Chapter Twenty-Five
Nathan 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.