The Beauty of the Mist (18 page)

Exhausted, she had only started to drift off when the first gray hints of dawn had crept into the eastern sky. She knew she had good reason–even after being awakened by the soft, captivating burr of his voice in the next cabin–to stay away. But now, seeing the affair being readied in Isabel’s cabin, she wondered if she had done the right thing.

Maria pulled apart the laces that held the front of her dress together and stepped out of the dress. Who could possibly be joining them for dinner, she wondered. The Scottish noblemen and women who were aboard seemed to spend most of their time at cards in the galley, or chatting with one another in the narrow corridors. From what she had observed, few of the Scots had displayed much interest in them, though Janet Maule had from the very beginning been warm and solicitous of their needs. Certainly, none of the others had sought them out. Looking at the soft, cream colored dress lying on the bunk, Maria wagered inwardly that it had been Janet who’d supplied it. And as far as the dinner company went, Maria knew that–other than Maule family–neither she nor Isabel had met anyone in the Scottish delegation.

Standing only in her shift, Maria suddenly felt a chill race through her, though the cabin was snug enough against the chilling damp outside. She quickly stepped into the soft wool dress.

As she absently tightened the laces in the front of the low neckline, Maria considered the possibilities. They were few. Aside from the physician, whom Isabel did not seem to care for particularly, there were, perhaps, only the Maules.

Her blood ran cold to think of sitting and dining with Sir Thomas. The Scottish knight had seen her in Sir John’s arms. He assuredly thought her a loose woman. And then there was Lady Caroline Maule. Last night, she had been naked and quite willing in the Highlander’s bed. Caroline Maule
was
a loose woman. Maria wondered vaguely what penalty adultery carried in Scotland. And then there was Janet. Dear, thoughtful Janet. Maria finished tying the laces of her dress. She would like to know Janet better.

Perhaps David Maxwell would come along. The handsome Scot would make a witty addition to any company. Maria knew Janet Maule would have no objection to the navigator’s company.

Beyond that, there was only John Macpherson.

Maria leaned her head to the side and started to tame her long, tangled mane with brisk strokes of her brush. She could feel the heat in her face, the tingles moving down her spine. As much as she’d like to deny it, she could feel what the mere thought of the man did to her.

Sweeping her black hair behind her, she straightened up and paused. Yes, he would be there. She would see him again...tonight. Suddenly, she was conscious of the pounding of her heart in her breast, and she looked down, wondering with a mild sense of panic how she would look. Then, slowly, the absurdity of her responses sank in, making her smile. One moment she was complaining about what Isabel had done, and the next she was shivering with excitement at the prospect.

Walking toward the looking glass the serving girl had placed by the window, Maria scrutinized her image. Her unbound, black hair swept down over her shoulders, unbraided and unadorned. The cream colored dress had simple geometric forms worked in gold thread into the material, but the overall effect of it was one of simplicity. There were no buttons of pearl or gold arraying her gown, there were no jewels adorning her skin. There was no façade of grandeur or majestic splendor hiding her from the world. In a moment of unshackled joy, Maria gazed at herself and, for perhaps the first time in her life, relished the sight that met her eyes. Looking into the mirror, she saw a woman. Simple, plain, unadorned...and real.

The young navigator’s fist banged forcefully on the door. He knew Janet was in there. She hadn’t been in the galley with her father, and she wasn’t above decks.

“Mistress Janet!” He raised his hand again, but before he could knock once more, the door swung open on its hinges.

With a single glance at the tear stained face of the young woman, David’s anger disappeared, and he stepped into the room, pulling her into his arms.

Janet Maule went gladly into his strong embrace, a vague feeling of comfort and security washing over her as he wrapped his arms about her. For the entire day she had locked herself away, praying desperately for some inspiration, some insight that might guide her through the nightmare she was sure was about to unfold.

“Please close it,” she whispered, her tone muffled. “I won’t let him stab you in the back in my own doorway.”

“Stab me?” David responded, his eyebrows arching in surprise. “Who’s to stab me, lass?”

“My father,” Janet whispered forcefully before pulling suddenly away. Pushing past him, she peered nervously down the hallway and then closed the door.

