“Well, what happened?” he asked impatiently.
“I spoke to her, just like you wanted.”
“And... what did she say?” Nathaniel let his frustration seep into his tone.
“She said that the owner of the house ain't home. I suspect there are some servants about, but I could not well ask her that without arousing her suspicions, could I?”
“Fine. We know that she is not under Northwood's protection at the moment.”
“Or anytime soon, either. He has been sent up north. To Massachusetts.”
Raising an eyebrow at this bit of information, Nathaniel smiled. “That is good news indeed.”
Gideon regarded his friend for a moment. “What are your plans for the lass, Captain? She seemed right sweet to me.”
“I told you, I plan to kidnap her and bring on board the ship.”
“And after that...”
“I will decide once I have had a chance to speak to her. You would do best to mind your place, Gideon. I am still the captain.”
At his chastising words, Gideon clammed up. Yes, they were friends and had been through a lot together, but when it came down to brass tacks, Nathaniel was the one in charge and always would be. At least until Gideon stole himself his own ship.
The pair made their way back down to the village. They would wait until nightfall before working their way back up to the house on the hill. Both men kept their own counsel the rest of the day, with Gideon worried about what Nathaniel had in mind and Nathaniel thinking about what he would do to the chit when he finally had his hands on her.
********
Ginny was dead asleep when she woke up suddenly. Her heart in her throat, she sat silently listening to hear what had startled her. Then she heard the sound again, it sounded like boots on the front porch steps.
Getting out of bed, Ginny walked carelessly to the front of the house. Her bedroom was on the first floor, although there was a more spacious and artfully decorated room on the second. It didn't seem right to use Jeremy's bedroom, especially since they'd said their goodbyes, most likely permanently.
Although she was startled awake, Ginny wasn't feeling any fear. Whatever it was, was going to happen whether she wanted it to or not, so fear was a waste of time. Opening the door, Ginny stepped out into the humid, cool evening. Not immediately seeing anything suspicious, Ginny kept up her pace walking down the porch to where it wrapped around the side of the house.
Peering around the corner, still seeing nothing, Ginny began to question her sanity. Instead of heading back to bed, knowing it would take some time to relax enough to fall back to sleep, she stared out at the village and bay. There were few lights at this time of night. Most of the illumination coming from the nearly full moon reflected off the water. She imagined how much a place like this would cost her in the 21st century. A lot more than she had, to be sure.
After a couple of minutes of staring into the darkness, Ginny turned to go back inside the house. As she approached the door, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. A figure materialized from the shadows, walking toward her quickly. Before she could ask who it was, the figure raised its arm and that was all Ginny saw before being knocked unconscious.
Chapter 14
Pounding headache. Dark, humid, and stinky. That was what Ginny realized first. She laid on the ground. No, not ground, but planks. After spending a lot of time crossing the Atlantic, Ginny knew the feel of a boat. For some reason, she was back on board a ship. Judging by the gentle sway, it wasn't moving.
Her mind couldn't focus on anything, at least not anything important. The side of her head throbbed painfully with the beat of her heart. Reaching her hand up, she felt a large bump just behind her ear. Wondering what had happened, she tried to sit up only to have to lay slowly back down or risk vomiting all over herself.
She moved to lay on her back, realizing she hadn't enough room to stretch her legs out. Keeping her head to the floor, Ginny bent her legs to accommodate herself. She knew it was dark, but she still didn't bother to open her eyes to try and figure out where she was. What she did know, what she could sense with her limited resources, was that she was definitely somewhere that she would prefer not to stay.
Not hearing the approaching footsteps because of the ringing in her head, Ginny was surprised when a light suddenly appeared. Squinting at the lantern, she made no move to rise or acknowledge the person standing before her. The only thing that she did comprehend was the fact that between herself and her visitor were iron bars.
It hit her that she was living the nightmare she had thought would be her fate while crossing the ocean. She was in a brig, a tiny cage inside a sailing ship. Now, the smells that had only annoyed her, alarmed her as she saw they might be her only companions for some time. Her mind scrambled to try to figure out what was going on, but she still couldn't put coherent thoughts together.
“Awake, are ya?” came the voice with the lantern. Normally, Ginny would produce some delicious piece of sarcasm over the statement, but at that moment all she could do was stare.
The man had no shape to her. She couldn't tell if he was fat or thin, tall or short, black or white. He was simply a blob, hiding behind a bright light. Because he seemed so unreal to her, Ginny chose not to answer his obvious question.
“The captain's been waiting for ya to wake up. Shall I send him down?” The question seemed to be rhetorical, since the blob laughed after asking it. Ginny remained silent, only wishing he would go away.
“Not much for talking, eh?” The blob held the lantern a little closer to the bars and said, “Well, I can tell you'd be good for something.”
This brought forth another burst of laughter. As much as Ginny's head hurt, she wasn't about to let that statement go without comment.
