Chapter 6 #2
Devlin pushed back his chair and rose to his full height, towering over her.
His stance made her feel small and vulnerable.
She felt certain he knew that his height affected her thusly, and that he did it deliberately.
“I would love nothing more than to punish you,” he murmured. “Did you have something in mind?”
Her heart skipped wildly. He stood too close for comfort—he was too tall, too strong, his britches too tight, his shirt far too loosely drawn at the throat. Virginia couldn’t speak.
“You will remain confined in this cabin until we disembark,” he said calmly. “Those are my orders, Miss Hughes.”
“Do not dismiss Mr. Harvey! He is your friend!”
He had been about to walk away; he turned back to her. “My friend? I think not,” he said too softly.
“No, you are wrong, Mr. Harvey cares about you. He admires you greatly—he told me so. He was—and is—your friend,” Virginia cried. “And you must not treat him so callously because of what I have done!”
“I have no friends—not on board this ship, or any other.” He strode to the door.
“Then I feel sorry for you!”
He whirled. “You think to pity me!”
Virginia realized she had hit a nerve—she hadn’t realized he had possessed one. “Is there anyone in this entire world whom you would call a friend, Captain?” she dared, and it was a challenge.
His eyes glittered, turning dark, like a stormy sky. “Do you dare intrude into my private life?” he asked very softly.
“I didn’t know you had one,” she said as angrily.
He stalked back to her. “Perhaps you will think twice about involving others in your schemes and lies, Miss Hughes. Perhaps next time you will think about the ramifications of your actions.”
“Perhaps I will,” Virginia said, “but this isn’t about me, not anymore. I cannot let you dismiss a man who considers you the greatest captain upon the high seas because of my stupidity, my perfidy. He is your friend, Captain O’Neill, he is your loyal friend!”
“He was my ship’s surgeon and he betrayed me.
That is neither friendship nor loyalty. He is lucky I did not shackle him and throw him in the brig.
” He strode back to the door, but there he paused.
“Why? Why attempt an escape? You would be lost in Ireland. Did you even think your scheme through? I haven’t hurt you.
I haven’t even touched you. In a short period of time you will be reunited with your beloved uncle.
Why dare to escape? Why dare to defy me? ”
Virginia stared helplessly at him. “Because,” she managed, “my entire life is at stake.”
He started.
She stared for a moment longer, then turned and sat down at the table. She felt despondency settle over her like a huge and weighty cloak, and she listened to him walk back to the table, where he also sat. “Explain that statement.”
She shook her head.
He gripped her face, turning it upward so their gazes collided. “I mean it.”
His hand was large, engulfing her chin and jaw. She trembled. “What do you care?” she said awkwardly.
He released her jaw. “I don’t care. But you are in my custody and everything about you is my affair.”
She couldn’t fathom why he should be so interested in her personal matters, and while she did not think sharing her burdens would soften him toward her purpose, she could not think of a reason to remain secretive.
She sighed heavily, thought of her parents, and felt a familiar wave of ancient grief.
“I was born at Sweet Briar,” she said, her voice low, not looking up at him.
“It is heaven on earth, a plantation near Norfolk, Virginia.” She smiled a little, for in spite of the ship’s odors and the scent of the sea, she could smell honeysuckle and lilac and freshly harvested tobacco.
“My father built our home with his own two hands, planted the first crops alone.” Finally she looked up, smiling sadly at him.
“I loved my father and my mother. Last fall they both died on a stormy night in a foolish carriage collision.”
He said nothing. If he was at all moved by her plight, she could not see it in his expression, as not a muscle in his face changed.
“I am the only child. Sweet Briar is mine. But my guardian, the earl, is selling it in order to pay off my father’s debts.” She laid her hands flat on the table, gripping the smooth wood until her knuckles turned white. “I won’t allow it.”
He stared and it was a moment before he spoke. “I see,” he said flatly. “You will beat the earl about the head until he agrees to pay off your father’s debts and hand you the keys to the plantation.”
