Just as he stepped off the ladder onto the lower deck, Miss Chase exited the aft cabin—the portside aft cabin. “What the devil were you doing in Norton’s cabin?” His harsh voice reverberated around the passageway, unintentionally as loud as when he barked orders from the quarterdeck.
Startled, she dropped whatever was in her arms to the deck. She wiped her palms on her duck trousers. “There is no need to bellow, Captain. A polite inquiry would suffice.” She bent to retrieve the objects at her feet.
Nick took one from her. “Books? You were in Norton’s cabin for books?”
She looked at him askance. “Mr. Norton gave me to understand it’s quite a regular thing to exchange books while at sea. Did he lead me astray?”
He felt a pounding in his temple. “Just so long as it’s only books you’re exchanging.” He opened the door to his cabin and ushered her in, then shut it firmly behind them. “If I’d known you were a bluestocking, I would have offered you my chest.” He turned from lighting the lamps just in time to see her jaw snap shut. “Sea chest.” Next to the head of his bunk, he slid the top chest to the side, unlocked the bottom chest and flung open its lid.
Was there anything incriminating inside? Too late if there was; Miss Chase was immediately at his side, lantern held aloft, digging through the contents with her free hand.
“Byron? Coleridge? Shakespeare’s comedies?”
“What did you expect? Religious tracts?”
She shook her head. “Manuals on navigation, seamanship, that sort of thing.”
“Never let it be said I disappointed a lady.” He rummaged toward the bottom of the trunk, then presented his prize on his forearm like a fine bottle of wine.
“Practical Navigation and Seamanship, by William Nichelsen,” she read aloud.
“After my grandfather gave this to me, I must have carried it everywhere for months. Even slept with it under my pillow.” He expected a tease about treating a book like a favorite stuffed toy.
Instead she tilted her head to one side. “You were much closer to your grandfather than your father. I wonder why?”
Nick slammed the trunk lid shut. “I’ll show you where I keep the key. Help yourself to reading material any time.” He made a production out of stuffing the key in his desk drawer. He didn’t worry about her discovering anything in the desk; she’d likely already gone through it anyway. At least twice.
“Thank you. That’s very generous.” She hung the lantern above the table and sat down to read … the book on navigation. The short stack of books from Norton was pushed to the center of the table, ignored.
“That’s your choice for relaxing?”
She marked her place with a fingertip. “I have decided to pass the time on our voyage by learning everything I can about sailing and this ship. Mr. Tucker gave me a good start today and I intend to continue in the same vein.”
“Why?”
“Why?”
“Yes.”
Her tongue darted out to moisten her pink lower lip. “Because I don’t intend to embroider chair covers.” Her answer must have made perfect sense to her, for she bent her head to read again.
Still baffled, Nick pulled out a chair and turned it around. He sat beside her, his forearms resting on the chair back. “Because you lack embroidery floss and needles? We probably have some in the slop chest.”
Like a teacher who’s already given a student the same answer several times, Miss Chase marked her place again and looked him straight in the eye. “Soon after we return to England with the treasure, I’m going to be married. Sir Percival has a large estate with many fields and animals. One never knows what bits of knowledge may prove useful.”
“You’re marrying a farmer? And you think knowing how to reckon your position with a sextant might come in handy?”
She pursed her lips. Despite her obvious annoyance with him, or maybe because of it, he suddenly had the urge to kiss those pink lips. How many times had Sir Percival kissed them? Had Norton kissed her? He’d wring Norton’s neck and toss him overboard.
No. Couldn’t do that. Nick would never hear the end of it from his sister.
Something less obvious.
“As I said, one never knows what knowledge will prove useful at a later date.”
He couldn’t help grinning. “That’s your lecture voice.”
Her spine stiffened. “My what?”
