Silver Sea (17 page)

"Can't a fellow enjoy a case of the sulks without having to make explanations? I'm not in the mood for billiards anymore. Think I'll go outside for a bit of air. Perhaps it's stopped raining." Harms strode away before anyone else could press the matter.

Alone in the central corridor, he felt as if the walls were closing in. All Huntsford wanted was a little time with Adrienne Beauvisage, to prove to her that he could look after her every bit as well as the bloody Scapegrace, but the other inhabitants of the castle continually got in his way.

If only Harms could expose that Essex/Raveneau character to Adrienne! It was supremely frustrating to know that the man was a fraud and Adrienne was being duped, but even more frustrating to fear that if she learned his real identity she might find him more
appealing than before!

It came to him that the library was around the next corner, and the object of his obsession was probably inside. Huntsford found a mirror. He checked his windswept blond locks, straightened his cravat, which was knotted a la Byron, and thrust his jaw out above perilously high shirtpoints. If Adrienne would only compare the way Huntsford's coat fit across the shoulders with that of his careless rival, she would have no doubt which man was worthy of her regard!

Bristling with determination, he advanced toward the library. Adrienne's voice drifted around the door, " 'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.' "

Harms entered with pleasure. "My dear Miss Beauvisage, might you be speaking of me?"

She was sitting opposite Lady Thomasina, who was in her usual tub chair. A book was open on Adrienne's lap. "Oh—Lord Harms!" She blushed slightly, as was her custom. "Actually, I was reading from
Pride and Prejudice.
Those were Jane Austen's sentiments, not my own."

"What's come over you, Hunty?" his mother cried. "This estate does not constitute a 'good fortune,' and even if it did, why would you say something so prosy to Miss Beau? Unless..." Her voice trailed off and she raised her quizzing glass, staring through the smudged lens as an idea occurred to her.

"Mummy, don't fly off into the boughs over nothing." It was his turn to color. "I was just attempting to put Miss Beauvisage at ease." Crossing to the windows, he spied Nathan out of the corner of one eye. The other man was perched high on one of the library ladders, sorting through books, apparently unaware of what was happening across the big room.

"Hunty, you may be interested to know that we have been planning an outing." Lady Thomasina continued to stare at him through her quizzing glass. "It seems that Miss Beau shares my admiration for Jane Austen. As soon as the weather clears, we will venture into Winchester and make a pilgrimage to her last address on College Street and to the cathedral where she was laid to rest."

Having reached the tall windows, Harms turned and looked back at his mother. She was leaning forward, glaring in a way that he was meant to understand. Perhaps he was not so unlike her after all.... "I envy you those plans." He watched Lady Thomasina's expression as he spoke. "And look outside, Miss Beauvisage. We have a rainbow!"

The beauteous Adrienne came toward him, smiling. "Really? I love rainbows but seldom see one."

When she was next to him, Huntsford dared to ask, "Would you mind if I accompany you and Mummy to Winchester? I'm quite an admirer of Miss Austen myself."

Adrienne blinked. All morning she had been dreaming of the fun she would have with Nathan. Still, what could she say? "But, Lord Harms, what about your friends? I'm afraid you would find our company awfully dull."

"Are you putting me off, Miss Beauvisage? My friends are charming, but I long for the company of others."

"Well, then, of course you may join us." She smiled.

"Delightful. If I may be so bold, I will confess that I have been hoping for an opportunity to know you better." He saw, over her shoulder, his own mother nodding encouragement.

Speechless, Adrienne looked back toward the rainbow and hoped for a distraction. As if on cue a stranger on horseback cantered around the curve and approached the castle. "Goodness! Look. Someone's coming!"

"I don't recognize him," Harms said. He threw open the sash and let in a blast of warm, humid air.

"A stranger?" Lady Thomasina struggled to her feet.

"Nathan, come and help me. Angus is all tangled up in my skirts! I want to see who is outside."

He descended the ladder and crossed the room in seconds, glad for an excuse to inflict himself on Huntsford Harms. As Nathan and Lady Thomasina neared the window, Adrienne was leaning out and calling to their visitor.

"Excuse me, sir! Will you inform us of your business?"

