IT WAS AN UNPLEASANT DINNER. Katey couldn’t think of a more appropriate word to describe it. She was uncomfortable. The two Malory men were just as uncomfortable. And it didn’t help that James had nearly insulted her when he’d remarked on the pendant she was wearing close to her heart, asking if it was made of ivory.
She’d smiled and told him, “No, it’s called scrimshaw, carvings that have become popular in New England recently. It’s made of whalebone.”
He’d looked appalled. “You’re wearing—whale?”
She’d stiffened and said, “I think it’s beautiful. A lot of thought and talent went into making it.”
“Quite right,” he’d amended. “Very pretty.”
For whatever reason, they seemed to be as nervous as she was tonight. Or perhaps they were just responding to her mood.
The food was delicious though. The Malorys even attempted to make normal conversation, but it was pretty terse. And she caught quite a few pointed looks between the brothers, as if they were communicating without words. Their odd behavior began to worry her. She had intended to ask what they were doing in the Mediterranean. Now she was quite sure she didn’t want to know.
“Pure foolishness on his part, taking you through that particular sea,” James was saying to her. “There is ample warm weather in the Caribbean. That’s where Boyd should have sailed you.”
“I didn’t want to travel that far yet,” Katey replied. “He did suggest it. I declined.”
“Then the fault was yours, m’dear,” James didn’t hesitate to scold. “You have to take into account what is happening in the part of the world you intend to visit. Most of the pirates in the Caribbean were done away with toward the end of the last century. The few that are still operating there are mostly just the annoying sort that will ransom you back to your family if you’re captured.”
“What my brother is getting at,” Anthony added, “is that pirates are much more prevalent in the Mediterranean. The governments who have suffered losses because of them haven’t become sufficiently annoyed to declare war on them. They will eventually, but in the meantime, if those pirates capture you, they won’t ransom you to your family, they’ll sell you into slavery. A very big difference.”
Katey didn’t take offense. When someone scolded her out of concern for her, she tended to feel guilt, not anger. But Katey felt neither emotion now. At least they were no longer tiptoeing around with their words, which enabled her to relax just a little.
“I was assured that we would be relatively safe if we avoided the Barbary Coast, which we did,” Katey told them. “Was I misinformed? Is that why you came looking for us? Do you know something about this area that Boyd and his captain don’t know?”
“My brother is being overly dramatic,” Anthony said. “You were probably fine.”
“Not so fine,” Katey was forced to say. “Had we stayed on ship, we would have been, no doubt. But going on that outing so far from any settlements left us exposed. Some pirates did show up today. They spotted us on the beach and came ashore to capture us. Boyd took care of both boats they sent it. You didn’t notice their ship scurrying away at the first sight of The Oceanus?”
“We saw the smaller vessel, but since you were on the empty side of a populated island, we assumed they were merely local friendlies who stopped to see if you wanted a ride out of there.”
“Two boatloads, eh?” James said thoughtfully. “What was the head count?”
“Six per boat. Boyd wasn’t quite done with the first group when the second boat arrived.”
“He had weapons?”
“If you want to call his fists weapons. With the apparent intent to sell him into slavery, they were doing their best not to seriously hurt him. They thought they could bring him down with their bare hands. They thought wrong.”
To that James raised a golden brow at his brother. “Feeling better, old man?”
“That he’s good with his fists?” Anthony grumbled. “Or that after bruising them on twelve faces he was still good with his fists?”
James ended up chuckling. “Good point.”
But Anthony said to her with a frown, “You must have been terrified.”
Katey blinked with the realization that she’d been nothing of the sort, at least she hadn’t really been afraid for herself. In fact…
“I was worried, yes, but at first about Boyd. He’d hid me inland, then went back to ‘take care of them,’ he’d said. I was too nervous to stay put. When I got back to the beach, I saw another boat landing, but Boyd wasn’t quite finished with the first group, and he couldn’t see the new arrivals. That’s when I panicked. I was afraid the new group would surprise Boyd and overwhelm him. So I stepped out to draw their attention to me, to give him a little more time to finish with the two he was still fighting.”
“They didn’t try to overwhelm you?”
Her lips twisted with disgust. “They probably would have, but they were too busy laughing at my attempt to hit them with the rocks I’d gathered. Not one of the stones I threw landed anywhere near them. It was a pathetic attempt to do them harm, but it worked rather perfectly as a distraction, if I do say so myself.”
Anthony sat back in amazement. “So once again you come to the rescue.”
She chuckled at him. “Certainly not. I merely gave Boyd time to sneak up behind them and drop two of them with his club before they even knew he was there! You know, as I look back on it, and I can say this now that the danger is over, it was quite an exciting adventure, the second I’ve had since I began this journey. I even managed to knock one of the pirates out when they turned their backs on me to deal with Boyd’s timely arrival. And he made quick work of the last three. You should have seen him. He was quite magnificent, particularly since he barely took a scratch himself.”
The brothers exchanged glances before Anthony asked carefully, “Katey, you haven’t developed fond feelings for Boyd Anderson, have you?”
“No.”
She said it so quickly, Anthony didn’t delve further. He merely added, “Glad to hear it, because he’s not exactly in our good graces just now.”
James grinned. “When has that barbarian ever been?”
Anthony disagreed. “You weren’t here, old man, but I had reason to be grateful to the Yank recently.”
James feigned a surprised look. “Never say so.”
“It was certainly brief, mind you, but I felt it nonetheless.”
“And long gone,” James said.
“Most definitely,” Anthony agreed with a sour look. “But I’ll have to allow it sounds as if he acquitted himself rather well today—before we arrived.”
“You can allow that if you must, but I bloody well won’t,” James said to his brother, then glancing at Katey, he added, “Katey, m’dear, don’t make the mistake of seeing my annoying brother-in-law as your hero just because he managed to take down twelve miscreants today. With those pirates not wanting to hurt him, as you said, the advantage was completely his. Any man who is the least bit handy with his fists could have done the same thing.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that,” she said tight-lipped. “Certainly not.”
Especially since they would never have been on that isle to begin with, or run into those pirates, if Boyd hadn’t jumped on his golden opportunity, as he’d put it, to get them there. But she wasn’t about to mention that to the Malory brothers.
James, however, picked up on her tone and remarked thoughtfully, “That’s right, you’re currently annoyed with him, aren’t you?”
“Whatever gave you that idea?” she said sarcastically.
James replied with a grin, “The ‘pretend you don’t know me’ remark you made to him would have sufficed, but we could also see that you’d been chewing his head off on the beach.”
She groaned inwardly, realizing they’d probably had spyglasses trained on the island. But this was one subject she wasn’t going to discuss. The Malorys, however, apparently felt they knew her well enough by now to delve.
One of James’s golden brows went up. “Would you like to discuss it?”
“No.”
“It’s nothing that would require punishment?” James pressed in a more menacing tone. He even rubbed his knuckles against his cheek so she’d understand what sort of punishment he was talking about.
“No, don’t hurt him!”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, dear girl,” Anthony assured her, albeit with some color in his cheeks.
James chuckled to himself. Katey had no idea why. She saw nothing amusing about the subject. But then these English lords did seem to have a quirky sense of humor.
With dinner pretty much finished and the conversation no longer to her liking, Katey waved away the dessert that was offered to her. “I should be getting back to my cabin,” she told her companions. “It’s been a long, eventful day.”
Anthony said quickly, “Katey, don’t go yet. I need to have a few words with you.” He looked at his brother. “Would you mind?”
James understood, but he started laughing in reply. “Leave?” In other words, he wasn’t budging.