Swept Away (19 page)

“I think our long friendship gives me the right to speak,” he announced with a cocky self-assurance. “I had thought her brave, but it sickens us all to see Lady Clairbourne so comfortable in your arms when Alex has been dead only a week.”

Infuriated that the mate thought he had the right to offer such a personal comment, Raven immediately reacted with a hostile glare. He knew he had shocked his friend when he had asked him to be his best man, but he had expected whatever criticism there might be of their hasty marriage to be directed at him rather than Eden. Randy’s remark presented an unfortunate eventuality he had not foreseen and that failure alone was enough to anger him.

“Do you realize that duels have been fought over remarks less offensive than yours?” he replied in a challenging hiss.

“Duels?” Randy gasped hoarsely as he began to back away.

“Yes,” Raven continued in the same threatening tone, “Lady Clairbourne is my wife and I’ll not tolerate a single word spoken against her. How could you have thought otherwise? I don’t want to hear another such comment, ever. If I see so little as a frown directed toward my wife, I’ll flog the man who wears it and that includes you.”

Randy cursed his own stupidity in speaking his thoughts aloud, but he could not help himself. “I meant only to warn you,” he insisted.

“Warn me? Of what?”

“Of the type of woman she is. Just look how quickly she betrayed Alex’s memory.”

When Raven took a step forward, Randy took another step back. Raven then reached out and grabbed the mate’s shirtfront to draw him close. “She is a lady,” he reminded him coldly. “She hasn’t betrayed anyone and she is to be treated with the utmost respect at all times. Our return trip to Jamaica will be the most miserable voyage of your life if you fail to remember that.”

Raven had expected gossip aplenty from outsiders, but not from his crew. That Eden was relaxed around him was a source of great pleasure to him and he would not keep his distance to satisfy some ignorant fools’ concept of propriety. Damn it, Eden was his wife, and he did not care who knew it! He released Randy with a rude shove and turned his back on him, their conversation over as far as he was concerned, and the mate wisely chose to retreat.

Peter Brady was standing not ten feet away and Raven knew he had to have overheard his argument with Randy. The groom had sailed with them and would ride back to Briarcliff in order to return the mounts he had rented when he had carried the news of Alex’s death to London. Rather than ignore the man’s presence, Raven walked right over to him. “Does the staff at Briarcliff harbor as uncharitable feelings about my marriage as my crew does?”

“No, my lord, I heard naught a word said against either you or Lady Clairbourne. Briarcliff is your home. None of us would speak ill of you there.”

Peter looked so badly embarrassed, Raven dismissed him immediately. Unlike sailors, who could seek work on another ship, the staff of Briarcliff considered the estate their home as well as his. He knew they would not dare criticize his actions for fear of losing their positions, and Peter’s words had not been in the least bit reassuring.

When Raven joined Eden in his cabin for supper that night, he was still preoccupied with the dark thoughts Randy’s ridiculous criticism had raised. Other than a few distracted smiles, he offered little in the way of company. A loner by nature, he was content without conversation, but he knew he ought to try and make Eden feel welcome on board his ship. He was just not up to making the effort that night.

Eden thoughtfully waited until Raven had finished his meal before she reached out to take his hand. “Tell me what’s wrong,” she asked invitingly.

“What could possibly be wrong?” Raven replied with a befuddled frown.

“A problem with the ship or crew perhaps? I’m certain that I know enough about sailing to understand whatever is troubling you.”

Raven rejected that offer with a disparaging chuckle. “I doubt there’s a captain worthy of the name who seeks advice from his wife on the running of his ship.”

Eden had not meant to put Raven on the defensive, and tried to explain herself more clearly. “I’m not offering to give you advice. I merely wanted to give you an opportunity to share your problems with me. I’ll be happy to listen, even if I’ll not be able to provide any answers. I realize you’re not accustomed to discussing your day with a woman, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good idea.”