David watched her long, white fingers tremble as they latched the door.

“What has happened, Janet?”

She turned and faced him, leaning her back heavily against the cabin door. “By now, Caroline has most assuredly told him that you were here last night.”

“Last night?” David repeated. There was no one in the corridor when he’d kissed Janet good night. “What of it, lass?”

The young woman reached up and wiped away the tears running down her cheeks. “David, why couldn’t you have stayed away.” Her voice was ragged with anguish. “What made you think to come back here while I was sleeping.”

“While you were asleep?” David was beginning to feel like the village idiot, repeating everything she was saying, but he hadn’t any idea what she was talking about.

“It was so humiliating to be discovered like that,” she continued through her tears. “Caroline treated me as though I were some tramp...”

“Just a moment, lass.” David shook his head. “This isn’t making a bit of sense. If we’re sailing into heavy weather...”

Janet moved away from the door and edged her way around him. Her face had taken on a wild, frantic look.

“She saw you, David. She
saw
you!” She was nearly choking on her tears. “And I am certain she will tell my father, if she hasn’t already.” The young woman lunged toward him, grasping both of his hands. “David, you must hide! Is there anywhere you can go? One of the other ships. You must get away. My father’s temper...you mustn’t let him find you!”

“Hold on, Janet!” David nearly shouted. “I don’t run from anything. And why should I, lass?”

“My father! Sir Thomas will...”

“I’ll take care to straighten things out with your father, Janet. But first, I need to know what it is that needs straightening out!”

“You have to be gone, David. We can’t let him find you here!”

“I’ll only be staying a moment, my sweet. Your father’s just sitting down to his supper, so we’ve plenty of time for you to tell me what this is all about. Now, sit yourself here.” David led the distraught woman to the bunk, and they sat hand in hand while Janet composed herself. “I’ll stay just long enough for you to tell me what’s happened.”

Janet nodded gratefully, and he smiled back at her.

“Now, what is this about Lady Caroline treating you poorly? Nay, we’d best start from the beginning. Who saw me? And where? We’ve done naught we need to be ashamed of, Janet.”

She stared at him in confusion. “But you were here last night.”

“Aye, lass. In the hall. There’s naught in that.”

“Nay! You were in here.”

“I wasn’t, Janet. And you know that as well as I do. I left you in the hall.” David looked at her steadily. “Have you forgotten that already?”

“Nay! I haven’t forgotten,” she exclaimed, flushing scarlet at the memory.

David smiled. “I didn’t think you would.”

“But when you came back, Caroline saw you, and...”
“Came back? I didn’t come back, Janet.”

“That’s not what Caroline claims,” she responded, wringing her hands. “And then, there was your hat!”

“My hat?” he exploded. “What about my hat?”

“It was here on my bunk when I awoke this morning. On the pillow beside me.”

“Janet, I didn’t come in here last night.” David forced himself to consider what Janet was telling him. His hat. Why, he’d thought he had left his hat in Sir John’s cabin, though it hadn’t been there this morning. “And the last time I saw my hat, I was in the commander’s workroom. That was yesterday, lass. Now, I don’t imagine he’s been paying midnight visits to you, so I suppose we need to figure out just how that bonnet found its way in here.”

Wide eyed, Janet stared into the young navigator’s face. “Then you didn’t come to me last night?”

“Of course not, Janet. What do you think I’ve been telling you?” David’s eyes roamed her pretty face. “Though, to be honest, I’m certainly guilty of wanting to. But nay, lass, I never stepped foot inside this cabin until now.”

Janet threw her arms around him and sank her head into the crook of his neck. David held her tightly for a moment, and then, untangling himself, coaxed her to tell him all that had taken place from the time she’d awakened this morning–from the time she’d discovered his hat on her bed. Once she got started, the knot began to unravel for him...and for Janet.

“Caroline! But why?” Janet wondered. “From the first moment my father brought her home, I have treated her with the utmost respect. I have never given her a reason to dislike me. Certainly, never a reason to want to hurt me.”

“I don’t know, lass.” David caressed the soft skin of her hand as it rested in his. “But I think I may be the one she is after.”

