“There’s blood on you.” She jumped down and let the ferret plop to the decking and walked toward him. Always the same simplicity about her. The same directness. “I didn’t notice before. They told me Quentin’s gone. Oh, Sebastian—the Reverend.” Her face was suddenly stricken. “He was with me at the warehouse—”

“Eunice has him. He was awake and talking when I left him.”

She sighed, and the clutch on his arm loosened. “I’m filthy. You would not believe how dirty that locker was. All this water around, you’d think they’d wash the place.” She tapped the rail. “I’m going to scuttle this pig. I’m going to haul it out into mid-Channel and set it on fire and burn it down to the waterline. It’s an evil ship.” She gazed soberly across the deck, across the dead men, to Pitney’s body. “And it’s full of ghosts. Sebastian, I have to tell you something. I don’t think it’ll make any difference, but I have to tell you.”

Somebody had hurt her. Maybe raped her. If he... “Whatever happened—”

“My father probably won’t like you much,” she said soberly.

The sun brightened up again. He didn’t laugh. She was being serious. “I don’t suppose he will, much. Jess, you’re going to be my wife. I don’t give a damn what your father thinks. You better not either.”

“I don’t. Anyway, he’ll be so glad to have grandchildren he’d put up with you if you were a Bactrian snake charmer. What I’m saying is, I’m going to deed everything I have of Whitby’s back to him before I get married. If I don’t, I’ll get ground to pieces between the two of you. So if you want me, you’re going to have to take me without a farthing piece, because that’s how I’m coming.”

A woman of magnificent gestures. He and Whitby were going to have some grand battles over her before they got the two companies consolidated. Afterward, too, probably. He’d take Jess out to sea when he and Whitby were disagreeing, so she wouldn’t be bothered. He foresaw lots of time at sea for Jess. “I’ll give you Kennett Shipping to run. You can reorganize my bookkeeping in your spare time . . . when we’re not in bed.”

Jess grinned up at him. “You would not believe how much I’m looking forward to that.”

It felt like it was about time to kiss her, so he started doing that some. “Which one, Jess?”

“Both.”

About the Author

Joanna Bourne has lived in seven countries, including England and France, the settings of The Spymaster’s Lady and My Lord and Spymaster. She lives with her family, cat, dog, and goldfish in the foothills of the Appalachians.