“Yes, even if I had to cut the lumber, which I don’t. Artie said he got all the materials from a man who builds rings for a living, so it’s already cut to specifications and just needs to be put together. Are you worried I’ll get on your uncle’s bad side if I disappoint him?”
“No, when that happens, I doubt it will have anything to do with your carpentry job.”
“It will if you keep distracting me,” he retorted.
She suppressed a grin. “I was being quiet. You brought up necks.”
He snorted but continued to hammer, even when he asked a few minutes later, “How often did your father and your uncle lose those challenges you mentioned?”
“They never did.”
“Never? Even when they get taken by surprise?”
“Who would dare do that?”
He didn’t appear to like her answer, but since he could apparently work and converse at the same time, she continued, taking a different tack. “I have to say, that was a very good excuse you came up with, instead of admitting that you’re running from the law.”
“What excuse?”
“That you’re chasing a stolen ship. Did you build it yourself?”
“No, I inherited her from my father two years ago.”
“So you’ve been smuggling for only two years?”
She slipped that in hoping to get him to tell the truth while he was distracted by his work, but it didn’t happen.
He glanced her way. “I’ve told you how wrong you are, yet you do seem to be very curious about me, so why don’t we make a deal. I’ll answer your questions over the course of the voyage if you’ll answer some of mine, and we’ll agree to keep each other’s secrets.”
“I don’t have any secrets that would land me in jail,” she said pertly.
He shrugged. “Neither do I, but if you don’t want to strike a bargain, so be it.”
“Not so fast, I didn’t say that. Let me be clear, you’re offering to tell me your life story, the truthful version, if I agree to keep what you say to myself?”
“You’ll have to do more’n that. You can tell no one that we’ve met before. That will have to be our secret.”
“But my cousin Jack—”
“No one.”
She snapped her mouth shut. She wasn’t sure she could keep secrets from Jack and certainly didn’t want to when they always shared everything. Annoyed, she said, “I seem to be getting the short end of the stick. I’ll have to think of something else you can do for me to more evenly balance this agreement.”
“Then we have one?”
“We do.” She got up to shake hands on it, but heard her name being called. “I have to go. Jack’s calling for me.”
“That’s a woman’s voice.”
“Yes, it is, but there’s no time to explain.”
“There’s time for this.”
She was already hurrying to the stairway and wasn’t going to stop to find out what he meant. So she didn’t see him put down his hammer and reach for her. But suddenly he was holding her quite intimately with one of his arms around her waist and the other halfway around her shoulders with his hand behind her neck. She was bent slightly back as his lips moved softly against hers.
Such a classic pose he had her in, romantic really, yet it did run through her mind that he was stealing kisses from her again. But this time she knew who was doing it, not some faceless rogue, but an incredibly handsome one. So when she did what she knew she was supposed to do and tried to push away from him, the merely halfhearted effort brought her hands sliding up his bare chest to his shoulders. And before she could try again, the pleasant way his lips were moving over hers caused such scintillating feelings to flutter inside her that she didn’t want to pull away from him.
The foray was simply too sensual, the way he parted her lips with his, sucking on her lower lip, nibbling at her upper lip, then running his tongue over both before flicking it teasingly at hers. His hold tightened and he deepened the kiss, sending her pulse thrumming erratically and a wave of heat over her whole body.
Utterly immersed in what he was doing to her, she was surprised when he let her go and she found herself standing there without his help. Her eyes flew open to find him giving her a curious look she couldn’t fathom.
“Was there a difference?” he asked.
That’s why he’d kissed her? “You already know there was a difference because you know how brief that other kiss was and that it ended like this.”
She didn’t slap him as hard as she’d done that night at the old house. Which was probably why he laughed. “I guess the bargain is off?”
“No, but I will think of something unpleasant for you to do to keep up your end of the bargain—besides giving me the truth.”
“I doubt anything to do with you could be unpleasant, darlin’.”
“Even if I keep you at my beck and call, subject to my whims?”
He grinned. “Sounds like the pot just got sweetened for me.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” she huffed.
“Oh, I am. As long as it doesn’t get me in trouble with the captain, I’m yours to command. Would you like to seal our bargain with another kiss?”
She didn’t answer as she marched up the stairs. She’d amused him more than enough for one day. When they met again, she’d have the upper hand and she planned to keep it that way.
Chapter Sixteen
“She looks lonely and sad,” Judith said to Jacqueline as she gazed at Catherine Benedek, who had just appeared on deck, her brown hair so tightly wound up the wind hadn’t disturbed it yet.
“And why is that our business?” Jacqueline asked.
They were sitting on one of the steps between decks nibbling on pastries, far to the side so the sailors could navigate to and fro without having to ask them to move out of the way. Judith hadn’t yet quite recovered from lying to Jack when she’d asked where Judith had been. And her cheeks had gone up in flames because of it. But Jacqueline had already grabbed her hand to lead her to the steps, so she hadn’t noticed.
