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God, what he wouldn’t give just to kiss her …
He rubbed the heel of his hand against his chest That sa he’d felt when she’d brought her foot down on his and pursed her lips into a silent plea Please, she’d said Don’t
As if she appealed to his conscience
His conscience Where would the girl have gathered such a notion, that he possessed a conscience? Certainly not froh his chest, and Joss shot him a skeptical look
"Believe irl in weeks You can’t know the lengths I’ve gone to, avoiding her And it isn’t easy, because she won’t stay put in her cabin, noill she? No, she has to go all over the ship, flirting with the crew, tacking her little pictures in every corner of the boat, taking tea in the galley with Gabriel I can’t help but see her And I can see she’s too damn thin She needs to eat; I put food on her plate There’s nothing , just stared at hirown a second head
"Damn it, what now? Don’t you believe ," his brother said slowly "I just can’t believe what I’ainst the wall "And what are you hearing?"
"I wondered why you’d done all this … the dinner Now I know"
"You knohat?" Gray was growing exasperated Most of all, because he didn’t know
"You care for this girl" Joss cocked his head "You care for her Don’t you?"
"Care for her"
Joss’s expression was s "Don’t you?"
The idea was too preposterous to entertain, but Gray perked with inspiration "Say I did care for her Would you release me from that promise? If my answer is yes, can I pursue her?"
Joss shook his head "If the answer is yes, you can--and should--wait one h she’ll vanish the ree she deserves that ardless of the answer, he knew she deserved far better Da that striped frock Because he knew she’d only one other to wear, and he’d be too concerned over whether she possessed the needle and thread to ain; the stripes would be off, and the effect would be a bit less lovely than before Because he would have taken so beautiful and perfect … and never again would she look at hi on his heart Please Don’t
Gray punched his thigh This hen he took a fancy to a wo acquainted first ruined everything
Agitated, he hooked a finger under his neck cloth and pulled it loose
"Care for her," he one near the woman in weeks"
"I don’t kno it’s possible, but it seems to be true In fact, I think you’re half in love with her More than half, perhaps"
Rising froht "Noait I’rant you that More than half, perhaps But I
’et who you’re talking to, Joss I keep my conscience in my bank account, remember? I don’t even knohat love looks like"
Joss paused over his desk "I knohat love looks like Using up all those Portuguese goods on oneout porcelain froo hold … Crack one plate, and you’d lose half the set’s price Servinglike that"
Gray ran his hands through his hair, shaking off the lunatic notion before it could take root in his brain "I’ you, I’ to do on this voyage but plan dinner parties And it’s about to get worse No chance of cracking a plate tonight" He jerked his chin at the laht would have been swaying in time with the waves "If you hadn’t noticed, we’re becalrimaced andwe’ve given the ood for the crew’s ood for the investor’s morale, either" Gray rubbed his temples
"Let’s hope it doesn’t last"
The cal Day, too The idleness that began as a welcome holiday quickly became a hardship to all aboard the Aphrodite By the thirdwere sniping at one another and gru under their breath at every order Without wind, there was little for the and scrape the chains Men’s equivalent of needlework, Sophiamarlinespikes the sailors used to reeve and splice the lines The crew had her sympathy She’d always detested needlework
The sky was cloudless, the air was listless, the men were restless And above all, it was hot Hotter than Sophia could ever have dreamed The tropical air smothered her like a thick, woolen blanket
With no breeze, the cabin beca inside The ed an unused sail into a canopy, and she sat on a crate beneath it, fanning herself with her drawing board and sketching fro theabsolutely, perfectly still
Mr Grayson, by contrast, was in constant ly the most restless man aboard Sophia hadn’t knohat to expect, after their furtive exchange beneath the dinner table She’d lain awake half that night, counting the bells that ed through her with each sharp ring As hours passed, the buzzing pulses turned to pangs of trepidation Then, as night gave way toman Why hadn’t he come? Surely he couldn’t have desired any clearer invitation
But he hadn’t appeared that night Not the next , either By the ti afternoon, his e It seemed they were back to silence