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She hurried to catch up, sending a fleeting glance back at the lugger—and Trevik. Her heart lurched when she found him looking her way.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Trevik turned swiftly away when he caught Miss Hollow’s eye, willing himself to not look back at her. He’d done a fine job at avoiding her since Saturday, although it had made it exponentially more difficult to not stare at her now as her limp made the swish of her skirts to flourish all the more.

He blinked the image away from his mind, focusing on his work instead as he climbed down to the fish room, reaching in with his oversized wicker basket and filling it full of pilchards.

“’Ere be another,” Trevik said, grunting as he heaved the basket to Jowan, who would then deposit the fish into the awaiting gurry.

Instead of Jowan standing alone above the fish room, however, his grandfar accompanied him, as well as two more members of their crew, brothers Hedrek and Kenver Roskelley.

Trevik struggled with the weight of the fish, lowering the basket a fraction as he took in the solemn lips of the brothers and the scowls from the Cardys, each of them staring down at him with stoic eyes.

“We need to talk, Trevik,” Edern said, his thick jacket buttoned to just below his neck.

“And now be a convenient time?” Trevik asked, motioning to the basket of fish still in his hands.

“Yes.”

Trevik hesitated. He’d attempted to speak with his men about Miss Hollow the moment they’d set sail the evening before, but half of them had been so upset, they’d refused to listen. Were they ready to be reasoned with now, or was Edern simply going to say his piece without allowing Trevik to say his?

Either way, the words needed to be spoken by them both.

He raised the basket onto the deck himself, then climbed out of the fish room before dumping the pilchards into the gurry and facing his men.

“So, what be your issue?” he asked, planting his feet apart and folding his arms.

“What she be doin’ workin’ at the cellars?” Edern questioned.

“I reckon the same as the other women, processin’ the fish.”

Edern hardly looked impressed. “Ye know what I mean, Trev. She don’t belong in there. S’pose she injure the other women.”

Trevik closed his eyes, willing himself to find the patience he needed to continue conversing with this man. “Look, lads. We be tired, cold, and ’ungry. Per’aps we ought to speak o’ this later—”

“No, we be speakin’ o’ this now,” Edern interrupted. “Ye ’ad no right bringin’ a sea-maid back to our cove.”

Trevik blew out a slow breath. Jowan stood behind his grandfar with a nod, but the Roskelley brothers remained silent.

“Are ye two in on this now?” he asked. “Ye believe Miss ’Ollow be a mermaid, too?”

The brothers exchanged glances, the elder, Hedrek, speaking first. “No, we don’t.”

Edern turned sharp eyes on them, and Trevik was filled with relief, though it didn’t last long.

“But ’e ’as a point, Trevik,” Hedrek continued. “Ye ’ad no right bringin’ ’er back ’ere after ye promised she’d be gone.”

Trevik had done his best to skirt around the issue, blaming Edern and his superstitions for the problems in his crew. But the truth of the matter was, he was also to blame. He had made a promise—a promise he’d broken.

He gave a seceding nod. “Ye be right. And I be sorry that I’ve broken your trust in I, but really, what would ye ’ave done if ye were put in the same situation?” He leaned forward, lowering his voice. “She ’as no ’ome, no family.” That was the truth, for her uncle certainly didn’t count as one. “She ’as nowhere else to go but Tristwick. Would ye really turn ’er out now?”

The brothers exchanged glances again, their frowns lessening, if only slightly.

But Edern’s glower remained. “’Tain’t be our responsibility to ’ouse a sea-maid. ’Tain’t right what ye be doin’, putting the safety o’ that woman o’er your men.”

Trevik’s jaw tightened at such an accusation. “That ain’t what I be doin’. I merely be ’elpin’ a woman ’til she be ready to ’elp ’erself. I promise ye, I’ll not allow any ’arm to come to Tristwick.”

Edern’s gaze hardened, his voice cool. “We’ve ’eard your promises ’fore, and now we know what they be worth. Nothin’, compared to what ye be doin’ for your new sweet’eart.”