Oh, God, lying to Jack already. Before she’d gone topside, Judith had run to the galley for a couple of pastries. She’d needed an excuse for why Jack hadn’t found her on deck. She’d handed Jack a pastry and said, “I went to the galley for these.” Yet she was still agonizing. How was she going to be able to keep a secret from her dearest friend, when no one knew her better than Jack did?
But the mysterious Catherine Benedek was a useful distraction to get her mind off secrets and kisses and ex-ghosts, at least briefly. “Aren’t you curious about her?”
“After the way she spoke to you last night outside our cabins, no.”
“I am. Who yells like that for no reason?”
“Her.”
Judith rolled her eyes. “Let’s introduce ourselves.”
“Fine. But if she screeches again, I’m going to toss her over the rail.”
Jacqueline threw the rest of her pastry over the railing and dusted off her hands on her breeches as she stood up. She’d already donned her ship garb: baggy pants, a loose shirt, and a pink scarf over her head, which kept her long, blond hair securely bound up. And she didn’t bother with shoes or boots, preferring to go barefoot. She’d had three sets of work clothes tailored for the voyage and three sets made for Judith, too, even though Judith had told her she wouldn’t wear them. They both loved sailing, but Judith had no desire to help with the actual work of sailing, as Jack did.
“You barely touched that pastry,” Judith said as she dusted crumbs from her hands, too. “Are you feeling all right?”
“I probably should have resisted the fresh milk Nettie brought me last night. I got too much sleep because of it and now I feel a bit sluggish, is all.”
“Nettie brought me a glass as well, but it didn’t cause me to oversleep, so I doubt it was the milk. Are you sure you haven’t caught something? Are you feverish?”
Jacqueline swatted Judith’s hand away when she tried to feel
her brow. “Stop fussing, Mother. I’m fine.”
Judith tsked. “Aunt George would send you back to bed. I only wanted to see if you have a fever.”
“I don’t. Now can we get our meeting with the harridan over with?”
They had nearly reached the elegantly clad woman, so Judith whispered, “Be nice,” before she made the introductions.
A warm smile revealed the woman was quite pretty, after all. “I’m Catherine Benedek. It’s a pleasure to meet you under better circumstances.”
“So you aren’t always so disagreeable?” Jacqueline asked baldly.
Taken aback, Catherine assured them, “No, only when I’m in pain, as I was yesterday. I had an excruciating headache. Caused by lack of sleep, I suppose. I was rushing to my cabin for some laudanum to help with it. I do apologize for being terse.”
“You still have an American accent,” Jacqueline noted. “You weren’t in Europe very long?”
“I was.” That sadness was back in Catherine’s light gray eyes. “But my mother was American, so—”
“Was?” Jacqueline cut in.
“Yes, she died in the recent fire that took Andrássy’s father, too.”
That would certainly account for Catherine’s sadness, Judith thought. “How awful. I’m sorry for your loss.”
“You are kind. But I suppose I have my mother’s accent. I’m surprised you would recognize it.”
“Jacqueline’s mother is American, and five of her uncles are, too,” Judith explained. “That’s why we’re sailing to America. We’re having a come-out in Connecticut to please the American side of her family. Then we’ll have another one in England to please the other side. I was only able to get permission to go with her at the last minute. I’m actually quite unprepared. My entire new wardrobe still needs some finishing work, mostly just the hems.”
Catherine’s expression lit up. “So Andrássy told you that I love to sew? I would be delighted to assist you.”
“It seems like an imposition.”
“On the contrary, you would be doing me a favor by relieving my boredom. Say you will at least consider it.”
Judith grinned. “Of course.”
The smile remained on Catherine’s lips, a little wider now. “How very accommodating of you to travel for such a reason. I, too, have family in America, though Andrássy doesn’t think my father can still be alive after all these years.”
“But you do?”
“Indeed. He was only assumed dead after his ship went down off the coast of Florida. But there were survivors of the shipwreck who returned to Savannah, which was where we lived. My father could have survived, too. Maybe he was injured and was recovering somewhere. That could have accounted for his not returning home. He might have come home much later and found us gone and had no idea where to look for us.”
“Then you don’t think your mother’s marriage to Andrássy’s father was even legal?” Jacqueline asked.
“No, I don’t. God rest her soul, it was stupid and shameful of her to remarry so quickly. I hated her for many years for doing that.”
“Really? Your own mother?”
Judith intervened before Jack turned the woman unpleasant again. “Anger can sometimes be mistaken for hate. It’s understandable, though, that you would be angry at your mother for giving up on your father when you thought he could still be alive.”
“Thank you for that.” Catherine smiled at Judith. “Barely a month had passed before my mother packed our bags and took us to Europe. She told me that we were only going to visit an old friend of her mother’s in Austria. But within three months of arriving there, she met the count, who was in the city on business, and married him. Three months! And then I was forced to live in that archaic country of his where English is barely spoken.”
“I’m sorry—we’re sorry,” Judith said.
But Jack ruined it by adding, “Sounds exciting to me. A new life in a country that is so different from your own. Have you no sense of adventure a’tall?”
“Adventure? Are you joking?”
“I guess so,” Jacqueline said drily.
Catherine didn’t seem to notice Jacqueline’s tone and changed the subject. “You two look nothing like Gypsies, as Andrássy does.”
