Page 4 of Only By Grace
“Why, why not?”
He debated how much to tell her. He needed time to think. “There is an urgent matter I must see to at home. Besides, sailing ships are much at the whim of the tides and winds.”
“Oh. I see.” She seemed to shrink back into herself. “What will happen to me?”
The way she said it made him burn with anger. Did she really think so little of him that he would just abandon her? Or harm her?
“I cannot yet say. I will have you write a letter to Westwood explaining what happened and I will see it delivered as soon as we reach land. Even if they have already realized you are gone, and are coming after you like the Trojans for Helen, I suspect he trusts me to return you. Which I will, eventually.”
“Eventually?” Her voice broke on the word.
“You will be well chaperoned once we arrive. Do try not to look as though I’ve ruined you in truth. You will come to no harm from me.” It was all he could do not to curse his fate right then and there. “I will not keep you prisoner, but I do ask that I accompany you when you go above deck.”
A mewling sound came from somewhere within the cabin.
Grace looked back to the berth, then scooped up a little kitten.
“What the devil? We have two stowaways?”
“Joy thought he would comfort me while I slept,” she said defensively as she snuggled the cat to her cheek.
It was all Ronan could do not to groan. “I will have breakfast sent to you shortly,” he said, then made his escape. This was going to be his most painful voyage yet. What was he to do with a bashful chit and a kitten?
CHAPTER 2
Grace looked around at the small cabin from a new perspective. She was to stay in there, unless Lord Carew decided to escort her on deck? She would go mad! The tiny space could be paced off from end to end in four steps and there was no light or window to see from!
Then he had been short and angry with her, as if she had done it on purpose!
Her own anger grew. He refused to set her down in England, then wished to treat her like a prisoner, regardless of what he said.
Even though she knew her anger was more directed at herself for having fallen asleep and no one remembering to wake her, she still had to vent her frustration, and he was the target before her. He could make things better now, but refused to. He could not turn around, he said.Would not, she corrected.
Well, she did not want to stay in the small, dark cabin. Defiance was not a natural inclination for Grace, and her sisters were the only ones who had ever seen such a thing from her, but these were certainly trying circumstances. She felt completely justified in the emotion.
Grace picked up Theodore and cracked open the door for light, then paced back and forth in the tiny space as she deliberated what to do. Only a monster would expect her to stay locked away in this room. As if he would make more than a few minutes here and there to escort her about the ship. He’d been angry, which was a side of him Grace had never seen before. It was frightening, if she were being honest, and made her wonder how much she really knew about him. Had his charming care-for-not façade been just that—an act?
“Begging your pardon, miss,” a high-pitched Irish voice cracked from behind as she was on one of her circular routes.
Grace turned to find a freckle-faced, carrot-topped boy of perhaps ten years holding a tray.
“I’ve your breakfast, miss, if you will follow me.”
He kept his head down and did not look at her. How odd. She was allowed to leave the cabin, after all? Surprising, but a small victory. Was there a dining room?
He led her to the door adjacent to hers labelledCaptain, which opened up into a room thrice the size of her own. Bright windows greeted her on the far wall, while on one side there was a smaller room of sorts that looked to be a bed built into the wall, and on the other side there was a desk and cupboards. A table stood in the centre of the room, which was where he placed her tray.
“There you are, miss. Will you be needing anything else?” he asked nervously, not meeting her gaze. Perhaps he was not often around females.
“Actually, if you could take Theo to wherever cats may do their business, I would be most grateful as I am not supposed to venture out on my own.”
The boy’s face lit up at the sight of the kitten. He seemed to forget he was shy.
He held out his hands, and he smiled as he took Theo from her. “Aw, you’re a little feller, aren’t you?”
“Do you know where to take him?” she asked.
He nodded and scratched the kitten’s chin. “We have other cats in the hull to keep the mice and rats out. They have a place. I’ll make sure and bring him back when he’s done.”
