Once Upon a Midnight Sea (19 page)

"That was a courageous thing you did, and mighty smart, using the winch to pull him up."

"I lost the mizzen skysail."

"You saved a man's life." Henri nodded. "That's what is important. Your father would be proud."

What he really meant was that he was proud. Adriana smiled as inner warmth chased away the angry sea's chill. "Thank you, Henri."

Adriana climbed down the hatch ladder. Mrs. Bailey rushed to her, bouncing off the walls as the ship swayed and pitched.

"Adriana! Dear child, I feared the worst when Henri came down without you. That beast. Leaving you up there by yourself in a gale like this. I'm going to see your father hears about each and every atrocious incident since leaving Norfolk."

"I was not by myself, Mrs. Bailey. Ollie and Mr. Ling were with me."

She gathered Adriana into her arms. "Oh you poor dear. You are soaking wet. You will catch your death in these clothes. Come now, I shall run a hot bath for you and get you clean and dry."

Adriana pulled the loose strands of her wet hair into a mass at the back of her neck. "We cannot fill the tub in these seas, and we must ration our water. We do not know how long we will be trapped in this storm." She turned toward her cabin. "Where is Chauncy?"

Christian emerged from his cabin, a towel over his shoulders and Chauncy wrapped in a blanket in his arms. Adriana guarded herself as she approached and took her dog.

"That was a foolish thing you did. It could have meant the end for all of us."

His eyes held no kindness. "I am quite sure you would have sacrificed me, had the risk become too great."

She issued a humorless chirp of laughter. "As if Mr. Dupree would have let me. The fool man has some unexplainable attachment to you that I cannot, for the life of me, understand."

A lie. She understood perfectly well. Christian possessed a unique charisma that caused her tingles with a simple smile, that deep, throaty laugh. Even that mischievous, sideways glance he sometimes tossed in her direction.

Leave now, before this gets worse than it already is
, she told herself.

"But you would have let your little dog drown?"

Even as fast as she turned to leave, her anger flash boiled. She turned back. "Yes. Because I know the lives of my crew are more important than a dog's."

"You ungrateful little witch."

She laughed in amazement. "Mr. De la Croix, I suspect you feel you have committed some great heroism for which I should fall at your feet, sniveling with gratitude." She forced herself to ignore the insult filling his features. "What you did was foolish and irresponsible."

"Sometimes impulsive is what saves the day," he growled.

"I forgive you that you do not share the same experience, or for that matter, common sense. However, in the future I will thank you to think before you act and not risk my ship or my crew in such a reckless and careless manner."

She turned to enter her cabin.

"Miss Montague, the life of that dog may not mean very much to you, but it does to me. I could not have slept nights knowing I turned my back on a helpless creature."

She stopped in her doorway. "Because you know it was your fault? Yes, Mr. De la Croix, I saw the bucket. It was fastened down when I left you to your shift."

Christian started towards her, lifting his hands as though to throttle her. Mrs. Bailey quickly placed her large body between them. "Enough, Mr. De la Croix. It has been an upsetting morning for us all, and it has hardly begun." She stepped into the cabin behind Adriana and turned to close the door. "Do be a gentleman and lend your assistance to Mr. Dupree, should he require it."

She slammed the door. "Of all the nerve! I do declare, that man hasn't a single decent bone in his body."

Adriana undressed in silence and handed her wet clothes to Mrs. Bailey.

"Goodness me, I am ill all over again. When I disembark, I shall never set foot on a ship again."

Adriana retrieved a dry skirt and shirtwaist from her wardrobe.

"Adriana, you should go back to bed. You've been through a horrible ordeal. You need your rest. There is no reason for you to head back up there. It isn't safe."

"I'm not tired, Mrs. Bailey." She buttoned the shirt and tucked it into the waist of her skirt, but left her feet bare. "Would you be so kind as to get me a cup of water?"

"I'll have Mrs. Ling make you some tea."

"She cannot light the stove in these seas. Not until it is absolutely necessary." Adriana sat on the edge of the bed and beckoned Chauncy. "Really, water is fine."

Mrs. Bailey pinched her lips and grumbled, but thankfully didn't protest. Adriana didn't think she could take much more. The door swung open when Mrs. Bailey left, but Adriana didn't have the energy to get up and close it properly.

Chauncy whined pitifully as he crept across the rolling cabin floor and hopped onto the bed. "I know just how you feel," she said as she gathered him in her arms. "Whatever possessed you to do such a silly thing as go on deck in a storm, my darling? You know better than that."

Christian did not. He'd leapt into the sea foolishly to rescue her little love, without thinking of the risk to the rest of them. And to save him, Adriana had to sacrifice the mizzen skysail and quite possibly the entire mizzen mast.

She hugged her little dog close. She did love this little mutt, and a part of her never would have been the same if he'd drowned. Had it been foolish daring? Or the most heroic and selfless act she'd ever seen?

Suddenly she remembered Christian's fear of the water. It had been a stupid thing to do, but a great act of bravery.

Inside she waged a war with herself. She wanted to admire him for courageously rescuing Chauncy, but she couldn't get over the fact that he'd risked the ship and all their lives. It was just this type of thing that made them so different, and so impossibly unsuitable for each other. He would never fit into her world, nor she into his. Adriana couldn't imagine living life so recklessly.

Christian moved carefully through the hall, drying his hair with a towel. When he glanced through the door and his eyes met hers, he hesitated. His cheeks glowed as if the encounter with the storm had invigorated him. He'd removed her father's velvet waistcoat but still wore the wet shirtwaist. It clung to his chest, outlining every superb ridge and bulge.

Adriana quickly looked down at her shivering dog. Chauncy licked her chin. When she glanced up, Christian was gone.

