Chapter Eighteen
Only 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. . . .