This was her last remaining chance. Virginia seized both of his hands and was stunned at the feel of them in her small palms and against her fingers, stunned enough by the contact not to see the surprise leap in his silver eyes.
She looked up and spoke swiftly, hoarsely.
“If my uncle has to ransom me, he will never be moved to pay my father’s debts.
As he decided to sell the plantation without even consulting me, it will be hard enough to persuade him to change his mind without your ransom!
Captain, don’t you see? I cannot survive without Sweet Briar.
I have to go to the earl. There can be no ransom!
Please, Mr. Harvey told me you are a wealthy man and that you hardly need this ransom.
Please, let me go—take me to London where I hope I am expected. Please. I beg you.”
Devlin removed his hands from hers and stood. “I’m sorry,” he said flatly, “that you will lose your inheritance, but my plans are not flexible.”
She leapt up with a cry. “I am an orphan now! Sweet Briar is all I have!” she cried.
He walked to the door.
“God, you just don’t care! You don’t care about anything or anyone!”
He opened the door.
“I am losing Sweet Briar because of you and your damned plan to ransom me,” she shouted.
He didn’t turn. As he left, he said, “No, Miss Hughes, you are losing Sweet Briar because, apparently, your father was a very poor businessman.”
Virginia choked on the insult, but before she could fling some equally wounding barb back at him, he was gone, the hatch closing on the graying twilight sky.
She had decided there would be one final attempt to thwart him.
Virginia stood by a porthole, which remained open in spite of the blustery day, and watched the Irish cliffs passing.
High rock cliffs towered above a strip of sandy beach beginning to give way to more gently rolling country.
She had decided not to antagonize O’Neill further and had remained in his cabin since the day before.
But hours ago, when the first gulls had appeared overhead, she had cracked the cabin door to overhear that they were already sailing up the river toward Limerick within mere hours.
Well, several hours had since passed. The frigate was moving swiftly up the River Shannon. Here and there she could make out a manor or a cluster of huts. The Irish countryside was now lush and green, at times sheep dotting the hills.
How long would it take to go up the river and reach the port at Limerick? She had no idea. A glance at his maps told her nothing. But she was afraid to delay any longer, because if she waited too long to commence her new plan, it would fail.
Virginia went to the cabin door. There was no sign of the young blond man, Gus. But she did see Jack Harvey, looking sad and severe, standing below the quarterdeck. “Mr. Harvey! Please, sir, I would speak with you!”
Harvey glanced her way, incredulous.
Above him, a tall, leonine figure at the helm, Devlin half turned and nodded, saying something to Harvey that Virginia could not hear. Harvey approached so slowly she began chewing on her lower lip. Then she smiled brightly at him. “I must beg a favor of you,” she said.
“I am not participating in any of your schemes,” he began.
“Would you please find Gus and send him to me? I need to bathe before I step off of this ship. I only wish to ask him for some wash water.”
Harvey looked relieved that she had not asked for something else. He nodded and went off.
Virginia closed her eyes after shutting the cabin door, wishing there could be another way—but Gus was scrawny, and while he was a few pounds heavier than herself and a few inches taller, too, he would have to do.
She took one of O’Neill’s silver candlesticks in hand, and positioned herself so that when he came in, she would be behind the door.
She now prayed he would come in alone.
Upon the sound of his knock, she told him to enter, and quickly saw that another sailor was with him.
She moved away from the wall, holding the candlestick behind her back, smiling, while they filled the tub with steamy water.
As they began to leave, Virginia called out, “Gus? Please wait. I have never been to Ireland before and I must ask you some questions. It’s terribly important. ”
As usual, he avoided looking at her, while telling the seaman to go. The other sailor left. Virginia, her heart pounding, walked to his side. “I heard most of the country is Catholic. How will I find a Baptist minister?”
Gus seemed confused by her question. He hesitated. Virginia walked behind him. He said, “I’m sure the captain—”
Wincing, her desire to escape overcoming her reluctance to hurt him, she hit him with the candlestick on the back of the head. Instantly, he crumbled to the floor.