“The sail loft as well? Ah, that’s something. The camaraderie warms the cockles of the heart. I’d estimate that the men will sew something close to eleven thousand square feet of canvas, use miles and miles of thread and a good forty pounds of beeswax on it before they’ve finished.”
Alec whistled. His whistle changed in a flash. Genny had limped back into the parlor. She was wearing a simple muslin gown that was too short for her and sported a neckline that came nearly to her earlobes, but it didn’t matter. Alec knew now what was beneath that gown. He wanted to see her again. Very soon. All of her. He didn’t think she’d agree, but that didn’t matter either. He decided that it was one of his favorite pastimes—to enrage Genny Paxton and then seduce her.
“Are we ready, then?” he asked, standing. To James, he added, “Things will work out satisfactorily, sir. Please don’t concern yourself further.”
“Well, you know what I want, Alec.”
Alec knew and he winced. He wouldn’t marry Genny Paxton just to get control of a shipyard.
“I won’t let you die like Nesta did. I know now what to do, and nothing will happen to you. Nothing, I swear it!”
“Papa?”
Alec came awake with an abrupt jerk, his heart pounding, and rolled over immediately at the sound of Hallie’s scared voice coming from the open adjoining doorway. “Pumpkin? Are you feeling all right? You’re not sick?”
“No, Papa. I heard you talking to someone. I was scared that someone was in here and was hurting you. You were yelling, but there’s no one here.”
So I was, he thought, staring at his small daughter’s outline in the dim morning light. He’d been yelling at Genny, a Genny whose belly was swelled with his child.
“It was a dream, Hallie, a nightmare. With Genny.”
“I’m cold, Papa.”
Alec shook off the bizarre feelings the dream had left and lifted the covers. “Come in with me, pumpkin.”
Hallie scooted into bed beside him. Alec was careful to put her on top of the sheet since he slept nude. He bundled her against his chest, kissed her ear, pulled the blankets over them, and settled back to sleep. But it wasn’t to be.
“What won’t you let happen to Genny, Papa?”
“I dreamed that she was married to me and that she was going to have a baby—your little brother or sister, I guess. She was afraid of childbirth. I was telling her not to be afraid, that I wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”
“She wouldn’t die like Mama did?”
“No. I was promising her that I knew what to do, that I wouldn’t let her die.”
“Did I kill Mama?”
“No, of course not. Where did you get that idea, Hallie?”
“Well, I came and she died. Mrs. Swindel was talking about it to Dr. Pruitt. She said that some babies were just too big for their mamas.”
“That’s true, but she didn’t mean it was your fault. You could have died, too, Hallie. I couldn’t have borne that. At least I have you now.”
“Why didn’t you save Mama?”
“I was stupid and ignorant then, pumpkin. I didn’t know anything about babies and Dr. Richards—he was the doctor with your mama—I don’t think he knew any more than I did. I happened to meet a very wise man when we were in northern Africa last year. Do you remember Oran?” At the sleepy nod on his shoulder, he added, “He was an Arab and a physician, and I ended up telling him what had happened to your mother. He told me what to do if ever I was with a woman who was giving birth.”
“Is Genny afraid to have a baby?”
“That’s what is so strange about my dream. I have no idea if Genny is afraid of having babies or not. I think it’s I who am afraid of her dying. Your mama was very special, Hallie, and it hurt a lot when she left us. And I feel guilty because I realize that if I’d only known then what I do now—well, perhaps she would be with us today. But things didn’t happen that way. It’s true, you know. Your mama was very, very sweet, don’t ever forget that.”
“But she didn’t like to travel like we do.”
“No, not really.” Alec suspected that in the clear light of day he would regret speaking so frankly to his daughter, but it had always been his practice not to mince matters with her.
“I had fun with Genny. She doesn’t know anything about ladies’ clothing, Papa. She’s not like Mrs. Swindel. Mrs. Swindel has an opinion about everything, and sometimes her opinion’s awful. It was strange that Genny didn’t know about anything.”
“Neither of you did. I felt like the fashion arbiter.”
“I like Genny—”
“But?”
