Chapter Ten
Last night, Nathan had thought the couple were an odd pair, as he and Corky rowed them and an inordinate amount of heavy luggage out to The Maiden George. The man had introduced himself as Count Andrássy Benedek, a relative of the ship’s captain. The woman’s name hadn’t been mentioned. They spoke English but the man had a foreign accent. And they didn’t seem to like each other. Although the pair had been whispering to each other, Nathan had gotten the impression that they were bickering and didn’t want to be overheard. The woman’s pretty face had looked angry.
Nathan had felt sorry for the bloke, though. A henpecked man if he’d ever seen one, and he looked no older than twenty-five, his own age. Far too young to be stuck with a shrew for a wife, pretty or not, if that’s who she was to him.
But this morning as the dawn sky brightened, Nathan was surprised to see Benedek joining him at the rail. Escaping the shrew? Nathan might have remarked on it, one man commiserating with another, if he didn’t want to avoid drawing attention to himself on this trip. Besides, the man was titled.
Class distinctions didn’t used to mean anything to Nathan. Having an earl for an ancestor probably accounted for his attitude, not that he’d ever mentioned that to anyone or ever would. It was galling that Burdis had found out. In fact, if someone called him gentry these days, he’d probably punch him in the face. He preferred to simply treat all men as equals whether they wanted to be or not, but most nabobs felt differently.
His reticence turned out to be a good decision because the count wasn’t alone for long. His companion from the night before arrived a few moments later, saying, “You can’t ignore me, Andrássy!”
“Can’t I?” Benedek shot back. “Not another word about it, Catherine. I am not going to ask them for any more favors when I only just met them.”
“But one of them could have the insight, could tell me if my father really is alive, or even where he is. You could at least ask.”
“And have them think I’m crazy? The supposed magical abilities of Gypsies is just superstitious nonsense and trickery. That’s what Gypsies do. They prey on the hopes and dreams of the gullible. They tell you what you want to hear and get paid for it. None of it is true and I’m not going to insult this branch of my family by mentioning these notions of yours. My God, do you listen to yourself, spouting such nonsense?”
“Of course I believe it, when I’ve seen you display the Gypsy gift occasionally. Deny it all you want, but you know it’s true.”
“All I have is the instinct of a tracker and luck. There’s nothing mystical about that, Catherine. And I’ll use those instincts to find your father, if just to be rid of you for good!”
“How dare you! You wouldn’t even know about these relatives of yours if not for me! I found that journal that mentioned them. You owe me!”
“I owe you nothing, although I will honor the obligation my father saddled me with when he married your mother!”
“Perfect, luv. You really are a master of improvis—”
Nathan couldn’t hear any more as the pair moved farther down the deck, but the woman’s voice had changed to a purring tone there at the end, as if she really was offering praise.
But glad to be alone again at the rail, Nathan raised the spyglass he’d borrowed from Artie, the crusty, old first mate, for a closer view of the wharf. A longboat had been dispatched for the passengers because there were so many of them. Quite a crowd of well-dressed people were on the dock, waiting for it. But he wasn’t interested in them.
He trained the eyepiece up and down the wharf as far as he could see. He was meticulous, stopping to peruse faces, making sure he didn’t recognize any. He didn’t expect to see any of Grigg’s men this soon, but Grigg might show up himself looking for them. And if he spotted the man, he couldn’t say if he would risk losing The Pearl to get his hands on him now.
Jory had decided to send Nathan away five years ago to protect him. Despite how angry Nathan had been because of it, he’d still loved the man. He felt angry to this day, but for a different reason: because he and his father had never made amends and it was too late to now. But that had been Jory’s decision, too. No communication at all was to pass between them that could lead Grigg to Nathan, who could then be used against Jory. But settling that score for his father was his decision. And even with the ship soon to sail, he still had that on his mind.
As Nathan continued to scan the wharf with the spyglass, he found it a bit disconcerting to come across a fellow with a spyglass of his own trained right on Nathan. No one he recognized, well dressed in a greatcoat, a gentleman by all accounts. The man gestured to his head, as if tipping a hat to Nathan for having discovered him spying on The Maiden George. The man was even smiling before he put his spyglass away and got into a rowboat that took him out to one of the other ships.
Many ships were anchored in the river, unable to dock yet. Southampton’s port was crowded, too, but nothing like London’s. Weeks could go by before a ship could get a berth in this town, or so he’d been told.
“See anything interesting, Mr. Tremayne?”
