Page 10 of Unearthing the Smuggler's Heart
* Sink ship?Set it on fire?
* Elope with whomever will take me.That ginger footman?
He began to smile, charmed despite the fact that this girl was very clearly trying to escape his company by any means necessary. He laughed aloud when he got to an entry which read:
* Commit a petty crime? Refuse to leave jail until boat is gone.
The door squeaked on its hinges, letting that floral air back inside, cool and stirring the hair at the nape of his neck.
"Isabelle," he said, turning with a grin on his face. "Have you seen this?"
It was not Isabelle.
Jade Ferris stood in the doorway, haloed by sunlight, with a look of abject shock on her face. In her arms, she had a bundle of pillows meant for the bed dressing, which promptly fell to the floor along with her yellow bonnet.
The bonnet seemed to slow time, rolling at an excruciating crawl until it came to a halt against the bookshelf and thumped facedown onto the floor.
"My schedules," she croaked, her cheeks the only two spots of color on an ashen face.
"They are fine, just there. I'm afraid I knocked them askew," he said quickly, whipping the list behind his back. "I was trying to set them to rights before you found me out. My sincere apologies."
"They are still blank," she said hesitantly, her eyes on the arm he was hiding behind his coat. "May I have it back? Paper is an expense, and I take great care in my charts."
There was no getting around it. He gave a weak smile and held the rumpled sheet out to her, facedown. It was no use, she knew exactly what it was.
She stared at it in his hands, her face blank and solid as marble. If not for the rising color, the blossoming of those roses in her cheeks to a full-face glowing red, Mathias might have believed she was unaffected by his discovery.
He opened his mouth to apologize, or to commend her for her creativity. Anything, really, but it was too late. She turned on her heel and hurried away, leaving her bonnet, the pillows, and a fool with a list standing in her wake.
CHAPTER4
Jade thought that there were plenty of worse ways to spend her first moments on board than seeking out hiding places. After all, the layout of the boat was alien to her, and one could always make use of a good hiding place. They were especially useful for situations in which a man has discovered one's tentative plans to sink his ship.
The matter was significantly more dire if the man in question was aprettyman.
If he weren't so damned attractive—sopretty,she corrected herself—with those broad shoulders and dimpled cheeks, that tousled golden hair and overconfident swagger, she reckoned she might have a bit more sense about her, or at the very least tact regarding managing their acquaintance.
She had planned to make a good impression on Mathias Dempierre. She might not be as plucky and independent as Isabelle Applegate or as amusing and bright as Gigi, but listening to them both describe his general disposition, she had felt reasonably confident that she could at least remain in his good graces for the duration of this journey, which was the sum total of what a girl of any sense should attempt with such a man.
That was probably moot now, unless his reported sense of humor was more forgiving than Jade reckoned possible.
Maybe she should just ask him where to hide. Surely he’d know to avoid the place if he pointed her to it.
She had no luck in the galley or down in the storage compartment. Everywhere was too well outfitted for its intended use, with no useful crannies or nooks of any sort. She had decided to explore the latched doors that sat along the open part of the deck next, where presumably tools and rope and such were stored, but when she felt the floor under her boots give a great lurch, her intentions dissolved just as quickly as her footing.
She didn't fall, exactly. She wouldn't even call it a stumble. Instead, it was as though the world had tilted in such a way as to encourage her to very briskly walk to the lowest point and brace herself against the wall there. At least, on rare occasions, physics allowed one to retain her dignity...when there was no one around to witness it, of course.
Since the boat had firmly encouraged her toward the staircase leading out of the cargo hold, she decided to obey its suggestion and find her way back to the deck. Admittedly, she was curious as to what the view would look like as England faded into the distance. To see the ocean for the first time and embark upon it all in a matter of days was something she never could have imagined for herself, just a few years prior.
She had thought they would be off before noon, but all the business of loading up the boat and everyone saying their farewells had pushed them right onto the cusp of evening. She'd had only an apple and a bite of cheese at what would have been luncheon, without the chaos of the departure. She was very much hoping a hearty dinner was to be served on their first night at sea.
The sun was low and glaring behind the cliffs and cove, sending brilliant rays of light out in every direction. People had gathered to wave them off, and Jade stood by the railing, wondering if she should wave back, even though no one was strictly there to say goodbye to her.
She couldn't make out one figure from the next anyway, drowned as they were in late sunlight. Without her bonnet, she couldn't see much at all, and didn't care to remain squinting into the sunset anyhow. Perhaps, she thought, it would be better to watch the other horizon, the one that was ahead, rather than what was behind.
She could still feel the movement of the waves beneath her feet, but as she turned and walked to the opposite railing, she found that with each step, she felt it a little less. She wondered how odd it would feel to sit, or inevitably, to attempt to sleep in a place that was never still.
The crew were busy, milling around her like so many worker ants, all of whom knew their roles in this colony. They shouted commands to one another and hoisted creaky ropes and lifted smaller sails alongside the big ones, which rippled and cracked in the wind.
