Bedazzled

It was the only, and the logical, answer. Signore di Carlo was running off with someone's daughter. But whose? And what was Captain Tom Southwood to do about it? 'Come with me,' he said to Knox, and, leaving his cabin, made for the passenger deck. Knocking on the faux Lady Monypenny's cabin door, he entered without waiting for her permission to do so. A young girl jumped up from the bunk where she had been reading and gave a startled gasp. 'Jesus Christ!' Tom Southwood swore again. 'India Lindley!'

'I'm sorry, Captain, but you have mistaken me for someone else,' India said in her plumiest tones.

'India, you are somewhat grown since the last time I saw you,' Tom Southwood said grimly, 'but you have your mother's look about you, and that fetching little mole she sports between your nostril and your upper lip, and you are wearing the Lindley signet ring your mother gave you. Now, what is this all about, and why are you masquerading as an old lady? Although I believe I know the answer to my own question.'

'Then you need nothing from me, Tom,' India said angrily.

'Is he your Italian tutor, this Signore di Carlo?' the captain demanded of her. 'You're eloping, aren't you, and you chose my ship to do it on? I had heard you had grown into a little hellion, but I never thought you would cause a scandal like this! If anyone finds out what you have done, you will be ruined. No decent man will have you.'

'But Adrian is a decent man!' India cried out, defending her love. 'He isn't my Italian tutor, Cousin Tom. He is Viscount Twyford, the earl of Oxton's heir. We were eloping to his uncle's house in Naples to be married because Papa would not be reasonable. I love him, and he loves me! I chose your ship because I knew we would be safe, and I came aboard in disguise for obvious reasons.'

'Knox, move Lady Lindley's things to my cabin, and see that her gentleman is confined to his quarters for the duration of the trip,' Captain Southwood said.

'Tom! You cannot be so cruel,' India sobbed.

'Cousin,' he told her sternly, 'if we are fortunate, there will be one of our company's vessels in Marseilles going west to England. If there is, I intend putting you on it, and seeing that you are returned home to your parents. If there is not, you will remain aboard my ship and return home with me. As for your swain, he has paid his passage to Naples, and he shall disembark there, but without you!'

'Noooo!' she wailed. 'No!'

Grasping her lightly by the arm, Tom Southwood literally dragged his young cousin from her cabin to his. As they passed the cabin housing Adrian Leigh, they could hear him pounding on the door in furious frustration. Shoving India into the day room of the great stern quarters that were his, Tom Southwood said, 'I will speak with your viscount, and explain to him that things have changed, India. You are going home, young lady!'

'I hate you, Thomas Southwood!' India shouted, and she flung a wine carafe at him. 'I hate you!'

He ducked, and, beating a hasty retreat, exited his cabin, locking the door behind him. Now he returned to the passenger deck and let himself into Viscount Twyford's cabin. The young man leapt up from the bunk upon which he had been sitting. 'Well, my lord, you are found out,' Captain Southwood said grimly. 'The game is up, and you will be put off in Naples. My cousin, India, however, will be sent home. You will be confined to your cabin until we reach your destination.'

'You have no right…' Adrian began pompously, only to be cut off.

'Aye, my lord, I have every right. As captain of the Royal Charles, I am the master of this small seagoing domain upon which you currently reside. You do not have the duke of Glenkirk's permission to marry his daughter. You have cajoled and lured an innocent young girl away from the safety of her family. You are a cad, my lord. Now I will leave you to consider the seriousness of what you have done. I think it will be a long time before you dare to show your face in England. We are a large family, my lord, and we protect our own. I pray to God this has remained a private matter, and that India's reputation is yet intact. Do you understand me?'

'May I at least say farewell to India?' Viscount Twyford asked.

'You have said all to my cousin that you should, and probably a great deal more,' Captain Southwood replied. 'And do not bother trying to speak with India through the cabin walls. I have moved her to my quarters. She, too, will be confined even as you are, until she leaves this vessel. Now I will bid you good day, sir.'

Thomas Southwood then found his first mate, Mr. Bolton, and explained to him what had happened.

' 'Tis a right bad coil, sir,' Mr. Bolton said, shaking his head. 'There's advantages to being a bachelor, I'm thinking. Pray the lord the lass hasn't ruined herself with a scandal.'

India was so angry with her cousin that she refused to eat that evening. 'I shall starve myself to death,' she told him dramatically. 'You shall return to England with my withered body in a coffin, and then Papa shall kill you!'

Thomas Southwood swallowed back his laughter. He had a younger sister, Laura, who at India's age had also been given to similar histrionics. 'Suit yourself,' he said mildly, 'but this fish is really quite delicious. It was fresh-caught by Knox earlier today, and the artichokes came aboard at Cadiz. Would you like a fresh orange? They are very sweet.'

'Go to hell!' India spat angrily, her hand inching toward a pewter goblet, a dangerous look in her eye.

He was quickly on his feet, and before she might throw anything at him, he dragged her up from her chair and across the cabin. 'You may sleep in my bed, India, and I shall take Knox's trundle out here.' He pushed her into his smaller sleeping cabin, locking the door behind her. 'There is water for bathing and drinking, my dear,' he called to her, and then returned to the table to finish his meal while she shrieked at him from her prison.

In the morning it was Knox who opened the door to let her out. 'Captain says you may have the run of his quarters during the day, m'lady,' the steward said pleasantly. 'Can I get you anything to eat? Some fruit, perhaps?'

'No, thank you,' India said politely. 'Where is my cousin?'

'Captain don't sleep more than four, five hours, m'lady. He be up on deck, and has been since before dawn,' Knox said. 'Well, if I can't be of any service to you, I'll go tend to the young gentleman.'

'Knox! Wait! Will you take a message to Viscount Twyford for me?' India pleaded. 'I will make it worth your while.'

The steward shook his head despairingly, edging toward the door, for he knew of India's penchant for throwing things. 'I'm sorry, m'lady, but you know I cannot.' Then he was out the door before she could argue with him, or pitch a missile at him.

India heard the sound of the key turning in the lock once again, and almost snarled in angry despair. She had not come this far to be denied. Setting herself in the window seat of the cabin's great window, she looked out. No escape here. The window looked onto the sea itself, and, peering down through the glass, she could see there was no ledge. The little sleeping cabin had no access to the deck. Only the door in this cabin itself had entree to the main deck. But she would find a way. She would! And she was certain that her beloved Adrian was also seeking a means of escape. Perhaps when they got to Marseilles, and her interfering cousin attempted to transfer her to another ship, she could escape them. And while they were looking for her she would sneak back on board and help Adrian. Then they would travel on overland to Naples. She wasn't going to be stopped now.

'Sail ho!'

She heard the call out on the deck. Looking out the great window, India could see another vessel in the distance.