Georgina chuckled at the emphasis he put on that, accompanied with rolling eyes. It was the first thing she’d found amusing since she discovered Malcolm’s betrayal.
“Maybe I’ll do less practicing once I’m on my way home. Oh, Mac, I think it’s a wonderful idea,” she said with sudden enthusiasm. “Is it an American ship? Is she big? Where’s she bound for?”
“Slow down, lass, she’s no’ what ye think. She’s theMaiden Anneout of the West Indies, three-masted and spanking clean. A real beauty. But she has the look of a refitted warship still heavily armed, though she’s privately owned.”
“A West Indies merchantman would need to be well armed if she frequents those pirate-infested waters. All of our Skylark ships that sail the Caribbean are, and yet they’re still occasionally attacked.”
“True enough,” he agreed. “But theMaiden Anneisna a trader, at least no’ this voyage. She willna be carrying cargo, just ballast.”
“A captain who can sail without making any profit whatsoever?” Georgina teased, knowing how that fact alone would annoy a man who had sailed thirty-five years on merchantmen. “He must be a pirate.”
Mac snorted. “He’s a mon sails on his whims, going wherever the mood takes him, sae says his crew-mon.”
“The captain’s the owner then, and rich enough to keep a ship just for pleasure?”
“Sae it seems,” he said in disgust.
Georgina grinned. “I know how that concept pains you, but it isn’t unique by any means. And what’s the difference if she’s carrying a cargo or not, as long as she gets us home?”
“Aye, well, that’s another thing. It’s Jamaica she’s bound fer, no’ America.”
“Jamaica?” Some of Georgina’s pleasure in finding a ship dimmed, but only for a moment. “But Skylark has offices in Jamaica. And isn’t it the third port on Thomas’s schedule? We could conceivably arrive there before he departs again, and if not, Skylark has other ships that put in to Jamaica frequently, including Boyd’s and Drew’s ships, not to mention my own.” She was grinning again. “At the most we’re talking only a few more weeks’ delay in getting home. That’s better than half a year, and certainly better than staying here another day.”
“I dinna know, lass. The more I think on it, the more I’m thinking I shouldna have mentioned it.”
“And the more I think on it, the more I like the idea. Come on, Mac, it’s the perfect solution.”
“But ye’ll have tae work,” he reminded her. “Ye’ll have tae run the captain’s messages, bring his meals, clean his cabin, and whatever else he requires. Ye’ll be kept right busy.”
“So?” she challenged. “Are you going to tell me you don’t think I’m capable of such simple tasks, when I’ve scrubbed decks, cleaned cannons, scraped hulls, climbed rigging—”
“That were years ago, lass, afore ye started looking like the wee lady ye are now. Yer father and brothers indulged ye, letting ye climb all over their ships when in port, learning things ye had nae business learning. But this be working and living alongside men who dinna know ye, and who canna know ye. The job isna fer a lass, and it isna a lass ye can be if ye take it.”
“I didn’t miss that point, Mac. So my dresses will have to be left behind. Certain assumptions are automatic when breeches are worn, as we found out. Put a boy in a dress and you see an ugly girl, a girl in breeches and you have a pretty boy. And after all, I did right well that night—”
“Afore ye opened yer mouth or looked anyone in the eye,” he cut in to remind her sternly. “Yer disguise dinna last beyond that.”
“Because I was trying to pass for a man, which wasn’t very smart now that I think of it, not with this face. All right.” She stopped him from interrupting again. “So you tried to tell me and I wouldn’t listen. Don’t belabor the point. This is entirely different, and you know it. A boy can have delicate features. They often do. And with my height and slimness, timbre of voice and”—she looked down at her chest—“some tight binding, I can easily pass for a boy of nine or ten.”
She got a disgusted look for that assumption. “Yer intelligence will give ye away.”
“All right, so a brilliant twelve-year-old who’s slow in maturing.” And then quite firmly, “I can do it, Mac. If you didn’t think I could, you wouldn’t have considered it.”
“I mun have been daft, I surely was, but we both ken who be responsible ferthat.”
“Now, now,” she chided, grinning. “I’m only one wee lass, soon to be one wee laddie. How difficult can I be?” He made averyrude sound. “Well, look at it this way. The sooner I get home, the sooner you can wash your hands of me.”
This time a mere grunt. “That’s another thing. Ye’d have tae keep up the pretense fer a month or more. That’s a long time tae be finding a private spot tae tend nature’s calls, when a mon can just stand wi’ the wind at his back and—”
“Mac!” She actually blushed, even though with five brothers who sometimes forgot she was around, she’d heard and seen just about everything a girl shouldn’t. “I didn’t say there wouldn’t besomedifficulties, but I’m resourceful enough to overcome them, whatever they are. Unlike most girls, I know a ship inside out, including the area sailors tend to avoid. I’ll manage, even if I have to make use of a rat-infested hold. And besides, if I am found out, what’s the worst that can happen? Do you honestly think they’ll kick me off the ship in the middle of the ocean? Of course they won’t. I’ll likely just get locked away somewhere until she docks, andthengiven the boot. And that would be no more than I deserve if I’m careless enough to give myself away.”
It took a bit more arguing back and forth before Mac finally sighed. “All right, but I’ll be trying first tae get ye on wi’out yer having tae work. They might be agreeable tae that if I decline any pay, and they think ye’re my brother who mun come wi’ me.”
One velvet brow arched, while laughter lit her eyes. “Your brother? Without a Scottish burr?”
“Stepbrother then,” he allowed. “Raised separate, which willna be questioned considering the age difference.”
“But I thought theyneeda cabin boy? They’re more likely to insist if that’s the case. I know my brothers wouldn’t sail without one.”
