pointedly dismissed

him and moved beyond Annie to where Shemaine stood.
 
She was not the

cleanest creature he had ever seen or, for that matter, even smelled,

but the fiery lights that flashed in those dark green orbs amused him.

And that meant a great deal to him.
 
If truth be known, he had almost

forgotten how to laugh since the death of his wife.

"The girl looks half starved," Gage commented, giving Harper a

challenging stare.
 
He had heard rumors of privation aboard convict

ships, and though their captains were wont to disavow such tales as

gross exaggerations, the deplorable condition of the felons aboard this

vessel seemed to bear out such unfavorable reports.

Harper ground his teeth in growing vexation.
 
No matter how strenuously

he had objected to the scarcity of victuals for the prisoners, the fact

that this settler made reference to the starvation only served to

heighten his irritation, for he was sure this interloper was trying to

instigate a quarrel.
 
" Tis no concern of yours what the girl's present

state may be, Mr.
 
Thornton.
 
I've told you before, I cannot sell her to

you."

"She'll fatten up right nicely, gov'na," Annie encouraged Gage

impetuously as she came to Shemaine's side.
 
"If'n ye be o' a mind ta

give her a few good vittles, it won't take her no time at all."

"Hush, Annie!" The emerald eyes flashed an angry reproof.
 
"I'm not a

sow you're selling."

"Can you cook?" Gage asked.

Annie bobbed her head and hastily replied in her friend's stead. "O'

course, she can, gov'na!"

"Will you not shush?" Shemaine whispered furiously.
 
"You're bound to

get me into trouble!"

Gage was certain he understood the drift of the admonition, but

questioned Shemaine to be sure.
 
"What did you say?"

Annie waved away his inquiry.
 
"Oh, na' a thin', gov'na.
 
M'liedy was

just clearin' her throat, that she was!
 
Tis all these here spores in

the air, ye know."

"Annie!" The name came out sounding like steam hissing from a boiling

kettle, and perhaps that description could have been directly applied to

Shemaine.
 
She was not very appreciative of being discussed as if she

were a piglet being offered for sale.

Stepping slowly and purposefully around Shemaine, Gage contemplated her

from every angle.
 
Even a large cabin could get uncomfortably cramped

when it served as home to two people who couldn't abide each other.
 
Of

late, he had become increasingly aware of the difficulty in coping with

a woman, namely one Roxanne Corbin, who tried to smother him with her

presence and attention.
 
If not for his desperate need for a nursemaid

to care for his son while he worked he would never have considered

taking Roxanne on in the first place and now she expected far more from

him than he was willing to give.
 
In Shemaine's case, however, he

thought he might enjoy having her underfoot and discovering every minute

detail about her.

Pausing beside her, Gage reached out and slid his fingers curiously over

the delicate bones of her wrist.
 
The contact seemed far too bold and

intimate to Shemaine.
 
Had he branded her, she would have felt no less

disturbed, for his touch seemed like a warm flame slowly licking upward

along her skin.

"Please don't!" she begged breathlessly, pulling away.
 
When he looked

so sleek, hale, and hearty, what merit could he possibly find in a frail

and filthy reed?

"I didn't mean to startle you, Shemaine," Gage apologized.
 
"I only

wanted to look at your hands....
 
May I?"

Shemaine didn't like being the recipient of such close attention,

especially when she felt so utterly unclean.
 
Grudgingly she lifted her

hands, resenting her lack of an option.
 
She was just thankful he hadn't

asked to see her teeth!

Gage examined the slender fingers with care, finding them grimy yet

finely made.
 
He stroked a thumb across the fragile bones in the back of

her hands and, turning them over, inspected the palms that were as soft

as any well-born lady's.

"You seem ill prepared for work, Shemaine," he observed in amazement.

Beneath his searching gaze, Shemaine felt a blush stealing into her