Page 27 of Unearthing the Smuggler's Heart
Here they were, mere hours from reaching Marseille, and Mathias Dempierre had decided to stop the boat and go for a swim?!
She had been beside herself all day, pacing and fretting and wringing her hands. She'd gone through the notebook she had once shared with her mother a hundred times if she'd gone through it once in the last days. She still had no idea what to expect, why she was needed, or what her mysterious inheritance could be.
She had been working up the nerve to come ask Mathias and Isabelle to sit with her, and talk out their plans for once they'd docked, to give her some idea of what was coming so that she felt both prepared and able to visualize the potential branching routes of an unknown future.
Instead, they'd both—quite literally—jumped ship while Jade was still parsing her possible phrasing and working up the nerve to march up to the two of them as though she belonged in their company.
Despite everything, despite bunking with Isabelle and kissing Mathias and sharing meals with them thrice a day, she somehow still felt their inferior. Both were so stately, worldly, and confident. Both were so strikingly attractive that she imagined neither had ever had to wonder if someone else thought them so. And their friendship was so filled with references to past adventures, little jokes and long-held understandings, that Jade could not help but to feel like an interloper on occasion.
Had he told Isabelle about their kiss? Had he told her that he was going to do it again?
The thought of it made her insides lurch.
Had he even meant that when he'd said it? Did he remember saying it?
It was impossible to know. She had half a mind to simply swallow the lump in her throat, march up to Mathias Dempierre, and ask him exactly what he'd meant and when he intended to take action again. There was a chance he would answer her, wasn't there? But more likely he would just laugh, and she'd look a silly child to him rather than an appealing woman.
He probably did this to countless girls, she reminded herself. He was, after all, verypretty. Just gorgeous, if she was being honest with herself. Cripplingly beautiful.
She sighed, wrapping her arms around herself and making herself walk toward the ledge where her compatriots had vanished into the waves. No one minded her presence as she cut her path across the deck. The crew simply went on milling around her with that same slick mechanical precision that she had admired on the day they set sail.
She so very badly wanted to lean over the railing and peer down at the water, to catch the two of them frolicking below and imagine, just for a moment, that she had the gumption to join them. But no, she could not risk him glancing up and seeing her face so utterly wanting looming above.
Could she ever be as enchanting as they were? Could she ever dream to be a natural in their company?
She snatched up a full glass of white wine from their discarded things and took two deep swallows of the sweet liquid within. The deck chairs sat empty, just awaiting her sinking down into the warm, smooth wooden cradle with her wine and her buzzing mind.
She watched silently as a crewman returned from the cargo hold with a ladder constructed from hemp rope and anchored it to the ship with two deft knots on either limb and tossed it carelessly over the side, already walking to his next task before it could hit the water.
Almost immediately, Jade could hear the splashing and laughter as the pair swam toward their return to the ship. It hadn't been a very long swim, had it? How long does one usually swim?
There was the faintest stirring of wind; the first in days. It twined around the ribbon holding her hair back as though reminding her that she ought to be wearing it loose, as she'd promised. She chose instead to finish the glass of wine and await the reemergence of Isabelle and Mathias.
Isabelle appeared first, her hair clinging to her sides like tendrils of seaweed. Her chemise was sodden and raining down water from the hem as she hoisted herself over the ledge, still pink-faced and laughing over the lark she'd just initiated.
Mercifully, Jade noted, the fabric she wore was thick enough to avoid becoming transparent when wet, though it still clung to her rather salaciously. Isabelle did not seem to mind. She did not anxiously scan the deck for crewmen who might ogle her, nor move to cover the generous curve of her hip or bust out of any ladylike sense of shame. She just bent forward and got to the business of wringing out her garment.
Mathias appeared with a leaping step over the railing, his hair curling against his face as he shook the water off in a way not unlike a dog. His bare torso was covered in glittering beads of water and, to Jade's dismay, his trousers also clung to him in...admittedly captivating detail.
She had to use significant mental strength to tear her eyes away, and by the time she did, she was reasonably certain she'd already been caught.
"Miss Ferris!" he called cheerfully, those amber eyes sparkling with something Jade might call smugness. "You ought to have joined us!"
She drew her mouth into a thin, disapproving line and pushed herself up off the chair. "I cannot swim," she replied, more sourly than she wished to sound. "I am hoping we might convene regarding arrival in Marseille. It seems to me rather tardy at this stage, and I am anxious about the arrival."
"Oh!" Isabelle said, snapping back upright. "Mathias! Jade! A breeze!"
At her declaration, another soft gust of wind swirled over the deck, brushing them one by one in its twisting path. Isabelle was grinning, but Mathias's face was unreadable, those eyes still locked on Jade. He did not turn away even when the telltale ripple of canvas sounded from over their heads.
"I am going to change. We will convene as requested, of course," Isabelle continued, gathering up her clothes from the deck and clutching them to her middle. "I feel much restored!"
"As do I," Mathias said absently, sparing her only a quick glance as she hurried away, waving at both of them. He came around to face Jade, standing closer than she thought was strictly necessary. "You cannot swim?"
She opened her mouth to defend her demand for a meeting, but was struck momentarily dumb by his question. "I..." She shook her head, wrinkling her brow. "No. When would I have had occasion to learn?"
He tilted his head in acknowledgement of that. "You must learn," he said, as though it was beyond debate. "I will teach you."
"I do not think it a necessary life skill," she said thinly, raising her brows, "nor the most pertinent concern. I insist we discuss our plans upon landing tonight! I am going mad not knowing what to expect."