* * *

"Sweet Jesus! Mary, Mother of God."

From his bottom bunk across the tiny cabin, Edmund indulged in a private smile. John Locke thought he was dying. Good. The man deserved as much. Perhaps he would. Edmund searched his memory. Had a man ever died of sea sickness? Perhaps he might die of starvation, unable to keep food down. Or thirst, from vomiting up everything he consumed until he dried up like a beached jellyfish in the sun. Or maybe–and he hoped this the most–of diarrhea, being so nauseated his insides turned to goo.

Yesterday John had begged Charles to be let ashore, before the storm had fully come upon them. His part in this was done, he'd claimed. Edmund managed another thin smile. Coward.

Charles had refused, and set his motley crew due east to skirt the edge of the storm as it traveled northwest, onto the continent. Edmund knew once they'd avoided it, Charles would turn them back southwest, toward Florida. Doing so thanks to the captain of Montclair's Mother, who'd answered Charles' wire after seeing Lady Luck off Spider Cay.

Windfall rolled again and John Locke groaned into the darkness. "Bloody hell! Spare me this misery!"

Edmund cared little for his own welfare, but his heart ached with worry for Adriana. In twenty-four hours, the storm had turned into a full-gale hurricane. He wondered where she was, and how Henri and Ollie were holding up. Perhaps they had beaten it across the Caribbean and were safely harbored off South America somewhere, enjoying baked turtle smothered in Mrs. Ling's spicy papaya and red pepper sauce.

He closed his eyes and whispered a silent prayer.
Please Lord, take the luck that has graced me all these years and give it to Adriana, who truly deserves it, instead
.

Chapter Sixteen

Adriana gauged by the edge of light creeping into the sky that dawn was near. For two days Lady Luck had been battered and tossed by the storm, limping through the Caribbean with her injured mast.

Adriana and Christian had seen each other only as they'd changed shifts. It was better this way. The less she saw him, the easier it was to keep him out of her thoughts. They wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for him. Their lives wouldn't be at risk. They wouldn't even be in this part of the world.

She glanced at the bow. Mr. Ling kept a careful watch over the rigging, but the old man was tired and becoming overwhelmed by the pounding anger of the storm. They all were. Mrs. Bailey had hardly found her sea legs, now she was even more violently ill than their first day out. Ollie seemed unaffected by the storm, but her anger toward Christian clearly had him upset.

Only last night had Mrs. Ling dared to light the stove for the first time since the storm's onset. Adriana's first hot meal in two days had been magnificent, even though the stew had no celery or carrots. Rations were thin. Mrs. Ling's chickens had stopped laying and three had died. Yesterday Henri returned from the fore hold with a grim expression, but even though he'd kept silent, Adriana knew they were nearly out of water.

She sensed more than saw him as Christian emerged through the main hatch. He was early. Adriana's spine went rigid as he neared.

He moved up beside her. "The storm is winding down," he said after a long silence. "I was finally able to sleep last night."

Adriana said nothing.

"We will be able to land soon?"

"We had better, or we are done for."

Christian shook his head. "It seems hard to believe that after coming so far, we might be felled by a mere storm."

"You truly believe you are invincible, don't you?" Adriana snapped. It was easier to accept their impossible future if she maintained her anger. "Better men than you have lost their lives to the sea."

"That is not what I meant."

She heard the defensive edge returning to his voice, but she didn't care. She hadn't invited him up here. He could leave if he didn't like what she had to say. "Mr. Dupree and the Lings are exhausted. Mrs. Bailey is overcome with
mal de mer
. Yet you act as if it is simply another day in your tramp's life. Well I have news for you, Mr. De la Croix. The rest of us do not live on the edge of reason as you seem to."

He let out a long breath as he raked his fingers through his hair. "I am aware of the danger of our predicament. Dammit, I came up here to apologize."

Adriana turned her gaze out to the thick gray sky. For the first time in days, the sunrise penetrated enough to touch the angry clouds with an edge of gold. This wasn't what she wanted to hear from him. It would be so much easier to stay angry with him if he would fight with her.

"I blame myself," he said to her silence. Adriana's pulse quickened. Could it be the selfish and arrogant jewel thief had found a sliver of fault within himself?

"Mr. De la Croix, it is more than an hour before your shift. You should be in bed."

"I cannot sleep. I must tell you this."

She sighed angrily and turned to him. "Then do so, and be done with it."

At the bow, Mr. Ling turned around as her voice carried forward.

"Perhaps I can relieve him. He does look tired," Christian volunteered. Before she could stop him, he crossed the deck and spoke softly to Mr. Ling. The old man smiled and nodded, then disappeared through the bow hatch.

Christian returned across the deck. He stopped before her and smiled thoughtfully. "Do you realize we are almost never alone? Either Henri or that hawk-like chaperone of yours is always hovering nearby."

Adriana's cheeks burned.
I don't like where this is headed
, she thought. "I have no wish to be alone with you."

Before she could collect herself, he grabbed her arms and turned her to face him. "Don't lie to me, Adriana."

A spray of cold seawater rained over her, but it did nothing to cool the heated confusion that burst to life in her heart. She pulled from his grip and grasped the spoke handles with both hands. "Whatever do you mean?"

"I see the way you look at me when I'm close. You wonder."

"Wonder what?"

Christian snatched the leather strap and fixed it around a spoke to hold the wheel on course. He pulled her hands back in his. This time, though she knew she should, Adriana didn't pull away.

"What it would be like...if it were different."

She wanted to play innocent, ask
if what were different
, but she knew she couldn't lie. She did wonder what it would be like between them, if their situation were different.
If we were different
.