Stormy Persuasion (11 page)

Chapter Seventeen

“W
here is Jacqueline?” Andrássy asked Judith when she arrived alone for dinner that
night in the captain’s cabin.

“She’s coming. She’s just a little off-kilter today. She overslept this morning, then
overslept again from the nap she took this afternoon.”

Georgina frowned. “She’s not getting sick, is she?”

“She doesn’t have a fever. I checked.”

“Probably just too much excitement over the last few days,” James guessed, and added
for his wife, “I wouldn’t worry, m’dear.”

“Whatever you do, don’t suggest she go back to bed,” Judith said with a grin. “She’s
quite annoyed with herself for spending too much time in it today.”

After that remark, only Andrássy still looked concerned. Judith wondered again if
their new cousin might be a bit smitten by her best friend. But Jacqueline did arrive
a few minutes later, eyes bright and wide-awake now, the picture of good health. Vivacious
in her greetings, she arrived only a few minutes before Artie and Henry brought in
the food, so they all took their seats at the table.

Andrássy had, unfortunately, been placed across from the girls, smack between James
and Anthony, which didn’t bode well for him. In fact, after what Jacqueline had confided
to her after luncheon, Judith suspected Andrássy was in for quite a grilling. Jack
had gloated that she wasn’t the only one with reservations about Andrássy. She’d overheard
their fathers discussing the same thing. Of course, it was
Jack’s
father who shared her suspicions that Andrássy might not be who he claimed to be.
But then when did James Malory ever take anything at face value? It was a throwback
to his wild youth and ten years of raising hell on the high seas to be suspicious
first and agreeable later—maybe.

Georgina inadvertently initiated the interrogation of Andrássy with the query “Your
sister didn’t want to join us for dinner again?”

“I didn’t mention it to her.”

Georgina glanced at the empty seat at the table. “Why not?”

Another innocent question. But then Georgina was completely trusting, unlike her husband.
So James obviously hadn’t shared his reservations with his wife yet, only with his
brother.

“As I mentioned last night, Catherine has moods and isn’t always pleasant company,”
Andrássy explained.

And he didn’t want to subject his new family to that? Judith felt compelled to say,
“I’ve seen her at her worst, but anyone with a severe headache can get snippy, myself
included. Jack and I also had a nice conversation with her when she was feeling better.”

“I wouldn’t call it nice,” Jack put in.

“It wasn’t unpleasant,” Judith insisted.

“Matter of opinion,” Jack mumbled for just her ears.

James gave his daughter a quelling look before he said to Andrássy, “So you would
describe your stepsister as hot-tempered? Many women are, including my Jack.”

Jacqueline laughed, no doubt taking her father’s comment as a compliment. But Andrássy
said, “I never thought of it that way, merely that she can be moody. A new home, a
new father when she wasn’t reconciled to giving up finding her real father—it was
a difficult time when she and her mother came to live with us.”

“What happened to her father?” Katey asked.

Judith stopped listening as the conversation turned to what Catherine had already
told her and Jack. She hoped Jacqueline was noting, though, that the pair did pretty
much have the same story, which made it even more believable. Who could make up something
like that? But Nathan Tremayne came quickly to mind.
He
could. He seemed to be quite adept at tall tales, making himself sound like a hero
instead of the criminal he actually was.

She wondered if he had finished his job down in the hold. Likely no, since he probably
wasn’t
really
a carpenter. Any man could wield a hammer, but did he actually have the skills to
build a proper ring? Oh, God, she hoped her uncle and her father didn’t get hurt when
they used the exercise ring and it fell apart beneath them.

Why
didn’t she just tell her father about the smuggler so Nathan would be spending the
voyage in the brig where he belonged? She should never have agreed to a bargain with
him, when it just gave him more time to get creative with his lies. Yet, if she didn’t
have to keep him a secret from Jack, would she be quite this uneasy about it? And
why the deuce did she want to come up with an excuse to leave the table so she could
go down to the hold to check on him?

She glanced across the table at Andrássy, who was saying, “It’s why she ran away so
often when she was a child. She was trying to get back to America where she grew up,
so she could look for her father.”

“Instead of traveling all over the world looking for someone who could be long dead,
why don’t you just marry her off?” Anthony suggested.

“I would if I thought it would make her happy. But until this matter of her missing
father is settled, I doubt she will ever be happy in a marriage.”

“So you’re actually concerned about her happiness?” James asked.

“Of course.” Andrássy seemed a little insulted to have been asked that. “The tantrums
she had as a child were understandable. I don’t even mind her temper. As you say,
it’s not something unique. Many women have one. It’s merely embarrassing when it erupts
in public. That is all I wanted to warn you about, so you wouldn’t take offense if
you witness any unpleasantness of that sort. Because of the fire, she has nothing
and no one but me to depend on. But she is my burden, not yours.”

