'You don't know how bad it is,' he shouted. 'Use the steps, boy, use the-'
Matthew quit his demand when Nathan slipped down through the opening, then turned to run down the steps.
Nathan could barely see inside the cabin, tor the smoke was so thick it blackened his vision. He groped his way over to the bed to find Sara.
She wasn't there. By the time he'd searched the cabin his lungs were burning. He staggered back to the trap again and used the buckets of seawater Jimbo handed down to him to flood the flames out.
The threat was over. The near miss they'd all had made the men shake. Nathan couldn't seem to control his heartbeat. His fear for his wife's safety had all but overwhelmed him. Yet she wasn't even inside the cabin. She hadn't been overcome by smoke. She wasn't dead.
Yet.
Matthew and Jimbo flanked Nathan. All three men stared at the corner of the room to gauge the damage done.
Several of the planks under the potbellied stove had fallen through the floor to the next level. There was now a gaping, glowing hole in the floorboards. Two of the four walls had been licked black all the way to the ceiling by the scorch of the fire.
The damage to the cabin wasn't what held Nathan mesmerized, though. No, his full attention was riveted on the remains of Sara's parasols. The spokes still glowed inside the two remaining metal fittings of the stove.
'Did she think this was a hearth?' Matthew whispered to Jimbo. He rubbed his jaw while he considered that possibility.
'I'm thinking she did,' Jimbo answered.
'If she'd been asleep, the smoke would have killed her,' Nathan said, his voice raw.
'Now, boy,' Jimbo began, certain that the boy was getting himself all worked up, 'Sara's all right, and that's what counts. You're sounding as black as the soot on these walls. You've only yourself to blame,' he added with a crisp nod.
Nathan gave him a murderous stare. Jimbo wasn't the least intimidated. 'I heard Sara call the trap a chimney. Had myself a good laugh over that comment, too. I thought you set her straight.'
'I don't suppose he did,' Matthew interjected. Nathan wasn't at all calmed by Jimbo's argument. He sounded as if he was close to weeping when he bellowed, 'She set my ship on fire.'
'She didn't do it on purpose,' Matthew defended.
Nathan wasn't listening. 'She set my ship on fire,' he repeated in a roar.
'We heard you plain the first time, boy,' Jimbo interjected. 'Now calm yourself and try to reason this little accident through.'
'I'm thinking it's going to take him a few more minutes before he can think at all,' Matthew said. 'The boy always was a hothead, Jimbo. And Sara did set the fire. That's a fact, all right.'
The two men turned to leave the cabin. They both thought Nathan needed to be alone for a spell. Nathan's shout stopped them in their tracks. 'Bring her to me. Now.'
Jimbo motioned for Matthew to stay where he was and then rushed out the doorway. He didn't give Sara any warning of the problem at hand when he found her in Nora's cabin but simply informed her that her husband would like to have a word with her.
Sara hurried back to her cabin. Her eyes widened when she saw all the water on the floor. A loud gasp followed after she noticed the gaping hole in the corner.
'My God, what has happened here?'
Nathan turned to look at her before answering. 'Fire.'
Understanding came in a flash. 'Fire?' she repeated in a hoarse whisper. 'Do you mean the fire in the hearth, Nathan?'
He didn't answer her for a long, long minute. Then he slowly walked over to stand directly in front of her. His hands were close enough to grab her by the neck.
He resisted that shameful temptation by clasping his hands behind his back.
She wasn't looking at him. That helped. Her gaze was still fully directed on the damage to the cabin. She worried her lower lip with her teeth, and when she began to tremble Nathan guessed she'd realized exactly what she'd done.
He was wrong. 'I never should have left the hearth unattended,' she whispered. 'Did a spark…'
He shook his head.
She looked into his eyes then. Her fear was obvious.
He immediately lost some of his rage. Damn if he'd have her afraid of him. It was an illogical thought, given the circumstances, yet there it was, nagging him to ease his scowl.
'Sara?' His voice sounded quite mild.
He sounded furious to her. She forced herself to stay where she was, though the urge to back away from him was nearly overpowering. 'Yes, Nathan?' she replied, her gaze directed on the floor.
'Look at me.'
She looked. He saw the tears in her eyes. The sight tore the rest of his fury right out of him.
His sigh was long, ragged.
'Was there something you wanted to say to me?' she asked when he continued to stare intently at her.
'It isn't a hearth.'
Nathan walked out of the cabin. Sara stared after him a long minute before turning around to look at Matthew and Jimbo.
'Did he just say that the hearth isn't a hearth?'
The two men nodded in unison.
Her shoulders slumped. 'It looks like a hearth.'
'Well, it isn't,' Matthew announced. He nudged Jimbo in his side. 'You explain it.'
Jimbo nodded, then told Sara that the metal parts stacked in the corner of the cabin had been carted back from Nathan's last trip. They were to be used to repair the old stove in the Emerald Shipping Company offices. Nathan had just forgotten to take the parts off the ship when they'd docked, Jimbo continued, though he was certain the captain wouldn't be forgetting next time.
Matthew finished up the explanation by telling Sara that the trap was simply an air duct and nothing more. It wasn't a chimney.
Lady Sara's face looked as red as fire by the time the two men had given her their explanations. She then thanked them for their patience. She felt like an ignorant fool. 'I could have killed everyone,' she whispered.
'Aye, you could have,' Matthew agreed.
She burst into tears. The two men were nearly undone by the emotional show. Jimbo glared at Matthew.
Matthew suddenly felt like a father trying to comfort his daughter. He took Sara into his arms and awkwardly patted her on her back.
'There now, Sara, it's not so bad,' Jimbo said, trying to soothe her. 'You couldn't have known it wasn't a hearth.'
'An idiot would have known,' she cried out.
The two men nodded to each other over the top of Sara's head. Then Matthew said, 'I might have thought it was a hearth if I…' He couldn't go on because he couldn't think of a plausible lie.
Jimbo came to his aid. 'Anyone would have thought it was a hearth if he wasn't used to sailing much.'
Nathan stood in the doorway. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Jimbo and Matthew, two of the most bloodless pirates he'd ever had the honor to work with, were now acting like nursemaids. He would have laughed if his attention hadn't wandered over to the fire damage just then. He frowned instead.
'When you're through beating bruises in my wife's back, Matthew, you might want to have some of the men clean up this mess.'
Nathan turned to Jimbo next. 'The planks went through the lower level, too. See to righting the damage, Jimbo. Matthew, if you don't get your hands off my wife, I'll…'
He didn't have to finish that threat. Matthew was halfway out the door by the time Nathan reached Sara. 'If anyone is to comfort my wife, it's going to be me.'
