She gave him a confused look.
"In good time, Miss Winslow. In time," he assured her.
"Is that where I'm being taken?"
That question brought him up short. She certainly did have a way of going right to the heart of matters. He squinted at her in the meager light of the companionway. Lord, but she was a beauty with those large blue eyes that took your breath away. And she wasn't full of herself like so many proper young ladies were. Then he wondered what the hell she saw in a pompous ass like Barrington.
Zach was certain it was the title and the promise of wealth. But that didn't fit this young woman who was completely unaffected, and quite comfortable wearing a man's shirt and trousers instead of fine satin and laces. And that forced him to admit that he liked her.
How the devil was he supposed to let Zach carry out his ransom plan now. He took the easy way out, avoided a direct answer and felt the coward for it.
"You'll have to ask the captain about that."
It was obvious that she and Tobias might exchange pleasantries and casual conversation, but his loyalty was unquestionable.
"What about those biscuits? I'm starving."
Reprieved from more questions, Tobias beamed. Now food was something he could talk about and enjoy with her.
Elyse had been up on deck for hours. It was wonderful, exhilarating. And it was freedom of a sort that she'd never known.
The weather had cleared. The sky overhead was a brilliant blue, broken only occasionally by the few clouds. The wind was strong, and the water slipping past them with amazing speed was faintly tipped with whitecaps.
She saw him the first moment she stepped from the forward hatch. His golden hair caught and held the sun, his broad shoulders loosely covered by a stark white shirt, the sleeves rolled back to expose his forearms. He stood at the wheel of the ship, completely absorbed in the sails overhead, the direction of the wind, and the ship.
She inhaled the tangy sea air, luxuriating in her freedom. In spite of the small cabins below,Revengewas a large ship. She was astounded by the amount of sail that billowed overhead. She had heard one of the men say they were running before the wind, with every last inch of canvas set. Her gaze swept the center mast.
She turned to Tobias. "A Portuguese flag?”
He nodded. She was observant, more than most. "Aye."
"Then theRevenge isa Portuguese ship?" Elyse concluded. "But there are more English accents than anything else among the crew."
"There's not an Englishman aboard this ship," Tobias informed her, taking a long pull on the pipe he'd lit earlier.
Elyse turned to him, with a perplexed expression. "Why do you say that?" How much would he tell her?
He pointed with the stem of his pipe. "Kimo, the big black fella over there is from Africa. He was nothin' but a boy when he was taken off a slaver fifteen years ago." He pointed to another man. "Mano over there is from Colombia, South America!' He recited backgrounds of a half-dozen other crewmen; including a Chinaman from Whampoa, a swarthy little man from Madagascar who greatly resembled a monkey and the man known as Sandy who was second mate aboard theRevenge.
"Sandy is from the north countries. Swears his ancestors were Vikings. I believe it. The man has an almost uncanny instinct for water and wind. Like Zach. And Jalew over there is an Abo."
He gestured to a stocky man who was almost as dark-skinned as the giant Kimo.
"Abo?" Elyse was well studied, she'd traveled considerably with her grandmother, but she'd never heard of this.
"Aboriginal. A native from down under. He was born at Resolute." Tobias took a thoughtful pull on the pipe. Fragrant smoke caught on the wind, then was whisked away. He decided there was no harm in telling her a few things.
His smile softened. "The land down under, at the bottom of the world." Clamping the pipe firmly between his teeth, and drawing an imaginary circle at a nearby map with his fingers.
"This is the earth as man has come to know it."
She watched fascinated as Tobias Gentry continued his geography lesson.
"Europe is here. Over here you have India, Russia, China, and down here, you have Africa, Kimo's native country." The geography lesson continued "And over here... "
"North America, central America, and South America," Elyse interjected.
"Very good." He smiled, complimenting her. "Up here are the Arctic regions, down here the Antarctic. And here is the continent of Australia, the land down under."