“Why don't you run along and get the captain then, since I can assure you that I will kill you if you try anything else.”
The snickering stopped immediately and Ginny saw a face come closer to the light. Now that she saw who was speaking to her, she was absolutely certain that she would kill him to avoid doing anything else with him. The man obviously spent little time on his appearance, with a scraggly beard and a large number of missing teeth.
“You are hardly in a position to kill me, missy. Seeings that I am your only hope of being fed, you best make nice with me.”
Not in the mood for a parrying of words, Ginny simply said, “You smell worse than this cage.”
The man pulled back and left. She could hear his boots stomping up the steps. Steps that led to sunshine and cool, ocean breezes. Steps that led to freedom. Before she could contemplate that, she had to consider that she probably had a nasty concussion. The likes of which would leave her dizzy and disoriented. Meanwhile, she was stuck in a cage, surrounded by God knew what filth, about to meet a man who obviously had issues with her. She had to wonder if the day could get worse.
Closing her eyes once again, Ginny allowed the gentle sway of the boat to lull her back to sleep. If she didn't wake again, so be it. With nothing close to ibuprofen available, she was better off not being awake through the headache she had.
After Ginny fell back into unconsciousness, Nathaniel came down to speak to her. His man, Douglas, had told him what a foul mouthed bitch she was and he wouldn't be bothering to feed her if it was all the same. Smiling at that, Nathaniel patted him on the back, as if the man had acknowledged what he had suspected all along. Gideon, on the other hand, looked rather unpleased.
The two men came down into the hold to check on their new guest. Holding up the lantern, they saw their guest's eyes were closed and her breathing steady. Sighing his exasperation, Nathaniel gestured to Gideon to open the door.
Gideon unlocked the cell and stepped inside. Trying to be gentle, he shook Lady Gammage to try to revive her. The woman made no noise, simply moved with Gideon's effort.
“Dammit, Captain, how hard did ya hit her?”
“Watch your tone, Gideon,” Nathaniel warned. “I had
not hit her all that hard. She must have a soft head. Go fetch Sherwood and have him take a look at her.”
Rising from the floor, Gideon left to do his captain's bidding, not liking the treatment of Lady Gammage one bit. Being an excellent judge of character, he knew that this woman was not capable of anything as heinous as murdering her own husband, even if provoked. Not knowing the particulars, Gideon had nothing to use to defend the young girl.
After Gideon left, Nathaniel stood looking at his cousin's wife. Widow, actually, he thought to himself. There was no arguing that she was a beautiful woman. With long, dark lashes that framed almond shaped eyes, a pert nose and large, comely breasts, he had to admit that he wouldn't kick her out of his bunk. As the thought came and went, Nathaniel just shook his head. Sometimes his libido was overwhelming, not that he'd had a woman since leaving Las Palmas.
A moment later, Gideon reappeared with the doctor. Sherwood, despite his height, was an unassuming man, who would easily blend into any background. Except for his spectacles, the man was the very definition of bland. Still, he was a good doctor that Nathaniel was able to acquire by helping him out of a sticky situation.
“Can you lower the light, Captain, so I can take a better look,” Sherwood asked, curious over their new arrival.
Without a word, Nathaniel lowered the lantern. Taking his fingers, Sherwood felt around the woman's head gingerly, not wanting to cause her any further trauma. When it came to pain, women were the weaker sex and could not forbear any type of discomfort.
Feeling the bump on the side of her head, he turned suddenly and glared at the captain. “What did you hit her with, for God's sake? The lump is the size of plum.”
Rolling his eyes at the insolence of his crew, Nathaniel once again issued his warning. “Spencer, may I remind you who the captain of this vessel is. Watch your tone, sir, or you will be swimming back to England.”
Rubbing his face with his hand, he said, “She has taken quite a knock... Captain... and I cannot be certain she will ever wake up.” Sherwood couldn't help dragging out the word captain, as obedience had always been a bit of an issue for him.
“Nonsense. Douglas just informed me that she was awake not fifteen minutes ago. Could she be faking?”
“She could try, but I would know if she were. To be honest, Captain, she may not ever be right again.”
Nathaniel made a sound to show he didn't believe one word of it. Was there some kind of conspiracy between his two trusted crew members to save this girl from the fate she perpetrated? How could they feel sorry for a woman who so coldly and calculatingly murdered her husband, a peer of the realm? It was beyond his perception apparently.
“Then we shall give her more time to awaken. Please remove yourself from the cell, Doctor.”
Standing up to face his captain, Sherwood asked, “I would like to bring her up to the surgery, Captain. I would be in a better position to monitor her condition from there.”
Now Nathaniel knew the two had conspired. “Absolutely not. She will stay where she belongs, in a cell. I will not have her pampered on this ship as she had been on the Phoenix. You are both dismissed.”
