'Then how am I going to win their confidence again?'
'I don't understand this obsession with winning the men over,' he returned. 'It makes absolutely no sense.'
'I'm their mistress. I must have their respect if I'm going to direct them.'
He let out a loud sigh, then shook his head. 'Direct yourself to bed, wife, and stay there until I come back.'
'Why?'
'Don't question me. Just stay inside this cabin.'
She nodded agreement. 'I won't leave this cabin save for going to visit with Nora, all right?'
'I didn't say-'
'Please? It's going to be a long afternoon, Nathan. You might be too busy to come home for hours yet. You didn't come to bed at all last night. I tried to wait up for you, but I was very weary.'
He smiled because she'd called their cabin home. Then he nodded. 'You'll wait up for me tonight,' he ordered. 'No matter what the time.'
'Are you going to want to shout at me again?'
'No.'
'All right, then,' she promised. 'I'll wait up for you.'
'Damn it, Sara,' he countered. 'I wasn't asking. I was telling.'
He grabbed her and squeezed her shoulders. It was actually more of a caress. She pushed his hands away and wrapped her arms around his waist again.
'Nathan?' she whispered.
Her voice sounded shaky to him. His hands dropped to his sides. He thought she might be afraid he'd hurt her. He was about to explain that no matter how much she provoked him he would never, ever raise a hand against her. But Sara suddenly leaned up on tiptoes and kissed him. He was so surprised by the show of affection he didn't know how to respond.
'I was very upset with you when you left the cabin so quickly after we had… been so intimate.'
'Do you mean after we made love?' he asked, smiling over the shyness in her voice.
'Yes,' she replied. 'I was very upset.'
'Why?'
'Because a wife likes to hear that she…'
'Satisfied her husband?'
'No,' she returned. 'Don't mock me, Nathan. Don't make what happened between us so cold and calculated either. It was too beautiful.'
He was shaken by her fervent speech, knew she believed what she'd said with all her heart. He found himself inordinately pleased with her. 'Yes, it was beautiful,' he said. 'I wasn't mocking you,' he added in a rougher tone. 'I was just trying to understand what it is you want from me.'
'I want to hear that you…'
She couldn't go on.
'That you're a fine woman?'
She nodded. 'I'm at fault, too,' she admitted. 'I should have given you a few words of praise, too.'
'Why?'
He really looked bewildered to her. That did irritate her. 'Because a husband needs to hear such words, too.'
'I don't.'
'Yes, you do.'
He decided he'd wasted enough conversation on his confusing wife and bent on one knee to collect the parasols.
'May I please have those back?' she asked. 'I'll destroy them myself right away. I don't want my staff to see you throw them overboard. It would be most humiliating.'
He reluctantly agreed, though only because he was certain she couldn't do any real damage with the useless things as long as they stayed inside the cabin. Still, just to be on the safe side, he made her give him her promise.
'The parasols won't leave this chamber?'
'They won't.'
'You will destroy them?'
'I will.'
He was finally satisfied. He actually began to feel a little more peaceful. By the time he left the cabin he was convinced his wife couldn't possibly wreck anything else.
Besides, he reasoned, what more could she do?
Chapter Eight
She set his ship on fire.
She'd lulled them into a state of feeling safe again. A full eight days and nights passed without a single mishap taking place. The men were still wary of Sara, but they weren't scowling nearly as often. Some were even whistling every now and again as they saw to their daily tasks. Chester, the doubting Thomas of the crew, was the only one who continued to make the sign of the cross whenever Sara strolled past.
Lady Sara pretended she didn't notice.
Once the sails had been repaired they made good catch-up time. They were just a week or so away from Nora's island home. The weather had been accommodating, though the heat was nearly unbearable in the early afternoons. The nights continued to be just as chilly, however, and thick quilts were still needed to take the shivers away.
All and all, things were looking calm.
Nathan should have realized it wouldn't last. It was late Friday night when he finished giving directions for the watch. He interrupted Jimbo's conversation with Matthew to give them fresh orders for the drill and the firing of the cannons they would practice tomorrow.
The three of them were standing directly in front of the trapdoor that led down to Nathan's cabin. For that reason Jimbo kept his voice low when he said, 'The men are beginning to forget this talk about your wife being cursed, boy.' He paused to glance behind him, as if that action would assure him that Sara couldn't overhear, then added, 'Chester is still telling everyone mischief trails in three. We'd best continue to keep a close watch on Sara until-'
'Jimbo, no one would dare touch the captain's wife,' Matthew muttered.
'I wasn't suggesting anyone would,' Jimbo countered. 'I'm just saying that they could still hurt her feelings. She's a bit tenderhearted.'
'Did you know she considers us all part of her staff?' Matthew remarked. He grinned, then stopped himself. 'Lady Sara obviously has you in the palm of her hand, if you're so concerned about her feelings.' He started to continue on that same topic when the scent of smoke caught his attention. 'Am I smelling smoke?' he asked.
Nathan saw the stream of gray smoke seeping up around the edges of the trapdoor before the other two men did. He should have shouted fire to alert the others of the danger. He didn't. He bellowed Sara's name instead. The anguish in his voice was gut-wrenching.
He threw open the hatch. A thick black sheet of smoke billowed up through the opening, blinding the three men. Nathan shouted Sara's name again.
Matthew shouted, 'Fire!'
Jimbo went running for the buckets, yelling his own order for seawater on the double, while Matthew tried to keep Nathan from going below by way of the trap.
