“I understand.” And he did. He watched her head bow slightly as if feeling the weight of her decision.
“Can you just hold me, Cloud? I think I just need to be held.”
He didn’t hesitate to pull her onto his lap. For a long time they sat in silence, her head on his shoulder, his arms around her waist. Once she moved to get more comfortable and he warned her, “Stop wiggling. You can only trust me so far.”
She quieted immediately but he could feel her smile against his neck. “Don’t worry. I’ve learned a few things since I put my hair all over the Atlantic.”
Cloud groaned softly. “Then that explains it. Your geography is as bad as your memory. It was North America.”
A week passed, then another. Although Alexis remained adamant in her desire to escape she was permitted on deck for brief periods each day, always under close supervision. If another vessel approached, she was taken below. The crew still guarded her door at night, but during the afternoon they sat with the door open and talked to her, sharing stories to ease the boredom.
As Washington drew closer Alexis’s hostility increased toward the men who had ordered her capture. Cloud could do nothing to soothe her apprehensions, especially since he was guarding apprehensions of his own, and after one discussion the subject was closed.
Alexis saw Cloud frequently now. They sat in her cabin in the early evening when there was no pressing business on deck for him to attend.
“I thought I would take over Garnet Shipping after my parents died,” he told her as she sat at his knees, her arms folded on his thigh, “but there was too much chance of war. I could not abandon the navy when they needed me most. Especially when I have a sister like Emma and a brother-in-law like Blake Crafton to keep things going. They understood. Emma said she didn’t want me brooding around the offices anyway.”
“Emma understands her brother very well,” Alexis said, lifting her head to meet his eyes.
Cloud sighed. “Emma is an angel. You’d like her, Alex.”
“No doubt.” There was a short silence; then she asked, “Cloud, are you glad you didn’t stay in Boston?”
“I’m glad. I wouldn’t be here with you now, would I?”
Alexis smiled. “No, you wouldn’t.”
“We’re going to be in Washington by morning, Alex,” he said, removing her arms from his lap. “I’m putting an extra man by your door tonight until I have you safely in dock. After that you’ll be watched closely by several of the men.”
In spite of herself Alexis laughed. “Thank you for taking me so seriously.”
“And when have you been anything but serious when it comes to your word? You said you would try to get away and we all expect an attempt. You are not going to disappoint us, are you?”
Alexis shook her head. “I’ll not disappoint you.” She gave him a sly grin. “And I’ll not give you any information either, Captain.”
Cloud chuckled and casually ran his fingers through her hair. “Then it’s a challenge, Captain Danty. We’ll see which commander meets it.” He kissed her lightly on the top of her head, and before either one of them had time to wish there could be more he left her.
Alexis drifted off to sleep still feeling the pressure of his lips on her head and the sensation of his fingers in her hair. She tried to imagine, in the last moments before she succumbed, how Cloud would look when he returned to her cabin in the morning and found she was gone.
The sun was barely up and already the wharf was teeming with activity. Cloud stood on the quarterdeck as theConcordsailed up the last part of the Potomac to the harbor. His smile was grim, reflecting the attitude of everyone aboard his ship. He thought of Alexis in her cabin. She would be awake now and dreading their approach into Washington. He had spent a sleepless night trying to determine her next move and had come up with nothing.
Landis stood beside the captain, a thin smile hidden beneath his beard. “All over,” he pointed out to Cloud when the order was given to drop anchor. “She’s here.”
“Mr. Landis,” Cloud responded sourly, “you are a master at stating the obvious. If you really wanted to help you would tell me what she’s going to do next. She won’t come without a struggle.”
Silver eyebrows drew together. “I wish I knew,” he said reluctantly, loath to admit his ignorance. He too had spent a night of tossing after his watch was completed. Now, with morning almost full on him, he had no answers.
Cloud realized the men had become quiet in expectation of his next order. The ship had been secured in record time so all hands were anxiously awaiting Alexis’s appearance on deck.
“I’ll go to her,” Cloud said slowly. “Tell the men to stand by and be ready to stop her if she should try to make a run for it.”As he walked away he felt the eyes of every man at his back, and he knew they were glad he had chosen to bring Alexis forward himself.
The men ignored the cries of greeting from the crews of the vessels on either side of them. They ignored the tightening of their own stomachs as they silently watched the hatch. Occasionally a pair of eyes would stray from the entrance and scan the horizon, hoping beyond hope Alexis’s men would still come for her and then, perversely, hoping they would not. They tried to put themselves in the place of her crew, wondering if they could have followed her orders not to aid her and each found the same answer: he would have moved heaven and earth to get her back.
Tom and Frank jumped to attention as Cloud approached them. He saw dark lines beneath their eyes and knew they also had spent a sleepless night.
“Wait here,” he ordered. “When I have her out, follow us on deck. Tom, after I have her off the ship, I want you to gather her things and take them to my home. Do you know where it is?” Tom said that he did. “Well, if you have any trouble, it’s the one that will look like a fortress. I plan to have everyone take shifts guarding the place until Senator Howe tells me what he wants done with Captain Danty.”
“Do you expect her men?” Tom asked.
