Page 108 of The MacGregor's Lady
This was her future, in one box. This was how the rest of her life would go, one year beside another, salted with regret and packed way with missing Asher MacGregor.
Hannah slammed the lid of the box down. “It isn’t ever going to hurt less, is it?”
Ceely took the box without being asked. “Milady?”
“It’s going to hurt more and more, because leaving him iswrong. I should have trusted him to share my troubles and help me set matters to rights. I should not have abandoned him. I should not—good God, I should not—have left him behind.”
“So what will ye do about it?”
The anchor was up, the chain no longer rattling into place. Shouting from above signaled the loosing of the sails, and the ship was riding higher in the waves. “Take me to the captain. We cannot leave port.”
But Captain Mills, stout Scottish veteran of the seas, was not about to delay his departure, miss the tide, and violate direct orders from the ship’s owner.
***
The inn’s common was empty save for Ian, sitting at the bar, back to the door.
“She’s here!”
Ian’s head came up. “Who’s here? Hannah? I knew she’d come to her senses. You get down on your knees, man, and you promise to goddamn worship her, do you hear me? Augusta said a man on his knees is irresistible, and if Augusta—”
“Not Hannah, ye bletherin’ fool. Her grandmother. Her gran came to talk sense into her, but my Hannah’s on the goddamn boat, and—” And he was desperate to get to her, but one man would never catch a clipper bent on leaving the harbor.
The right words came to him, from nowhere, from everywhere, from every Scottish laird ever to call for his people.
Asher planted his feet and bellowed, “TotheMacGregor!”
Ian took up the cry, doors banged upstairs, and in moments, Con, Gil, and Daniels came thundering down the stairs in various states of undress. Spathfoy brought up the rear in full riding attire.
“I need to catch Hannah’s ship. Ye”—he speared Daniels with a look—“fetch the auld lady from outside, look after her. Tell her I’ll bring Hannah to her if I have to swim the bluidy ocean to do it.”
The little ketch was tied up in the same place on the dock. Spathfoy stopped long enough to yank off his boots, while Con, Gil, and Ian each took an oar.
“You man the tiller,” Ian barked. “And start yelling for your captain to drop anchor.”
The anchor was up, the sails filled, and while his kinsman strained mightily at the oars, Asher started yelling as if his very heart depended on it.
Because it did.
***
“Now, madam, I have a ship to sail, and Lord Balfour will take it quite amiss if I neglect m’ duties for a case of female vapors. Sea travel can be quite pleasant. You must not fret.”
Mills, a man of mature years, ruddy complexion, and solid build, exchanged a look with Ceely that said quite clearly: “Drag the daft woman below if you have to, but get her the hell off my deck.”
Ceely took a step forward. “Listen to her ladyship, ye auld fool. She’s the MacGregor’s lady, and if she says to turn the ship around, ye mun listen.”
“Iamthe MacGregor’s lady,” Hannah said, the notion infusing her with renewed determination. “You can catch the tide tomorrow or this evening. There will always be another tide.” But there wouldneverbe another man like Asher MacGregor, not for her. “Drop anchor, Captain, or you’ll find yourself relieved of your command.”
He rolled his eyes, and Hannah knew the urge to strangle him. “Now you’re a pirate, too? And you?” Rheumy blue eyes flicked over Ceely. “A couple of wee Corsairs?” He turned from them, cupped his hands to his mouth, and shouted up to the rigging, “Make sail!”
Hannah planted her fists on her hips and yelled more loudly, “By order of the MacGregor’s lady,drop anchor!”
The ship was riding the waves, dipping and rising, even turning slightly on the strength of nothing more than the harbor current and morning breeze.
“Captain?” The mate jogged up to his superior’s side. “A word with ye, sir?”
“I’m not dropping the damned anchor!” Mills spun away, muttering about daft, bleating women while Hannah directed Ceely to find her knife so she could cut her skirts free and swim to shore.
