He chuckled. “Isn’t that what we were doing?”

“The operative word is polite.”

“Very well, what did you want to discuss politely?”

“What will you do with the manor after it’s repaired?”

He raised a brow. “You’re allowed to scratch nerves but I’m not?”

“This isn’t a touchy subject.”

“It is for me.”

She sighed, deciding now wasn’t the time to persist in her questioning of him, so she was surprised when he added, “I’m going to live in it with my nieces.”

“While you work as a carpenter again in Southampton?”

“No, the house comes with land. I was thinking I might try my hand at farming.”

She winced for her cousin Derek, knowing he wouldn’t like a farm in his backyard any more than a ruin. But she didn’t quite believe Nathan, either. A farmer? She just couldn’t picture it. Of course, a man in his position wouldn’t need to plow fields himself. Gentlemen farmers hired workers. But she was sure he’d meant tilling the land himself.

So she said, “You’re right, the house comes with a lot of land, the tract stretching to the east. Have you considered building houses on it that you could rent out? The income would support you very well.”

He appeared surprised by her suggestion. “That’s something I would never have thought to do.”

She grinned. “Broadening your horizons, am I? Then it’s a good thing you met me.”

He snorted. “When you’re nothing but trouble? And you’ve spent too much time teaching me something I already know.”

She blinked. “The waltz? But you said—”

He laughed as he let go of her. “I’m a quick learner, darlin’. It only took a few minutes for me to figure it out.”

“Selective learning,” she humphed as he sauntered away.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The two to four weeks Nathan had mentioned to Corky that the trip could take hadn’t seemed like such a long voyage to him before they’d set sail, but it did now. Of course, like Corky, he’d never sailed so far from land before. Crossing the Channel between France and England on his runs was nothing compared to an Atlantic crossing. So he hadn’t known what this sort of isolation was going to be like. Now he did, and it was hell with such a desirable woman as Judith aboard—a woman who wouldn’t leave him alone.

She was dangerous to him in so many ways. She’d gotten him to open up. He couldn’t remember ever saying so much about himself to anyone else before. She made him want more for himself. She made him wish their circumstances weren’t so different. But the worst thing was that knowing he couldn’t have her didn’t stop him from wanting her.

He picked his times on deck carefully now, first making sure she wasn’t there. But he had been trying to find Boyd Anderson alone for several days now, without having to disturb the man in his cabin. Today he finally saw him, not alone, but on deck.

“The captain suggested I speak with you, Mr. Anderson, if you have a few minutes?”

The woman Boyd was with said, “It’s a little too windy for me up here today. I’m going to return to the family.”

“You have a beautiful wife,” Nathan said as they both watched her walk away.

Boyd turned back to him with a smile. “I know.” But then his eyes were drawn to Nathan’s waist. “Ask whatever you like as long as you tell me what you have crawling around in your shirt.”

Nathan laughed and pulled out the kitten. “It was sleeping.”

“You weren’t going to toss it over the side, were you? They’re valuable aboard.”

“Not this size they aren’t, but no. I found it strolling down the corridor by itself. I looked for its mother for a while, but she’s hidden her litter well.”

Boyd was still staring at the kitten, curled up now in the palm of Nathan’s hand. “I know Artie brought his tomcat along, but I didn’t think he was such a romantic that he’d bring along female companionship for him.”

“I’d have to agree with that assessment.” Nathan grinned. “It’s more likely a female jumped aboard on the southern coast, long before we sailed, to have kits this size.”

“Well, good luck finding the mother. But don’t let my wife see that tiny thing before you do, or she’ll want to adopt it. Women can get silly when it comes to adorable babies. Now, I’m sure you didn’t want to speak to me about lost kittens?”

“No. The captain, as well as the first mate, both steered me to you. Artie said you’re as American as one can be, and I’m going to need American assistance after we dock.”

“How so?”

“Are you familiar with the town of New London?”

“It’s maybe a half day’s ride up the coast from Bridgeport. It’s a whaling town and one of our competitors.”

“For whaling?”

“No, shipbuilding. My family has owned a shipyard for longer than I can remember. We don’t just build ships to add to our fleet, we build by commission as well.”

“Would you know if any of those competitors only claim to build ships?”

Boyd laughed. “That’s an odd question.”

“Not odd when you hear the rest of what I have to say.” Nathan explained his situation, ending with “I didn’t know the thieves are operating out of a whaling town. The thought of them overhauling The Pearl into a whaler turns my stomach. I need to find her before she’s sold.”

Boyd was shaking his head, his expression incredulous. “A decade of stealing ships right under the noses of the English? I wonder . . .”

“What?”

“Skylark had a ship disappear out of Plymouth harbor in England four years ago. We thought it merely departed ahead of schedule, and when the ship and captain were never seen again, we had to conclude they ran into trouble on the seas.”

“If your vessel was one of the stolen prizes, they may have killed your captain if he was still aboard when they took it. The thieves killed a man when they stole mine, so they don’t care if anyone gets hurt. But the information I have is that they only steal English ships.”

“You can’t tell the difference with ours. We got out of the habit of keeping our colors up in English ports after we dock. Damned lot of rubbish gets tossed on our decks in the middle of the night if we flaunt that we are Americans. Old grudges not forgotten on both sides, apparently.”

“But your vessel could have been lost at sea as you surmised. You don’t know that it’s related.”

“We don’t know that it isn’t. Regardless, while it’s probably nothing that can ever be verified, the people you’ve described still need to be stopped. I don’t know anyone in the town government of New London personally, but I have an old friend who settled there who would. John Hubbard and I go way back, and he owes me a favor.”

