Stormy Persuasion (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Five

N
athan did abandon ship, as it were, returning belowdecks again. Judith couldn’t do
the same, not if she wanted to put out the fire before it started. If anyone was going
to tear Nathan apart for being
married
, it would be her, not her father. So she pulled up a bright smile, waved at her father,
and joined him on the quarterdeck. And did a good job of hiding her fury.

Her father didn’t. He was scowling even as he put an arm around her shoulders. “What
were you doing with that chap?”

“Debating whether to toss him overboard.”

“I’ll kill him if he insulted you.”

She rolled her eyes. “You say that about every man I talk to. But I was joking, so
there’s no need for you to kill anyone this trip. He was just shocked by Jack’s display
of fencing skill. I was merely explaining why and how she came by it.”

“None of his bloody business.”

“I thought we agreed you weren’t going to hate every man I meet. Mother even assured
me you wouldn’t.”

That was pulling out the trump card, and it seemed to work. Anthony relaxed a little,
even chuckled. But Georgina, having heard them, remarked, “Quite a handsome fellow,
this one, isn’t he?”

“And you noticed this why, George?” James asked.

Georgina laughed. “Am I to pretend to be blind?”

Judith jumped in, “Handsome, but sorely lacking in manners. Still, he’s rather interesting.”

Anthony looked over Georgina’s head to say to his brother, “Blister it, James, did
you tell
everyone
about his unusual mission?”

“Only you, old boy,” James said, then proceeded to tell his wife about it.

Anthony peered down at Judith and demanded, “Just how did you find out?”

She didn’t deny it. “You think his commission to track down ship-stealing thieves
is the only thing interesting about him? Yes, I’ve spoken to him before today, which
was when I found out he owns that big old house behind the Wrighton estate. You know
the story of it, don’t you?”

“Don’t believe so.”

“I do,” Georgina put in. “It was built for the old duke’s mistress, wasn’t it, and
given to her to lure—er, that is, it was a bribe?”

“Incentive, yes,” Judith concurred. “She was gentry and a widow, but the duke wanted
her closer to him than London, where he’d met and fallen in love with her. Derek found
all that out when he tried to buy the property. Mr. Tremayne is the woman’s great-great-grandson.”

“So he’s gentry?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Anthony insisted in a mumble.

“Course it does,” Georgina said, giving Judith a wink. “A dashing captain
and
a landowner of note, perhaps you should let this one run its course, Tony.”

To which Anthony snarled, “James, kindly ask George to
butt out
.”

James merely laughed. Judith took a moment to glance up at the crow’s nest, so high
in the rigging. Several rope ladders were attached to it, but still, she was
not
going to climb up there tonight. In fact, she didn’t care if she ever saw Nathan
Tremayne again. But she wanted that to be her decision, not her father’s.

So before he warned her off, she told him, “I’m just bored and he’s interesting, it’s
no more’n that. I’m not like Jack, who manages to find dozens of ways to have fun
on a ship—steering it, climbing rigging, even fencing.”

“Have I been ignoring you, poppet?” Anthony asked in concern.

She smiled. “No, of course not, and you don’t need to entertain me. You don’t often
have Katey to yourself like you do now while Boyd is indisposed. I do understand.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t join us when Jack isn’t by your side.”

She giggled, reminding him, “And how often do you think that is?”

Anthony rolled his eyes.

That’s when Jacqueline bounded up to them. Out of breath, she hooked her arm through
Judith’s to drag her away, yelling back, “Time to change for dinner!”

It wasn’t, not quite, but no one protested since Jack obviously needed a bath after
her exertions. But as soon as they were out of hearing, Jack asked, “Did I rescue
you? Do say I did!”

“Possibly. At least, father didn’t get around yet to forbidding me to speak to Nathan
again.”

“As much as he’ll try to, you can’t let him whittle down your options, Judy. I’m sure
to be in the same boat someday, so we have to stick together on this.”

“I know.”

But Judith did suddenly realize, much too late, that in trying to explain to Anthony
why she might be interested in Nathan other than romantically, she’d broken the Bargain
with him. Well, not exactly, not if Jack didn’t hear that he owned the ruin and put
two and two together to conclude that Nathan was their ex-ghost. But she should probably
warn Nathan—the devil she would. The way he’d warned her he was married?

Still incensed over that, it wasn’t a good time to hear Jack say, “I’m so thrilled
for you. He’s incredible looking, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“And daring. Chasing after a stolen ship is going to be dangerous.”

“Yes.”

