Sail With Me (A Discovery Series Book)

by Christy Major

  “I’ll agree to those terms.” Daniel bowed.

  Though I didn’t want our stolen moment to end, it had to. “We should get to our bunks. The others will wonder where we are.”

  Daniel’s lower lip puckered out in a hint of a pout. So irresistible that I had to kiss him once more.

  He mussed my hair before slapping Benjamin’s cap back on my head. “This your brother’s too?”

  I shook my head. “That’s Benjamin’s.”

  “I see,” Daniel said. “He told me to watch over you. Were you two—”

  “No,” I said before he could finish. “Benjamin and I are friends. Best friends.”

  Daniel chewed on his bottom lip. “He’s waiting for you to come back though, isn’t he?”

  “If I go back to England, he will be there, yes. It is his home.” A sliver of guilt crept in over my feelings for Daniel and Benjamin’s feelings for me. Benjamin wanted us to be more than friends. I wanted Daniel. If I did go back to England, what would happen?

  “You’re not promised to him, are you?” Daniel asked, an accusing edge to his voice—one I had not heard since first meeting him.

  I pushed him back so I could gain some breathing space. “What do you take me for? I wouldn’t be here kissing you if I was promised to Benjamin.”

  “You’ve faked your appearance for months, Charlie,” Daniel started. “How do I know what else you’ll do?”

  “How do you know what else I’ll lie about? Is that what you mean?” I took a step closer to him, my eyes glaring into his. I poked my finger into his chest. “Cripes. Maybe if men weren’t so pig-headed, I wouldn’t have to resort to lying to get what I want.”

  How could I ever have expected Daniel to understand me? He was no different than my father, who thought I should be promised away and never have any adventure at all.

  I stuffed my extra padding under my tunic and stomped to the galley door. I tried to yank it open but forgot Daniel had locked it.

  “The key.” I held out my hand. “Let me have it.”

  “You can’t go out there like this,” Daniel said.

  “Like what?” I shot back.

  “Like a dragon, all breathing fire and leaving smoke behind.”

  “Well, I don’t want to be locked in here with you.” I folded my arms across my chest in what I hoped was an aloof gesture.

  “I have the key,” Daniel said, “so I’m in charge.”

  I huffed out a breath and stamped my boot to the floor. Daniel took a few steps toward me.

  “Charlie, look at me.”

  I threw daggers at him.

  “All right,” he said. “Now look at me as if you don’t want to behead me.”

  He stepped another couple of paces closer. His sawdust scent whispered around me, and I held my breath. I had more difficulty controlling my body’s reaction to him now that we had kissed.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “That was incredibly rude of me.”

  “Yes, it was.”

  “I guess,” Daniel began, “I find it unbelievable you aren’t promised to someone. Every man in Southampton has got to want you for his own.”

  “Oh, save your nonsen—”

  Daniel shot his hand out and clamped it over my mouth. “It’s not nonsense, Charlie. I’ve never met anyone like you. You’re willing to risk everything to make your dreams come true.” He slid his hand off my mouth and leaned in closer to me. His gaze settled on my lips. “I’m hoping you’re willing to forgive me, let me kiss these again, and make my dreams come true.” He brushed a finger along my bottom lip.

  Well, cripes. What was I supposed to do? My angry ego wanted to slap him, but my body disagreed.

  “I’ll forgive you,” I said after a pathetically short moment of mental deliberation.

  “And a kiss?” His grin almost made me crumble. Almost.

  “Maybe later.” I had to get out of the galley if I was going to stick to those words. “Unlock this.” I rapped my knuckles on the door behind me.

  “Fine.” Daniel pulled the key out and unlocked the door. “You’re free to go, miss.”

  My fingers closed around the door handle, but I turned around instead. Daniel was standing close enough I didn’t have to move far to catch his lips with mine. When I pulled away, his eyes were wider and bluer than ever.

  “I decided that now was later.” I spun on my boot heel and ripped open the door, leaving Daniel in the galley. His laughter wafted through the narrow hall that led to our sleeping quarters. As always, the sound of it rippled through me and touched a secret place deep within.

