Windswept (9 page)

Strangely, his voice held no emotion at all. It was almost frightening in its blandness. If anything, the void hinted of resignation, defeat. He had obviously paid no mind to her apology when Nora had expected either accusation or exoneration.

“You…you watched me?” she said.

“You were doing an admirable job with the passengers. You have a kind heart, Nora.”

Her breath expelled in one long rush of relief. He wasn’t blaming her. “Thank you. I wanted to help.”

He came to within a few inches of her, close enough for a sliver of moon to capture his eyes. They were like molten silver, soft and somehow troubled. In their gray depths she read sadness.

“When I left earlier, I told you to go,” he said. “Do you remember that?”

She swallowed. “I stayed to help the passengers. And I waited to tell you how sorry I was.”

“And you have.”

“And now you want me to go?”

His fingers clenched at his sides while a vein worked at his temple. “Now it may be too late. Now I want you to stay.”

She didn’t answer…couldn’t find the words to express the emotions welling inside her. Partly fear, mostly anticipation, for what, she wasn’t certain. But she suspected, and a strange, mysterious need to know burned inside her.

He raised his arm and settled his hand around her nape. The tingling from his fingers spread down her back and fluttered in her abdomen like a frightened moth.

“You are beautiful, Nora.”

She looked away from him, down at her skirt, anywhere but his eyes. “No, I’m not. I’m…”

“Astoundingly lovely.”

With his free hand he cupped her chin and raised her face. He was going to kiss her. She felt it everywhere she had nerve endings. It scared and excited her at the same time, the thought of Jacob’s sensuous lips on hers. Even as his mouth descended, but before he touched hers, the image of their lips coming together etched itself on her closed eyelids. But the image was nothing like the real thing.

His mouth was soft and damp, warm and pliant. And she let him mold her lips to his. It was wonderful, the stuff of dreams. And then it changed. His hand slipped to her back and he pulled her roughly to his chest. Her breasts flattened against him. His lips, tasting of salt water, crushed over hers, demanding, insistent. The embrace became hard and hungry. And yet it thrilled her as nothing else ever had.

As suddenly as the kiss had changed, it ended. He jerked his head up and thrust her away. His gaze, fastened on her lips, was glittering mercury. “I told you to go home, Nora. You should have.”

“But, I told you.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. Nothing. Now go!”

He turned away from her, presenting her with squared shoulders that shut her away from his thoughts. Why did he kiss her if he wanted her to go? He gripped the railing and stared straight ahead, resolute in his demand for her to leave. But that kiss…

After several seconds, he growled into the empty darkness, “Woman, can’t you hear?”

A strangled cry came from deep in her throat and she whirled away from him. She ran down the stairs, holding the hand rail to keep from stumbling. She barely noticed Willy when she passed him on the first floor. She entered the night and ran toward Southard Street and home without looking back, or up, at the man in the cupola.

Willy climbed to the tower and offered a mug of chowder to Jacob. He waved it away with a flick of his hand. “Not now.”

“You’ve upset that poor girl, Jacob,” Willy said. “She was crying when she ran out of here.”

Jacob cleared his throat, then bit back the bile which rose to his mouth. “I can’t be blamed for every foolish feminine emotion. She shouldn’t have come up here. I told her not to.”

“She’s a fine little gal,” Willy said. “A good woman. I know you noticed that yourself. You shouldn’t have treated her badly, Jacob. Maybe she would understand.”

“Bah!” The absurdity of Willy’s statement only inflamed him more. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. A woman like that only knows one thing and that’s marriage. You know I can never marry.”

“But this one seems different. You fancied her from the moment you pulled her from the drink. To deny it is to fool yourself. This Miss Seabrook seems like she might be willing…”

Jacob stormed past him and headed for the stairs. “I’m going to Teague’s,” he barked. “Lottie’s the only one who can feed this hunger now. Not your soup or your advice. Don’t talk to me any more of that good woman, Nora Seabrook.”