“Feel free to volunteer more’n yeses.”

“He’s going to inform the authorities, so he’ll have help. It might not be dangerous
a’tall.”

“Or he might not come back alive.”

“Jack!”

“Worried about him already? That smacks of a little more’n smitten,” Jack teased.

“No, and, no, in fact, he’s got some explaining to do,” Judith retorted. “My conversation
with him was cut short when our fathers arrived on deck, so I’m going to meet Nathan
after dinner to finish it.”

“Explaining about what?”

“I’ll tell you afterwards. Don’t want you going after him with your rapier in hand.”

Jacqueline raised a brow. “Sounds like you’ve already thought of doing that yourself.
You’re actually angry with him, aren’t you?”

“A little. Very well, a lot. But don’t try to drag it out of me when it could just
be a complete misunderstanding. I don’t want you getting the wrong impression based
on an assumption.”

“Like you have?” Jack guessed. “Goodness, if you’re touchy about the slightest things,
you
are
smitten. Confess that at least.”

Judith didn’t, but not answering at all convinced Jack she was right, so at least
she didn’t get in a huff about not being told everything immediately.

And at least Nathan wasn’t mentioned that night at dinner, either. But Boyd was responsible
for that. Finally making an appearance, the Yank was back in good health and therefore
fair game for James and Anthony. Boyd wasn’t just James’s brother-in-law, he was also
Anthony’s son-in-law, so of all the Andersons, he was doubly entrenched in the family.
Which didn’t stop them one little bit from ribbing him mercilessly throughout the
dinner about his seasickness.

“If you need another week in bed, Yank, be assured we’ll get along without you,” James
said. “Won’t even notice your absence.”

Boyd’s malady used to cause him acute embarrassment, shipowner that he was. But he
was so used to being the butt of the Malorys’ jokes that he took them in stride these
days, following the example of his brother Warren, who also came under the gun from
these two and either laughed along with them or ignored them. It tended to work.

But James gave ground tonight for another reason. Andrássy was flirting with Jacqueline
a little too openly, complimenting her on everything from her hair, her dress—Nettie
had won the battle tonight—to her fencing skill. Jack was amused by it. James wasn’t.
While the ladies might have thought Andrássy had been quite brave to want to defend
the family during the stowaway incident, even if he had misjudged the situation, James
wasn’t going to overlook that Andrássy’s interference had given the stowaway the opportunity
to escape.

Judith knew that her uncle had had doubts about Andrássy before, but after Andrássy
had cost him the answers he wanted, even if unintentionally, any chance of James’s
warming to their newest cousin had probably been lost.

But Judith didn’t spend much time thinking about it, not with her rendezvous with
Nathan fast approaching. She didn’t even yet wonder why his being married was a worse
crime in her mind than his smuggling was. But a while later, she would climb up to
the crow’s nest to find out what he had to say about it.

Chapter Twenty-Six

J
udith dressed for this excursion in her ship’s togs, even braided her hair to make
sure it didn’t get in her way during the climb. She’d also left her shoes in her cabin,
thinking bare feet would allow for better purchase on the rope rungs. But when she
stood by the rope ladder and put her hand on it, she couldn’t take that first step.
She didn’t have to look up to find out how high that crow’s nest was. Were the answers
she wanted really worth such a daunting climb? The ladder wasn’t even steady! It was
swaying so much it moved right out of her loose grip.

She stepped back, changing her mind, only to see Nathan drop down to the deck next
to her, which explained why the ladder had been swaying.

“Didn’t actually think you’d take me up on my suggestion of a tryst in the crow’s
nest, darlin’.”

She was relieved he was on deck instead. “Now that you’re here we—”

“Come on.” He took her hands and placed them on the ladder and moved in so close behind
her that she had nowhere to go but up. “I have the watch tonight and I can’t do my
job from down here.”

She glanced back. “Then why did you come down?”

“Did you really think I’d let you make this climb alone?”

Actually, she’d expected to have to climb up herself and had assumed he wouldn’t even
know she was there until she arrived up top. But he must have been watching for her.

He added, “And miss a chance to be your hero and catch you if you should fall—into
my arms?”

He’d just added a teasing note to his gallantry. She wondered if he was embarrassed
to show her he had this chivalrous side. But she started climbing. She wasn’t the
least bit nervous now, not with him behind her. And he didn’t touch her again, probably
afraid it might startle her into slipping—until they reached the nest and she felt
his hand on her derriere, giving her a push to get her over the edge.

