So Boyd dropped down on the nearest sofa and said, “You can’t imagine how big a hole. She nearly drove me mad with lust on that last voyage with her aboard.”
Anthony had already heard about Boyd’s “rental agreement” with Katey and said drily, “And now you’re putting yourself back on a ship with her? Smart move.”
“Rather impulsive even for a Yank,” James added.
“What choice do I have? I don’t just owe her for that mistake I made in Northampton. I want her.”
“That, dear boy, has been painfully obvious,” said James. “You behave like a bloody fool around her.”
Boyd flinched, his defenses rising. “You think I’m not aware of that? You think I wouldn’t rein it in if I could? That’s why I made such a blunder in the first place. I couldn’t trust my own instincts about her innocence that day, when all I could think about was bedding her.”
“Sounds like a man in love, don’t it?” Anthony said to his brother.
“No, in lust is more like it,” James disagreed.
“Do you love her?” Anthony persisted.
Boyd felt like pulling his hair out. “How the hell would I know? The intense desire I feel for her when I get near her leaves no room to explore any other feelings.”
“Then what exactly are your intentions?” Anthony continued with a slight frown. “I don’t think I’d care to hear about her getting hurt by you, or anyone else for that matter. She’s a remarkable chit.”
“Agreed,” James said. “There’s much about her to admire. There aren’t many who would have done what she did to rescue Judy. Most people, women especially, would have ignored the situation or just gone for help, and then it would have been two adults’ words against a child’s, and you know bloody well the child wouldn’t be believed.”
“And they were mistreating my baby,” Anthony said, getting worked up again about it. “The bastards hadn’t even fed her! But Katey Tyler saw a child tied to the floor and didn’t fob off the rescue to someone else. She got Judy out of there without giving it another thought.”
“I think what my brother is getting at is, don’t let this lust of yours burn the wench. She might be traveling around the world, but she doesn’t strike me as being very worldly, if you catch my drift.”
Boyd sighed. “You’re both off the mark. I’ve been thinking of settling down for a while now, including getting married.”
“Back in Connecticut I hope?” James quickly remarked.
Boyd snorted. “When my entire family spends more time here now? No, I was thinking of running the Skylark office in London on a permanent basis.”
James groaned. Anthony chuckled. Boyd ignored the dramatics and continued, “So I could use some advice on how to win the wench to my favor.”
Anthony glanced behind him, then at James, then exclaimed to Boyd, “You’re asking us?”
James did the chuckling this time and said to his brother, “Come now, dear boy, who better should he ask for advice of this sort? And she’s not one of ours where we’d have grounds to object because we don’t want any more Andersons in the family. He’d probably even make a good husband. Warren did, and who in their right mind would have predicted that?”
Anthony shrugged. “Well, if you’re game for this, old man, I suppose I can chip in.” And to Boyd, he said, “Let’s start with the basics, shall we? Has she ever given you any indication that she even likes you? All I’ve seen is her running in the opposite direction from you.”
“She blushes a lot in my presence,” Boyd answered. “I used to think that was a good indication with a wench, but I’m not so sure anymore.”
Anthony laughed. “That’s no indication a’tall. Could be you just embarrass her with that rampant lust you’ve owned up to.”
“Put a lid on it, puppy, and help the boy out,” James admonished.
“But it’s obvious, ain’t it?” Anthony rejoined. “He’s going to have to resort to seduction.”
“My thoughts exactly,” James agreed.
“That sounds—underhanded,” Boyd remarked.
“Well, you might be accustomed to a straightforward approach with women, but do you really think that would work with this one when you have so many marks against you already?” Anthony said.
“You need to sneak up on her emotions, dear boy. Catch her off guard,” James added.
Anthony hooted at his brother. “That’s how you had to operate, old man. I preferred charm. Worked every time, you know.”
“I don’t believe barbarians possess any of that,” James put in.