Nathan was tall enough to see over her head, down to the drive where the stranger was in the process of doffing his hat. He was short in stature, and revealed a head of thick, bright red hair that gave Nathan a moment's pause.

"Yes, ma'am!" he called. "I am here to see Nathan—uh—" The fellow read from a scrap of paper. "Nathan Essex! Do you know him?"

Nathan took a step forward. He stared as his caller looked up toward their window, his sunburned face fully revealed. Unbelievably, it was Zachary Minter, the
Golden Eagle's
first mate.

* * *

"Curse you, Zach! What the devil are you doing here?" Nathan demanded as soon as he had closed the door to his room behind them. "I distinctly recall giving you instructions
not
to show your face here, unless the circumstances were dire. Why do I feel that is not the case?"

"See here, guv'nor—"

"I've told you not to call me that!"

Zachary Minter's eyes twinkled with mischief. "Where's your ready wit, sir? I figured that you'd be missing me so much by now that you'd have changed your mind and would welcome me with open arms!"

"If we were on board ship, I'd tie you to the mainmast and lash you within an inch of your life."

Minter leaned toward him and whispered with conspiratorial delight, "We both know you'd do no such thing. I'm the best friend you have in the world, and you'll not convince me otherwise!"

"Am I going mad?" Glaring at his first mate, who was nearly a foot shorter than he, Raveneau pretended to tear out his hair. "If you're going to insist on torturing me, let us get to the point. Why are you here?"

"I came to tell you that the men are growing very bored and restless, and are taking to the pubs. Remember Crenshaw from Connecticut, the son of your parents' friends? He's enamoured of a—a lady of the evening! I do my best to watch over them, but I'm only one man! They signed on to go to sea, and instead they're up the Thames, expected to wait all summer—"

"You needn't beat me over the head with this. I take your meaning." Raveneau frowned as he thought of Franklin Crenshaw, who had come from Pettipauge, Connecticut, to join his crew, and whom he had known since the boy's birth. Nathan's father, Andre Raveneau, was Franklin's godfather. "How was I supposed to know that this other matter would arise? I can't live two lives at once!"

"Clearly you're very busy here. I gather that your charge was the girl who leaned out the window and called to me?" Zachary watched him with a sly smile. "Very fetching indeed! I can see that you might enjoy playing her nursemaid better than captain of the
Golden Eagle
, but you did have a prior commitment to your crew...."

"You're a wretched snake, Zach." Nathan poured himself a brandy from his private flask and drank. "You know very well that this is about obtaining that land in Barbados, to get at Crowe, and has nothing to do with Miss Beauvisage's beauty."

"Oh, of course not! You're the last person who'd notice a tempting morsel like her, let alone want a taste!"

"Are you trying to drive me to sack you?" Raveneau's face was dark and threatening. "Let up, or I will."

The smaller man replied cheerfully, "I'm shakin' in me boots, guv'nor!"

"I despise you. I rue the day our fathers pushed us together." Nathan stalked away. "Devil take it, there is a great deal at stake here, including Miss Beauvisage's safety!" Bracing one booted foot on the trunk beneath the window, he ran a hand through his black hair and sighed. "I simply can't leave, Zach. Not yet. In fact, I shouldn't even be away from Adrienne for this long—"

"Oh, so it's
Adrienne
now! I knew it, for I am never wrong about these matters!" He took a closer look at his friend. "I'll admit, though, that this is different from your usual dalliances. Usually, after a few days, you're itching to get away to sea...."

"This is not a
dalliance."

"I haven't seen you stay put with one female for this long since—" Zach paused, then said, "Eloise."

Nathan went white. "You know better than to mention her name, Minter! And, in any event, you are missing the mark altogether with Adrienne. Don't try to analyze my motives!" He glowered at him. "You can't stay here either. I'll have to invent a convincing story as it is."

"If you're going to send me back without one shred of advice, or better yet a plan, you may return to the
Golden Eagle
in a few weeks to find she has no crew. You and I can't sail a packet to Barbados on our own, nor can we recruit men on the London docks who could hold a candle to the ones you have already handpicked with such care." His well-rehearsed speech ended, Zachary helped himself to the brandy and waited.

"You know me too well."