The crow’s nest was shaped like a big tub. Some nests were just flat platforms, some
were mere rounded frames, and others were rounded and made of solid wood with planked
sides such as this one.

“I’d already volunteered for the watch tonight, or I wouldn’t have put you through
the ordeal of climbing that ladder,” he said as he followed her over the rim.

She stood up and gasped softly at the view. “Oh, my.”

The full moon tonight looked so much bigger from up here and was incredibly beautiful.
Not long over the horizon, it was still quite huge. Seen from this unobstructed vantage
point, with its wavy reflection off the water, it was breathtaking, even highly romantic.
She got her mind off that thought rather quickly and turned to Nathan.

But he was still gazing at the moon. “This is why I took the watch when it’s not one
of my duties.”

“What if there had been too many clouds tonight instead?”

He looked at her before he said, “That’s the chance you take to see something this
beautiful.”

She felt warmth in her cheeks, and inside her, too. She couldn’t let him distract
her with flattery, if that’s what his comment was. “I believe you have something to
tell me?”

“That I’m not married? I’m not and I’ve no plans to be. I’m not sure how you came
to that conclusion from what I said earlier.”

“Because
not alone anymore
doesn’t imply family, it implies recent acquisition of family, which tends to mean
getting oneself a spouse.”

“Not always and not in my case. My sister and her husband died last year in a carriage
accident. They had two young daughters that his family didn’t want, so I have the
care of them now.”

For once he wasn’t evading answers, but she certainly hadn’t expected this one, or
to be so relieved that he wasn’t married that she was almost giddy from it. “How old
are your nieces?”

“Clarissa is seven, Abbie is nine. They’re all I have left now in the way of family,
and I intend to give them a proper home as soon as I can. But in the meantime, I found
a nice couple to look after them. You might even know them.” He explained where the
girls were, ending with “Ironic, isn’t it, that they’re currently living in a house
your uncle owns?”

“Uncle James only bought that property so he would have a place to store his ship
away from the crowded docks of London. But, no, I don’t know his caretakers. And why
didn’t you mention your nieces earlier?”

“My responsibilities are not your concern. Besides, you were painting me only one
color—black.”

Reminded of that, she retorted, “I haven’t seen any shades of gray yet. In fact, I
find it irresponsible that you didn’t give up smuggling when you became your nieces’
guardian.”

She was prompting him to deny it, but he didn’t. He looked away toward the moon. And
she immediately regretted sounding so condemning when she didn’t know
all
the particulars.

He might have good reasons for not abandoning what he’d been doing prior to becoming
the girls’ guardian. Other obligations or debts, or perhaps he simply couldn’t afford
to quit yet if he’d been putting all of his money into materials for that ruined house.
Or he could simply be addicted to the excitement and danger of smuggling, knowing
it would mean prison or worse if he was caught. And she shouldn’t be angry any longer
now that he’d told her he wasn’t married. If it was true. Good God, was she ever going
to just believe him without wondering if he was lying to her?

“I’m not going to apologize—” she started.

“Course not. Nabobs never do.”

“You think
that
excuses you?”

He glanced her way in confusion. “What?”

“It’s been established that
you’re
gentry. If you think that puts you above the law—”

His laugh was genuine. “Third son of a third son and so far back, no one remembers
the lord who used to be in our family. No, I’m not gentry, darlin’, and don’t wish
to be. Call me a blackguard all you want, but don’t call me a nabob.”

“Actually, you don’t have a choice when it comes to family.”

He snorted. “If you don’t know who your ancestors are, if you can’t name them, then
it don’t matter.”

“It’s a matter of record—somewhere. You just haven’t looked.”

“Maybe because it’s not something I need or want to know.”

Frustrated by his attitude, she remarked on the obvious. “You seem to have a distinct
animosity toward the nobility. Why is that?”

“That, darlin’, is none of your business.”

“This is how you hold up your end of our Bargain?”

“My opinions and sentiments aren’t part of our Bargain.”

“Well, if you’re going to skirt the rules, you might as well know I let it slip to
my family that you own the manor house. Not that we met there. And Jack doesn’t know
yet, so she hasn’t made the connection between you and our ghost . . . and the smuggler
who accosted me.”

“But if it’s mentioned to her, she will?”

Judith winced. “Probably.”

“You don’t keep secrets very well, do you?”

He didn’t sound angry, merely disappointed, making her feel awful now. And chilled.
She’d cooled off enough from the climb to feel the chill, so she sat down in the crow’s
nest to get out of the wind. Over the rim of the nest she could still see most of
the moon. And Nathan’s silhouette in front of it.