Raven studied Eden’s face closely as she spoke. As usual, her guileless topaz gaze made her appear sincere in her offer to be a sympathetic companion, but he could scarcely reveal that his crew lacked the intelligence or manners to appreciate her spirit. They did not see her as a woman who had pledged her loyalty to him, but as one who ought to still be in the deepest mourning for Alex. Because she had begged him for more time herself, he would never repeat their complaints to her since she would undoubtedly feel they were justified.

There was another problem which had been weighing heavily on his mind, however, and he decided now was as good a time as any to discuss it. “I’ve no problem with the ship, but there is something else that’s been bothering me.”

“What is it?” Eden inquired eagerly, delighted she had convinced him to confide in her.

“Alex asked me to order all the Enfield rifles and Kerr revolvers I could get from the London Armoury. What sort of plan did you two hatch to get them to the Confederacy?”

Astonished by that absurd, if calmly asked, question, Eden’s mouth fell agape, but she quickly caught herself and recovered. “I’ve no idea what you’re talking about. Are you positive Alex wanted you to buy guns?”

“Do you want to read that letter too?” Raven’s question was accented with the defiantly arched brow she had seen all too often.

“No, I believe you, but honestly I’ve no idea what Alex’s plans were.”

“Oh come now,” Raven continued in the same skeptical tone. “Alex had little interest in your country’s civil war until he met you. With my own ears, I heard you bemoaning the fact England had failed to become the South’s ally. Most of the rifles have already been loaded and we’ll take delivery on the rest and the revolvers day after tomorrow. I’ll honor Alex’s promise to you to provide arms, but you’ll have to explain how they’re to be delivered as I’ll not risk my ship nor the lives of my crew attempting to run the Union’s blockade of Southern ports.”

“Raven, I have absolutely no idea what Alex planned to do!” When the dark-eyed young man’s cold stare did not waver, she slammed her clenched fist down on the table for emphasis. “Why are you doing this to me again? You can be so wonderfully considerate at times, and then you turn around and accuse me of some preposterous act like contemplating suicide, or willfully endangering Alex’s life, or masterminding a plot to supply weapons to the Confederacy. If all I’d wanted was guns, I would have brought gold with me to buy them when I came to England and they would have been purchased and shipped last fall. I’d certainly not have waited until I married, which I never expected to do, and asked my husband to support the Confederacy with his wealth.”

Raven had pushed her as far as he dared as he did not want to ever see her hysterical again. Her face was flushed, her breathing a trifle too rapid, and he lowered his voice to a soothing whisper so as not to upset her any further. “I know that I tend to be a great deal more direct than good manners generally allow but we are husband and wife and I think we should always be honest with each other.”

“So do I, and I have always told you the truth,” Eden protested, “but unfortunately I have no control over whether or not you believe me. In this instance it should be obvious that if I’d known about the guns, and had a means to deliver them, I’d tell you. Why would I deny it? That doesn’t make any sense at all. I worked in one of the hospitals in Richmond before my parents made the decision to send me to live with Aunt Lydia. I saw too many boys die because the only weapons they had were the rusty old muskets they’d brought from home when they enlisted.” Eden choked on her tears at the sadness of that memory and held up her hand in a silent plea for a moment in which to compose herself.

“I’m sorry. Alex and I talked about this too,” she then revealed. “But I never asked, nor expected, him to take matters into his own hands.”

Unmoved, Raven’s frown did not lift. “I’ll admit your outraged denials appear very convincing, but they simply don’t match the facts, Eden. Alex managed his investments cautiously. It was precisely because he was such a prudent man that the Clairbourne fortune multiplied so rapidly during his stewardship. He would have been the last man on earth to begin dealing in munitions on his own. He had to have begun such an enterprise to please you.”

“Perhaps he did,” Eden admitted reluctantly, fearing Raven would be quick to use that admission against her. “We talked about the War frequently, but I swear I never asked him to contribute to our cause.”