"Someone must," he agreed with a grin.

"All right then." Nathan thought again of Franklin Crenshaw. He knew what his own father would advise. "We cannot leave for Barbados until my work here is completed, but perhaps we can find another way to occupy the men. You may sail the ship to the Isle of Wight, which you'll recall is just below the port of Southampton, not far from here. Drop anchor in Freshwater Bay and wait to hear from me." He paused, enjoying the plans. A grim smile touched his lips. "There isn't much on the Isle of Wight. I don't even know if there are any pubs there, and you'll be far enough from Southampton so that the crew should stay out of trouble. What do you think?"

"You're a crafty fellow, Captain Raveneau."

"Stop calling me that. Someone will hear you." Nathan shook his head, remembering Minter's recent memory lapse. "I was furious the moment I saw you today—reading my surname from a scrap of paper!"

"Better than getting it wrong altogether, eh? You've scolded me enough for now, don't you think?"

"Hardly."

"I'd like to say that I think you've hit on a fine plan, sir. The men will be overjoyed to be setting sail, even if they're only going into the channel a few miles. I'll tell them that you'll be joining us soon and that we must spend our days anchored off the coast preparing the
Golden Eagle
for the return of its captain!"

"Good." The two old friends shared a smile. Raveneau nearly confided his suspicion that this would be for the best, for he couldn't help wondering if he might one day need his ship unexpectedly. He had a vague inkling that there could be developments at Harms Castle beyond his control.

Adrienne was a strong force in her own right. However, other unpredictable characters were coming to the fore. Once Nathan had thought he could shape this adventure himself, keeping one eye on Adrienne and the other on the villainous Frakes-Hogg. Now there was no telling what might happen next.

"If you need me," Zachary Minter said, "you can send word to the ship. I won't have far to come from the south coast."

"Yes, that's true." Nathan's eyes softened. Minter's loyalty was a gift beyond price. "I shouldn't send you away so hastily. Let's go to the kitchen and have something to eat, and you can tell me about the crew. If you continue to know so much more than I, by the time I rejoin the
Golden Eagle,
the men might decide to mutiny against me!"

Zach puffed out his narrow chest. "Captain Minter... It does have a certain ring to it, I must admit!"

Laughing, they went out into the corridor together in time to see Jarrow marching up the staircase with a tray.

"Are you taking tea to her ladyship?" Nathan asked. When the butler nodded, he said, "I would be grateful if you could tell her, and Miss Beauvisage, that I am obliged to spend a little time with my—my cousin." Nathan gestured toward Minter, who could not have looked less like his relative. "He's from America. I thought I should have a bite of stew with him before he leaves for London."

The butler looked bored. "The weight of this tray prevents me from lingering to hear more of this fascinating tale, Essex. I shall give her ladyship your message."

The two men went in the other direction, toward the servants' staircase, and Jarrow continued on to the library. When he entered, Adrienne looked up expectantly.

"If you are anticipating the return of Mr. Essex," Jarrow announced, "I have been asked to inform you that he will not be coming. It seems that that redheaded fellow is his cousin from America, and they're going off together."

Noticing Adrienne's crestfallen expression, Huntsford said, "I find it very odd that Essex's own cousin had to consult a piece of paper to find his
surname!
Don't you think that's odd, Mummy?"

"Quite!" She stirred her tea. Her eyes were like little raisins as she studied first Adrienne and then her son. "I say, children, why don't we go to Winchester this very afternoon? It's so very pleasant outdoors under the rainbow. The sun is shining on all the droplets of rain that cling to the leaves."

"Why, Mummy, how poetic you are!"

"I don't think that Mr. Essex wants me to venture outdoors without him," Adrienne protested. "I agree that it's silly, but he is adamant."

Huntsford Harms took her arm with a commanding air and declared, "My dear Miss Beauvisage, I can promise you that I am every bit as capable of protecting you as that oaf! If Mummy wishes to travel to Winchester now, then we must do so, and I shall prove my mettle to you."

"It's not really necessary, my lord—" Adrienne's rebellious streak nearly took control, but she resolved to soldier through. "I mean, you don't have to prove anything to me, my lord. I never doubted your gallantry."