“Now who’s not being helpful?” Anthony quipped.
James sighed. “Quite right. Habit, you know.” Then he said to Boyd, “Sorry, Yank.”
Boyd grinned slightly. “I’m used to it.”
“Down to particulars then,” James said. “Once you ascertain that she has some sort of feelings for you other than murderous ones, then you progress to slowly whittling down her barriers, and she’ll likely have a lot of them in your case. So don’t rush it. Remember, subtlety.”
“And eye contact,” Anthony added. “It’s amazing what you can achieve with your eyes. They are your first line of expression, you know. Dozens of things can be said with a sensual look that words might otherwise muck up.”
“But keep your eyes above water, if you know what I mean,” James said next. “A woman doesn’t like catching you staring at her breasts. Insults them for some reason.”
“Never understood that m’self, but he’s quite right,” Anthony put in.
Boyd was beginning to wonder if he should be taking notes about all of this, but then James said, “Let’s see a demonstration, lad.”
“Of?”
“What you’re capable of expressing to a woman with a look. And remember, keep it subtle.”
Boyd felt distinctly uncomfortable with the suggestion, but he gave it a try—and bowled both Malorys over with laughter. Serious laughter that had him feeling as if he were the brunt of a joke. He started to get up to leave before his hot temper kicked in. He’d asked for their help, but he should have known better.
But James wound down first and said, “Show him how it’s done, Tony.”
“He’s not my type,” Anthony replied. But that got him one of his brother’s unbending looks, so he amended, “Oh, very well.”
Anthony took a moment to compose himself, then Boyd was given the full brunt of what the ladies of London used to experience when he’d targeted them. Easy to see how this particular Malory’s tally was legendary in the matter of seductions. Charm didn’t even come close to describing a look like that.
Assured now that they weren’t just pulling his leg, Boyd was quick to grumble, “He’s got remarkable eyes to begin with. It’s no wonder that would work for him.”
“So he does,” James concurred. “But that doesn’t mean the rest of us are a lost cause. Now give it another try yourself, lad, and this time, imagine Miss Tyler is standing in front of you.”
That was easy enough to do when Katey was never far from Boyd’s thoughts. So he brought her image to the forefront of his mind, her beautiful emerald eyes, the dimples that suggested a smile that wasn’t really there, her skin that looked as if it would feel like silk, her plump, luscious lips, the long, black braid he wanted to tuck into his belt instead of hers, her magnificent curves…
“Good God,” James said, breaking the image of Katey in Boyd’s mind. “Forget charming her until after you’ve taken care of that lust. You’ll bloody well sink your ship in flames with looks like that one.”
Anthony chuckled. “What can I say? Some of us have it and some of us don’t.” He was giving James a pointed smirk when he said that, which got a snort out of the golden-haired Malory. But then to Boyd, Anthony suggested, “Just practice, Yank. Use a mirror if you have to. It’s worth getting right. The battle is won if you can get the lady all aflutter before you’ve even touched her.”
“Back to the overall strategy then,” James
said thoughtfully. “If you really are thinking about settling down and it’s marriage you want in the end, let her know you aren’t adverse to the idea. But by all means, be subtle about it. Don’t barrage her with your New England frankness. Give her some time to see that there’s more to you than impulsive decisions.”
“She’s a New Englander, too,” Boyd reminded them. “You haven’t noticed how she gets right to the point?”
James chuckled. “Threw you quite a curve, didn’t it, her asking for your ship?”
“Have you ever heard anything so preposterous? I can’t even imagine what would make her think of such a thing as renting a ship. A small boat, yes, of course. But a fully crewed three-masted ship!”
“Actually I find that a logical thought progression m’self,” James said. “You wouldn’t, having lived your whole life in a shipping family. To you, ships are your business, a livelihood, but not everyone sees them that way. Even I owned a ship just for pleasure—”
“And pirating,” Boyd cut in.