Seeing the bewildered expression on her face, the young navigator continued. “Aye, Janet, it’s true. I have done naught to wrong her, either–so far as I know. But I serve the man whose attention she appears determined to get.”

“What do you mean?”

“Though I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, Janet, it’s no secret that your new stepmother has set her compass on the master of this ship.”

“Sir John?” she asked, aghast.

“Aye.” David nodded. “And I think, yesterday morning in his cabin, the lines were drawn. The commander made it clear in front of witnesses that he had no interest, and no intention, to see her again.”

“Witnesses?”

“Aye, Lady Maria and your humble servant. We were both there. And Caroline limped away licking her wounds.”

“But that would be adultery!”

“Aye, Janet. Though some hold that a sin, others are less inclined to think on it so harshly.”

Maria stared at her hands in disbelief. “And you think she would try to make us pay the price for her humiliation? You and me?”

David saw the tear well up, quiver, and trickle down her soft cheek. Reaching up, he wiped away the glistening track with his thumb, only to see a second droplet follow the path of the first.

His voice hardened. “What did Lady Caroline ask you to do? After your father left?”

“Nothing,” Janet answered, surprised at his question. “She just told me to be prepared to pay, but she was very vague about it. And then she left, making a point of taking your hat with her. I was certain she would go straight to Sir Thomas.”

David stood up and began pacing the length of the room. His mind raced, he had to think of a way to head off Caroline’s plan. If he only knew what her plan was. He paused and gazed at Janet, sitting on the bunk and gazing steadily at him. “I spoke briefly with your father around midday, and he was actually quite civil.”

“Then she could not have told him, yet,” Janet put in with certainty as the young man began to pace again. “But what could she be waiting for, then?”

“Your father.” David came to a stop. “Does he suspect anything...between us, I mean?”

Janet stared at the handsome young sailor, and suddenly she realized what was at the heart of their trouble. She hadn’t discussed David with her father. She couldn’t. She knew how Sir Thomas would view her relationship with a commoner, and his wrath could be terrible. All of David’s qualities would amount to nothing on account of his lack of rank. In her father’s view, David Maxwell was a commoner and would never be anything more.

“My father is a good man, David, and he loves me. But since his marriage to Caroline...and especially since we boarded this ship...he’s been cross and distracted. From what you just told me about her, now, at least, I know why. In any case, he hasn’t given me a second glance since we left Scotland.”

“I can’t say I’m unhappy about that, lass.”

“Nor am I, David. But to answer your question, the last person he’d expect me to...to be with...would be...well...”

“A sailor,” he said curtly, finishing her sentence for her. “A common sailor.”

“Aye, David,” she responded quickly. “My father’s a proud man.”

“Aye,” the young man replied, turning away.

As far as David could see, the world was full of proud men, but few of them had daughters the likes of Janet Maule. His lips were a thin line as he stood with his back to her, his arms folded across his chest. What was he expecting? He
was
a commoner, and the reality of it struck him hard–harder than he’d ever felt it before. He wanted this woman, more than anything he’d ever wanted anything. But in the eyes of the world–in the eyes of her father–David Maxwell was dirt for them to trod upon.

David’s mind raced as he thought about Janet. He knew she harbored no feelings of superiority over him. She cared for him as he cared for her. But Lady Caroline clearly intended to use their feelings, their secret, to blackmail her stepdaughter. Why, he didn’t know. But he would give her no opportunity.

Janet rose from the bunk and moved to his side. Tentatively, she laid her hand on his arm. “I am sorry, David. I don’t care about those things...”

“There is no need to apologize,” he answered. His voice sounded harsh even to himself, and he tried hard to soften it. “Janet, we have done naught improper. If I were to simply walk out of your cabin and never look back, then there would be naught she could accuse us of–naught your father could hold against you.”

Janet felt the cold steel drive deep into her heart. He was going to walk away, leave her. This was to be the end of her short-lived happiness. She turned away from him, unable to hold back the grief that was welling up inside. Her breath was so thick in her chest that she thought for a moment she might suffocate, and, putting her hand out, Janet leaned heavily against the cabin wall. Though she wanted to cry, her tears would not come.