Gift by Julie Garwood

Author:Julie Garwood [Garwood, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Historical, Adult, Humour
ISBN: 9780671702502
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 107781
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 1991-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

They were all wearing cloves of garlic around their necks by the end of the week in an attempt to ward off Lady Sara’s mischief.

She’d spent the entire seven days trying to gain their confidence. When she found out why they were wearing the smelly necklaces she was so disgusted with her staff that she quit trying to win them over.

She also quit running back to her cabin whenever they glared at her. She just pretended she hadn’t noticed. She wasn’t about to let any of them know how upsetting their conduct was to her. She kept her composure and her tears firmly in check.

Only Nathan and Nora knew how she really felt. Sara kept both of them informed about her injured feelings. Nathan did his best to ignore the situation. Nora did her best to soothe her niece.

The problem, of course, was that each minor accident, no matter what the cause, was blamed solely on Sara’s very presence. They thought the woman was cursed, and that was that. The minute Chester noticed a fresh wart on his hand he blamed Sara. His hand had brushed against hers, he remembered, when they passed on deck.

How could she reason against such idiocy? Sara put that question to Nathan at least twice a day. His answers never made a lick of sense, though. He either grunted with what she interpreted as true irritation or shrugged with what she knew was total indifference to her plight. He was as sympathetic as a goat, and each time he finished giving her his oblique opinion she kissed him just to be contrary.

By the following Monday Sara didn’t think her life could get any bleaker. But then, she hadn’t counted on the pirates. They attacked the ship on Tuesday morning.

It started out to be a nice, sunny, peaceful day. Matthew was taking Nora for a stroll along the decks. Nora’s arm was linked through Matthew’s, and the two of them took turns whispering to each other and laughing like children. The elderly couple had become extremely close over the past weeks. Sara thought Matthew was just as smitten as Nora appeared to be. He had taken to smiling quite a lot, and Nora seemed to be blushing just as often.

When Sara set out on her stroll Jimbo walked beside her. She was never allowed to be alone. She believed it was because her staff had turned so belligerent on her. When she made that comment to Jimbo, though, he shook his head.

“That might be a little part of it,” he said, “but the full truth is that the captain doesn’t want anything else broken, Sara. That’s why you’ve got yourself a guard trailing you day and night.”

“Oh, the shame of it all,” Sara cried out.

Jimbo had difficulty holding back his grin. Sara was certainly given to drama. He didn’t want her to think he was laughing at her, though. “Now, now, it isn’t that terrible,” he remarked. “You needn’t sound so forlorn.”

Sara was quick to rally.

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