  ****

  The next time Daniel and I had a chance to be alone on the ship was an entire four nights later when we sat together at the bow.

  “Does it bother you, keeping what I am from your uncle?” I scratched under Ghost’s chin eliciting a deep purr.

  Daniel shook his head. “If I see it as protecting you, no, I have no problem with that.” He nudged my shoulder with his and offered one of his half-smiles. I nearly melted into a puddle and sloshed right off the deck as the Rose swayed in the calm waters.

  “When I was about twelve,” he said, looking up at the night sky, “I found this puppy. He was the scrawniest, sorriest looking fellow I’d seen, next to myself at the time. I was still in pretty bad shape about my parents and this.” He raised his right shoulder slightly.

  “That dog followed me home to my uncle’s house. I couldn’t shake him so I hid the dog in my room. Fed him scraps from my own dinner. Played with him during the day when my uncle was working. Slept with him at night when awful nightmares had me tossing and turning.”

  A melancholy expression passed over Daniel’s features. “I kept that dog for six months before my uncle found out.”

  “What did he do when he realized what you were hiding?”

  “He said he always wanted a dog, and why didn’t I tell him I had the critter in my room.” Daniel reached over and petted Ghost. “We had that dog for five years. I don’t know if I would have gotten over the condition I was in without him.”

  I circled my fingers around in Ghost’s fur, thinking about Daniel’s words. He noticed my pondering.

  “Don’t worry. I’m not thinking of telling my uncle about you. I want to get to the Americas first. We’ll figure it out once we get there. All right?”

  I told myself I didn’t much care what Captain Finley’s reaction would be, but I wasn’t convinced. He was important to Daniel, and I wanted the captain to approve of me.

  “Are you listening to me?” Daniel nudged me again. “I said don’t worry. I’m eighteen years old and have a right to my own secrets. You’re my secret, Charlie. My wonderful secret.” He leaned over and brushed his lips against my cheek. “Besides, my uncle can’t stay mad at me. If he could he would have tossed me out a long time ago.”

  “Thank goodness he hasn’t done that.”

  “After my parents died, I didn’t know where I was going to end up. There aren’t many people willing to take in an orphan, especially an injured one who wouldn’t be good for working.”

  He paused for a moment and looked away. “You saw how Captain Denham, your father, reacted to me that day on the docks. He didn’t want anything to do with me when he saw I was… limited.”

  I placed my hand on Daniel’s forearm, and he turned to look at me. “I wanted to scream at my father that day, Daniel. He had no right to judge you. It was unfair, cruel.”

  “I sensed you had some anger toward him that day, and I hear it now in your voice. Why?”

  “Well,” I began, “my father wouldn’t take me on his ship with him. Stowed me away with one of Southampton’s ladies to work as a maid instead. Told every sailor in the area not to grant me work on any of their vessels.”

  “My uncle didn’t know that, did he?”

  I shook my head. “He didn’t know of my father’s edict, and he didn’t know me enough to recognize me behind my disguise. I would have tried it with the local captains, but
they would have known it was me. Although, my own father didn’t recognize me, so I don’t know.”

  Daniel laced his fingers between mine.

  “Add to that the fact that when he couldn’t find me anywhere in Southampton, he sailed off on his next merchant run anyway, and I think you’ll have adequate evidence as to why I’m miffed. He ignored me and what I wanted.”

  “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to ignore you, Charlie.”

  I shot him a quick smile. “I remind him of my mother who did die. I didn’t make that part up. I look just like her. Exactly.” I looked down at myself. “All right, maybe right now I don’t, but sometimes I think my father can’t stand the sight of me. My two brothers, Eric and Riley, are twins. They look like my father, black hair, green eyes, dark skin. Their presence doesn’t wrench his heart out each time he looks at them like mine probably does.”

  “I’m sure he loves you too, Charlie. How could he not?” Daniel ran his thumb along my knuckles. How could a simple move like that awaken all my nerve endings at once?

