Kit pulled his crowned caplower to protect his icy ears from the bite of the wind. One booted foot rested against the sturdy oak frame that housed the cooling tank of the whaler. His long, lithe body swayed naturally with the undulant ship, and he tapped his pipe gently on the shellac-coated railing.
Stark, white smoke curled upward from the smoldering meerschaum. The faint glow of San Francisco nestled off the port side, and one lone star winked high in the west, glittering silver gray and conjuring up the image of a certain madcap female, half young girl and half woman. An unbidden smile came to him when he remembered Hallie’s antics. She gave new meaning to the termtrouble, though he wasn’t quite sure who was the recipient of most of it. He just knew it was a hell of a lot safer to laugh at her than to take her seriously. One lesson he’d learned today was that by teasing and provoking her, he maintained the upper hand whenever he was near her. It was a lesson he’d been forced to remember, since the whole day had been filled with strange lapses in his normally strong-willed control. That little exchange at The Grotto was a prime example. He’d almost succumbed to rolling around under a table of a public dining room with the daughter of his good friend. Luckily, she was Jan’s worry and not his.
The clapping sail above his head buffeted, joining the others in what sounded like applause.No doubt they’d met Hallie. The ship pitched slightly and groaned.Right, bad joke. He pulled the pipe from his mouth and turned into the salty spray of the wind.
“Do you miss it?” Lee stepped out from the shadow of the sheltered tryworks.
Kit didn’t move, didn’t acknowledge Lee’s presence. It wasn’t necessary, for both of them were well aware of the powerful lure of the sea. Lee still existed in the thrill of her realm, while Kit had divorced himself from her in order to survive.
“There are times when I do. The sea was my home for a long time. You can’t erase that, just like you can’t erase the memories, good and bad. It’s hard to believe, but the keen taste of her, her smell, can still ignite something deep within me.” Kit leaned casually against the ship’s rail. “Standing here, feeling her movement under me, it almost seduces me into thinking I could come back.”
“You could, Kit. Bury the past. You were a whaleman long before you married Jo,” Lee said.
He shook his head. “I’ve other responsibilities now. I vowed I’d make this agency work, and I will. As for my past, it’s going to haunt me no matter where I am.” Kit couldn’t conceal the sarcasm in his laugh. “My former in-laws are now the largest buyers of oil and baleen on the East Coast. The Tabers have taken over Leviathan Enterprises, both the boneworks and the refinery.” He paused. “I’ve consigned Jan’s last cargo to them.”
“Why them? I heard Nantucket needs oil.”
“Leviathan is so low on baleen that they’ve doubled the price they’re willing to pay and have guaranteed to beat anyone’s price on oil. So I passed up a chance to sell theSea Haven’s load elsewhere once I heard what they were offering.”
“Is it Jan you’re thinking of, or couldn’t you resist gouging the Tabers?” Lee asked.
“So speaks my conscience.”
Lee was silent.
Kit sighed. “I’ve asked myself the same question. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good to have the Tabers eating out of my hand, especially when the price of the meal is so dear. But Jan came to me before he left. He’s tired. The past few years have taken their toll, and since his wife died, he’s lost his drive. He told me he doesn’t want to leave his family alone anymore, and he asked me to get top dollar for this last load, even if I had to sit on it.”
Both men were quiet, each dwelling on his own thoughts and those of the man they called friend.
“Jan sponsored my master’s papers,” Lee confessed in a tone filled with quiet affection.
“I didn’t know that.” Kit was surprised. Both Jan and Lee were good friends, but this was something neither of them had ever mentioned.
“I wouldn’t have theWandererif Jan hadn’t helped me. I think I’d deal with the devil himself for Jan. Didn’t he bring you your first commission?”
“My first, my second, and the third,” Kit answered.
“We both owe him. Hell, if all those whalemen hadn’t run off to the gold hills, you’d probably own all of San Francisco. Lord knows it’s a damn sight easier to consign the load here than to spend weeks sailing back East, only to unload and have to sail back again.”
Kit turned and emptied the remains of his pipe. “That’s why I came here. The Atlantic grounds were nearly empty when I was still whaling in ‘forty-six. Since the supply is here, I figured that’s where a new agent ought to be.” Out of habit, Kit put the pipe back in his mouth and chewed on it, as if the motion helped him think more clearly. After a few minutes of quiet, he removed it and looked directly at Lee. “You’re right about the mining, though—it has affected things. All you have to do is look out in the harbor. Eight hundred ships abandoned. What a waste.”
“Some of us are still going strong. Give me the sea any day over a maggoty mule and a pickax.”
“I wonder what Jan will do.”
“Do when?”
“He wants to retire, Lee, and he vowed he’d stay out as long as it took to find some gris. With all the upheaval across the Atlantic, the market’s switched to the Orient. I’ve had bids as high as four hundred dollars a pound.”
Lee whistled. “Sweet Lord, that’s one helluva lot of money.”
“Jan knows about it.This is his last voyage.”
“The last batch of ambergris I found weighed over a thousand pounds but that was over three years ago...which doesn’t bode well for Jan’s chances of nabbing some, although I wish him luck.”
Lee scratched his red beard. “So my friend, fate served you your revenge on a platter. Jan’s supply and the Tabers’ demand clicked right into place.”
“What are you saying?”