Chapter Six

Theodore Hadley took a swallow of wine and wiped his mouth with one of Sidonia’s linen napkins. Looking at his hostess, he said, “This is wonderful snapper, Mrs. Seabrook.”

“You’re too kind, Mr. Hadley,” she responded. “It’s passably tasty I guess, though the idea of anything but a roast or duckling for Sunday dinner takes some getting used to. I’m told we’ll be lucky to procure a decent piece of beef once or twice a month on this island.” Sidonia sighed. “Oh, the sacrifices we make.”

Nora couldn’t resist an appraisal of the dining room’s plush appointments. The gleaming mahogany table with its eight Chippendale chairs. Twin china cupboards filled with her mother’s finest French china. A sparkling crystal chandelier raining soft candlelight over the entire scene from two dozen tapers. It was difficult not to voice her opinion on her mother’s definition of sacrifice, but she remained silent.

Hadley turned his attention to the head of the table where Thurston Seabrook had been toying with his fish for several minutes. Clearing his throat, Theodore said, “Your Honor, if I may be so bold as to ask, how goes your investigation of the wreck of the
Morning Dove
?”

Thurston seemed grateful for the opportunity to take his mind off his meal. Something was definitely troubling him. He steepled his hands and looked at the young attorney. “I’ve learned a good bit in two days, Hadley,” he said. “The saddest fact of all is that two people died as a result of that wreck.”

Nora’s fork hit the side of her plate with a clatter. “Two people died, Father? How did it happen?”

“Really, Eleanor,” Sidonia interrupted, “this is hardly appropriate dinner conversation.”

Thurston cut short his wife’s opposition. “She has a right to know, Sidonia. We are all part of this island now, and what affects one of us affects us all. Truly I’ve wanted to bring this to my family’s attention since I learned of it yesterday. The knowledge has been a lonely burden to bear.”

So this is what has been bothering Father, Nora thought. And it was not surprising. He had come to Key West to enforce the laws and prevent such unfortunate accidents from happening. And yet, with the very first wreck since his arrival, two people died. “Tell us, Father, what happened?”

“One poor fellow died in his cabin when the ship struck the reef,” he began. “Doctor Winslow surmises that he hit his head and died immediately. The other casualty, a woman in her fifties, is less easy to explain. For some reason she was not able to board a rescue boat. During her attempt to get safely on deck, she slipped from a sailor’s grasp and into the sea. The waves pulled her under right away. Her body washed up on shore late yesterday.”

“How horrible,” Nora said. She recalled the sadness she’d seen in Jacob’s eyes two days before. Perhaps he was aware of the deaths at that time. Perhaps he had even seen the woman plunge into the ocean. Maybe that explained why he acted as he did when he told her to leave the cupola. It was as good an excuse as the dozen others she’d conjured up the last two days. She’d been searching for any reason that would explain Jacob’s behavior, anything that would help lessen the hurt she still felt.

“Horrible indeed,” her father agreed. “Especially since both deaths could and
should
have been prevented.”

“What do you mean? Both cases sound like accidents.”

“On the surface, yes, but the captain of the
Morning Dove
, Lars Deiter, told me that he saw a light on shore during the darkest moment of the storm. Being unable to see more than a few yards ahead of him, naturally he directed his vessel to the safety of the light. Only it didn’t steer him around the southern tip of the island and thus to the harbor. Instead, it led him straight into the reef.”

Nora felt a shiver of dread creep down her spine. “Someone deliberately led the
Morning Dove
to the reef? That’s despicable, Father. Do you know who would do such a thing?”

“I have a strong suspicion,” he declared. “Though he didn’t reach the wreck first, and did not earn wrecker’s rights, I still think it was Jacob Proctor who set the false light.”

Nora jolted upright in her chair. What her father said was impossible. “No, Father, it wasn’t him. I know it!”

