Fire Glow by Linda Ladd

Author:Linda Ladd
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 1985-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

The sky was bright and sunny, stretching overhead in a clear blue dome to where mounds of white clouds sat on the horizon atop the sea. The Glory skimmed through the swells at a fast clip, her sails billowing full from a brisk westerly that had driven them since their departure from Barbados a week before. Caitlin stood near the bowsprit rigging, staring down at the foamy gray waters rushing alongside the hull. She let the wind blow her unbound hair, not caring that her skirts whipped around her legs. It had been a long time since spindrift had wet her face as it did now, and it felt good.

The last few days had seemed more like months as they scudded toward the Florida Straits, which would take them into the Great Current that lay along the coast of the Americas. She had long since given up hope of persuading Trey to return to Winds-way. He had remained adamant each time she had quarreled with him, but at the same time he was so courteous and polite that she wanted to scream. She had finally shut him out completely, remaining aloof when he took his meals with her or joined her on her frequent airings abovedecks.

She had barely seen him in the last three days—he came below after she slept and left before she awakened. Once she had come awake to find the privacy screen torn away. He had not approached her, however, but instead had slept in exhaustion in a hammock strung across the other cabin. It had been she who had lain awake then, fighting her desire to go to him. The pleasures she had experienced pressed intimately against his hard lean body were not easy to forget or deny; it was as if he had enslaved her with some strange hold she could not understand and could not break. She had reminded herself many times that he had lied to her, that he had taken her away from everything she loved, but she could not stop the racing of her heart when those azure blue eyes sought her out. Neither could she bring herself to forgive him for taking her away as he had without first consulting her, even if he had done it out of love as he'd said.

Caitlin turned as Richard came up beside her, and she returned his smile of greeting. He had spoken with her several times when she had taken air, and his company had done much to alleviate the loneliness she felt. He leaned against the rail beside her, glancing up at the surging canvas topsails.

"We are making good time," he remarked, and Caitlin nodded, following his gaze to where several seamen worked high above the deck.

"Aye, the ship is sound and the currents that hold her are swift."

Richard looked at the proud set of Caitlin's profile, impressed as always by her profound knowledge of the sea. From their conversations since the voyage had begun, he had found that she knew as much as he did about navigation and the running of a sailing ship, perhaps even more.

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