“I’ll be sure to look him up then.”

“We will,” Boyd corrected. “I’m going with you.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Finding both Catherine and Andrássy in her cabin disconcerted Judith a bit when she returned there to change her clothes. A sailor hurrying past her had dropped a bucket of water, which had splashed all over her. The sailor had apologized profusely, but she understood his haste and sudden clumsiness. He’d probably just noticed the storm heading their way and had been startled by the sudden crack of thunder.

Nonetheless, she smiled at her cousin and his stepsister and said, “Time to batten down, as they’re saying topside.”

“And that means?” Andrássy asked.

Judith laughed. “I’m not really sure. But if you haven’t noticed yet, there’s a nasty storm bearing down on us. So you should put away everything in your cabins that might fall when the ship starts rolling and make sure your lanterns are secured and extinguished.”

“But I can’t work in the dark,” Catherine said, annoyed.

Judith ignored the urge to roll her eyes. “A storm isn’t the best time to be plying a needle, I would think. Besides, we’re all meeting in my uncle’s cabin for an early meal. They might be putting out the fire in the galley oven if the weather becomes extreme, so it could be our last hot meal until the storm passes. And do hurry. It’s going to be upon us soon.”

She realized the moment Catherine was gone that she should have asked her to wait a moment to help her into another dress. Getting out of the one she was wearing proved more difficult than she’d expected. At least one fastener tore as she struggled to twist the dress around to reach the others. With Nettie already warned about the storm and helping to secure the galley, and Jack in the captain’s cabin already, getting into another dress was impossible.

She had no choice but to don Jack’s favorite garb. At least she got into the britches and shirt in half the time it would take to put on a dress. And in only a few moments she had grabbed everything that was lying about the room and dropped it all into one of her trunks. She finally doused the two lanterns Catherine had been using, grabbed a cloak in case it was already raining, and hurried back to the main deck, which she had to traverse to reach James’s cabin under the quarterdeck.

The storm was imminent; the only thing that hadn’t yet arrived was the rain. Strong gusts were already upon them, the crew working swiftly to rope down anything that wasn’t secure and to lower the sails. A laugh from overhead drew her eyes and made her pause. Nathan was hanging on to the mainmast, working in tandem with another sailor to tie down one of the bigger sails. His shirt had been blown loose from his britches and was flapping about as wildly as his hair, but he looked exhilarated, completely unconcerned about the dangerous storm that would soon overtake the ship.

“You like storms, do you?” she shouted up at him.

He looked alarmed when he saw her and immediately dropped down to the deck next to her. “Why aren’t you inside?”

“I will be in a moment. Do you?”

He’d already taken her arm to usher her straight to the captain’s cabin. “Love them—at least at sea. On land, I wouldn’t even notice. Here, it’s a fight against the elements, with Mother Nature cracking her whip, and there’s never a certainty who will win in the end. Now—”

The wave cut him off, a huge one that suddenly washed over the deck, knocking them both off their feet. But it actually carried Judith with it. She screamed, her arms flailing wildly, trying desperately to find something to grab onto. She heard her uncle shout her name, but he wasn’t close enough to reach her before . . . oh, God, not into the water! She wasn’t that good a swimmer, would drown before anyone could reach her in the churning water surrounding the ship.

All of that flashed through her mind before she felt a hand on her foot. Spitting out water, she raised her head to see that she was only mere inches from the side of the ship, which was tipped precariously low to the water. She quickly closed her eyes as water rushed over her face, as the wave receded. Her heart was still slamming in her chest when she opened her eyes and saw water draining through the slats of the railing. As high as the railings were, she might not have washed over the side, but she’d almost been smashed against them. That could have killed her or, at the least, seriously hurt her.

She found out who had saved her when Nathan picked her up in his arms. “That was too bleedin’ close.”

“Are you all right, Judy?” James asked from beside them.

Nathan still didn’t set her down! He was holding her so tightly to his chest she could hear the pounding of his heart.

With her uncle peering down at her with a concerned look, she quickly said in a trembling voice, “Yes, I’m fine now.”

“Get her inside, Tremayne,” James said briskly before he started shouting orders to the crew again.

Nathan carried her up to the quarterdeck. “If you leave his cabin—just don’t. You’ve been splashed enough for one day.”

Splashed? Then he’d seen the mishap with the bucket? But she hadn’t noticed him on deck and she’d looked for him. She always looked. It was becoming quite annoying how easily he managed to avoid her within the relatively small confines of the ship.

But he didn’t give her a chance to ask about it; in fact, she barely had enough time to say, “Thank you—for keeping me on board,” before he set her down to open the door to James’s cabin and closed it again the moment she was inside.

Anthony immediately noticed she was soaked and walked over to her. “Are you all right? What happened? It’s not raining yet.”

“No, it’s not, but I was splashed by a little ocean spray.” Judith grinned slightly to alleviate his concern.

Georgina rose from her chair. “Come with me, Judy. I’ll find you something dry to wear.”

She nodded and followed her aunt to the bedroom section of the cabin. She wasn’t going to mention what had happened when Katey, Catherine, and even Andrássy already looked worried, and the worst of the storm hadn’t even arrived yet. She changed quickly with Georgina’s help, then spent a few minutes drying her hair with a towel before she braided it again and joined her family to wait out the storm.

Jacqueline nodded at her, but was already playing a game of whist with her mother, Katey, and Boyd at one of the card tables.

Anthony had been waiting for Judith to start up a game at the other table with Andrássy and Catherine and called her over. “Where have you been? What delayed you, poppet?”