  He released my hand and hooked some of my hair behind my ear with his finger. His touch made my pulse jump. “Tell me about your brothers.”

  “My brothers are wonderful, when they’re around. Riley sent me this.” I reached into my shirt and pulled out the shell necklace I always wore around my neck.

  Daniel fingered it at my throat. “I noticed that on your first day.”

  “It came with a letter that gave me the idea to pretend to be a boy to get on this ship. Riley wrote about Florida, how I would love it. I decided to be a boy and see what would happen.”

  “And here you are with me, being a girl instead,” Daniel said. “And a beautiful girl at that.” He nuzzled my neck with his nose and rested his head on my shoulder.

  “It’s easy to be a beautiful girl when I’m the only girl here.”

  Daniel raised his head. “Charlie, there could be a boat full of girls, but you’d still be all I’d see.”

  He leaned in and kissed me again. All the emotions that had been conjured up thinking about my father quieted. Daniel brought about a peace in me.

  He filled the empty spaces.

  Chapter Fifteen

  December

  When I first saw it I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. Dark gray lumps rose out of the water in the distance. From my perch in the crow’s nest, I squinted in the dawning sun. After reaching into the pocket of Eric’s breeches, I pulled out the captain’s spyglass, which he had given to me two days ago.

  Now I held it to my eye and focused in on the pewter shadows lining the horizon. My heart drummed in my ears as the wide, swaying leaves of strange looking trees filled my vision. A sandy shore kissed the ocean below the trees. When I raised my head, a rocky coast came into view beyond the shoreline.

  I blinked several times, thinking that perhaps it was all a mirage, but when my eyes focused again, the land was there. Really there.

  “Captain!” I swung my legs over the side of the crow’s nest and scurried down the main mast. “Captain Finley!”

  I raced to the helm and before I had a chance to catch my breath, the captain said, “You’ve seen it, boy, haven’t you?”

  “Aye, Captain. Land. Off the starboard bow.”

  Several crewmen hurried to the starboard side of the Rose, and the cheer that roared from their throats filled me with such joy.

  The captain strode to the railing with a calmness I would have thought impossible on such an occasion.

  “Good job, Charlie.” He pulled me over to his side. “What do you think of your first sight of a new shore?”

  “It’s amazing, sir.”

  “Aye, that it is,” Captain Finley agreed. “The New World.”

  A light nudge against my shoulder had me turning to my left. “Daniel,” I said with probably too much emotion, but no one noticed with a thing like land filling up their heads.

  “I can’t wait,” he whispered into my ear before stepping away from me and leaning on the railing to study the coast himself.

  I spent a long moment looking at Daniel and thinking about what might unfold when we set foot in the New World. A new world indeed!

  “All right, gentlemen,” Captain Finley shouted. “Listen up.”

  Every crewman gathered around and gave the captain his—and her—full attention.

  “We sail all day today,” he began. “Then, tonight, we anchor and we celebrate what is to come.”

  Another loud cheer arose from the crew at the prospect of both a party tonight and making landfall soon.

  A broad smile creased Captain Finley’s face as he surveyed his crew. His pride in this voyage was evident, as was his eagerness to set foot in the Americas. The same eagerness coursed through my own veins.

  Daniel turned from the rail and walked by me. “Help me in the galley later?”

  “Sure.”

  “Good. There’s much to prepare if we’re going to celebrate properly.” He shot me a warm smile. The kind that made my insides turn to liquid and drip to my feet.

  “Charlie!”

  I jumped at the sound of the captain’s voice and whirled around. “Aye, sir.”

  “Run back to the lookout and make sure our present course is free of obstacles.”

  “Yes, Captain.” I jogged to the main mast and climbed to the crow’s nest. If I had to wait to be with Daniel in the galley, I could think of no better place to spend the hours than at my post watching the Americas—my dreams—inch closer and closer to me.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Daniel and I toted trays of food up to the waiting crew. The top deck of the Rose was buzzing with the merry sounds of men enjoying themselves. Most of the crew sat around a central fire burning in a tin barrel, the golden glow flickering off their bearded faces while they played dice games or chatted. Timmy and Jonah sat by their father’s feet, laughing and eating. I was reminded of my first night with this crew when Captain Finley told the tale of Janie Sheridan and Aidan O’Roarke. So much had happened since then.

