Chapter Eleven
Diana waited three insufferable hours before she began her inspection of the Ever Hart at the bowels of the ship.
In the dimly lit corridor, she held herself back from descending the narrow ladder leading all the way through to the boilers.
She didn’t want her presence to raise suspicion and unnecessary turmoil among the crew working the most grueling and important job onboard.
The arduous work demanded not only physical strength but resilience to the scalding heat and careful attention.
One stray movement, one toss of a burning coal, and the entire ship could go up in flames.
When the operating shift came up for the mandatory water break, Ian was the last to emerge.
Like the other crew members, he wore nothing but the cotton drawstring trousers and linen undervest they provided to keep the men cool as they worked. The fine fabric was damp and clung to the well-formed muscles of his chest.
Her sharp intake of breath reverberated in the narrow confines of the corridor.
Ian’s eyes snapped to her corner of the hallway. His nostrils flared and his jaw clenched in that way that was supposed to scare her.
Instead, it stoked her arousal.
She drew her posture to its full height and ignored the wild patter of her heart as she turned away and strode down the corridor.
She proceeded through the steerage deck, which they’d assigned to the crew for Ever Hart’s first voyage, to further incentivize them for their silence about the cargo and the ship.
Then she stopped in the galley to confirm the food on board was enough to supply them for three days before they docked in France.
When she reached the promenade deck, she assessed that all twenty passengers—women and children—had settled into their quarters without issue.
Finally, she made her way outside to the weather deck and worked her lungs to find the even pattern of breathing she’d lost the minute Ian had locked eyes with her.
Amelia found her standing beneath the eaves of the foredeck as she futilely searched the cloudy sky for stars.
“Rain’s on the way,” Diana murmured. “We should let the passengers know the sea may turn choppy.”
“I’ll handle it. Have you spoken with Virgil?”
“Yes. Everything’s sorted for the navigation exercises tomorrow. We have a chance of making it to Guernsey tomorrow evening. If that storm doesn’t slow us down.”
“The crew are all settling in?”
“Your idea to house them on the steerage deck was brilliant. Let’s hope they play nicely with our newest recruit.”
“I thought Mr. Holt was more like a hostage.” Amelia’s smile was sly, bordering on cheeky.
Diana had a smart retort perched on her lips, but Birdie landed on deck and offered them a curt nod before strolling along the rail to inspect the lines.
“What does Mr. Holt know about the voyage?” Diana asked carefully.
“That it’s a test run on the new triple-expansion engine,” Amelia replied. “We’re conducting exercises in Guernsey to assess its capabilities, then going on to La Rochelle for restocking and coaling.”
“And the cargo?”
“Birdie told him we were offering passage to a small group of papists as part of a passenger trial. Those nuns are convincing. Even I’d believe they’re headed on a pilgrimage.”
“The nuns always deliver. Must give Widow credit for that one.”
“There is some other news.” Amelia’s tone was too calm for it to be anything but good. “I decoded the message that you received from our source at the bordello. The cargo from Australia will arrive in five days. But it didn’t say where.”
“We’ll have to check all the drop sites in La Rochelle to confirm.” With Birdie’s crew all around them, Diana couldn’t risk asking Amelia if Widow had signaled anything about the emeralds. “Anything else I should know?”
“One of the passengers says someone followed her to the ship. She told our harbor guards, but no one found the man. Birdie’s team did an extra sweep to make sure he wasn’t on board before we left port. No one found anything, but that doesn’t mean they won’t follow.”
“Did we get a description of the man?”
“She said he was well-dressed. Older, didn’t wear a hat. He had gray hair.”
He fit the description of the man they’d spotted at the Swan’s Nest. Diana had hoped they could have bought more time before the Skinner’s Lane Lads tracked them.
Ian’s insistence that no one would follow him was, as they all believed, bravado.
He was lying to himself if he thought he was clever enough to slip out of London unnoticed.
That kind of cocky blindness was exactly why Diana had lured him onboard the Ever Hart.
If he continued acting like a lone wolf, he was going to get himself killed.
Somehow, she was going to have to convince him he needed her.