“Are you suggesting he meant to surprise you? Could he have planned to say something like, ‘Oh by the way, my darling, the hold is filled with arms for your beloved Confederacy’?”

Raven had not only given a perfect imitation of Alex’s voice, but he threw in one of her late husband’s gestures as well. That he had done it so easily both frightened and appalled Eden. “How dare you make fun of what Alex and I shared? We loved each other desperately. Can’t you understand that? Alex might have done any number of things in hopes of pleasing me, but I did not ask him to purchase weapons.”

Raven already knew his attitudes toward Eden were contradictory, but that was not surprising when his feelings about her were ambivalent at best. He was enchanted with the seductive side of her nature, for the abundant affection she wantonly provided gave him the greatest pleasure he had ever known. It was her intentions that he did not trust. At best, he saw her as selfishly putting her own needs before Alex’s. At worse, she was a manipulative bitch who had maliciously hastened his uncle’s death to fill her own purse, or the Confederate treasury. Somehow that struck him as being an even worse crime.

“I was not making fun of Alex,” he denied hotly. “All I’m trying to do is get to the bottom of this. But to save us both any further frustration, let’s drop the subject of why Alex chose to become an arms dealer, and decide how we’re to get the blasted guns to your people.”

Eden sat back in her chair, for once her gaze as suspicious as Raven’s. “What is it you want, a list of sympathetic Englishmen in the Caribbean who might be inspired to deliver the guns for a cut of the profits?”

“I already know who’s running the blockades, Eden,” Raven responded with another derisive shake of his head. “I’m not trying to trick you into betraying them.”

“I’ve been away from home for nearly a year. I know only what’s been printed in the London papers, and that’s not in sufficient detail to make any such plans.”

Realizing he was getting nowhere, Raven excused himself, got up from the table to pour himself some of Briarcliff’s blackberry brandy, and brought one back to the table for Eden. “Alex could be counted upon to help anyone who needed it. Even if you did not specifically ask him to provide weapons, your enthusiasm for your cause would have prompted him to do it. What we need to do now is figure out a way to recover Alex’s investment and see the Confederate troops get their much-needed arms.”

Eden wiped her eyes on the back of her hand before responding. “You’ll not take back your allegation that I somehow influenced Alex to buy the guns?”

Raven was thoroughly exasperated with her protestations of innocence, but he remained unconvinced. “Let’s not argue the point any further. We’ve already paid for the guns, regardless of how the purchase came about, and the real problem is how to unload them at a profit.”

“Are you always so practical?” Eden asked in a stunning imitation of the sarcastic tone he resorted to so often. She was certain she would never understand him. He had insulted her deeply, but rather than apologize, he simply wanted to discuss how they would turn a profit on what he had chosen to view as a business deal rather than a noble effort to aid the Confederacy. In her opinion, leaping over issues in such a fashion was no way to settle them. It was plain in his expression that he did not believe a word she said, and she was swiftly learning that he hurt her far too often for her to trust him.

“Always,” Raven replied proudly, for he considered the practical aspects of his nature a valuable asset. “Do you feel up to going up on deck for a few minutes? Perhaps some fresh air will inspire some much-needed ideas.”

Although she had slept all afternoon, Eden still felt weary. “No, I’d rather just go to bed and continue this discussion at another time,” she suggested, although she doubted Raven would ever be in a more reasonable mood. Now in a terrible mood herself, she longed to be left alone. The taste of the blackberry brandy brought back the most erotic of her memories, and she wanted to be alone with them.

“Alex must have had his own cabin. Would you mind if I used it tonight?”

“Yes, I most certainly would. Have you forgotten what I said on our wedding night? I don’t care how bitter our arguments become, I’ll always want you.”

Eden took another sip of brandy to stall for time, but could think of no way to change Raven’s mind. “You are a very strange man, Raven.”

Both pleased and puzzled that she had spoken in such a reasonable tone, Raven took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. “Strange? I’ve been called many things, but never that. In what way do you consider me strange?”