When she’d told the captain the rest of the story, about how Dalton had threatened to expose her if she didn’t comply with his demands, he’d asked her to pretend nothing had changed. He was curious as to why Mr. Dalton had been searching through Willa’s things in the first place. Even more, he wondered what the devil the man was up to.
A look of disgust flickered across the face of theArethusa’scaptain. “Meet him as he asked tonight, but tell him I’ve put a marine at your door while your husband is incapacitated in the surgery. He won’t dare force you knowing the marine is listening and watching on the orlop deck.”
She realized a guard at her door would certainly make Dalton think twice before interfering with her again. His career in the Royal Navy would be over if he pressed her in spite of the guard and she had to go back to the captain. What he’d done was despicable, but she didn’t want to destroy a man who held such a vital position on theArethusa. She knew Captain Still relied on his efficient management of the ship.
Cullen had talked his senior surgeon’s mate, Sam Parker, into helping him to the chair at the surgery desk where he would normally inscribe the logs he kept detailing the health of each man on theArethusa. He smiled at Willa’s smooth, looping entries each of the days he’d been unconscious since his injuries on Gibraltar.
She’d kept the log up to date with notes on the progress of various crew members who had been under treatment the ill-fated day he went ashore. There were also careful notations each day when she checked on the progress of how her salve treatment was soothing Poppy’s rheumatism. There were notes on the effectiveness of treatments given to various men for the pox.
When he tried to think back to what had happened the day he’d ended up on Gibraltar, memories would bubble to the top of his consciousness and then disappear back down a dark hole, leaving him with a vague sense of unease mixed with urgency. He shook his head and continued looking over the logs. Suddenly, Mr. Parker was shaking his shoulders, hard. He’d fallen asleep and collapsed over the top of the heavy book he’d been reading.
“Back to bed with you, Dr. MacCloud.”
“Where is Mrs. MacCloud?”
“I imagine she’s sound asleep in your cabin at this hour.”
“Will she be all right by herself?” The vague feeling of unease had suddenly gripped him again like a seabird clinging to the rigging.
“No need for concern for your Missus on that account. Captain Still has assigned one of the marine lads outside her door till you’re back on your feet.”
Cullen sighed and murmured to his mate to thank the captain for him and then leaned back onto his swinging cot, closing his eyes in sleep.
Willa wrote in her journal while waiting for seven bells to sound before the first watch. After the jolting experience of knowing someone had gone through her private possessions, she was a little more careful of what she shared in the well-used book. Over the years she’d used both sides of all the pages as well as cross-writing in a different-colored ink. A lot of what she wrote was abbreviated to conserve even more room in the costly journals.
It was tempting to write about her mixed feelings resulting from her husband’s mysterious sortie onto Gibraltar which had ended in disaster. Added to that was the sudden, inexplicable attraction Mr. Dalton seemed to have developed for her. That she would not write about, because putting his twisted attentions into words would only give them more power.
She made her way out of the cabin, past the young man on guard. Despite the late hour, he only nodded at her and stayed at his post. She was sure he’d been apprised of her situation. Willa straightened her shoulders and made her way along the row of guns to the area where Dalton had ordered her to meet him just as the seventh bell sounded and then echoed into silence.
Chapter Nineteen
The seventh bellhad just sounded when Willa stood across from Lieutenant Dalton. She was more than a little surprised at his demeanor since he looked more uncomfortable than she felt. This whole farce had been his idea. Had he lost his nerve?
“I see you’ve decided to see things my way,” he finally said in a husky whisper.
“Your way?” Willa nearly snorted at his discomfiture. “I’m sorry, but I was led to believe you were perpetrating blackmail to get me to go along with some nonsensical attraction you seem to have developed for my person.”
He jerked back a step in the shadows near the gun ports. “It’s not like that.”
“It’s not? Then perhaps you’d like to tell me exactly what you expect from me in order for you to keep my deep, dark secret from the rest of the ship?”
The silence emanating from the lieutenant was so fraught with tension, it seemed more like a clanging bell. At last he leveled an accusation. “You’ve told Captain Still.”
“Why would I incriminate myself unnecessarily? And besides, if I had revealed your perfidy to Captain Still, don’t you think he’d have thrown you in the brig by now?”
“Then why has he stationed a guard at your door?”
“When I went to let the captain know Dr. MacCloud has regained consciousness, he decided to put the guard at our door temporarily until my husband is strong enough to watch over me, since I am apparently a helpless woman.”
“Ha! He knows better than that. Most of the people on this ship know you’re perfectly capable of standing up for yourself.”
Willa was grateful for the darkness of the lower gun deck at that hour so that he couldn’t see how her hands shook at his words. However, she did sense a crack in his bravado at the possibility Captain Still might suspect his true intentions.
In a lunge she didn’t see coming, he dragged her close and kissed her before she could struggle. She scratched the side of his cheek and pushed him away hard. “One more move like that and I’ll make enough noise that the guard below at my door on the orlop deck will hear. He’ll be on you in the time between two heartbeats.”
He shoved away from her, breathing hard. “This - what is between us. It’s not over, Willa. Watch where you step. You’ll not always be near a guard. The Arethusa is a big ship.
“Nothing is between us, Mr. Dalton.” With that, Willa turned away and walked deliberately toward the hatchway steps to the deck below and the surgeon’s cabin beyond. She’d be damned if she’d run from him like a frightened rabbit.
