Cast Love Aside (6 page)

“Wonderful,” Magnus retorted with scathing
sarcasm. “This mission grows ever more delightful.”

“Have you no sympathy?” Lilianne
demanded.

“Not at the moment. If you two don't stop
making so much noise, I'll toss both of you overboard.”

“You wouldn't!”

Magnus didn't answer. He stopped rowing and
sat very still. Braedon and William stopped rowing, too. Alice
temporarily ceased retching and leaned her head on Lilianne's
shoulder. An eerie silence descended as the fog wrapped ever more
closely around them.

At first Lilianne heard nothing. It was so
quiet that she was aware of William drawing a long breath and of
the slight creak of the bench he was sitting on when he turned to
look at Alice. Then a low voice sounded across the water. Someone
was singing a decidedly off-color sailor's chant that was similar
to a tune Lilianne had occasionally heard French fishermen sing.
She also caught a faint whiff of fish. Finally, she heard Magnus's
soft laugh of relief.

“I believe we’ve found the ship,” she said.
“Is the song a signal? What a clever idea; anyone who is pursuing
us won’t suspect they are calling to you.”

Magnus didn’t respond. He and the other men
began rowing once more, quickening their strokes until the rowboat
seemed to fly across the water.

Still with one arm on Alice's shoulders,
Lilianne turned to peer through the fog ahead. The soft chanting
grew louder and soon she could discern a dark shape looming before
them. The fishy smell became stronger.

“Captain Piers has apparently taken advantage
of the fog to move the
Daisy
closer to shore,” Braedon
announced after a quick look over his shoulder. “The ship is
directly ahead.”

“Good,” Magnus said, never breaking his
steady, stroking rhythm on the oars.

“We're almost there,” Lilianne reported a few
minutes later.

Magnus just grunted in reply.

By the time the rowboat drew alongside the
larger vessel the smell of fish was almost overwhelming even to
Lilianne, who possessed a strong stomach. Alice was groaning
repeatedly. It was obvious that the owner of the ship had a wry
sense of humor. The
Daisy
was anything but fresh.

In the thick fog Lilianne could see little of
the ship except that her sides were draped with nets against which
the rowboat bumped when the men shipped the oars. Someone above
hailed them in a muted voice, to which Magnus responded with equal
softness. A line was thrown down to them, which Braedon seized and
used to secure the rowboat.

A second line appeared, and this Magnus
fastened around Erland's chest under his armpits. Erland moaned as
Magnus shifted him around, but otherwise he gave no indication he
was aware of what was happening.

“He will be hoisted aboard,” Magnus explained
to Lilianne. “It's easier and safer than trying to carry him. He
won't be harmed. There's a bunk waiting for him, where he'll remain
until we reach England. Can you climb the net?”

“Yes, of course,” she answered, not wanting
to reveal that, for all her years of youthful play on the water,
she had never boarded a ship by way of a net.

“I can't,” Alice whispered. Meeting the hard
look Magnus sent her way, she revised the statement. “I mean, I've
never tried. Perhaps, I can.”

“I'll help you,” William offered.

“It's easy,” Lilianne assured her friend.
Grabbing her shoes, she stuffed her stockings into them, used the
laces to tie them together, and secured them to her belt. With the
purse already fastened to her belt and her damp skirts still tucked
up, the weight around her middle was growing heavy, but she wanted
her hands free.

“Braedon will go first,” Magnus instructed.
“Alice will go next, with William behind her in case she needs
help. Then Lilianne. I'll go last, so I can watch over Erland and
make sure he isn't injured on the way up. We need him healthy and
able to talk,” he said to Lilianne.

Braedon scrambled up the net as if he’d been
doing it all his life. William sent Alice immediately after Braedon
and a little to one side of him. When she froze halfway up the net,
Braedon reached down his hand for her to clasp, while William
gently urged her onward from below. Alice gave voice to just one
terrified sob before she continued on her way.

Meanwhile, Magnus held tightly to the net,
keeping the rowboat in place at the side of the
Daisy.

“Your turn,” he said to Lilianne. “Get on
board as fast as you can. Captain Piers will want to depart as soon
as possible.”

