“The water is as calm as a millpond now. And anyway, I shan’t. I have an excellent constitution.”
Amusement lit his eyes. “Well, I’m happy to assist if the need arises.”
She raised her eyebrows. “And I’m happy to do the same for you.”
Harry pointed. “Ah, there is Joe waiting for us.”
His groom raised his hand in welcome.
Pulling up the horses, Harry helped her down, then turned to address his groom. “I gather you enjoyed the stagecoach, Joe?”
Joe grinned. “Not so bad, Mr. Feather. I was squeezed in between two ladies, all cozy-like.”
Harry laughed. “Take the luggage to the Lord Nelson in Stanley Street.” He handed the groom money. “Arrange to stable the horses overnight. And don’t push them too hard on the way home. There’s a bed for you at the Blackbird coaching inn near Shrewsbury. Rest yourself and the horses there.”
As Joe drove the curricle away, Harry offered her his arm. “Fancy a stroll?”
“The salty sea air is quite bracing.” Erina linked her arm with Harry’s, and they walked along beside the sea wall. Gulls mewled,hovering weightlessly above a fisherman’s boat. The breeze carried a strong smell of fish.
Harry pointed to the wharf farther out on the point. “That is Admiralty Pier, where we’ll board the ship. I’ll purchase our tickets from the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company.”
Erina widened her eyes. “It’s a steamboat?”
“You’re about to experience something entirely modern.”
She smiled at him. “How thrilling!”
“Depending on the weather, if it remains calm, the voyage should be pleasant.”
The next morning after breakfasting at a small inn, they walked along the seafront. The horizon was clear of clouds with no sign of rain, but a brisk wind blowing off the sea grabbed at Erina’s skirts and caused her to clutch onto her bonnet.
After climbing the gangplank, Erina stood with Harry on deck at the rail, breathing in the smell of smoke and heavy, salty air. The big boat, belching an unbroken stream of smoke into the sky from its twin funnels, drew away from the wharf. It felt odd. As if the land shifted beneath her feet. How strange too, to watch the shoreline fade into the distance.
“I’m glad you’re with me, Harry,” she admitted with a grateful smile.
His gaze roamed over her, from the sorry state of her hat to the small cameo on the breast of her pelisse, then settled on her mouth. “Are you?”
The doubtful tone of his voice surprised her. “But of course.”
He nodded and said no more.
An hour into the journey, big, roiling waves rolled the ship from side to side. Erina’s stomach lurched with it, and she began to regret eating breakfast. She swallowed and hunched her shoulders.
“All right there?” Harry asked.
The deck pitched beneath her feet, and she clung to the rail. “Perfectly, thank you.”
“That’s good. It takes a while to get one’s sea legs.”
“Have you ever visited Ireland, Harry?”
“Yes, once. Years ago.”
She turned to him. “Before you joined the army? You can’t have been very old.”
“I was eight. My father took me there after my mother died.”
“Do you have Irish relatives too?”