“Are you going to rebuild?” Georgina asked.

“Perhaps someday, but my wish is to return to Austria where I was schooled and continue
my studies there. I paint.”

“An artist?”

“I dabble. I hope to do better one day. But I can do nothing with my life until I
settle my stepsister’s.”

“A burden like the one you’re shouldering can kill inspiration,” James said thoughtfully.
“What I don’t understand is why you would go so far above and beyond when there isn’t
even a blood tie between you. Don’t take offense, dear boy, but that smacks of coercion
on her part. So I must ask, does she have some hold over you that you haven’t mentioned?”

“James!” Georgina protested.

But Andrássy actually chuckled. “I am glad you feel you can speak so plainly with
me. But consider, I am the last of the Benedek line, but not the last of Maria’s line,
and yet I would never have known that if Catherine hadn’t found my great-grandfather’s
journal. So when she beseeched me to help her find her missing parent, I couldn’t
in good conscience deny her when I was about to embark on a similar search myself.
For family.” Andrássy looked around the table, a warm smile on his face. “You Malorys
are so much more than I ever could have imagined. You’ve welcomed me without reservation.”
Only Jacqueline looked a little guilty over that comment. “But my father made Catherine
a member of my immediate family. Despite the turmoil, he never regretted doing that
because her mother made him happy.”

“Is it as simple as that? Obligation, responsibility, and a debt you feel you owe?”

“Sounds like something that would rope you in, James,” Georgina said with a pointed
look. “Oh, wait, it already did, or aren’t those the same reasons you agreed to help
Gabrielle Brooks?”

He chuckled. “Guilty.”

“Not to mention, ending up in a pirate’s prison because of it.”

“Point
taken
, George.”

No one jumped in to explain that byplay to Andrássy, but then it was a touchy subject
that the Andersons, wealthy shipbuilders and owners of a large merchant fleet, now
had ex-pirates in the family on more than one shore. One long since retired (Georgina’s
husband, James) and the other turned treasure hunter (Drew’s father-in-law, Nathan
Brooks), but still, both guilty of wreaking havoc in their day.

Judith steered the conversation back to Andrássy’s efforts to help his stepsister,
telling him, “I think what you are doing is admirable. You’ve given Catherine hope,
haven’t you?”

“Yes, I believe so, but I fear she has yet to learn patience.”

Jacqueline opened her mouth, but Judy pinched her under the table, knowing that her
cousin was about to say that they’d already experienced the woman’s impatience, and
that she’d got it into her head that a Malory with Gypsy gifts could help her more
than Andrássy could—which wasn’t going to happen and didn’t need to be discussed.

Judith said to Andrássy, “It may not be a quick undertaking, but you may find that
it changes her for the better. You might consider pausing your journey in Bridgeport
to allow your sister to have a little fun before you continue on.” She stood up then.
It was as good an opportunity as she was going to get to slip away before everyone
else finished eating. “Now if you will all excuse me, I didn’t get as much rest today
as Jack did. I’m rather tired.”

“Of course, poppet,” Anthony said.

But before Judith left, she leaned down and whispered in Jacqueline’s ear, “I got
your foot out of your mouth. Don’t put it back in as soon as I leave.”

Jack merely snorted.

Chapter Eighteen

O
nly two lanterns were left burning in the hold, both by the exercise ring, but Judith
didn’t find Nathan there. The ring wasn’t finished but the platform was. The tarpaulin
had even been tacked to it, and two of the four posts were secured to the corners.
It only needed the other two posts and the ropes strung between them, so Judith figured
he thought he could finish that quickly in the morning before James came down to inspect
it.

Judith was disappointed that Nathan had quit working for the day as this might well
be her last chance to speak with him alone. She supposed she could ask him for instruction
on some nautical matter during the voyage, maybe even get him up in the rigging where
they
could
speak without being overheard. But then she’d have to wear those unflattering clothes
Jack had had made for her, and besides, Jack would say that
she
could teach her anything she wanted to learn about sailing—unless Judith confessed
her interest in Nathan. That wouldn’t be giving away the secret, would it? Course
it wouldn’t. Once Jack got a look at the man, it would be blatantly obvious why Judy
was interested in him.

She might as well turn in for the night, but she moved over to the ring to examine
it first. She thought about climbing up on the platform to make sure its floor was
as sturdy as it should be, but it was a bit too high off the floor for her, so she
just pressed down on it with her palms.

“Couldn’t stay away?”

She swung around with a gasp. Nathan was sitting on the floor between two crates,
one of which still had her coat draped over it. He was leaning back against the bulkhead,
holding a plate in one hand and a fork in the other.

She slowly walked over to him, noting that at least he had his shirt back on, and
yet her heartbeat still accelerated. “I thought you’d gone.”