Nathan glanced at the sailor who’d come up next to him. He’d said his name was Walter. Nathan knew him in passing from Southampton, but then the whole crew had been hired out of Southampton.
“No, just someone a little too interested in this ship. He actually had a spyglass trained on us.”
Walter shrugged. “So? Just looking for someone.”
“I suppose.” Nathan glanced down at the stretch of water between the ship and the dock.
The longboat was halfway back to the ship, and it wasn’t full of passengers after all, just four men and five ladies, not counting the sailors rowing them. He figured a few of those people could be ladies’ maids and valets. Most of the people he’d seen on the dock must only have been there to see their family or friends off, because they were now getting back into carriages.
“There don’t appear to be many passengers,” he said.
“Well, it’s a privately owned ship designed to accommodate family comfortably. The captain had her built to his specifications. All of the main cabins are like rooms in a fancy hotel.”
Nathan knew how lavishly appointed the cabins were. He hadn’t mentioned it to anyone, but he hadn’t been able to resist inspecting The Maiden George when he’d been docking The Pearl next to it for the last year.
“You’ve sailed on her before?” Nathan asked Walter.
“A few times over the last decade, and I’m glad of it. I actually gave up the sea, but I’m always up for a voyage on The Maiden George. It pays too well to turn it down, and it’s never boring. Did you not wonder why the purse was so high for this crossing?”
Nathan hedged. “Well, this is my first time across the Atlantic, so I had nothing to compare it to.”
Walter chuckled. “It’s triple the standard, mate. A pity she leaves her berth so rarely, or I’d be rich by now.”
“If she doesn’t get much use, why does the owner even keep her?”
“Because he can.”
“Merely for convenience?” Nathan said. “That isn’t normal, is it?”
“Not even close to normal. But then, neither is the captain. That’s him there, Viscount Ryding, just one of many titles in his family.”
Nathan followed Walter’s gaze back to the approaching longboat. Now that the sky had brightened and the boat was closer, he could make out the occupants more clearly, but he looked no farther than the large man in the front of the boat. Blond, with broad shoulders under a greatcoat, he was the bruiser who’d rescued Nathan on a whim. And his dark-haired brother was in the boat, too.
Nathan’s sinking feeling returned. He’d actually hoped when they hadn’t boarded last night that the owners weren’t going to sail with their ship. Many didn’t, merely hired captains for them. But it looked as if his luck had just taken a swing for the worse, and now he was going to have to make himself scarce, at least until they got out to sea where it would be less likely that they’d toss him overboard. Up in the rigging would suffice before they boarded, and he might even stay up there for the duration of the trip down the river.
It didn’t matter which of the two was the captain. They were both nabobs and he’d struck one of them. And even if he could somehow make it right with them, he was still going to hate working for a lord no matter how long the trip took. The nobility had a whole different way of thinking compared to ordinary men. As different as night and day. They could take offense at the simplest thing that wouldn’t normally raise a brow. You wouldn’t even know you were insulting them until it was too late.
Then the sun rose over a couple of buildings in the east to cast a beam along the water. Copper hair lit up like a flame in the sunlight and instantly drew his eyes. The young woman ought to have been wearing a bonnet to hide magnificent hair like that, but she wasn’t. She was old enough—eighteen, nineteen?—to have her hair done up fancy, but it was simply tied back at her nape. Because it was so long, the wind still tossed it over her shoulders. Her clothing, though, was clearly that of a young lady, a blue velvet coat tied at the waist, a white fur cape that merely capped her shoulders, ending only halfway down her arms. But it was her beautiful heart-shaped face that tugged at a memory that wouldn’t quite surface in his mind.
“The red-haired wench, she looks familiar.”
He didn’t realize he’d said it aloud until Walter admonished him, “I wouldn’t be calling that one a wench if you don’t want to end up in the ship’s brig or worse. The cap’n’s a fair man, but he can be a might touchy when it comes to family, and she’s probably a member of his. Never seen him take on passengers who weren’t related to him in one way or another.”
A whole ship full of nabobs? Corky had been right. Bleedin’ hell. But he assured the sailor, “I meant no disrespect.”
“Was just a friendly warning, mate. You know how that family is. Very, very protective of their own.”
“I wouldn’t know. Never heard of the Malorys until I signed on and was told the captain’s name.”
“Really? Thought everyone knew who they are.”
“So they’re famous? Or notorious?”
“A little of both.” Walter laughed as he walked away.
Nathan hightailed it over to the rigging and started climbing, determined to postpone his next meeting with the Malorys for as long as possible.