Page 33 of Benefactor to the Baroness (The Seductive Sleuths #3)
R osemary should have been relieved when she spotted land on the horizon. The charade was almost over. Their only remaining hope was that Mr. Blake had not opened Mr. Prue’s letter already, although they both thought that unlikely. When he realized that Fontaine was not going to marry Mr. Prue, he would tell everyone their secret.
She tilted her weight as the ship rocked. After so many days at sea, it was no longer difficult. She had even begun predicting when the swells would come, tensing her body and finding a place to anchor herself before she went sprawling.
Unfortunately, she was not so lucky when it came to Fontaine. She never knew what the dowager baroness would say next. It had been frustrating at first, but she had grown used to the change in routine. Now she craved Fontaine by her side.
“Rough waters,” Captain Charles said, coming to stand beside her.
“How long before we arrive?” Rosemary asked. She hoped he would say that they couldn’t approach the docks because of the weather. Then she would have more time.
“Less than an hour,” the captain said.
Rosemary deflated like a pricked balloon. “I see.”
She had to push her feelings aside. Fontaine had an important task, informing the committee of what they had seen. The longer they delayed, the more children might be harmed in the positions they had been forced into. Even if it meant Fontaine was giving up some of what she loved, a part of herself, Rosemary had to step away and let Fontaine deal with Mr. Blake. If she denied the accusations and had no further contact with Rosemary, she might still save her position. It was not just about them, but all the children of Halifax and London. Their lives were worth more than both Rosemary and Fontaine’s happiness.
If only they could have both. But Mr. Prue had likely already ruined their chance of being able to pretend to be widowed companions.
“I met a young lady once, many years ago,” the captain said. “I’ve never known a more vivacious woman. Every sailor aboard my ship respected her. I had thoughts of asking her to be my wife.”
Rosemary glanced up at the man. He was bent over the railing with his elbows on the wood and his eyes had taken on a faraway look. She recognized that look as one Fontaine wore often. It meant she was remembering something from her past.
“Why didn’t you?” she asked.
The captain scratched his beard. “I was afraid.”
She scoffed. “You? Afraid?” This coming from the man who had stood up to Mr. Prue.
The captain shrugged. “Not for me, Mrs. Summersby. I was afraid that if I latched her to this life, my love would not be enough to sustain her. She was a fiery ball of ambition. She wanted to be a captain of her own right. As no one would hire her, her only option was to become a pirate. I could not deny her that, even if the danger was worrisome. But then again, that’s what I loved about her. Her reckless independence. Her fierce spirit. So, instead of asking her to join me, I let her go.” He frowned. “With every day that passes, I regret not following her.”
Something warm curled in her stomach. “Even though you have your ship and your men?”
The captain closed his eyes. “The life I have here is the only one I have ever known, but that doesn’t mean I have to be trapped by it. My men would have found a new captain, but I do not believe I will ever find anyone who sparks my fire more than Yelena.” He glanced at her. “Sometimes the choice that seems the most difficult is the one we must take.”
“A difficult legal path is not the same as one that is illegal,” she said, although she understood what he meant. He implied she feared changing Fontaine. It was true. She didn’t want to crush Fontaine’s dreams. If they stayed together, Mr. Blake would reveal their relationship to the board, if not the whole of society. They would become social outcasts. Everything Fontaine had worked so hard for would come crumbling down.
“I…I cannot be what she needs,” she said. “The only way she can save herself is by keeping her distance from me.”
Or marrying a man , she thought, although she couldn’t quite say those words aloud.
The captain’s eyes gleamed. “Are you sure of that?”
She stared at him. “What do you mean?”
The captain pushed back from the railing. “I think perhaps you are not considering what Lady Kerry needs.”
She snorted. “What could she need that I could give her? I live on the fringes of my niece’s land. I have no title, no fortune. The invitations I receive are out of politeness or because the person inviting me wishes some boon.” She turned back to the sea and the rapidly approaching shore. “There’s nothing I can give her she doesn’t have already.”
“If that’s what you believe, then perhaps you are right,” the captain said. Then he turned, and the sound of his boots on the deck retreated, leaving her to stand at the bow of the ship alone, dreading what was coming.
Still, the captain’s words swirled in her mind. There was a deeper meaning there. If she could only grasp it, she might figure out something important about herself and her situation. But every time she had it, it flitted out of her reach, like trying to catch a wisp of smoke.
She frowned at the horizon. There were plenty of ships, of course, but there were also far more people than she had expected at such an early hour. As the ship came closer, she recognized some of the figures waiting by the shore.
A knot of tension in Rosemary’s stomach tightened and several long minutes later, her heart leaped in her throat. The crowd included Saffron and Leo. Angelica and her husband, Simon Mayweather. Even the Marquess of Lowell and Olivia.
She clutched at the railing as a wave of dizziness passed over her. Almost everyone she cared about was waiting for her, as if they had known she was arriving. But how was that possible? She had barely had time to pen a letter to her nieces before they had left. She hadn’t sent a telegram or any other notice.
“Ah, they received my message,” Fontaine said.
Rosemary spun. Fontaine stood in the middle of the deck with a grin spread across her face.
“‘Your message’?” Rosemary repeated.
Fontaine strode forward and put her hands on the railing. “I asked the captain if I could use his telegram to notify your friends and family that you were returning.” She grinned. “I thought, after being away from them for so long, that you might be happy to have a greeting party.”
Rosemary blinked several times to keep tears from falling down her cheeks but ultimately failed. She threw her arms around Fontaine, careful not to do anything more that might be visible from the shore and whispered in Fontaine’s ear, “Thank you.”
Fontaine squeezed her tightly for a moment, then pushed away and gave her a brittle smile. “I told you there were people waiting for you.”
“But not for you.”
Fontaine had made her family in the children she rescued.
But what if she had a family to ask for help?
The seed of an idea worked its way into the fertile soil of her mind. Before it could sprout roots, the ship shuddered, and they were swept away from the railing. The next few moments were filled with shouting and chaos on the deck. Rosemary pulled Fontaine out of the way, and they pressed themselves to the bow of the ship. They should probably have returned to their bunk, but it was too exciting watching everything happen, and she worried that if she stopped looking at Saffron on the shore, her niece would vanish.
Finally, the gangplank was set down, and she hurried off the boat. Angelica and Saffron rushed to her and threw their arms about her, tears running down their faces, as if she had been gone for months or years and not simply weeks.
“We thought you would never come back,” Saffron said. “You must never do that again!”
Rosemary looked back and forth between Angelica and Saffron in confusion. “It was only a few weeks.”
Then, as she watched Saffron’s lower lip tremble, it hit her. She had done exactly what Basil had done: departed London on a ship with only a letter to tell her family where she’d gone.
Before she had left, she might have brushed off such concerns as being overly emotional. She wouldn’t have stopped to consider Saffron’s feelings. She likely wouldn’t have connected anything Saffron had said or done to Basil. But after everything that had happened during her journey, she finally understood how her niece felt.
“I’m so sorry,” she said. “I never…I shouldn’t have left without speaking to you. It was wrong of me. I tried to write, but it was harder than expected.”
Saffron’s jaw dropped. “You did?” She shook her head. “You have to tell me everything that has happened. I think we’ve missed quite a lot.”