“Like I have a job now?” The loose-lipped sailor was indignant. “That drunkard hasn’t paid us in four months and we’ve got no bloody cargo to haul, so he ain’t likely to pay us for another four. Maybe more.” He looked Harry up and down, taking in his well-worn day-to-day uniform with a frown. “Are the navy hiring in Plymouth? I promised myself I wouldn’t go back to it, but beggars can’t be choosers and I’m sick to my back teeth of bobbing around here while we wait for a miracle.”
“The navy are always hiring.” Harry jerked his head toward the ship. “Why do you need a miracle, lads?”
“Because the stupid sod owes so much in mooring fees to every port in England that we can’t sail into one of them without getting ourselves impounded, so we’re all stuck here while he”—he jerked his thumb toward the windows of the captain’s cabin—“tries and fails to win back all he’s lost at the local hells.”
“We’ve run out of credit with all the local merchants too.” Themore belligerent sailor decided to chime in. “So we’re in such dire straits, unless something changes our stars soon, that we’ll all have to abandon theSirenand its useless captain to the Sound.”
“TheSiren?” For a moment, Harry thought he’d misheard until his saw the nameplate. “She’s called theSiren?” An ironic and eerily prophetic name.
“Aye,” said the chatty one as he secured his rowboat to theSiren’s stern. “Such a shame, too, as she’s a grand ship. Crossed the Atlantic last in just thirty-nine days.”
Harry stared at the ship, took in its sleek, modern lines, and whistled, believing it. She’d be fast and nimble despite her size. So fast, she’d leave the cumbersome bloodyBoadiceain her wake. “Well, I hope your stars change soon, gentlemen.”
As they weren’t breaking any laws, it was no skin off his nose if they stayed bobbing in the Sound. But as he relinquished the rudder to Felix again, just like the siren currently waiting for him in Cawsand, this one kept him staring at her until they turned, and she disappeared behind the bay.
ChapterTWENTY-SIX
“Is it true, Uncle Harry, that you are escorting Miss Rowe to a fancy naval reception tomorrow?” Marianne asked that with irrepressible glee while nudging Felix, just as Georgie arrived at the dinner table. “Felix says you are.”
“Well… I… um…” His ears burned red as he looked Georgie’s way, clearly embarrassed. “I was going to ask because… um… it is sort of expected that an officer escorts a lady to these excruciatingly formal affairs and I wondered if you would mind… um… stepping into the breach?”
“It’s official navy business, so apparently it doesn’t mean that he fancies you,” goaded Felix with a loaded wink to all the others, which said they had all sensed the attraction between the pair of them. “Will you say yes, Miss Rowe?”
“Well… I… um…” As her entire face had combusted too, and as everyone, bar Harry, was enjoying it, she tried to act nonchalant as she snapped open her napkin. “Of course. I am always happy to step into the breach.” She tried to smile without looking like awoman over the moon at the invitation. “How formal is it? Only—” She tried to make light of the odd new tension now hovering between them by flapping her hand at her clothes. “I came to Cawsand expecting to be a governess.”
“Flora will have something we can make work with a substantial bit of hemming.” Ada winked at her, enjoying Georgie’s and Harry’s discomfort immensely. “By the time I’ve finished with you, you’ll be the belle of the ball.”
The arrival of Tom, who had been gone all day, couldn’t have come a moment too soon. “Oh, I see how it is. I’m a couple of minutes late and you’re all content to leave me with the scraps on the table.”
“Oh hush, we haven’t even started yet,” said his wife. “We were just discussing the fancy naval reception that Harry has just asked Georgie to attend with him tomorrow night.” As subtle as a brick, she wiggled her brows suggestively. “After supper, Georgie and I are going pick out one of Flora’s gowns so that she’ll lookirresistible.”
“Lucky Harry.” Tom sat, grinning, needing to say nothing more to let the pair of them know that he, too, was aware there was a frisson. “But speaking of Flora, she’s finally sent a letter.” He produced it and waved it in the air for all of two seconds before Ada snatched it.
“Finally! She has been very lax in writing!” She tore it open without reading exactly who it was addressed to and quickly scanned it.
“What does it say?” Marianne tried to grab it, but nosy Ada was too quick.
“It says that their sailing has been smooth so far and that Gibraltar was lovely.” She ran a finger along the text. “And that she and your father decided to spend a few days in Rome rather than sail straight to Malta. That she’s seen the Pantheon and the Colosseum and so many ancient Roman ruins she cannot begin to describe them and…” Ada frowned, then sighed. “But she missed her babies toomuch and so they have decided to scrap their plans to search for the source of the Nile, and are instead going to spend a few more days adventuring in Italy before they take the Friday sailing back to Tilbury for an extended visit to you in London.”
“When was that letter dated?” Harry was frowning as if that was bad news.
“A week ago.” Ada passed it to him. “She still thinks the children are at your house.”
He read the letter himself, then passed it to the clamoring children, his expression disappointed, before he forced a smile. “Then, with fair seas, she’s likely to arrive at Tilbury within days and most likely, once she realizes we are all here, will make it to Cawsand in another week or so.” His gaze flicked to Georgie’s, and the fake smile did nothing to cover the regret in his eyes. “It appears that you came all the way to Devon for just a few weeks, Georgie.”
“So it does.” She forced a smile too, sad beyond measure that their time was almost up. In case that sadness showed and they all realized it was mostly for Harry, she reached for the girls’ hands. “We shall just have to make our last days together count then, shan’t we?” She slanted him an overbright glance and swallowed hard when she saw nothing but sadness mirrored in his dark eyes. “Make it all about fun.”
Harry forced a wry smile at that. “As opposed to what? Actual lessons at desks?”
“But we don’t want you to leave!” Marianne nudged her brother. “Do we, Felix?”
“That is very nice of you to say, but we always knew my position here with you was only ever temporary.”
“I am sure Mama would want you to stay!” Grace, bless her, was so convinced that even Ada nodded.
“I think she’d appreciate an extra pair of hands with these scallywags, so I daresay this won’t have to be goodbye.”
But it would still be a goodbye to him. Staying would only prolong the agony when he had to sail away in August anyway, and Georgie didn’t think she could bear to be here without him. “Sadly, as tempting a prospect as that is, I am needed back at Miss Prentice’s.” When the children’s faces fell, she tried to put her brave mask on. “But we shall obviously all write and when your uncle has some shore leave and you next visit him in London, the three of you can see me then.” It would be too painful to venture back to Hanover Square or see him once they parted ways. If it wasn’t a quick and clean cut, she would likely never get over what might have been. She knew that already, so in many ways this was for the best. So, so tragic—but very definitely for the best.