“She doesn’t know who she is, Papa.”
Now that, Alec thought, his body tensing, was a kicker.
“Do you know what you mean by that, pumpkin?”
“She’s kind of afraid of you, I think, and you do tease her awfully, but—is she going to be my mama?”
Another kicker, Alec thought, still reeling a bit from the initial one. “No,” he said. “No, she’s not.”
“But you dreamed about a baby and you were afraid.”
“I know. I don’t understand it myself. Now, what did you mean about Genny not knowing who she is?”
“She’s afraid, that’s all.”
“Of me?”
He felt Hallie’s head nod again against his shoulder. Well, Genny should be wary of him, at least. He’d done exactly what he’d wanted to with her—well, not everything. He only wished that he’d come inside her, made himself one with her, showed her what it could be like between a man and a woman, showed her what it would be like between the two of them. He snorted at his own foolishness.
“She’s real mad at you, too. I think she would like to cosh you on the head.”
“True enough. I tend to irritate her.”
“How did she hurt her ankle, Papa?”
“She said she fell up the stairs.”
Hallie snorted. It sounded just like him, and Alec grinned.
“Did you do something to her?”
“No, I didn’t—at least I didn’t make her hurt her ankle.”
Hallie was silent. She said finally in a sleep-blurred voice, “I’d like some brothers and sisters, Papa. Genny isn’t a silly girl, so she wouldn’t want me to be silly either. She’d teach me how to build ships, wouldn’t she? And she’d like to travel everywhere. I think she’d like to travel even more than you do.”
“I suppose that could be true.”
“Maybe she wouldn’t want to be a mama. Maybe she’d just rather travel and be like you and not have a wife.”
But a woman should want a husband and children and a home and hearth, he thought, then stopped, appalled at his line of thinking. He’d never really considered that when he and Nesta had been together, he’d done precisely as he’d pleased and never even considered that Nesta might not want to fit herself in with his plans. She always had, without complaint. He’d been a selfish, arrogant bastard. It wasn’t pleasant to see oneself in such a negative light, but he knew it was true. And now here was Genny. But Genny was a stubborn, very irritating female—not at all like Nesta—and she needed to be told what to do, preferably by someone like him. He started to tell his daughter that Genny would do just as he wished her to, when he realized that it would be a stupid thing to say, and further, Hallie was asleep, her breathing even. He listened to her, then fell back to sleep himself.
Alec and Hallie sat at the Paxton dining table, Hallie gowned in a new sprigged muslin dress dotted with blue-and-white flowers, and Genny in a pale peach silk gown that made her skin glow, her hair glisten with gold-and-red lights, and her eyes turn so green that—Alec paused in his idiotic catalog of Eugenia Paxton’s attributes. She looked all right, nothing really out of the ordinary. He found that he was staring at her stomach, seeing it swollen with his child, as it had been in his dream.
Genny was laughing, quite unaware that she was pregnant at the moment. She was arranging her silverware to make her point. “
Look, Father, Hallie. Alec was standing right beside the stern hatch coaming.” She added with a smile to Hallie, “The hatch coaming is a box that covers the hole in the deck that leads belowdecks. It’s there to keep the rain out. In any case, the box wasn’t yet fastened down, and when Alec turned to ask a question of Mr. Knowles, one of the men who was fitting the rigging overhead dropped a hammer and it landed right here and the coaming jumped and very nearly smashed Alec’s foot. I’ve never seen a man leap so high so quickly and curse so very fluently while he was still in the air.”
“Your daughter, sir, is something of a sadist.”
“What’s that, Papa?”
James said, “A sadist is someone who enjoys the misery of others, like my daughter here.”
Hallie giggled. “I should have liked to see that, but Mr. Furring was so nice. Was it really funny? Papa never leaps about or does anything that would make anyone laugh at him. He didn’t tell me about the hammer falling.”
Alec arched an eyebrow a good inch. “Where the devil did you get that, pumpkin? Of course I do occasional stupid or foolish things.”
“No, Papa, you’re always so perfect,” Hallie said and took a bite of roast partridge.