Thurston’s bushy eyebrows raised in surprise. “What could you possibly know of this, Nora?”

Should she admit the truth and risk her parents’ wrath? To save a man’s reputation, she had to. “Because… because I was with him when the storm broke.”

Silence, heavy with implication, filled the room for a few dreadful seconds. It was Fanny who broke the awful quiet. “
Vraiment, cherie
? You must tell us more.”

Sidonia found her voice at last. “Eleanor, what are you saying? Were you unchaperoned?”

Thurston brought his fist down on the table. “I told you to stay away from that man.”

“Please, all of you. It’s not what you think…if you’re thinking what I suspect you are.”

“Well, I certainly am,” Fanny said.

“We were discussing a business arrangement, that’s all.”

All eyes were on Nora, making her wish she could crawl under the table.

Sidonia wiped her napkin across her brow, removing a slight sheen of perspiration. “What possible
business
could you have with that man?”

Then as if remembering their guest for the first time in many moments, everyone shifted their gazes to Theodore Hadley. It was not the Seabrook way to air family problems in front of a guest. Sidonia dabbed at her mouth. “Thurston, if you please…”

“Right, madam.” He turned to Theodore. “Mr. Hadley, if you would be so kind. I must ask your leave for a few moments while we discuss a matter in private.”

Leaving looked like the last thing Theodore wanted, but he was, of course, a gentleman. Pushing his chair back, he stood and, with his good hand, straightened the vest over his new tan worsted trousers. “Certainly, Judge Seabrook. I’ll be on the veranda.”

“Fanny…if you don’t mind as well,” Thurston said.

“I do mind, Thurston, but I’ll go anyway.” She flashed a playful wink at Nora as she stood and flounced her skirts. “I’ll just help Theodore practice his French on the veranda.”

When it was just the three of them, both parents pinned Nora with their most serious glares. “Now then, Nora,” her father said, “what business dealings are you having with Captain Proctor?”

As she told her parents about her plan to teach the Bahamian children to read, Nora watched their facial expressions change. Her mother’s went from abject mortification at discovering her daughter had been unchaperoned with a man to almost total outrage at her latest revelation. Thurston’s expression, however, mellowed to the point that Nora could almost hope he supported her.

“So that’s all there is to it, Father,” she said, choosing the least intimidating parent to speak to directly. “I needed supplies, and Captain Proctor had them and offered them for free. We discussed his contribution while the storm was brewing outside his warehouse, so that’s how I know he couldn’t have been responsible for the light.”

Thurston tapped his spoon against his saucer, thinking about what his daughter said. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Nora, and I even admire your ingenuity in implementing this plan, but what you’ve told me doesn’t clear Captain Proctor’s name with regard to the false light on shore.”

“But, Father, I just told you…”

“What you told me, Nora, is that you were with Captain Proctor. That does not preclude the possibility that another member of his crew, acting on Proctor’s order, was at the shore, lighting that false beacon while the captain was engaged with you.”

Unfortunately her father could be right. “Yes, I suppose that could have happened.” An illuminating counterpoint suddenly occurred to her. “But…if Ja…, I mean Captain Proctor had gone to all that trouble, then he surely would have left before the other ships to reach the wrecking sight. As it was, he didn’t even spot the wreck. I would think if he had been anticipating it, he would have been the first to sail his schooner out of the harbor.”

She neglected to tell her father that she had felt partly responsible for Jacob’s lateness and had waited at his warehouse to tell him so.

Thurston was not easily dissuaded, and, in fact, seemed to read her mind. “Perhaps, Nora, but you forget, I’m your father. Too many times I’ve been sidetracked from a project by your untimely, albeit charming chatter myself.”

Sidonia suddenly threw her napkin on the table and stared at her husband and daughter. Irritation simmered in her eyes. “What is the matter with both of you…going on endlessly about that wreck, and who did what, and who’s to blame. Don’t you see what’s really important here, Thurston? Didn’t you hear what your daughter said?”