Page 48 of Miss Wylde and the Wynd

He just as quickly dismissed the idea. Damian barely knew her and while he understood Georgie’s plight and desire to meet family, they were hardly friends or anything else. Such a gift could be perceived as a relationship that did not exist between them, and it was certainly improper.

Instead, he opened the satchel Cook had provided and withdrew a bottle of wine, and the screw to remove the cork, which he did carefully so that it could be placed back in the bottle to keep the wine from leaking out. Holding the bottle upright, between his knees he took out two tin cups. “Wine.”

“Yes, please.”

He handed her one of the cups then poured. She glanced at the label. “Do you only drink Wynd Wine?”

“Yes, unless I happen to be dining somewhere else and my hosts do not possess the same superior taste as myself.”

*

Georgie nearly snorted. The wine was good, but she had tasted wine that would rival Wynd Wine although she did not tell him so.

“If you were born in the Cape Colony, does that mean that your family resided there since the time your great-grandfather’s ship was damaged?” She recalled the story he had told her last night of how the family became wine merchants.

“No,” Damian answered. “My great-grandfather, Simon, was the second born of the Earl of Wyndham. His older brother remained in England and Simon pursued trade on behalf of Trade Wynd. Unfortunately, his older brother died without leaving a male heir, a most inconvenient pattern often repeated in my family, and great-grandfather Simon was forced to return to England with his bride and only son, who was twelve at the time, after having lived at Wyndview Farm for nearly fifteen years.”

Georgie frowned. “Was Wyndview Farm left in the care of an estate manager or man of business?”

“Yes and no.” Damian grinned, his eyes bright with intrigue or interest, much like they had been when he first spoke of Wynd Wine.

“There was a third son, Nathaniel, and a fourth, Benjamin.”

Georgie sipped her wine and leaned back in the seat. At least they were not arguing and his story telling was much better than what she had been reading. She liked this part of Damian, he drew her in and she wanted to move closer to hear everything he had to share.

She was also acutely aware of him in the confines of the coach. The two of them alone, wine and a basket of foodstuffs, much like a romantic picnic…one where he might kiss her at the end.

She needed to stop thinking of Damian as being attractive and she certainly must stop having any type of desire for him.

“Nathaniel oversaw the trade in the Port of London as well as Southampton. When he was one-and-twenty, he was kidnapped and impressed in the navy. He tried to tell them who he was, but it made no difference.”

She gasped and sat forward.

“For four years my family did not know what had become of him and then one day the navy ship docked in Gibraltar.”

“Why is Gibraltar important?” She had overheard sailors mention it when she was hidden below on the ship that brought her to England.

“The British had control of the port and it was also a free port for merchants that linked trade between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Nathaniel knew that if he was going to escape this would be the place where he would have the most success, so as soon as it grew dark and the sailors grew sleepy from their guard, he slipped over the side.”

“See, it is easy to gain access to a ship, or leave one, in the early morning hours.” She could not help but remind him that she had snuck onto his ship under the same circumstance. Except, perhaps that was a mistake since he glared at her.

“Go on,” she encouraged. Georgie wanted the animated, story-telling Damian back and not a return to the unpleasant one.

“He had hoped to find a Trade Wynd ship in port, which was a possibility. He also was not going to seek help on a British ship, even if it was a merchant because they would likely turn him in for a reward, or so he feared, and then, when he was looking for a place where he could hide until the naval ship left, someone called out, ‘Simon.’”

Damian took a drink, frowned and added more wine to his cup, and offered her some as well, which Georgie accepted.

“Even though Simon was not an uncommon name, Nathaniel hoped that by chance his brother was here. Instead, it was a Dutch Captain who approached. He thought Nathaniel was Simon because they looked so much alike.”

“He was rescued,” she offered happily.

“Yes, except the Dutch ship was sailing south to Cape Colony and not back to England. So, Nathaniel was hidden aboard the Dutch ship, then he wrote a letter to his family in England, explained what had happened and remained in the hold until the Dutch ship was safely out to sea. Nathaniel was later delivered to Wyndview Farm, where Simon still resided. He also vowed that he was never getting on another ship again, especially anywhere the British Navy may be, and spent the rest of his days at Wyndview Farm.”

“Therefore, when your great-grandfather Simon had to return to England, Nathaniel was there to manage Wyndview Farm,” Georgie surmised. “What about Benjamin?”

“He was encouraged to sail to Madeira. It was a port of call for British merchants and even though Trade Wynd had stopped there, they had not taken advantage of the land. Therefore, Benjamin purchased a good deal of it and planted a vineyard, so Trade Wynd now had two places that produced wine.”

“But how did your father end up back in the Cape Colony?”