SOMEONE TO WED
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Praise
Books By Cheryl Holt
Copyright
About the Author
“You little moppet,” Captain Ralston said. “What will become of you? I can’t imagine.”
As he asked the question, Joanna stared at him, her eyes wide. She’d like to tell him not to fret, that good things would happen on her life’s road. Her mother had promised her before she’d died.
Her mother had had a special gift. All of the women in Joanna’s family did, and as her mother’s infection had spread, she’d shared many stories with Joanna so she wouldn’t be scared once she was left alone. The end result was that she was worried about her present circumstance, but she wasn’t frightened.
Since her mother had perished, she’d frequently appeared in Joanna’s dreams, and Joanna viewed each one of them as a gift to guide her on her way.
She wasn’t yet possessed of her mother’s secret talents. They would slowly develop when she was bigger, and when they blossomed, she would have to be very cautious.
There would always be people who wouldn’t understand her peculiar skills, and they’d be afraid of her. It was why her mother and Joanna had had to flee England. Her mother hadn’t been safe there.
Captain Ralston was a kind man, and he was concerned about her, but she thought he should be more concerned about Libby and Caro. They would endure plenty of sorrow in the future, but Joanna would be fine.
She didn’t tell him that either. He wouldn’t have believed her, and she was only four. She’d learned to be very quiet, to observe and to speak just when it was necessary.
“Do you suppose you’ll ever talk again?” Captain Ralston asked. “Or has this ordeal rendered you mute?”
Joanna frowned. Of course she’d talk someday. Recently, she’d been silent simply because she was wary and vigilant, and she liked to keep track of details.
It was better now. He had made it better by rescuing them. When he’d arrived, they’d been marooned for so long that none of them could clarify the length with any accuracy. He’d fixed what was wrong.
She was cradled in his arms, propped on his hip, and loafing at the bow of his ship as it cut through the water. He’d been explaining the roll of the waves and the flight of the birds, about the current and the wind conveying them forward.
She felt cherished and happy, as if she was his daughter, and she liked to rest her ear on his chest, to hear his heart beating under his ribs.
They’d be in Jamaica in a few hours. It was the spot where she’d been headed with her mother when the storm had struck in the night, and their own ship had sunk in the tempest.
Afterward, they’d washed up on a deserted island. Originally, there had been six adults with them—six out of an entire vessel of passengers and sailors. The adults had gradually passed away until the only ones remaining were her, Caro, and Libby.
They weren’t her sisters. She didn’t have any siblings, but they’d grown to be her sisters. She was younger and smaller than they were, and they took care of her. She would miss them after they were parted, but her mother had warned her to be prepared for it to occur.
It didn’t seem possible that she wouldn’t see them again, and it was why she was being so quiet. She was marking their every act and comment, committing them to memory. She’d lost her mother, but how would she survive without them too? She’d suffered too many losses, and she was ready for them to stop.
“Gad, but you’re precious, aren’t you?” Captain Ralston said. “I predict those green eyes of yours will land you in trouble with the fellows when you’re older.”
Joanna knew that wasn’t true. She was descended from an ancient line of women who didn’t attach themselves to men. They didn’t marry. They didn’t carry on normally in society. They stayed separate in a manner that others deemed threatening. Men weren’t important in their world.
She nestled closer and whispered a request to him, but it had been ages since she’d spoken aloud, and he blanched with surprise.
“So you can talk after all. I’m delighted to discover it, but what was that, peanut? Your pretty voice was so soft that I couldn’t make it out.”
“Will you watch over us?” she asked.
“Haven’t I from the very first minute?”
His reply indicated she hadn’t been clear in what she meant. She hadn’t been referring to that very moment. She wanted him to always watch over them. She wanted him to always protect them.
“I want you to watch over us forever,” she said. She laid her tiny palms on his cheeks and added “Forever!” as if it was a new word he didn’t comprehend.
“Forever, hm?” He chuckled. “Well, yes, Miss Joanna, I can promise you that. I will watch over the three of you forever. Don’t you fret about it. I will be your guardian angel. How does that sound?”
He put her on her feet, which left her very sad. He was tall and strong, and she liked to snuggle in his arms, to pretend he was her father. She’d never met her own father, so Captain Ralston was the perfect substitute.
“You run along and find Libby and Caroline,” he said. “The cook is baking a cake—to celebrate our arrival in port. Tell him my orders are that the three of you can have a slice before anyone else.”
She smiled up at him, and he smiled back, and she dawdled, cataloguing his features, aware that she wouldn’t be with him many more times in her life and being desperate to never forget a single detail.
Twenty years later . . .
Joanna James walked over to the window and peered out. The sun had set, and the sky was a
