Chapter 11
Eleven
Rhys had fallen asleep with a full belly and a smile.
Tempest had worried about him. So much so that she paced most of the night, at least according to Nicoll who was awakened several times.
She cared about him.
Tempest had apologized and he had meant that he liked having her around.
In fact, he was coming to like her very much.
A longing had developed and she was who he thought about the whole time that he was transporting the supplies back to the house, but it had certainly been worth it when she greeted him with a hug, her full breasts pushed against his chest, her stomach against his, and arms about his shoulders.
It had been automatic to pull her tight against him and he would have been quite content to remain that way longer, but he had to go and mention eggs.
It was for the best, however.
This was not a situation where he should court anyone.
If he was starting to care for Tempest beyond simple attraction, it was something he would give more consideration to once they were safe. His biggest fear was being distracted by her, which could see them captured and him killed.
The afternoon he had spent measuring the new and fresh boards he had taken from the port, then measured again, before he sawed through them.
He then fitted them into the hole until he got them just right.
Once they were perfect, he set to sanding them smooth.
Tomorrow, he would heat the tar over a fire and start brushing it onto the boat to see that the boards were sealed.
He had never done this type of work before, but he had witnessed it, and if there was one thing a spy learned, it was to observe everything and anything new for information that might be needed later.
One of those things had been watching a man repair his boat in France while he was waiting on a message to be intercepted from a general to Napoleon.
“I wish to apologize, Rhys.”
He quickly dropped the bottle of rum, not that there was more than one swallow inside, and kicked sand over it because he did not want to be chastised.
He had come back to his hammock after supper so the girls could prepare for bed and had stared out at the sea.
“Why?” He could think of no reason.
“It was not proper for me to have embraced you this morning.”
“I am not one for propriety, Tempest. I was certain you would have realized that by now.”
She smiled and looked down.
“I do not know what came over me. I suppose I was more worried than I realized.”
He slid over. “Join me.”
“Thank you.” She took a seat next to him. “I promise to be more careful when I stand this time.”
Rhys chuckled. He was glad that she had come out to sit with him.
“It has been over a week. Do you think my family believes us dead?”
“I do not know,” Rhys answered honestly. “They could still be searching the area between Barbados and Dominica and they just haven’t reached here yet.”
“I suppose, but how would they even find a sunken ship?”
“It was attacked so there might be debris floating that would identify the ship you were on.”
“If they find that, they may stop looking for us.”
That thought hadn’t occurred to him. It was imperative that Tempest and her sisters were gone, and soon.
The British could invade Martinique at any time.
They had been planning to do so for months, but he did not know a definitive date.
How much was their decision made because of the information he had been able to provide?
“The Royal Navy has counted on the information that I give them so at the very least, I assume your uncle will send someone to retrieve that and will learn that you are here.”
“I hope that it is soon because I hate to think of what my father must be enduring. He has already lost two wives so I cannot imagine the anguish he must be experiencing at the thought of losing all his daughters at once.”
“Instead of that, think about how happy he will be when you are all returned to him.”
“Except, he will suffer until then,” she practically whispered.
Rhys reached over and took her hand and squeezed it. “It does no good to take on his worry when it is not something you can control.”
She turned to look at him with a weak smile and sadness in her eyes. “I know, but it is not easy.”
He wished that he could ease her mind, but Rhys knew that it would be impossible. “The best you can do is keep your sisters safe until you are once again home.”
“You are doing that as well as me. It was something I gave a good deal of thought to last night.”
“When you were worried about me?” he teased, hoping to lighten her spirit.
“Yes,” she answered, not at all light-hearted. “I realized that I care about you and what happens to you when a week ago, I wanted you gone.”
“I will admit that my feelings and realizations are the same.”
* * *
Was Rhys saying that he cared about her?
“It is true.” He shrugged. “I do care about you; I am just not certain of the depth.”
“Nor I,” she admitted. “These are extraordinary circumstances.”
“The kind that could make a person believe that there is more when there is not.”
