Page 32 of Valour

“But you know, the ice is so bad this year. The worst we’ve seen in all my years here,” Anders said, his voice like nails down a chalkboard.

“Is that so?” Hester asked, her eyes flicking to Anders, then back to Septimus.

“The whaling captains told me before dinner,” Septimus said. “The pack ice is reported to extend far beyond the normal reaches of the Weddell Sea. They say it is inadvisable to sail through it.”

Hester raised an eyebrow. “Goodness. However will my delicate female constitution withstand ice?”

“Precisely. I’m pleased you understand,” Anders said, nodding and settling back in his chair.

Hester chuckled and speared another piece of salmon. “The thing is, Anders. I was jesting. My female constitution is far stronger than most men’s, you see.”

Anders blinked and then shook his head. “Women are prone to hysteria in harsh conditions.”

Hester hooted a laugh. “And perhaps my womb will freeze, and I would not be able to produce babies?”

“Quite!” Anders blustered, looking around the table for support from the other men.

A hard kick landed on her shin, and she smirked at Septimus, who had dealt the blow.

“Perhaps I should go home and find a husband instead?”

“Hester,” Septimus growled.

But Anders Larsen was nodding fervently. “In fact, I am in need of a wife. You are pleasing enough to look at.”

Hester stared with unconstrained wonder at Anders, and then at Septimus, who had stiffened, his brows furrowed. Her lips quirked. Had that comment annoyed him? He wasn’t jealous, was he?

“Of course, we all know that Lord Septimus let his betrothed slip through his fingers, but I would not let that happen with you,” Anders continued, laughing heartily.

Septimus’s eyes turned dark, his cheeks flushing. He gripped his knife and fork like weapons. Hester sat forwards. Septimus had done what? He had been engaged to be married? How intriguing. Anders had clearly hit a nerve. She raised an eyebrow at Septimus and was certain he gave her a small nod. Permission to proceed with whatever bedlam she could muster. Not that she needed his permission, of course.

“Well, what a proposal,” Hester breathed. “I barely know what to say to your most kind and generous offer to save me from certain doom, Officer Larsen.”

“You are most welcome. After all,” he said, his gaze dragging over her body, “you are of fine stock.”

“Fine stock,” Hester repeated slowly, her mind so absolutely full of all the things she could say or do next that she was having difficulty deciding on the most outrageous course of action.

“And your family name, is it also Norwegian?”

Hester frowned. Norwegian? She tucked that snippet of information away for later. “Whatever would I do with my ship?”

“It is a fine dowry. I would be happy to take the burden of it from you.”

“How kind! And I should come and live here with you? In this most lovely of places?” She gestured out of the window at the grey shale cliffs, the dark sea, the dead, reeking whales.

“Yes, of course. You can consider it. You needn’t answer straight away.”

“Well, it is a lot for my small mind to contend with. How gracious of you.” Hester grinned like a devil. Septimus huffed a laugh, concealing it poorly as a cough.

Anders sat back and smiled with yellow teeth. “I am so pleased that you will consider my offer and put this silly idea of sailing to the Weddell Sea out of your mind. Excellent, excellent.”

“Wellllll,” Hester said, cocking her head to the side and stroking her chin. “I think I should need a tour of the house before I decide. To see where I would be cooking your meals and where the nursery might be suitably located.”

“Of course! Come, come. I shall show you the house while we await the next course. Join us, Lord Septimus.”

Hester jumped up from the table, and it was all she could do to stop from rubbing her hands together. She had so dreaded coming to the dinner, and yet it was turning out to be a riot. Septimus held the dining room door open for her, bowing his head as she flounced through it. Anders led them down a corridor.

This certainly was a change of attitude from His Lordship, though a welcome one. A vision of his naked torso dripping water sprang to her mind. Hester’s lips quirked, a shiver running down her spine. A temporary alliance, perhaps. She shimmied close to Septimus and whispered, “Five gold coins say you laugh first.”