The contemptuous glare he’d given her confirmed he trusted her less than ever. Since they’d set sail, he’d peppered Virgil, Birdie, and other members of the crew with myriad questions about the ship’s layout. He didn’t bother to conceal that his aim onboard was to steal the necklace.
But Diana couldn’t suppress the budding hope that he had other motives for following her.
Despite the choppy weather, a woman appeared on deck. She carried a child whose crying was loud enough to rise over the roar of the waves. Several of the deckhands cringed at the sound.
When the rain started, Diana was surprised that the mother remained outside with the child. Perhaps she hoped the whipping wind and splashing mist would cool the baby’s temper.
A movement stirred from the starboard side of the deck, and a tall silhouette cut into the lamplight.
Diana wondered if Ian could identify her shadow as easily as she recognized his. Over the years, she’d memorized his shape: the breadth of his shoulders, the length of his torso descending into a trim waist.
His long legs treaded across the deck before he paused, pivoted, and retraced his steps. He marked neither Diana’s presence nor that of the mother and child. When he stalked closer to them, the woman cowered back. A muffled yelp rose above the wind.
Ian stopped dead in his tracks.
The child’s screaming cries—which had quieted—resumed in a piercing shriek.
Diana rushed between them. She gave the mother an assuring nod, then swung back to Ian and pointed her arm to the other end of the deck.
Thankfully, he didn’t hesitate long before he marched off in the opposite direction.
“He’s one of the crew,” Diana told the mother. “He’s here for everyone’s protection.”
The mother hugged the child closer.
Diana gestured to Birdie and the other nearby crew hands to assure the mother other women were looking out for her.
“If anyone on this ship makes you feel uncomfortable, you only have to say the word and we’ll come running.
We have a secure brig for troublemakers, and other means to defend ourselves. ”
In a softer voice, she added, “You have my word, you and the baby are safe here. Why don’t you take him below, out of this weather. While I remind my crew about the code of conduct on my ship.”
She channeled her father’s arrogant swagger as she crossed the deck; it was far more powerful than the gliding gait her governess had drilled into her.
Ian marked her arrival with a glance over his shoulder before he returned his attention to the black water. “If you mean to wear me down with physical exhaustion, it won’t temper my anger about what you did.”
There was a healthy dose of gravel in his voice. The underlying threat in it roused a sensation of delight Diana forced herself to tamp down. “It would be foolish of me to try to dictate your emotions. But as long as you’re aboard my ship, I will have a say in how you behave.”
He whipped around and drew closer to where she stood. He’d washed and changed after his shift, but his overcoat was wide open, and he wore only a clean shirt, half unbuttoned, as if he were still trying to cool his body from the exertion and heat of the boilers.
His proximity made her breath stagger again.
Ian registered it. His eyes glinted as he perused her fitted wool jumper, oilskin coat, and trousers. They differed from the breeches she’d worn during her escape, with a wider leg and narrower waist that was more feminine and less revealing.
The fraught silence between them broke when the child’s cry rose from the other end of the deck as the mother tried to wrestle the toddler below deck.
Ian pinned his arms across his stomach. “I frightened them.”
His unease about it disconcerted her. “You startled them. And the poor woman couldn’t get the baby to settle. She was already frazzled.”
“Will you send me back to the boilers for punishment?”
“It’s a punishment now? I thought you said nothing would wear you down.”
He scoffed and turned back toward the dark view.
She desperately wanted him to look at her instead. “Working as a coal-firer to gain passage is an extreme gesture. You agreed to take the job with no negotiation. Why?”
“Why did you kiss me?”
She reared back. His question was an unusually direct confrontation compared to the way he typically sparred with her.
The kiss they’d shared had been necessary for her to pilfer the necklace. It had also been something she’d wanted for longer than she could remember.
None of her plotting could have prepared her for the impact of her fantasy becoming reality. The way Ian had ravaged her mouth and wound his fingers through her hair, the weight of his body as she’d pressed against him, had made her so giddy she’d almost forgotten her intent to rob him.
Now that she knew the truth of what it was to act on her desires, if there had been any other way to take the emeralds without betraying his trust, she would have.
She huffed a terse laugh to cover the way his suspicion pained her. “If you’re looking for an apology for the kiss, you won’t get one.”
“I’ll accept one for the theft instead.”