No Choice but Seduction (24 page)

He was the only one standing near the berth she’d been directed to whom she could question. And finding an empty berth, she wasn’t exactly in a calm state of mind.

“Why wasn’t I told that! Why wasn’t it printed on these tickets?!”

“Did you look at the tickets?”

She snapped her mouth shut and marched off. No, she didn’t examine the tickets closely. She wasn’t accustomed to sailing. She’d only sailed once before! And she couldn’t believe she’d missed her ship!

“It’s really gone?” Grace asked hesitantly when Katey climbed back in the coach. The hesitancy came from hearing the door slammed shut as well as the shouting that had just taken place outside.

“Yes.”

“The sun’s only been out an hour. How early did we need to get here?”

“Too early. I see now why that ticket fellow had mentioned that we could board the night prior to sailing if we cared to. He shouldn’t have made it sound like a mere option. He should have stated that it was the only option.”

Grace sat back with a sigh. “So we’re back to the ticket office?”

“And another long delay? I think not. I’m going to find Boyd Anderson instead.”

“What for?”

“To rent his ship.”

Grace started to laugh. Katey didn’t. When the maid noticed that, she said, “You weren’t joking?”

“No, I wasn’t. He pretty much begged me at Haverston to give him a way to make amends. And I’m not talking about demanding the use of his ship without recompense. I did say rent it, didn’t I?”

“Yes, but you can’t just rent a ship and its entire crew at a moment’s notice.”

“I can if it belongs to
him
.”

“I’ll wager he won’t agree to something like that,” Grace predicted.

Katey remembered Boyd’s expression when he’d beseeched her to let him do something,
anything
, to make things right with her. “I’ll take that wager.”

They had returned to London early enough yesterday to collect the clothes that had been finished and delivered to her hotel—and to find a new hotel. Hers hadn’t had any rooms available. She’d left so early in the morning for Gloucestershire that she hadn’t thought about reserving her room for another night upon her return. But at least the hotel clerk had held her packages for her and directed her to another hotel.

She supposed that she was going to have to start paying better attention to these details if she was going to continue traveling around the world. Ship schedules, coaches, guaranteed hotel rooms, things she’d been taking for granted, well, things she just wasn’t used to arranging yet. She’d done well until they’d left Scotland, but then they hadn’t run into any obstacles on that pleasant tour, all of which had deluded her into believing that everything else would go just as smoothly—instead of steadily downhill.

Katey sighed. She knew she was letting what had happened in Gloucestershire affect her outlook on everything else. She was upset—well, she was more than that—but she was going to have to put it behind her. This horrible impatience, the anger that came with it—the hurt—these things were so alien to her, and she didn’t like how they made her feel.

She hadn’t given Grace a word-for-word account of that brief interview with her aunt. God, her mother had been so right. They really were snobs of the worst sort, the Millards, and that’s all she’d told her maid. She’d been too hurt to want to discuss it.

She’d never been called such a horrible name before in her life. She knew it could be used in a derogatory, nasty way, that it didn’t only imply illegitimacy, which in her case wasn’t the situation at all. So her aunt had called her a bastard just to show how little she thought of her. It still hurt. It hurt even more that the hopes she’d had about still having a
family
had soundly been dashed.

She wanted to get far, far away from England and these terrible emotions that she’d never experienced before she’d come to this country. Wait on another ship’s schedule? When she had another option?

Of course, there she was again taking things for granted. Grace could be right. Boyd might laugh at the suggestion that he rent his ship to her. The idea really was ludicrous if she cared to think about it. But if he did agree, she could be sailing in the morning, or even later today. If he did agree, she wouldn’t be seeing the last of him either, as she’d thought on her way to the docks this morning. That was a daunting thought, but, though she’d only admit it to herself, an exciting one, too. But she would insist that he not sail with his ship. That would be the smart thing to do. It wasn’t as if he captained it. That would be a much better arrangement,
The Oceanus
at her disposal and its owner left far behind in England.

And just to make sure that Grace couldn’t accuse her later of
wanting
to see Boyd again, she’d stop by the ticket office first. If she could get passage on another ship within the next day or so, then she would forget about involving Boyd Anderson.

Chapter Twenty-Six

O
UT OF THE QUESTION!”
Boyd told Katey.

They were sitting in his sister’s parlor. James was there with one arm leaning on the mantel and thankfully keeping his mouth shut. Boyd’s nerves were strung taut as it was. He didn’t think he could handle one of James’s cutting remarks today.

Georgina was present also and sitting next to Katey on the sofa, pouring tea for the four of them. She merely raised a brow at him for his sharp tone. She, too, was mostly trying to stay out of the conversation after it had taken such an amazing turn.