“Only long enough to fetch some dinner. Damn fancy grub for a ship, too. Definitely
not what we were served on the short trip from Hampshire to London.”

“There probably wasn’t an actual cook aboard yet. The one we have now isn’t a seaman.
My aunt and uncle sail with their own servants, most of whom boarded in London.”

“All the luxuries of home, eh? But now I’m never going to be happy with my own cook
again.”

She smiled at his grumbling tone. “You actually have one? I thought smugglers only
make short jaunts across the Channel and back, hardly long enough at sea to warrant
needing a cook aboard.”

“I wouldn’t know. But I’ll take your word for it, since you seem to know more about
smuggling than I do. But have a seat. You can watch me eat while you tell me about
my life.”

Sarcasm, and quite blatant, too. Yet his tone was friendly, his lips even turned up
in a grin. So he was merely teasing her again?

“I came for my coat,” she said, though she sat down on top of it again anyway.

“I was going to return it to you.”

She raised a brow. “How, without giving away that I was down here?”

“You don’t think I could have found you alone?”

“Not when I’m with Jack most of the day and we’re with our family in the evenings,
so, no, I don’t think so.”

He chuckled. “I have a bed in the carpenter’s storeroom. Well, at the risk of stirring
up a hornet’s nest, I’ll mention it’s just a cot.” He waited, but she wasn’t going
to address the cot issue again and merely snorted at his assumption that she would.
So he continued, “But I’ve claimed it as my own for a little privacy. You’re welcome
to visit any night you feel like—”

“Stop it. You might find this all very amusing, but you should recall, you still have
a noose hanging over your head.”

“Breaking a bargain? Really? Thought you nobles had more honor than that.”

“It was a silly bargain—”

“But it was struck—even sealed. Ah, there’s that blush I remember so well.”

“You are insufferable.”

“No, I just have a lot on my plate, including you. And if your word is as wishy-washy
as a mood, then it’s not reliable, is it?”

“I’m keeping it, but only for the duration of the voyage as we agreed.”

“That wasn’t the stipulation.”

“
That
was a foregone conclusion,” she stressed, not giving in on that point. “But don’t
worry, you’ll have time to disappear after we dock.”

“Think you’ll want me to by then?”

The question implied they were going to get much more intimately acquainted. His tone
had even dropped to a husky timbre! It jarred her and brought all sorts of questions
to mind that she should be asking herself, not him. She was
too
attracted to this man and out of her depth to deal with it. It had held her back
from doing what she should have done the moment she realized who he was. It had impelled
her to strike the Bargain. But she couldn’t let that last question stand.

“You and I won’t—”

His short laugh cut her off. “I merely meant, by the time we dock you’ll be convinced
that I’m innocent and not the blackguard you wrongly think I am.”

Was
she using her suspicion as an excuse to keep herself from giving in to this attraction?
No, he was just good at stirring up doubt.

She reminded him pertly, “Our bargain was for the truth. Do you even know how to tell
it?”

“Course I do, darlin’. But d’you know how to recognize it when you hear it?” Yet he
didn’t wait for an answer, not that there was one when his tactics were so evasive.
Instead, he got back to the subject he didn’t get to finish that morning. “So tell
me how a woman gets a nickname like Jack?”

“Because it’s not a nickname. It’s the name her father gave her at birth.”

“Really?

“Of course the fact that her maternal uncles, who James doesn’t like the least little
bit, were all present at the birthing might have influenced his decision a tad, but
he couldn’t be swayed to change it.”

“He’s that stubborn?”

Judith smiled. “Depends on who you ask, but in this case, he was absolutely inflexible.
However, Jack’s mother, George, made sure—”

“Good God, another woman with a man’s name?”

“No, Georgina is her real name. James just calls her George. Always has, always will.
But she made sure Jacqueline appeared on her daughter’s birth record. Nonetheless,
among the family the name Jack had already stuck.”

“I’m guessing that explains the odd name of this ship,
The Maiden George
?”

“Yes, James’s original ship was named
The Maiden Anne
, but he sold her when he retired from the sea. This one he had built when Jack’s
mother wanted to take Jack to Connecticut to see where she was born. An unnecessary
expense, really, when George and her brothers own Skylark Shipping, which is a very
large fleet of American merchant ships, and at least one of them is docked in England
at any given time. But as I mentioned, my uncle doesn’t exactly like his five Anderson
brothers-in-law. He refuses to sail on their vessels short of a dire emergency. And
now it’s my turn to ask a question.”

He stood up abruptly at the noise suddenly coming from the animals down at the end
of the hold. She looked in that direction, too. Probably just a rat scurrying past
them, or a cat on the prowl for one. But Nathan set his plate down on the other crate
and went to investigate anyway.

Not exactly adhering to the Bargain of tit for tat with questions, she noted with
some annoyance, which she would point out when he came back. But he didn’t come back. . . .