Lady in the Mist by Laurie Alice Eakes Page A

man’s deep and husky, Tabitha’s light and young.
    As she had laughed with him so many times before the lure of the sea tugged him away like the undercurrent of an ebbing tide during the full moon. Now she laughed with another man.
    She had more than laughed with him. Though the distance was great enough that they had become little more than doll-sized at the edge of the village, Raleigh saw the man’s head dip toward Tabitha’s. Quickly. Briefly. Not so briefly he couldn’t have kissed her in that time. And Tabitha made no move to shove the rogue away from her.
    You pushed me away the first time I kissed you. Which made him think this wasn’t the first time for these two. No wonder she’s been avoiding me. Raleigh jerked the entangled ropes so fast, he slid on fish scales and landed hard enough on the deck to see stars—red, shooting stars from the burning heat of anger.
    “Easy there,” Lisle called down. “You’re making a mess of things.”
    “What’s got your back up?” Rhys kicked at the tangled net. “You’re the one who wanted us to come in now so’s we met up with that ship.”
    Raleigh sighed. “Never you mind me.” As fast as a comet streaking across the heavens, the outrage passed. He couldn’t blame Tabitha for seeking someone else. He’d left her without an explanation. She was so lovely, of course another man would court her.
    Yet his mother said Tabitha remained unattached. Tabitha confirmed it. And the predawn rendezvous on the beach held a clandestine appearance that set the hairs rising along the back of Raleigh’s neck.
    The man must be unsuitable for Tabitha. Who in a village like Seabourne would be unacceptable to her?
    Bracing himself on the bulkhead for support as he clambered to his feet, Raleigh determined to find out who the man was. Somehow he must keep him from Tabitha, or tear him from her if necessary. If she wouldn’t fall in love with Raleigh again, nothing he had done, none of the steps he risked, would be worth the danger into which he’d placed himself to win his freedom from the British Navy.
    He finished untangling the lines and gathered the edges of the net together for hauling on deck. It was a good catch. They would divide it into three equal parts and take some to the market and the rest home for preserving in brine. Once he would have taken a basket to the Eckleses. Now he wasn’t welcome, maybe less welcome than he first thought.
    His body tensed at the memory of that scene with Tabitha and another man, the man’s head bent so low over Tabitha’s his hair formed a curtain around their faces. Raleigh’s stomach knotted like the hauling seine.
    “Lord, this can’t all be for nothing,” he cried aloud once Rhys and Lisle went to their own cottage further up the shore. “I can’t be risking all this for nothing.”
    Somehow he must succeed so he would be in a position to make up to Tabitha the hurt he had caused her. Somehow he must make himself worthy of God’s love and forgiveness by undoing the damage to Tabitha’s faith to which he had contributed. Somehow—
    If she’d found interest in another man, Raleigh was too late.
    He hauled home his catch in a two-wheeled handcart. Father greeted him at the cottage door, dressed and ready to take the bulk of the fish into town.
    “Looks like a good night’s work, son.” Father smiled, deepening the lines around his eyes and mouth. “Good to have you home. I got some sleep for once.”
    “I’m glad I can do that for you, sir.” Raleigh released the cart. “It was a good night’s work.”
    “But a risky one.” His father glanced at the swells of the sea sparkling in the sun. “We heard gunfire.”
    “Yes.” Raleigh’s mouth tightened. “The British were out, but they left us alone.”
    “Maybe that’s a good sign. If they don’t stop taking our men off our boats, there’ll be war.”
    “That’s what the Evans brothers were saying. President Madison would be a fool to get us into that.