James lifted a golden brow. “We aren’t really going to rehash that, are we?”
Boyd flushed a bit. “No. Sorry.”
James let it slide. “The point I was making was, I paid for my crew, for all repairs, for everything that had to do with my ship, out of my own pocket. I didn’t sign on cargoes or passengers to cover the costs. And here you have a young woman who has the means and desire to travel the world. She’s already accustomed to renting vehicles and has progressed to the next step of wanting her own coach instead. I wouldn’t be surprised if she thought about buying a ship as well; she just doesn’t have the patience to wait for one to be built. And they aren’t a common commodity. It’s rare to find a seasoned vessel up for sale when you want it. There are plenty available when you aren’t shopping, but when you actually want one, well, you know what I mean.”
“Her lack of patience is rather notable,” Anthony added. “Or she wouldn’t have come asking to rent your ship because of a mere eight days’ wait. It’s not as if she has anywhere to be anytime soon.”
“That was eight more days on top of the wait she’d already experienced, for the ship she missed this morning,” Boyd reminded them.
“Quite right. Forgot about that,” Anthony said. “But still, what’s her hurry? Did she say?”
“I wasn’t going to ask,” Boyd said.
“You know,” James began, “come to think of it, I could sell her the ship I recently purchased. I only bought it on a whim for the next time George gets it in her mind to visit your old hometown, and that isn’t likely to happen again until next summer. It came in handy to chase after your brother and aid in getting his new father-in-law out of that pirate prison in the Caribbean, but I’ve got all winter now to have another ship commissioned for when I might need one again.”
“Don’t do that,” Boyd protested. “Don’t even mention it to Katey. This is the only means I have of getting rid of this guilt. For a woman I do not want to see the last of, I couldn’t have asked for a better boon than to sail around the world with her.”
“Unless she continues to hold it against you.”
Boyd slumped down in the sofa. “The Oceanus is my peace offering. She implied—”
“Never go by what a woman merely implies, Yank,” Anthony said, then snickered, “Especially one you’ve recently enraged.”
“That isn’t even remotely funny,” Boyd grumbled with a glare.
“Well, it was to the point,” Anthony replied with a shrug. “But if I were you, I’d get it spelled out in no uncertain terms before you cast off that putting your ship at her disposal squares it between you two. No point in even trying seduction on the chit if she hates your guts.”
Chapter 28
FOUR DAYS AT SEA and Katey hadn’t seen Boyd even once since the morning they sailed down the Thames into the English Channel. And their conversation that morning before they cast off had been brief. They had merely discussed their immediate destination, after he’d told her he had to send that information to his Skylark office before they sailed.
“I would suggest the Caribbean,” he told her. “It’s an area I’m very familiar with, since it’s always been one of Skylark’s trading routes. The waters are warm, the weather always balmy, the beaches pristine. At most any time of the year it will feel like summer.”
She hadn’t intended to be disagreeable just to be disagreeable, though that would certainly be the case now after the man had ignored her for four days. She hadn’t really expected that, nor how quickly it had aggravated her. Possibly because she had intended to ignore him and he wasn’t around to notice!
But that morning she’d said, “I don’t want to spend long weeks again at sea, at least not this soon. I would also prefer to stay on this side of the world since we’re already here. So let’s just sail south, shall we?”
“To?”
“You’re the sailor, at least you likely know much more about the world than I do. You implied there were many choices to choose from. Let’s hear them.”
He didn’t have to think about it for more than a few seconds. “The Mediterranean then? It’s a large body of water that comprises a number of seas within it. It offers access to the south of Europe on the north side of it, Spain, Italy, Greece, even the southern coast of France, and a large number of islands around them, all of which will still be quite warm. In fact the entire area offers spring-like weather all year long. Then on the south side of the Mediterranean is Africa, and to the east—”
“Africa sounds interesting.”
“Yes, but it’s not a country you’re actually going to want to travel inland in.”
