Oscar wasn’t happy with Patrick’s request. “My wife was looking forward to seeing the West Point cavalry on parade this afternoon.”
“We’re only half an hour into the sail,” Patrick said. “You still have plenty of time to get there.”
Her father glanced at the porter in annoyance. “Very well, order the helmsman to turn about as soon as lunch has been served.”
Liam stood. “Go ahead and order him to turn around now. It’s my yacht and my decision to make.”
Natalia bit her tongue. Why did men have to beat their chests like that? Her father owned this yacht for years before Liam managed to finagle it out of his clutches, and the loss of it still smarted.
Patrick nodded and left to arrange for the ship to turn around, but the business negotiation suffered. Oscar startedattacking Liam’s numbers, and Liam got defensive. Then he confused depreciation with deflation, and Oscar pounced on the error. Liam was going to have to do better if he expected to win the confidence of the other board members on Friday.
Natalia had turned her attention back to Alexander and his uncomplicated love when the door opened so abruptly that it banged against the outside wall, and Poppy stormed inside.
“Patrick says you’ve turned the boat around,” she accused Liam.
“That’s right.”
“Gwen shouldn’t have come if she was going to get seasick. I never suffered a day of seasickness when I carried Alexander, and if I did, I wouldn’t have made the rest of the world cater to my frailties. I want to see the horses at West Point.”
Natalia shifted Alexander in her arms. “The cavalry practices every weekend,” she pointed out. “We can always come back next Saturday.”
“But I wanted to see themtoday. Alexander, don’t put that block in your mouth. It’s dirty.”
Natalia said nothing, but she took the block away, causing a snivel from the boy. She sent him a reassuring smile to fend off a crying jag, and Alexander beamed back at her.
His adoring smile sent Poppy into a rage. “Alexander, come to Mama,” she ordered, stepping forward to swoop the boy into her arms.
Alexander’s face twisted as he started whimpering.
“Hush that nonsense right now,” Poppy ordered, hefting him higher in her arms, which caused him to break into a wail.
“I think he’s getting hungry,” Natalia said.
“You don’t know that,” Poppy snapped. “And why did you let him put that dirty block in his mouth if you knew he was hungry?”
The harsh tone frightened Alexander, who tried to twist out of Poppy’s arms and reach toward Natalia. Poppy grabbed the boy’s hands and jerked them back.
“That’s enough, young man,” she said, shooting Nataliaa poisonous glance. “I think you’re trying to win him away from me.”
“Poppy, that’s ridiculous.”
“Is it?” she demanded. “You spoil him with attention every time you see him. I think it’s time for a little more distance between the two of you.”
Poppy left the cardroom, taking Alexander with her and leaving that ominous threat hanging in the air. With a sinking feeling, Natalia realized there was nothing she could do if Poppy decided to withhold her brother.
Natalia watched the moonlight glint on the water as she stood on the deck of theBlack Rose, alone in the darkness. The day had been awful. After returning Gwen to port, they sailed up the Hudson for the two-hour journey to West Point, but the cavalry had just finished their afternoon parade when they arrived, and it put Poppy into a royal snit. Alexander had not reappeared from the stateroom where he had been banished to keep him away from Natalia.
The thought of returning to her empty townhouse was dispiriting, and she had gladly accepted Liam’s offer to spend the night in one of the staterooms on theBlack Rose. It was ten o’clock, which meant it was only five o’clock in the morning at Mirosa, too early to send a telegram to Dimitri and pour out her heart. Her greatest fear was beginning to happen. Poppy could take Alexander away from her, and Oscar wouldn’t stand up to Poppy. He would make a few gestures, but when push came to shove, Poppy ruled the household and everyone in it.
She swiveled at the sound of a door opening and was relieved to see Liam heading her way with a small silver flask in one hand and a jug of milk in the other.
“Nightcap?” he asked, holding up the flask. She shook her head, and he held up the jug. “Milk?”
She shook her head again. Liam joined her at the railing and took a swig directly out of the milk jug. He used to drinkplenty of hard liquor, but in recent months an ulcer had begun eating at his gut. The doctor said it was caused by stress, and now Liam drank only milk.
“Out with it,” Liam said after he set the jug on the deck. “What’s got you so glum?”
She shrugged. Only a perfectly horrible person would be jealous about Gwen’s pregnancy, but there it was. Natalia would slip into a cold and lonely bed tonight. Tomorrow she would face a myriad of decisions with no one to lean on. And with each passing month, she grew a little older with no child in her life, just a brother Poppy might withhold from her whenever the mood struck.