There it was. How could anyone know what was real when they were always afraid of getting caught by the French or worried that they would not be rescued, and having to watch over younger siblings, and needing to rely on the other.
“It is likely we will never know,” she finally said.
“Why is that?”
“You are a spy and I am the daughter of a diplomat who lives in Dominica.”
“Ah, but this is my last mission as a spy,” he whispered.
She pulled back to study him to gauge if he was telling the truth. “Really?”
“Actually, I had been retired for a year when I was recruited to be an operative in the Caribbean.” He leaned close. “Though that is supposed to be a secret so do not tell anyone.”
“I promise that I will not,” she returned just as quietly.
“I wanted to come home to Antigua, where I was originally from, but lacked the funds. The agreement was that they would send me here, pay me well, and I would continue to work for them here until I was no longer needed.”
“Then this isn’t your last mission, unless the war has ended and nobody told me.”
Rhys chuckled. “I agreed because I wanted to go home. Once this mission is complete, I will write my employer and tell him that I have had a change of heart and no longer wish to spy.”
“I cannot imagine that the Home Office will be pleased.” Her father had various dealings with men who were spies and they were serious and had expectations.
“I do not work for the Home Office, at least, not directly.”
“If not the Crown, then who does employ you?”
He smiled slowly. “It is another secret.”
“I promise not to tell.”
He turned and studied her. “I believe you, Tempest, so I shall tell you.”
He then turned and looked out at the ocean without saying anything further.
“If you are going to tell me, then do so.”
He chuckled. “You are not a very patient person, are you.”
“You are back to being difficult, I see.”
“No. Simply teasing you.” He smiled. “My employer is The Lion Watch, founded by a former spy who had to give up the game when he inherited a title. He has formed his own agency with men and women across the world, and I am one of them. It was the Home Office who needed someone like me and why I was recruited.”
“Someone like you. What does that mean?”
“Because I know the area. My father was a British Revenue Man who sailed these waters looking for smugglers. I sailed with him when I was younger. I also speak the languages as if I were born here, which I was, and why I was the perfect candidate.”
“Is your father still a Revenue Man?”
“Yes, though some of his activity has been curtailed, though not completely, due to the war and the heavy presence of the Royal Navy and the French Navy. I am certain that he will be back to catching smugglers when the war is finally over.”
“Oh dear!”
“What? Are you against smugglers being caught?”
“It is what my uncle does,” she whispered.
“Ah, then I know more than you do about your uncle.” Rhys chuckled.
“How is that possible?”
“Your uncle was a merchant until the Treaty of Amiens was no more and the British began attacking French islands in 1803. He is well known to my father as having turned into a smuggler and the real purpose for him doing so, to send and receive messages between the Royal Navy and the islands. Therefore, my father avoids him even though there is very real smuggling being done by your uncle because it is necessary to gain access to the French.”
“Your father likely knows my father and uncle.” She chuckled.
“It is possible.”
Oh dear! When they find out that she was alone on the island with Rhys without a proper chaperone for so long…unless they will accept five younger sisters as being those…
She just hoped that they did not take issue with that fact and realized that there was little choice.
It was a concern she would visit another day. As with her worrying about her father, it did no good since there was no control, just as Rhys had said.
“What are you going to do when your mission is over?”
“Settle in Antigua.”
It really wasn’t so far from Dominica.
“What will you do in Antigua.”
“I plan on owning a ferry service, once this war is over, to take people between islands.”
“Can you sail a ship?” she asked with a laugh.
“Yes, I can…somewhat…but I will learn.”
“Then I wish you great success.”
He stared into her eyes. “And I just may make several journeys to Dominica.”
She sucked in a breath.
“I like you, Tempest.”
“I find I like you as well,” she admitted.
“I would like to see if we still like the other when this is behind us.”
Her heart pounded at such a declaration. It wasn’t necessarily an offer of courtship but it was something. “I would like that as well, Rhys.”
He kept looking at her and a sudden nervousness came over her. What was he going to do or say next? She licked her upper lip out of nervousness, and then he focused there. Was he finally going to kiss her?