“If you do not judge me for what I told you last night, then I will not judge you. I promise.”
“I turned my back on the one thing that you never had. I was reduced to eavesdropping on French conversations at various balls and entertainments in London and at house parties. I grew bored and wanted to come home. I had wanted to put London and London Society behind me. I rejected the very thing that you had wanted to experience.”
“I am not certain I would want to attend a London Season. I think I simply wanted to be… Not be the one with responsibility. To have someone else concerned with the care for my sisters. Someone else tasked with being a mother. In my uncle’s house, I knew I would have no responsibilities.”
“You do not have servants in your father's home?”
“We do have a governess but they still defer to me as if I am their mother when I am not.”
“I understand,” he offered. “I was tired of Society and the pretense and people pretending that they were more than they were. Those with titles looking down on those who had none. Those without one trying to marry a title. The Devils of Dalston had provided friendship, but I rarely saw my friends any longer. They had taken different paths—some still with the Home Office and others had married. So, I was set to return to Antigua, where I was born, to remain the rest of my life, when the war with France got in the way.”
“The very same war that landed us both here,” she said as she got up and inspected the hole in the boat. “How are you going to make the pieces of wood stay, seal them and not leak.”
He pointed to a bucket. “Tar.”
She peered inside and frowned. “You brought that back?”
“Yes, and it wasn’t easy. I had to steal a bucket then uncork a hogshead of tar and fill the bucket to bring back here along with everything else without spilling.”
“Do you think it will be enough?”
“I hope so.” The hole in the boat may be awkward but it wasn’t huge.
“Will you begin patching it today?”
“Tomorrow morning, first thing,” he answered. He didn’t want to go to sleep with the stench of tar in the air. “I will have to melt it down and get it hot, but I will do that over a fire out here, then I will patch the boat.”
“How long will it take to dry and before you know if it will float?”
“A day.” He shrugged. “If I have the boat in the sun, and open to ocean breezes, it should dry within a day, if we do not get rain.”
“It will be good to know that we have a way to leave if we need to.”
“In that we are in agreement.” The more options to escape the French the better.
By the time dinner was placed on the table, Tempest’s headache was gone and she was more relaxed and not at all concerned about what had happened the night before. She also had no intention of drinking rum again for a very long time.
Rhys had caught more fish so she and Nicoll prepared those for dinner, not that she was of much help because of her hand, but she was happy with what they had created, and even more so when Rhys appeared at the door and asked if he might join them.
He usually took his food and left, but he instead took a seat at the table, at the far end opposite her, as if he was the head of the table and she the foot, and family between.
It was a pleasant thought. Their eyes met several times during the meal, and a few times she blushed when caught watching him.
He was incredibly handsome with his green eyes and dimpled chin, and straight sun-streaked hair.
Many times, her focus was on his lips and what he had promised. Could a kiss be so wonderful that a person would never forget?
Oh, she wished to know for certain and experience such.
He had also repaired his appearance. His hair was wet as if he’d either bathed or had been swimming and his clothing was clean, which made her all the more aware of her appearance and how awful she must look. She and the girls tried to wash in the stream, but the soap was harsh, not at all like the herbal pieces that she purchased at the local market at home.
“How is your hand?” he asked into the silence.
She had not spoken, nor had he, or her sisters. They had been eating in silence all looking at each other. Well, Rhys was looking at her. She was looking at him and her sisters had taken turns looking at them.
“It does not pain me, unless I forget and try to pick something up.”
“Then do not forget.” He grinned.