“I didn’t do it deliberately. Why does it matter if my father, aunt, and uncle know
you own the ruined house?”

With the moon behind him now and so bright, she couldn’t see his face when he turned
to her. He sat down next to her before he said, “I don’t want your family seeing me
as an equal whether I am or not. I don’t make friends with aristocrats.”

“It must be extremely difficult, your having to deal with me, then, isn’t it?”

“Oh, no.
You
, darlin’, are about as big an exception as there can be.”

Mollified—well, much more than that actually, after what he’d just said—she felt a
sense of anticipation rise within her. They were sitting so close, not actually touching,
but she could feel heat radiating from him. It made her a little breathless, a little
nervous, too, to be up here alone with him. He was so unpredictable.

To distract herself
and
him, she said, “Tell me more about your nieces. What are they like?”

She saw a shadow of a smile as he said, “Clarissa is exuberant and affectionate. She
took after my sister and me with light blond hair. Abbie’s hair is a darker blond
and she’s more the proper little lady. But both girls love ribbons and are always
asking me to bring them some. Turn around for a moment.”

She wasn’t sure why she did as he asked, possibly because she was enjoying hearing
him talk about his nieces. But it was her own ribbon he was after. She could tell
it was gone as her braid started to unravel.

“Sometimes the girls like to wear a ribbon on this side of their head.” He leaned
forward and kissed the right side of Judith’s head. “Other times they prefer this
side.” He kissed the other side of her head. “But sometimes they wear the ribbon around
their neck, pretending it’s a necklace.”

She gasped softly when she felt his fingers, so lightly, brush across her throat just
before his lips pressed against the side of her neck and not briefly this time. The
sensation was so delightfully tingly, she closed her eyes and bent her head to the
side to give him better access.

“I figured this would be the least likely place that I’d be tempted to kiss you,”
he suddenly said, then added with a sigh, “I was wrong.”

Her eyes flared wide, but he was already drawing her across his lap to capture her
lips with his. Cradled there, her head resting against his arm, he worked the magic
she’d twice succumbed to—and sparked the desire she now recognized, too. Her own.
She’d spent so much time with him, too often staring at his long, magnificent body.
That first day in the hold when he’d been half-naked had stirred up primitive urges
in her more strongly than she’d realized. The far too many inappropriate remarks he’d
made that had shocked her came back to her now, playing havoc with her innocence.
She slipped an arm around his neck and wrapped her other arm around his back as she
moved her legs so that she was straddling him. She did all this without thinking while
his tongue parted her lips for a deeper kiss.

He groaned. She barely heard it over the pounding of her heart. His hand was caressing
her along her thigh, around her derriere, provoking a rush of warm, delicious sensations
that she felt too keenly. The material of her britches was so thin, it was as if it
weren’t there! It was why she’d felt chilled, which wasn’t the case now, far from
it. But when he cupped her breast, she moaned with pleasure as a wave of almost unbearable
heat surged through her. He’d popped a button to get inside her shirt and under her
chemise. But she didn’t care. All she could think about was arching into his strong
hand, gripping his shoulders even more tightly.

She kissed him with abandon, letting her tongue duel with his as both of his hands
now claimed her breasts, kneading them gently. She almost screamed when he used a
finger of each hand to circle her nipples, teasing her with the softest of touches
and making her wild for more. All of her reactions were out of her control. If she
had any thought at all, it was a hope that this night wouldn’t end.

“You are the sweetest kind of trouble I’ve ever met, darlin’.”

His hands moved to her derriere as he started kissing her again, deeper and then more
deeply, and she realized he’d pulled down her britches. The feel of his callused fingers
on the softest of her skin had her writhing in his lap, moaning with pleasure as he
hardened beneath her.

But some things could still shock her innocent sensibilities, and feeling his fingers
move between her legs did just that. She broke the kiss with a startled gasp and pulled
back to gaze into his burning emerald eyes. They couldn’t look away from each other,
and Judith felt she finally knew what it meant to be intimate with a man. He leaned
forward and kissed her lightly on the lips as he pulled up her britches.

“I won’t apologize for wanting you, but this isn’t the place for it. Too cold and
not soft enough for you. Give me a moment and I’ll help you down the ladder.”

She said nothing, but she had to disagree. With a moon like the one shining down on
them, it was a romantic place for kissing—and everything else they’d done. And irrationally,
she felt some regret now for having stopped him.