Lilianne threw the folds of her cloak back
over her shoulders. Stretching both arms up as high as she could,
she grasped the net. She placed her bare feet into the net, curling
her toes around the crosswise ropes and slowly lifted herself
upward.

“Don't look down,” Magnus warned. “Just keep
moving.”

Raising his voice, he gave an order to
someone on the deck above and the line holding Erland tightened.
Lilianne disobeyed Magnus to look down as Erland's unconscious form
was lifted out of the rowboat. She was only a few feet above the
little craft and looking back wasn't at all frightening. Magnus
began to climb along with his prisoner, using one hand as needed to
steady Erland's body and keep him from banging against the ship.
Quickly, before Magnus could notice she had stopped, Lilianne
continued upward.

She found climbing the net much more
difficult than she expected. But with Magnus beside her, she felt
safe until, halfway up the side of the ship, she disobeyed him for
the second time and glanced downward again.

This time the view was very different. With
no one holding the rowboat close to the
Daisy,
it had
drifted free to swing at the end of the line Braedon had secured,
so it trailed some distance after the larger vessel. Thus, when
Lilianne looked down all she saw was black, oily water swirling far
below. To make matters worse, someone on deck shouted a command to
raise the anchor. Winches groaned and the
Daisy
began to
swing around. Lilianne gulped, clinging to the net and unable to
move or cry out.

“Don't stop.” Magnus's voice was stern. “Keep
climbing.”

As soon as she was capable of once again
making a sound, she intended to tell him that she couldn't move
another inch. But just as she opened her mouth, Magnus reached her
level on the net. Almost casually he laid his left arm across her
back to twist his hand into the net below her left shoulder. His
left hip and thigh pressed hard against her trembling form.

“I told you not to look down,” he said. “Are
you all right?”

“Of course I am,” she cried, trying to
disguise the tremor in her voice. “Why would you think
otherwise?”

“Because you’re afraid of falling into the
water.”

“I am not!” she declared, hoping he wouldn't
realize she was lying.

“Move up the net,” Magnus told her.

Flustered by his remarkably intimate
closeness, which she found entirely too disturbing, Lilianne began
to climb again. She told herself she was eager to get away from
Magnus. She didn't know he intended to climb with her. As she
dragged herself upward he unwound his hand from the net and let it
stroke along her back to her waist. She felt the weight of it
through all the layers of her woolen clothing. She caught her
breath and paused again.

“Go on,” Magnus urged. “I cannot hold you and
guide Erland along at the same time. Since you are awake and he is
not, you must be the one to move.”

“I know.” She turned her head as she spoke.
The movement brought her lips almost to his mouth. Magnus's breath
was warm on her cheek. She clutched at the net a little harder. A
sudden sharp jab in her hand broke the spell of closeness. Lilianne
cried out in pain.

“What now?” Magnus demanded, sounding
distinctly annoyed.

“It's nothing. Just a splinter.”

“See to it later,” he commanded. “This is not
the place.”

Without another word she scrambled upward,
trying not to notice the way Magnus's hand remained at her waist
for a moment, as if to guide her and offer unspoken support. As she
moved away from him, his hand slid down, over her hip, thigh and
calf. The touch of his calloused fingers on her naked ankle shocked
her senses. Lilianne bit her lip to keep herself from crying out in
a different kind of reaction from the pain caused by the splinter
in her hand.

Above her, Braedon was already on the deck of
the
Daisy.
Leaning over the railing he caught Alice's arms
to help her up the last few feet of net. Once Alice was standing on
the deck Braedon left her to William's care while he reached down
again to wrap his hands around Lilianne's wrists.

“You can do it,” Braedon encouraged her.
“It's not far now.”

While Lilianne made the final effort, Magnus
climbed past her and flipped himself over the rail as lightly as
any tumbler performing his act. Lilianne forgot her aching arms and
her fear of falling long enough to marvel once again at his supple
strength. Magnus elbowed Braedon aside to catch Lilianne around her
waist as she clambered over the rail. He steadied her until she
found her footing on the sloping deck, then released her and
stepped away.

Braedon and William already had Erland free
of the rope. Holding him by his shoulders and feet, they carried
him to a hatchway. Alice was right behind them, staying close to
William.

