because he was English.”
Tabitha faced him. “Then take heed of his heart wound and have a care you don’t lose your heart to an American lady.”
“Perhaps I already have.” His smile flashed, bright and warm in the rising sun. Gold lights gleamed in his velvety eyes, all the more intense for the veil of lashes.
An alarm clanged in her head and she stiffened. “Then I pity you, Mr. Cherrett. I have no balm to heal that kind of hurt.”
“We’ll see about that, Madam Mermaid,” he murmured.
Then he kissed her.
9
______
Raleigh Trower tugged so hard on his end of the net, the ropes parted and silvery fish slid onto the deck of the boat.
“Trower, you oaf,” Rhys Evans bellowed. “There’s half the catch to collect again and time’s wasting.”
“You can’t rush fishing.” Rhys’s younger brother Lisle spoke in a gentler voice.
“This morning proves it.” Rhys grabbed a bucket and began to scoop the catch into it. “If we’d stayed out an hour later like I wanted to, we wouldn’t have encountered that British frigate at all.”
“It all came out well in the end.” Lisle joined his brother in gathering the fish. “Raleigh has a silver tongue in that head of his.”
“Telling a pack of lies,” Rhys grumbled.
“It wasn’t lies.” Raleigh began to gather up the edges of the seine, knotting ropes to repair the portion he’d broken.
“Right you are.” Rhys guffawed. “Maybe we are a lot of half-wits, risking our skins against the English scum to get a night’s catch.”
“I never said we were half-wits.” Raleigh frowned over the lines he knotted.
He wouldn’t have lied. He was a sinner, breaking too many of God’s commandments to feel truly forgiven and redeemed—despite what the ship’s chaplain told him—but lying wasn’t one of them. Or at least nothing as barefaced as that of which Rhys accused him.
“I just kept saying we’re Americans,” Raleigh reminded his companions.
“Like you didn’t understand what he was yelling at us.” Rhys wiped silvery scales onto his canvas breeches. “Which made you sound like a half-wit.”
“And we just kept pretending like we was mute,” Lisle added.
Raleigh grinned in spite of himself. “That poor lieutenant was getting frustrated, wasn’t he?”
“Especially when the first lieutenant came along and told him to let us go,” Rhys said.
Raleigh’s grin faded at the knowledge that the officer had said to let them go because he knew Raleigh, knew he was free to be home.
For now.
“The other lieutenant sounded like some lordling,” Raleigh explained. “There’s a lot of them who don’t approve of impressing Americans, just like they wouldn’t fight against us in the last war.”
“This isn’t war,” Lisle said. “Not if President Madison can stop them from taking our men.”
“We can’t fight the greatest Navy in the world.” Raleigh looked out to sea to where he thought he caught the merest hint of the frigate’s topsails against the bright horizon. “Or the most powerful country.”
“Then let’s stay out until after daybreak next time,” Rhys admonished. “They seem more inclined to steal us in the dark, like the criminals they are.”
“All right,” Raleigh agreed. He had accomplished what he needed to and had seen Tabitha. He’d seen too much.
Raleigh dropped into the hold and began to work the net free of the hatch hinge it had caught on. He let the brothers talk, Rhys venting his spleen on Raleigh to ease the tension of those moments beneath the prow of a man-of-war, Lisle soothing like one of Tabitha’s healing balms.
Except what he’d glimpsed from the boat felt more like she’d rubbed salt or lye on an open wound. He saw his lady, his love, talking to another man.
He was a stranger. Or at least a stranger to Raleigh. A big man with hair longer than most men wore theirs nowadays and a confident way of holding his head. Raleigh heard laughter floating on the sea air, the
Tabitha faced him. “Then take heed of his heart wound and have a care you don’t lose your heart to an American lady.”
“Perhaps I already have.” His smile flashed, bright and warm in the rising sun. Gold lights gleamed in his velvety eyes, all the more intense for the veil of lashes.
An alarm clanged in her head and she stiffened. “Then I pity you, Mr. Cherrett. I have no balm to heal that kind of hurt.”
“We’ll see about that, Madam Mermaid,” he murmured.
Then he kissed her.
9
______
Raleigh Trower tugged so hard on his end of the net, the ropes parted and silvery fish slid onto the deck of the boat.
“Trower, you oaf,” Rhys Evans bellowed. “There’s half the catch to collect again and time’s wasting.”
“You can’t rush fishing.” Rhys’s younger brother Lisle spoke in a gentler voice.
“This morning proves it.” Rhys grabbed a bucket and began to scoop the catch into it. “If we’d stayed out an hour later like I wanted to, we wouldn’t have encountered that British frigate at all.”
“It all came out well in the end.” Lisle joined his brother in gathering the fish. “Raleigh has a silver tongue in that head of his.”
“Telling a pack of lies,” Rhys grumbled.
“It wasn’t lies.” Raleigh began to gather up the edges of the seine, knotting ropes to repair the portion he’d broken.
“Right you are.” Rhys guffawed. “Maybe we are a lot of half-wits, risking our skins against the English scum to get a night’s catch.”
“I never said we were half-wits.” Raleigh frowned over the lines he knotted.
He wouldn’t have lied. He was a sinner, breaking too many of God’s commandments to feel truly forgiven and redeemed—despite what the ship’s chaplain told him—but lying wasn’t one of them. Or at least nothing as barefaced as that of which Rhys accused him.
“I just kept saying we’re Americans,” Raleigh reminded his companions.
“Like you didn’t understand what he was yelling at us.” Rhys wiped silvery scales onto his canvas breeches. “Which made you sound like a half-wit.”
“And we just kept pretending like we was mute,” Lisle added.
Raleigh grinned in spite of himself. “That poor lieutenant was getting frustrated, wasn’t he?”
“Especially when the first lieutenant came along and told him to let us go,” Rhys said.
Raleigh’s grin faded at the knowledge that the officer had said to let them go because he knew Raleigh, knew he was free to be home.
For now.
“The other lieutenant sounded like some lordling,” Raleigh explained. “There’s a lot of them who don’t approve of impressing Americans, just like they wouldn’t fight against us in the last war.”
“This isn’t war,” Lisle said. “Not if President Madison can stop them from taking our men.”
“We can’t fight the greatest Navy in the world.” Raleigh looked out to sea to where he thought he caught the merest hint of the frigate’s topsails against the bright horizon. “Or the most powerful country.”
“Then let’s stay out until after daybreak next time,” Rhys admonished. “They seem more inclined to steal us in the dark, like the criminals they are.”
“All right,” Raleigh agreed. He had accomplished what he needed to and had seen Tabitha. He’d seen too much.
Raleigh dropped into the hold and began to work the net free of the hatch hinge it had caught on. He let the brothers talk, Rhys venting his spleen on Raleigh to ease the tension of those moments beneath the prow of a man-of-war, Lisle soothing like one of Tabitha’s healing balms.
Except what he’d glimpsed from the boat felt more like she’d rubbed salt or lye on an open wound. He saw his lady, his love, talking to another man.
He was a stranger. Or at least a stranger to Raleigh. A big man with hair longer than most men wore theirs nowadays and a confident way of holding his head. Raleigh heard laughter floating on the sea air, the
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