“We pray for luck,” Shanks told her.
“Oh, good. I shall sit in the cabin and pray then. I certainly hope God isn’t on Yussef’s side.”
Nick opened his mouth to reply with a scathing retort, but a quick knock drew his attention. It was Mr. Fellowes. “We have him, Captain. Johnson says it’s The Snake.”
Nick felt his face crack into a smile. “Tell Mr. Daniels to set a course to intercept. Mr. Chante, give the order to beat to quarters. We catch him.” He turned to Chante. “And then we make him pay.”
ASHLEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND all of the discussion concerning the battle, but she understood enough. She understood Nick was racing into a battle and she and Rissa were going to be in the middle of it. She watched as the men overturned chairs in their haste to reach the deck and prepare for the battle, and she stood and tried to speak, but no words would come.
She felt helpless, and she loathed that feeling. There was nothing she could do to prevent the coming skirmish, and she hated it. She’d never been helpless before she’d become involved with Nick. The more she was with him, the more she realized she had to trust him, rely on him. She wanted to give him her trust, all of his trust. She’d already given her love, but she was not certain he was willing to give her anything in return.
He hadn’t said he loved her. And he wasn’t going to forgo his battle to protect her or his daughter. He’d risk everything. Once she’d admired those traits in people she knew. Once she’d strived for them. Now she wanted something else. She wanted home—not her mother and father’s home. Her own. A place where she could be free, could do as she liked, could live as she liked.
A place she could be safe.
She looked up and was startled to note Mr. Chante was still in the wardroom. “Mr. Chante,” she said, clearing her throat.
“Lady Nicholas.” It was the first time he’d called her by her new title. Of course, she knew as the wife of the younger son of a marquess, she would take lady and his name as her title. She had just not thought he knew of such rules. And the fact that even someone like Chante knew her new title served to reinforce that, whether she wanted him or not, she was part of Nick. Even his name was hers now.
“I was wondering,” she said, “where the safest place for Rissa and I might be. I imagine you want us out of the way.”
He nodded. “When I go on deck, you come and take the child down below. The captain’s cabin is as safe as anywhere else. I’ll wait until you’re out of the way to sound the call for battle stations.”
She nodded. “Thank you.”
He indicated the door to the companionway, and she preceded him out of the room. “I suppose you think this is fitting.”
“I doan know what you mean.”
She looked over her shoulder at him. “I think you do. I sneaked on board, and now we’re about to go to battle. We could all die. I would have been safer on the island.”
“I doan think you care about being safe. You like the lion. Nothing scares you.”
“I’m scared of sinking to the bottom of the ocean.”
“Cap’n won’t let that happen. He won’t let you die.” They’d reached the ladder to the upper deck, and she paused and faced Chante.
“I don’t see how he has much say in the matter.”
“You ask if I think it’s fitting, you being here in the middle of a battle. I think it’s fate.”
“Fate? I’ve always believed you make your own destiny.”
“Me too. With you here, the cap’n will fight harder, fight smarter. We can’t lose.”
She studied him, staring at his dark features for longer than was comfortable to either of him. “Do you know what I think, Mr. Chante?”
He shrugged as if to say he did not care.
“I think you knew exactly what was in the chest I brought aboard. And I think you knew once I came aboard, I never left. I think you know everything that happens on this ship.”
“That’s my job.”
“Then why did you let me stowaway? Why didn’t you report me or make me leave?”
He smiled. “Because I want to win.”
“Can I ask you something else, Mr. Chante?”