Boyd still couldn’t believe Katey was even there, much less what she’d asked of him. He’d come bounding into the room after being woken with the information that he had a visitor and who it was.

His clothes were askew because he’d dragged them on so quickly. Georgina had stepped forward and, without remarking on it, lined up the buttons on his shirt in the right order. He barely noticed, unable to take his eyes off Katey.

Not for the first time, he’d thought he’d never see her again. This time, however, she’d snuck off from Haverston before he’d even woken yesterday morning, and Roslynn had told him Katey’s ship was sailing today. Nor had he been able to locate her after he got back to London. He’d spent the rest of the day and most of the night frantically trying to find her new hotel, but with no luck. Which was why he’d still been abed at this late hour in the morning.

But she’d found him. And she’d gotten right to the point of her visit. No cordial greetings from her, even after they’d spent an agreeable day at Haverston that had given him quite a bit of hope that they could put that unfortunate Northampton mistake behind them. Of course she had turned stiff again that second evening. She might not have railed at him again, but that stiffness was a clear reminder that he hadn’t been forgiven.

“You asked if there was something I needed that you could help with,” she’d bluntly stated, her emerald eyes locked to his. “As it happens, I find myself needing a ship. Would you be willing to rent yours to me?”

“Rent it?” He started to laugh, but cut it off so abruptly, it sounded as if he were choking. He ended asking, “Why?”

“Well, I have a lot of traveling on my agenda. I’m seeing the world, you know. And I’d much prefer to just go where I’d like to go without having to wait for a ship scheduled to go there, and—I missed my ship this morning.”

A little pink showed up on her cheeks for having to admit that her ship had sailed without her. He was used to that, too, and how that bit of color enhanced her…

“There are no other ships leaving today?”

He stared at his brother-in-law incredulously and thought about cutting out James’s tongue for asking that. Here was a golden opportunity, and James had just risked losing it for him! But that was unfair. James had merely followed his own lead. Instead of saying, of course, rent
The Oceanus
as long as you like, he’d asked her why she wanted to.

Wake up! She’s thrown you for an incredible loop. Don’t mess it up with logical questions.

“Apparently there was a storm in the region recently that damaged a large number of ships,” Katey said to James.

“She’s right,” Boyd added. “One of our Skylark ships also limped into port from that storm. Most of the cargo was lost. It’s still being refitted. With so many damaged ships sitting in the harbor, it’s taking much longer than usual to get them all back to sea.”

Katey continued, “I already experienced one delay last week because of that storm, or I would have sailed sooner than today. But now—” She gritted her teeth before she said, “Eight days! Eight more days I was told, unless there is a cancellation in the meantime. But I was also told how unlikely that would be. Foreigners who visited here for the summer are anxious to get back to their homes before the colder weather sets in.”

There was no doubt that she was frustrated by the delay. It was obvious in her expression and tone. So she’d thought of him and his offer to help her in any way he could? Understandable. Boyd decided to jump on it. This was a boon for him the likes of which he could never have imagined.

“You can rent
The Oceanus
,” he said.

“Just like that?”

“Yes.”

She was surprised. Georgina was surprised. You could never tell by looking at him what James was feeling, but at least he was still just listening without comment. Had Katey really anticipated an argument? But then she blew the wind out of Boyd’s sails.

“I don’t expect this to inconvenience you,” she’d added. “You don’t captain your ship. There’s no reason for you to come along.”

Boyd wasn’t going to budge on this one. When he’d told her that was out of the question, he’d meant it. And now they were staring at each other in a brief battle of wills that was lasting longer than the two other occupants in the room were comfortable with. Boyd could see it in Katey’s eyes, that she wanted to insist, but he knew his own expression reflected his adamancy, so she held her tongue.

James actually helped him out, probably without intending to, when he said, “It’s an unusual situation. Doubt if I could send my ship off for an extended trip whether I captained her or not. But the Yank here always sails with his ship. Besides, I envision being stuck with him under roof if his ship leaves without him, which won’t do a’tall.”

He made it sound as if he were joking, but Georgina and Boyd knew he wasn’t. James merely tolerated his brothers-in-law when they came to visit. Anything longer than a brief stay they would hear about most unpleasantly.

“It’s not subject to debate, anyway,” Boyd stated, settling the matter. “I go where my ship does.”

Katey sighed. “Very well. If you must, I suppose you must. As for the particulars, I only have a small entourage. My maid and a driver I’ve already hired. Can your ship accommodate a coach? I’ll be ordering one as soon as I get to France and will expect it to travel with me.”

“You’ll be paying their salary in the form of ‘rent.’ My crew will be most accommodating about whatever you want to transport with you.”

Georgina gave Katey a thoughtful look. “It will take time to have a coach made. Are you sure you want to spend that long in France, as cold as it’s getting?”