“Go below with your uncle,” Magnus commanded
when Lilianne lingered on deck.

“Why?” she demanded. She was growing tired of
the way he ordered her around. Magnus was kinder than her uncle
ever was when issuing orders, and so far whatever he'd told her to
do made good sense, but even so, she did not like anyone snapping
commands at her.

“It’s cold and wet on deck,” Magnus said in
response to her rudely posed question. “You will be more
comfortable below. Alice may need your assistance.”

“I prefer the fresh air up here.” He was
right about Alice, but Lilianne wasn't going to go below
meekly.

“As you wish, my lady. At least put your
shoes on.” With an indifferent shrug Magnus turned away from
her.

Lilianne decided it wasn't a good time to
remind him about the splinter in her hand. His close presence had
distracted her from the discomfort, but now the wound ached.
Sitting down on a coil of rope, she hastily pulled on her stockings
and shoes while she tried to decide whether to go below as Magnus
wanted, or stay above, where the air was surely cleaner, despite
the odor of fish. She could imagine what the smell was doing to
poor Alice.

Magnus showed no sign of following his
companions through the hatch. He remained at the rail, staring
through the fog as if he was looking for something important,
something that lay back in France.

Her consideration of Magnus's brooding figure
was interrupted by the arrival of a burley man who wore a brilliant
blue tunic and bright red leather boots that rose so high on his
thighs that she wondered if they’d been cobbled for someone
else.

“Yer late, Sir Magnus,” the newcomer said,
approaching with a rolling gait that bespoke years spent at sea. He
was barely as tall as Magnus's shoulder but his broad figure
suggested hidden strength and he showed no indication of
humility.

“We were delayed ashore,” Magnus said,
reverting to the brief, clipped sentences he had used when Lilianne
first met him.

“Aye, that's clear enough,” the burly man
responded with a scowl. “An' ye brought two females aboard, along
with yer prisoner. I'll have ye know, I keep an honest ship, me
foine laddie. I'll not tolerate misbehavior.”

“The
ladies
are under my protection,”
Magnus stated firmly. “When we reach England, they will be handed
into Lord Royce's protection. Since Royce is the man who hired you,
I suggest you address any complaints directly to him.”

“You must be Captain Piers.” Pretending that
her wet skirts were not still hiked up far enough to reveal her
legs to her knees, Lilianne stepped forward with outstretched hand
and her brightest smile. “I am honored to meet you, sir. I promise
I will do my best to see that our presence doesn't inconvenience
you. I believe Lady Alice will choose to remain below for the
entire voyage. I, on the other hand, have always enjoyed travel by
sea. Oh, I do beg your pardon, Captain; you don't know me. I am
Lady Lilianne de Sainte Inge.”

“Are ye, now?” Captain Piers looked her over
from her toes to the top of her head, which towered a good half
foot above his. Then he grinned and accepted her hand, bowing over
it with the air of a great nobleman. “Yer welcome aboard the
Daisy,
my lady, so long as ye cause no trouble.”

“I assure you, Captain Piers, you will
scarcely know Lady Alice and I are aboard,” Lilianne said.

Magnus doubted that. Lilianne's rosy face was
moist from the fog. The dampness made her thick eyelashes stick
together in a way that left him longing to kiss her lids until the
lashes separated again. As for her hair, it was curling furiously
around her face and shoulders. A few tendrils clung to her forehead
and a single, beguiling curl lay against her damp cheek.

A woman who looked the way Lilianne did could
easily cause a riot among Captain Piers's sailors.

“My lady, I believe you were about to go
below,” Magnus said pointedly, “to see if Lady Alice is feeling
better.”

“What's this?” Captain Piers exclaimed, his
rough charm vanishing in an instant. “Are ye sayin' the other woman
is sick? Ye'd bring illness aboard my ship?”

“Oh, she's not contagious,” Lilianne said
before Magnus could speak again. With a soft giggle she added,
“Lady Alice has a weak stomach and the motion of that little
rowboat – well, Captain Piers, I'm sure a man of your vast
experience has seen many people who cannot bear to be at sea. As
for me, I am never ill. Now, if you gentlemen will kindly excuse
me, I'll see if Lady Alice needs anything.”