Her Seafaring Scoundrel by Sophie Barnes

Author:Sophie Barnes
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“Not in the way you did. But yes.” Devlin closed his eyes for a moment and forced himself to remember the details he’d struggled so hard to forget. “His name was Luke and he was a crewmember – a lad no older than sixteen years of age – and we’d just returned to London from Athens. It was my first voyage as captain and…” He blew out a deep, agonizing breath. “I sent Luke up the mainmast to make sure the sail had been properly secured before disembarking, but it started to drizzle the moment he stepped out onto the topgallant yard – that beam of wood you see up there – the second one from the top.”

He pointed toward it even though it was hard to make out in the dark. Cassandra still gasped, perhaps because she’d discerned the direction the story was taking. “I shouldn’t have issued the order. I should have sent someone with more experience up there and…and I should have paid better attention to the condition the ropes were in. But I had a different boatswain back then. As it happened, the rope Luke grabbed hold of was damaged. It snapped the moment he checked its strength, but I’m not sure he would have fallen if it hadn’t been for the slickness of the beam beneath his feet.”

“Dear God.”

“I did my best to catch him. Broke my arm in the process. But it wasn’t enough, though I daresay it might have been best if I’d done nothing at all.” When she stared back at him with incomprehension, he had no choice but to say, “The fall didn’t kill him straight away. It took a while, during which he suffered tremendous amounts of pain.”

“Was there nothing to be done?” Her hand had somehow found his while he’d been talking.

“I tried. The physician I usually brought along with me had family near Dover, so I’d dropped him off on the way and continued to London without him, confident I wouldn’t need him for the remaining distance. So I ordered Quinn to fetch a physician post haste.”

“But Luke didn’t make it. Did he?”

Too agitated to remain seated, Devlin stood and clasped his hands behind his back. “No. He died before Quinn returned.” But that wasn’t all. There was more to the story – the reason he no longer drove past St. James’s. He just couldn’t seem to get the rest of the words out.

And then she suddenly stood and her hand found his cheek, and whatever else he’d meant to confess was completely forgotten. “Guilt is a wretched emotion. I’m sorry you’ve had to live with it for so long.”

He stood, transfixed by the unshed tears causing her eyes to shimmer. Most people would have said they were sorry Luke had died or that Devlin wasn’t to blame. As captain, however, he was responsible for the ship and its crew. So it had been his fault and he knew this, had lived with it every single day since.

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