Genny hooted with laughter. “Hallie, he very nearly squealed, like a pig. His hair stood on end. His eyes turned yellow. His mouth dropped open and his chin fell to his stomach.” Genny stopped, giggling more, then added, “No wonder you’re so arrogant, Alec. Why, you’ve trained your innocent daughter to sing your praises.”
“No,” Hallie said in all seriousness, “Papa wouldn’t ever do that, Genny. It’s just that everyone likes him and admires him, gentlemen of course because he’s so smart, but the ladies, well, sometimes I watch them and they stare at him and talk behind their fans about him.”
“Eat, Hallie,” Alec said. “No more talk or I’ll fetch Mrs. Swindel and she’ll bring rain to this neighborhood.”
“What’s this?” James asked, his wineglass halfway to his mouth.
“Mrs. Swindel is not what you would call an optimist. If there is a dark lining to a cloud, she will pounce on it with great relish, and it will dominate her conversation until everyone is either asleep or speaking as gloomily as she is.”
“She’s the only lady who doesn’t fall all over Papa all of the time.”
“Hallie, eat. Be quiet or it will go badly for you, I mean it.”
“Yes, Papa. Genny doesn’t either, but I could be wrong.”
“Hallie,” Genny said, very nearly squealing herself. “Mind your papa. Eat.”
“I’ve been thinking,” James said after all parties at his dining table had calmed down. “I know the Fountain Inn is a charming place and that you’re also looking for a house. However, Alec, this house is enormous, mostly empty, and Genny and I would be delighted if you and Hallie and, yes, your Mrs. Swindel would stay with us until you found a house to suit you.”
“I could see Mr. Moses every day. Even Gracie is really nice and she gives me currants and apples when Lannie isn’t looking. That would be wonderful, Papa.”
Alec quickly stuffed a forkful of bread sauce into his daughter’s open mouth. “Keep your mouth shut and chew until I tell you to swallow.”
Genny was staring at her father. This was the first she’d heard about such an offer. She didn’t know how she felt about it. She knew that all her conscious thoughts focused on him and on him touching her and looking at her. Just thinking about it made her face flush and made her feel warm all over. But to live in the same house with him, to know that he was in a bedchamber just down the hall from her, well, it was enough to make—
“You may swallow now. Then take another bite. Good girl.”
“Don’t you agree, my dear?” James asked his daughter. “We have so much room now. You can hire another maid to help Gracie.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
Alec met Genny’s eyes across the table. She looked appalled, slightly terrified, and definitely excited. He changed his mind in that instant and knew he was indeed a perverse creature. “If you’re certain it wouldn’t be too much trouble, sir, Hallie and I would be delighted to come here. As for Mrs. Swindel, I doubt not that she will find doom and gloom from one chamber to the other, but she is good to my daughter and I will contrive to keep her out of your servants’ hair.”
“Excellent. It’s decided, then. Moses. Bring port for the gentlemen. Genny, take Hallie to the parlor and entertain her with stories about your first try at caulking. Lord, Hallie, what a mess she made!”
James sat back and smiled. It was nice to get exactly what one wanted, no doubt about it. Genny looked as if she’d swallowed a prune, but she’d get over it. He wondered how she had really sprained her ankle.
Alec watched Genny take his daughter’s hand. He felt that elusive feeling again, a need that he refused to recognize. He needed to see Oleah again. Later this evening. It was lust he felt, nothing loftier than that. He simply had to contrive to remember that, but his fingers curled and warmed with memory. He could feel her body clutching around his finger as he’d pushed inside her. Alec swallowed.
Thirty minutes later, he stood for a moment outside the parlor door. It was time to take Hallie back to the Fountain Inn before she fell asleep on the Paxtons’ parlor carpet. Moses had helped James up to his room, leaving Alec to his own devices. He paused as he heard Genny speaking. She was saying, “I’ll take you gudgeon fishing, but not until April. That’s when they’re running—Gudgeon? Well, they’re a member of the carp family, about five inches long, and their backs are iridescent blue and their bellies are silver. We’ll go down the Patapsco River to Relay. That’s several miles south of Baltimore—What? Oh, yes, we clean them, then roll them in cornmeal and fry them in bacon fat. Yum. They’re delicious, you’ll see.”