Gideon asked, “Since Douglas is not amendable to the job, shall I look after her, Captain?”
“We can discuss it. I think it would be best if you two understood where this woman stands. She is not our guest. She is a murderer and I intend to see that justice is done.”
Gideon considered arguing, but knew it would be fruitless. He would have to save his breath for another day. Sherwood was less successful at hiding his disgust. Both men left the hold without another word.
Nathaniel stared down at the unconscious woman lying in his brig. What about her instilled such loyalty in two of his crew? One of which hadn't even spoken to her yet. She was beautiful, but who would want to have a man killer as a mate. Seemed an unwise collaboration.
Before leaving, Nathaniel lifted the lantern and took one last look. They would be sailing for St. Lucia in the next few days. He would find the plantation owner and deliver him his new servant. Lady Gammage would spend the rest of her life living in abject poverty and should be damn well thankful for it.
********
Ginny awoke several times throughout the night, not that she knew night from day. She thought someone had come and fed her some water. The voice of her savior sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember from where. He told her that he would take care of her, and not to worry, but at that point, Ginny worried about nothing other than the pounding that just wouldn't go away in her head.
When at last she woke up and was able to keep her eyes open for more than a moment, Ginny knew she was in trouble. Her clothing was filthy, covered in a damp of something she'd rather not think about. Her hair was matted to her head, and her mouth was as dry as a bone. Taking several deep breaths, Ginny was able to prop herself up against the wall into a sitting position.
Not long after she regained consciousness, she spotted the light making its way down the steps. The figure approached, but Ginny was temporarily blinded by the lantern. The voice, though, was the one who she thought had fed her the water. The familiar voice that she couldn't place. When the cell door opened, the man knelt down beside her and handed her a cup.
“Drink up, my lady. Now that you are finally awake, I can fetch the doctor to come talk to you and get you something to eat. Been days since you ate, my lady.”
Taking the cup from his hands, feeling her fingers trembling to the point where she almost dropped it, Ginny felt the man's strong fingers lifting the cup to her lips. She took a small sip, testing to make sure it would stay down. It had been a long time since she'd felt so vulnerable.
Without speaking, the man continued to help her until the cup was empty. Putting the cup aside, the man said, “There now, do you not feel better, aye?”
“Yes, much better. Thank you.” Ginny barely recognized her own voice. It was gravelly, as if she'd had sand for dinner. Forging on, she asked, “Do I know you?”
In response, the man lifted the lantern to show off his face. She recognized him immediately. He was the man that came to Jeremy's house hoping to buy it. He was the man who had flirted with her. Why would he do this to her?
“Before you say a word, my lady, I did not know he would do this to you. I swear to you that I thought he only wanted to talk to you, not bang you on the head and kidnap you.”
“Who?”
“The captain. He will be by later to talk, but for now, I need to get you feeling better. And for that, I will fetch the doctor and another glass of water. Stay here and I will be back soon.”
Ginny almost laughed. Where would she go? She was locked in a cell and barely able to stand up to boot. Waving her hand in acknowledgement, the man walked back up the steps.
The water had made her feel better, but she was still shaking badly. Taking measured, deep breaths, trying to calm herself, the pounding in her head subsided slightly. She'd survived the initial injury, so she was confident that she would eventually recover. Heroines didn't suffer permanent brain damage.
Not long after he left, the man returned with another man. Ginny tried to remember his name, but it just wouldn't come to her. So, she waited until the cell door was open again and asked him.
“Gideon's the name, my lady,” he responded, flashing her a smile that caught the light from the lantern. “And this here is Dr. Sherwood.”
“Please call me Corliss,” Ginny said, giving her regard to the newcomer. “Are you a real doctor, or just a sailor willing to do the job?”
The man gave her a shy smile. “I trained with some of the finest physicians in England.”
Ginny gave him a doubtful stare. Not because she thought he was lying about his credentials, but because no matter how good the physician, at this point in history, it wouldn't make a damn bit of difference.
“And what is your diagnosis of my condition, Doctor?” she couldn't help asking.
Catching her implication, he turned his
head slightly and responded, “You have a bump on your head from someone hitting you. How did I do, my lady?”
“Fairly astute, Doctor. And please call me Corliss. I can't abide the use of 'my lady' any longer.”
“Then please call me Spencer, if you wish.”
Ginny smiled, thinking that she could probably be friends with the unassuming man. She took the time to examine his features. He was handsome, but in no way mega-hunkish. If anything, he looked as though he needed a cheeseburger, his facial features gaunt with something, probably malnutrition.
Turning to look at Gideon, she asked, “When you visited me, did you know your captain wanted to have a word with me?”
His face turned down with obvious shame. “I did. He thinks you deserve a vastly different punishment than you got for killing your husband.”
A Lesson in Presumption Page 9