“Why not?”
“Because it’s mostly desert. Besides, we can stop at a few of its open ports once we get beyond the Barbary Coast, to give you a feel for the country. You can decide then if you’d like to see more of it.”
“The Barbary Coast?” She’d never heard the name before. “Why can’t we stop there?”
“It’s mostly just pirate bases and—”
“Wait just a minute. Pirates?”
He gave her a slight wince, but quickly tempered it with a shrug and an unconcerned tone. “Pirates are an unfortunate fact of life in many parts of the world, but they are particularly active in warmer waters. Surely you knew that before you began this trip?”
She simply stared at him incredulously. She’d known nothing of the sort, but she was too speechless to say so at the moment. Her tutor either hadn’t been aware of these “facts” or he hadn’t thought it an appropriate subject for a child.
Boyd had continued teaching her about this missed history lesson whether she wanted to hear it or not. “The Caribbean, Asia, in the Mediterranean, just to name a few—pirates have been around for centuries. But The Oceanus is outfitted to deal with them. She’s fast and she’s well-armed. Skylark shipping has had enough run-ins with pirates to make it mandatory for all our ships to carry cannon now. So it’s just as safe to travel by ship as it is by land, at least on a Skylark ship. But as for land travel, highway robbers are just as prevalent, you know.”
“No, I didn’t know. In fact, I had no idea about any of this.”
“I didn’t mention it to make you nervous,” he assured her. “Really, you can travel the world without ever seeing a pirate ship. And Skylark has a few routes in the Mediterranean, which include certain trade agreements. So the privateers from those countries, who also have agreements with their own governments, will for the most part ignore us. It’s only the Barbary Coast pirates who would see us as fair game, but as I said, we will avoid their territory. Tyrus is very familiar with those waters.”
“It’s really safe?”
“I won’t lie to you, Katey. Nothing is ever one hundred percent safe. But I don’t anticipate any trouble or I would never have suggested the area to you. Skylark ships do regularly travel there just as sea traders have been doing for thousands of years. But as for traveling inland—I assumed when you said you wer
e traveling the world it was to see as much of the world and its many differences, cultures, and beauties as possible in a reasonable time frame. To see the entire world would take a lifetime. That wasn’t what you had in mind, was it?”
He’d looked so appalled when that thought had occurred to him, she’d been hard-pressed not to laugh. “No, you’re quite right,” she said to put his mind at ease. “A little flavor from each region will do.”
With their immediate destination settled, she’d turned to head to her cabin. He stopped her.
“Katey, am I forgiven?”
A little stiffness entered her tone. She couldn’t help it. “Your generosity has breached the silence. I’m talking to you, am I not?”
“But am I forgiven?”
“You’ve allowed me to pay for the use of your ship. Whether this will make my traveling experience more enjoyable, though, remains to be seen. Ask me that again in a month.”
“Katey—”
“I think it would be best if this not be mentioned again. So I’ll say this one last time. You wanted a way to make amends. I’ve supplied you with an opportunity to do so. It’s a grand gesture you’ve made. I’m well aware of that. But so far you’ve merely saved me from eight—seven now—days in London. Annoying days to be sure, but days where I would have been free to find some sort of amusement to pass the time. That doesn’t equal the one day of detention—”
“That wasn’t my doing!”
“—that you were indirectly responsible for, the manhandling, the frustration, the anger…yet,” she went on as if he hadn’t interrupted. “So I repeat, ask me again in a month, after I’ve seen a bit more of the world with your help.”
Perhaps that was why she didn’t see him again after they sailed. She had been a bit harsh in her response. A bit? No, quite overdone. He might well be regretting his magnanimous offer now, and she couldn’t blame him if he was. Of course his gesture was enough. It was much more than she could have expected. Hadn’t she contemplated buying her own ship? Now she had one at her disposal without the wait and without the much larger cost. She would have had to pay for a captain and crew either way.