Alanna (When Hearts Dare Series Book 2) by Kathleen Bittner Roth Page B

daughters, I’d probably have you thrown overboard. But Alanna?” Thompson’s lips trembled. He leaned on an elbow and covered his mouth with one hand. A chuckle slipped out. “Forgive me, Wolf. I’m so tired, I suppose I’m slaphappy.” And then he broke into a hearty laugh. “I wish I could’ve been a mouse in the corner.”
    Wolf’s frustration turned to boiling anger. “You can be such a horse’s ass.”
    Thompson finally contained himself. “Ease up on yourself. There was nothing you could have done to hold Alanna down if she didn’t want to be there. She can yell and scream and raise the biggest hissy fit a female ever made, if she’s of a mind to. Although, come to think of it, I haven’t seen her do that in many a year.”
    Wolf shoved a hand through his hair. “I sure as hell didn’t figure your reaction right at all, so I guess it’s best if we put a halt to this conversation.” He pulled an envelope from between the pages of his ledger and handed it to Thompson. “Would you deliver this apology to Alanna in secret?”
    Thompson slipped the envelope into his jacket pocket. “I’ll see she gets it tomorrow, first off.”
    He sat back and stroked his beard as he studied Wolf. “You’ve had some pretty rough treatment from her parents, by the way. I think you’ve handled it well. I do hope you’re man enough to admit to yourself that rejection hurts.” Thompson measured his words. “Especially when it comes from the parents of someone you’re attracted to.”
    Before Wolf could speak, Thompson raised a hand and continued. “And after what you’ve told me just now, and what you said the first night they came to dinner, when you claimed you’d rather have any elderly woman aboard for feminine company than a powder keg of a young one? Well, it makes sense that you ignored her all evening, because she’s one helluva powder keg.”
     
     
    A gale hit the next day, welcoming them to the Horn.
    Mates bellowed for all hands. Topmen scrambled up the rigging, furiously gathering canvas as the storm blasted the clipper with all the lethal wrath she had in her.
    Thompson ordered upper yards lowered to take the strain off the mast as the storm plunged the tips of the ship’s yardarms below the sea’s boiling surface. Passengers were ordered to their bunks to tie down—crew members lashed themselves to the rails and masts to keep from being washed overboard by the waist-deep waves pounding the deck.
    All night long, the clipper lurched and heaved as the mighty surf exploded all around her. The torrent of rain and hail mingled with the roar of the waves until Wolf thought his eardrums would burst. He vowed this would be his only trip through such a hideous place.
    The next day a blizzard struck.
    The passengers saw little of one another over the next thirteen days as the ship repeatedly tacked back and forth over the same route in the screaming winds—a desperate attempt to gain miles through the icy rains or blasting snowstorms that pelted the ship.
    When the storm finally abated, and they headed toward the Atlantic and the Eastern Seaboard, Wolf stayed busy and kept to himself. Oftentimes, he was able to find work mending sails or ropes and checking the inventory that lasted throughout the dinner hour.
    The few times he could not avoid the gathering, he joined them, but offered little in the way of conversation, or eye contact with the other passengers. Alanna continued to observe him with the same calm, but made no further attempt to meet with him.
    During her exercise periods, Wolf made sure he worked below. But there were times he assisted the crew on deck when she, and her mother, or Hsui Lin were there. She watched him then.
    Always.
    And he knew it.
    He detested that Thompson was right about his attraction to her. He also resented his feelings, resented the urge to speak to her, or even to think about her. Most of all, he resented her constant intrusion upon his dreams.
    He worked