Marcus’s cabin was dimly lit, though I had cleaned the chimney on the lantern. A soft glow warmed the room as the evening stars started to shine outside the windows. It was hot and humid in the room, but at least I was alone and could enjoy a bit of solitude. I also had a perfect view of the water and had seen dolphins playing around the stern on many occasions.
Now, however, the water was still. The air was still. And there was no evidence of life outside the windows.
I sat at the table with my supper, my thoughts turning to tomorrow and the confrontation I would have with Alice. I needed to get her out of the house before Ruth arrived with her children and she learned I had let Alice sleep under my parents’ roof.
The door creaked open, and I turned quickly.
Marcus stood in the open doorway.
I swallowed the cold bit of beef, though I hadn’t chewed it properly. It hurt as it slid down my throat, causing my eyes to water.
Marcus walked into his cabin and slowly closed the door behind him. His black breeches, black cotton shirt, black boots, and the cutlass at his side were imposing, but his height and the breadth of his shoulders filled the cabin until it felt like I couldn’t breathe.
He usually didn’t come in until a little later, closer to bedtime. Had he come to retrieve something? Perhaps one of the many books he kept on the shelf?
I stood from the table, my hands a little shaky. “Do you need something?”
“Continue your meal,” he instructed.
Swallowing my nerves, I resumed my seat, but my appetite had vanished.
I stared down at my plate, trying to force myself to take a bite of my food, but I just pushed it around with my fork.
He went to the shelf and stood, looking at his books, but made no move to retrieve one. The tension in my stomach tightened like a rope, and the silence turned deafening.
“I heard you tell the captain that you need to go to Nassau,” he said, his voice low, as he kept his back toward me. “When you were still on theAdventurer.”
“Aye.” I swallowed, hating that my pulse was galloping. “To find my mother.”
He turned to me then, his dark eyes studying me in the dim light. He was handsome, though not classically so like some men. It was his countenance—the way he held himself, the intelligent and probing look in his eyes—his very presence that was attractive. It demanded attention. There was no other way to say it. I couldn’t look away, even if I wanted to. He was both frightening and intriguing.
“Where did you come from?” he asked.
“Charleston.”
“Why is your mother in Nassau?”
Something compelled me to tell him the truth. I couldn’t hold it back, even if I had wanted to—and I didn’t. “She ran away with a merchant sailor when she was just thirteen. Less than a year later, she took me to my grandfather in South Carolina and then disappeared again. I need to find her.”
“If she left, mayhap she doesn’t want to be found.”
“Even by her d—” My heart pounded. I’d almost said daughter. “Her child?”
“Mayhap you’re the one she wants to hide from.”
His words sliced right to my heart, stealing the air from my lungs. It was my greatest fear, one I’d never voiced, and it had been spoken from the lips of a pirate. I stared down at my unappetizing food, forcing the tears to stay in place. I couldn’t cry, not in front of Marcus Zale or anyone else.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” His voice was low, apologetic, his brogue deepening. When I didn’t respond, he asked, “Why do you think she’s in Nassau?”
I swallowed my emotions and lifted my chin. “She left me a letter. Why would she leave me a letter if she didn’t want me to know where she was?”
“Did you just find the letter?”
Nodding, I said, “It was hidden in a wall in her room.”
It was his turn not to respond. Did the knowledge that she’d hidden the letter from me confirm that she didn’t want me to know where she was—or had she simply hoped I wouldn’t know until I was old enough to go to her?
A brush of wind rocked theOcean Cursefor the first time in days.