“You expected us to as far back in our ancestry as Anna Stephanoff was?” Jacqueline asked.
“You do have his eyes though, even the exotic shape.”
“Only a few of us have the black hair and eyes you’re referring to,” Judith said.
“What about the gifts?”
Judith frowned. “What exactly are you—”
Jack interrupted with a laugh. “I think she means fortune-telling and other things Gypsies are renowned for.”
Catherine suddenly looked quite excited. “Yes, indeed. Do you have any special abilities? Or does anyone in your family? I begged Andrássy to ask, but he doesn’t believe in such things.”
“Neither do we,” Jacqueline said firmly.
The woman looked so disappointed, Judith took pity on her. “Our family does have more than its fair share of luck, but no one would call it a Gypsy gift.”
“Yet perhaps it is,” Catherine said quickly. “Can you explain?”
Jack was glaring at her, but Judith continued, “Well, for instance, our uncle Edward is incredibly good with investments, but only some people call him lucky. Others view him as being very knowledgeable about financial matters. Our cousin Regina is rather good at matchmaking. The men and women she pairs up usually end up quite happy together. My father and Jack’s brother, Jeremy, who take after the Gypsy side in looks, were always lucky with women, and now they’re lucky with their wives, but again, that’s hardly considered a gift. And—”
“—that’s the extent of it,” Jacqueline cut in to finish for Judith. “Now, it’s your turn to tell us what you expected to hear and why?”
“Is it not obvious? I hoped for some help in finding my father. I plan to start my search in Savannah, but as I and my mother were his only ties to that city, it is unlikely he is still there. His trade routes were between there and the Caribbean, where he lived before he met my mother. It’s daunting to think we might have to visit every port in the Caribbean to find him! I at least hoped for assurance that he’s alive somewhere.”
Jacqueline raised a brow.
Judith saw that Catherine was becoming distraught and quickly said, “I’d trust your instincts and start your search in Savannah. It really does seem the most logical place to start. No doubt you will find some new information about your father there. If you’ll excuse us, we have some unpacking to do.”
Jack dragged Judy away, mumbling under her breath, “Did we have to listen to her life’s story?”
“We were being polite, and why did you interrupt me back there?”
“Because you were about to tell her about Amy, which is none of her bloody business.”
Judith tsked. “We were just discussing luck, and Amy’s is phenomenal, you’ll have to admit.”
“Yes, but that’s all it is. Don’t think for a minute that Catherine can be trusted, Judy. I don’t fully trust Andrássy either, for that matter.”
“Really?”
“You don’t think it was a bit too convenient, him showing up the night before we leave and ending up on this ship with us? Just because he’s got eyes like yours doesn’t mean he is a relative.”
Judith laughed. “You’re forgetting he knows all about the Stephanoffs.”
“From a journal that he could simply have found somewhere and decided to use the information in it for some nefarious end.”
Judith laughed again. “You don’t really believe that.”
“All right, maybe not nefarious. And maybe he is related by blood. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t up to no good. So just watch what you say, to both of them. We don’t need to spill family secrets just because he seems genuine.”
Did Jacqueline have to mention secrets when Judith had such a big one of her own now?
Chapter Seventeen
“Where is Jacqueline?” Andrássy asked Judith when she arrived alone for dinner that night in the captain’s cabin.
“She’s coming. She’s just a little off-kilter today. She overslept this morning, then overslept again from the nap she took this afternoon.”
Georgina frowned. “She’s not getting sick, is she?”
“She doesn’t have a fever. I checked.”
“Probably just too much excitement over the last few days,” James guessed, and added for his wife, “I wouldn’t worry, m’dear.”
“Whatever you do, don’t suggest she go back to bed,” Judith said with a grin. “She’s quite annoyed with herself for spending too much time in it today.”
After that remark, only Andrássy still looked concerned. Judith wondered again if their new cousin might be a bit smitten by her best friend. But Jacqueline did arrive a few minutes later, eyes bright and wide-awake now, the picture of good health. Vivacious in her greetings, she arrived only a few minutes before Artie and Henry brought in the food, so they all took their seats at the table.
Andrássy had, unfortunately, been placed across from the girls, smack between James and Anthony, which didn’t bode well for him. In fact, after what Jacqueline had confided to her after luncheon, Judith suspected Andrássy was in for quite a grilling. Jack had gloated that she wasn’t the only one with reservations about Andrássy. She’d overheard their fathers discussing the same thing. Of course, it was Jack’s father who shared her suspicions that Andrássy might not be who he claimed to be. But then when did James Malory ever take anything at face value? It was a throwback to his wild youth and ten years of raising hell on the high seas to be suspicious first and agreeable later—maybe.
Georgina inadvertently initiated the interrogation of Andrássy with the query “Your sister didn’t want to join us for dinner again?”
“I didn’t mention it to her.”
Georgina glanced at the empty seat at the table. “Why not?”
Another innocent question. But then Georgina was completely trusting, unlike her husband. So James obviously hadn’t shared his reservations with his wife yet, only with his brother.