There was a knock upon her door. She threw it open and stared at the young man there in stunned surprise.
“Davey!”
It was the young, sweet lad from theSilver Messenger. She reached out and touched his shoulders, assuring herself that he was there. A smile of pleasure swept across her features. “Oh, Davey, you are alive and well!”
“And have been, Lady Skye,” he assured her, flushing and grinning broadly. “He was not a cruel master, milady.”
She gasped, drawing him into her cabin. “Tell me! Where have you been? What has happened?”
“Why, we’ve been at sea, milady. In your father’s ship. We weathered the storm, then held off Hatteras. They were sending messages, I believe. We met with Lord Cameron’s ship on the open water, and those of us who had been captured and sent to the hold were passed on over.”
“Were you cared for, Davey?” she asked with a frown.
“Aye, milady, a surgeon was sent down to the lot of us. The Hawk, he said, did not care to see any seaman in chains, so if we promised good behavior, we were free. We were even brought on deck for good, fresh air. It was not so loathsome a time, milady.” He paused, looked at her searchingly, then flushed. “And you, milady? I prayed for you daily. Are you well?”
She swallowed. “Aye, Davey, very well, thank you.”
He nodded and flushed again, and stepped away from her. “I came to see if you might require anything, milady. Lord Cameron would probably not take too kindly to my talking with you.”
“Lord Cameron has no right to tell me who I may or not speak with, Davey,” Skye said flatly, standing. Then she paused, startled, and felt a peculiar sensation sweep along her spine. Her lips parted into a soft gasp, for she realized that the man had come up behind Davey, and stood, filling the doorway behind the lad.
Davey swung about, and whitened.
“Is your duty here done then, lad?” Lord Cameron inquired.
“Aye, sir!”
“Be gone with you then, son,” Lord Cameron said, his eyes not upon Davey but looking over the young man’s pale head, and finding Skye’s. She started to tremble. She hated that silver color, and hated that he could appear so like the Hawk.…
And so entirely unlike his black-sheep cousin.
“We have left the shoals and reefs behind us, Skye. I have come to take you to dinner.”
She folded her hands together tightly. “That is very kind of you, Lord Cameron. This is all…very kind of you. I do, however, find that I am very weary. If I could—”
“Lady Skye! I shall not keep you long at all, I promise. And I could not dream of allowing you to take to your cabin without a meal. I understand your distress, but please, I insist. You must come to dinner.”
There was a note of steel to his voice. Like his distant cousin, he was accustomed to command. What was it with these men? she wondered irritably.
“Sir—”
“Milady,” he said firmly, and offered her his arm.
She hesitated, then accepted, for short of total rudeness, she had no other choice, and whatever his feelings in the matter, he had risked life and limb to come for her.
He drew her arm within his and led her just down the hallway to the next door. “My cabin, milady. And should you need them, Mr. Morley and Mr. Niven share quarters just across. There are more officers down the hall, and the seamen’s quarters are the deck below.”
She nodded and tried to smile. When he pushed open the door, she entered quickly, eluding his touch. She looked around quickly and found it to be a more practical than elegant place, though all seemed to be in the best of taste. His desk was heavy and finely polished and heavily laden with charts. Warm velvet drapes fell over the windows in a deep sea blue, matching the simple coverlet that lay over the bunk against the far wall. A table had been brought to the room. A snowy white cloth lay atop it and a complete silver setting, and handsome plate with soft flowered designs.
Lord Cameron closed the door to his cabin behind him and walked behind one of the handsome high-backed chairs, pulling it out for her.
“Milady?”
“Thank you,” she murmured, sliding into the chair.
He did not join her. He walked over to his desk, to a decanter there. “Wine, my dear?” He turned about to face her with a curious smile. “Or have you already been indulging?”
“What?” she gasped, staring his way. There was a look of steel about him that made her think that she had underestimated the man.
