Captain's Bride by Kat Martin Page B

the way. The hard look on his face dared any
man to look at her sideways. When they reached the bow, they found
the captain instead of the first mate, and his expression said he
was none too pleased.
    Jago handed her over, a bit reluctantly it seemed to
Glory, then spun on his heel and returned to his post.
    “I thought I told you not to come on deck alone,” he
snapped.
    “I needed some air. I thought I’d find one of you on
deck and I did.”
    Nicholas scowled, thinking of Jago Dodd. Of all the
men she could have asked for help, Jago was probably the most
dangerous. Would the woman never understand what these men were
thinking? He cursed beneath his breath and wished to God he’d never
brought her along. “I’m a little busy right now. Come on. We’ll
find Josh.” He gripped her arm none too gently and led her toward
the stem where Joshua Pintassle volunteered to escort her with
unabashed enthusiasm. Nicholas frowned and stalked away.
    By the time they’d taken a turn around the deck,
Glory and Joshua were friends. “It feels good to be on my own,” she
told him, thinking about home for the first time since she’d left.
“I had no idea freedom could be so heady. I almost wish I didn’t
have to go back at all.”
    “I know what you mean,” he said. “It’s one of the
reasons I decided not to work for my father. At least not right
away. I wanted to be on my own for a while. I needed some time to
find out about myself.”
    “Yes,” Glory agreed. “Now that Father is gone, it
just isn’t the same at the manor. Something’s missing. It doesn’t
hold the same appeal for me it did before.”
    “I knew your father only briefly, but he seemed a
fine man, and I know the captain admired him.”
    “I know.” Glory looked away. The sun was dropping
into the flat blue line of the horizon, turning the sky a burning
orange. “It’ll be dark soon,” she said, not wanting to dwell on a
subject that always made her sad. “I think I had better go below.”
They headed toward the aft ladder, and Glory spotted Nathan along
the way.
    “Excuse me just a moment, Mr. Pintassle,” she said.
“I’d like a moment with my . . . servant.”
    “Of course.”
    Making certain no one was close enough to hear, Glory
pulled Nathan aside. “Is everything all right? Are they treating
you well?”
    Nathan grinned, his teeth a flash of white against
his cocoa complexion. “Yassum, Miz Glory. Dey’s jes’ fine. Filled
me up wiff salt pork and gruel. Ain’t Virgini’ ham, but it’ll
do.”
    Glory fought a grin herself. “Don’t get carried away,
all right?”
    “Yassum, Miz Glory.”
    Glory glanced over her shoulder, then poked him
squarely in the ribs. “Will you behave?”
    “I’m fine, Glory, really I am. I’m bunking in with
the crew.” He glanced across the deck to where the handsome blond
first officer waited. “Another conquest?”
    “Mr. Pintassle is a very nice man.”
    “I’m sure he is, and I can see by the look on his
face, he’s already joined your flock of admirers.”
    Glory looked askance. “Nathan, I swear, you’re
sounding more like Papa every day.”
    Nathan smiled at her words, and Glory could have
sworn his chest puffed out a little. “I’d better not keep him
waiting,” she said. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    “Yassum, Miz Glory.”
    Shaking her head in vexation, Glory returned to the
first mate, who escorted her back to her cabin. She felt better now
that she’d seen Nathan; he certainly didn’t appear to be any the
worse for wear. And as long as he was fed and not mistreated, he
was far better off than he would have been back at Summerfield
Manor. Glory wondered what her mother had done when she discovered
the two of them missing. She’d be angry—furious, in fact. And
there’d be the devil to pay when Glory got home. But as long as
Nathan reached safety in the North, all the trouble would be
worthwhile. Glory was sure she could make her mother see reason,
once Nathan was