  The shrill sound of a wooden pipe caught my attention as Daniel and I neared the fire. Old George Fairwell tooted out a Celtic-sounding tune. Timmy and Jonah jumped up to dance. The two brothers moved in perfect rhythm to the melody ringing clear from George’s pipe. Their shoes knocking on the wooden deck boards added a percussion beat that enriched the song. The other crewmen clapped their hands in time with the music, and the boys danced until George ran out of air, bringing his ditty to a close. A hearty round of applause had Timmy and Jonah taking a bow before resuming their seats at their father’s feet.

  Daniel edged me toward the group and as soon as Captain Finley saw us he stood. “Charlie, Daniel, come sit by me.”

  We each took a crate on either side of the captain. Ghost scrambled out from among the crew’s booted feet and jumped onto my lap. Stroking his silky fur, I turned my attention to Captain Finley.

  “You boys have done a right good job on this journey. Proud to have you both with us.” He raised his mug in salute.

  “Thank you, Uncle,” Daniel said.

  Captain Finley put his hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Your parents would be right proud of you, just as I am.”

  Daniel turned his gaze to the fire.

  “And you, Charlie,” the captain began. “I was right to take you on. You work hard, you follow orders, you can sight a reef from miles away, and you don’t get sick, just as you said on day one.” He cuffed me on the back of the neck. “Besides, you’ve made Daniel easier to live with.”

  Daniel grunted, but his lips turned up into a smirk.

  “I’m glad you gave me a job, sir. It’s been an honor being part of this crew,” I said.

  “You think you’ll be wanting to go on more adventures? Is sea salt in your veins?”

  “Definitely, Captain.”

  “Well, Charlie, you’ll always be welcome on the Rose,” he said.

  “Thank you, sir.” My throat was so tight as I looked at Daniel. His
uncle wouldn’t want me on any more ventures once he knew I was female.

  “We still have a great deal of work ahead of us, you know.” He pointed into the darkness. “We know there’s land out there. Probably reach it tomorrow. What we don’t know is what or who is already there.”

  “You mean like wild animals or… natives?” Riley’s letter had mentioned trading with natives. Had they found some in Florida? Were they friendly? Savage?

  “Wild animals and natives are two possibilities. But that’s part of the journey now, isn’t it? The unknown. The mystery. The danger,” Captain Finley said.

  “That’s why we don’t bring any women with us,” one of the crewmen hollered out, eliciting a hearty laugh from all the men gathered.

  I did not laugh. Neither did Daniel. Instead, I couldn’t breathe.

  “Mystery and danger are too much for their dainty hearts to take,” another crewman added, fluttering his eyelids and putting his hand to his chest.

  My teeth ground together as I fought to stay quiet.

  “Maybe so, but I’d sure like to lay eyes on a woman right now,” the deck hand sitting right next to me said. Agreement emanated from the group at that comment.

  Daniel shifted in his seat, his jaw tensed. The hand resting on his knee was balled into a tight fist.

  “What kind of men can’t go a couple of months without the company of a woman?” I said, getting up from my seat.

  “Do mommies count?” Timmy said. “’Cause I want to be one of the men, but I miss Mummy.”

  All the men laughed and when I looked at Daniel, he was smiling again too. Walter reached down and pulled Timmy onto his lap.

  “You know what?” he said. “I miss Mummy too.”

  “Mothers can be missed,” Captain Finely said, “but we can’t be having beautiful women on board distracting my crew.”

  “What about some ugly ones, Cap’n?” another deckhand joked. More laughter swept among the crew.

  “Seriously, men. A ship is a working vessel. No place for a woman.” Captain Finley rested his hand on my shoulder and I dropped the mug I held.