“Gudgeon?” Alec said as he entered the parlor.
“That’s right, Papa. Genny will take me. Would you take Papa, too?” Hallie asked.
“I’ll go,” he said, “but only if I don’t have to clean those gruesome-sounding things.”
“Papa likes to fish, but he thinks cleaning them is disgusting.”
Alec grinned. No secrets when it came to his daughter. None at all. “Will you tell Genny all my shortcomings?”
“No, Papa, I promise I won’t. Oh, a piano.” She’d skipped to the corner of the room to look at the instrument.
“Do you play, Hallie?” Genny asked.
Hallie shook her head wistfully. She very gently and very tentatively touched a finger to middle C.
“It was made in New York by John Geib. My papa bought it for me for my last birthday.”
“There’s no room on board ship for a piano,” Alec said, wondering that he should explain anything to Miss Eugenia Paxton, spinster of Baltimore, and a very passionate woman who would, if dreams portended truth, have his child. He shook his head; he was fast becoming a half-wit.
“No, there wouldn’t be much room, and think how it would slide about during a storm. I play a little. I would be delighted to teach Hallie.”
“That’s kind of you, Genny. Should you dislike it excessively if Hallie and I were to move in here with you?”
“Don’t forget Mrs. Swindel.”
“Answer me, Genny.”
Genny looked up at his beautiful face and said truthfully, “I don’t want you here. I want you to buy into the shipyard and then leave. If you also bought the Pegasus, it would be a help.”
She’d succeeded in angering him, and he said coldly, “I’m not about to leave until I take you to bed with me.”
“I’ve already been in your bed.”
Hallie, bless her soul, was intently studying the keyboard. “Yes, you were, but I wasn’t inside you.”
Genny jumped to her feet, felt her ankle give, and slumped down again. “Stop it, Alec. I won’t be your mistress.”
“Possibly not, but I will be the first man to have you, Genny.” And hopefully the last. Where had that nonsense thought come from? “W
ould you like to come with me to the ship tonight?”
Genny pulled back her arm, fisted her hand, and heaved toward his jaw. But Alec was faster. He caught her wrist and bore her arm down. He tugged her close to him, and Genny felt the sweet warmth of his breath on her face. “I’ll come inside you, Genny, and you’ll wrap your legs about me. You’ll love it, and you’ll be tight and very hot for me. Then I’ll caress you with my fingers and you’ll cry out, Genny, into my mouth, and I’ll keep you safe—”
“Papa?”
“A daughter is a wonderful chaperon,” Alec said. “Yes, pumpkin?” He didn’t release Genny’s wrist.
“Genny looks mad.”
“She is, but she’ll get over it. Now, Hallie, are you ready to leave? Mrs. Swindel is having an evening out with Dr. Pruitt, so I’ll be your maid. All right?”
Hallie nodded, but she looked faintly worried.
“It’s all right, Hallie,” Genny said, tugged again, and Alec released her wrist. “Your papa simply adores teasing me. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. As for you, Baron, I challenge you to a race. The Pegasus against your Night Dancer. To Nassau and back.”
“You’re crazy and I accept.”
Eleven
Genny loved the gentle rolling of the Pegasus beneath her feet. As always, she enjoyed the ship finally being in water and out of the yard. It somehow seemed more real then, even though the ship was firmly tied to the dock.
As her father had said of every ship he’d built since Genny could remember, “Well, it’s time to launch her. She’s not ready for Chesapeake Bay, but she is ready for the Patapsco.” They’d launched the Pegasus two days before Alec had arrived. She wished he’d seen that. It was always an exciting, somewhat nerve-racking event. Her father had broken a bottle of black rum over her post, signaling to the men to knock away the wooden braces, or the dogs, as they were called by the initiated, and the Pegasus had slid into the water. Every man had cheered loudly.
Then Moses had taken her father home, for he’d been so tired he could scarce walk.
Night Storm Page 15