Page 14 of The Scandal of the Deceived Duchess
Jonathan looked back up from his logbook. “Yes?”
Jake took a tentative step into the cabin. He knew of his friend’s moods from the many years they had worked and served together. Before the war, he had been the foreman on Jonathan’s estate in the State of Virginia. It was where he had grown up and where his father before him had occupied the same position under Jonathan’s father.
Their friendship had developed out of scarcity. Jake was the only man Jonathan respected and appreciated. He had no other friends amongst his own kind that was the elite. He found them tedious, arrogant and cruel. In Jake’s case, he thought of the other foremen that frequented the taverns as barbaric. Jonathan and Jake were in some ways one and the same, albeit from different social classes.
“May I speak plainly, Captain?”
Jonathan frowned. “Why of course. Don’t you always.” He smiled for the first time since Jake entered the cabin.
“All right, Jonathan,” he started, reverting to the way he addressed him when they were alone together. “You like her…”
“Who?”
Jake chuckled. “Amelia. I must say she is a beautiful woman. And might I add, an ideal counterweight to your strong personality.”
“Let me stop you right there. I harbor no feelings for the woman. She is a pain in the neck, arrogant and frail – she’s a woman after all.”
“That’sdaftedand you know it.” Jake grinned. “You know she can’t stop talking aboutye.” Jake smiled when he registered something he decided was hope on the other man’s face.
“And how would you know that exactly?”
Jake shrugged. “Asyehave already so brazenly suggested, I spend a lot of time with Anna…and she told me as much. She too is of the opinion that you two would make a lovely couple. She dreamt it you know.”
Jonathan hacked out a laugh. “Dreamt it, did she?
“Yeah, she did. Anna and I are only one part of the equation. Now, it is up to you and Amelia.” The expression on Jake’s face looked hopeful when Jonathan sighed.
“I have no time for a woman…and besides, Amelia despises me.”
Jake arched his eyebrows. He realized that what he and Anna had planned was going to take a lot more work. “Why don’t you just try and understand her? I mean all you do is grunt and tell stories of the war and how the Americans are going to win it.”
“Well, we are.”
“That may be but try and see it from her perspective. She is a proud English woman and a part of the nobility no less. Of course, she will find such talk against her grain. What self-respecting patriot wouldn’t?” said Jake. He already stood right before Jonathan’s desk.
“She is to be married,” said Jonathan. “What kind of a man would I be if I ripped a woman from the arms of her man, eh?”
“Oh, come on, she hates the man to whom she is betrothed. She dreads the prospect of one day arriving in Canada.”
It was Jonathan’s turn to arch his eyebrows. “More snippets of information from your infinite well of knowledge?”
“Yeah. Anna said that he is a right maggot pie. Amelia was forced into that union by her parents. She doesn’t want the man,” said Jake.
“You want to know something?”
“What?” Jake placed his hands on the desk, hulking over his superior.
“Just how do you find the time to talk so much and still run this ship?”
Jake guffawed. “When you feel what I do for Anna then anything’s possible.” He shrugged. “Do you have any grievances about the way I handle my duties…” he winked, “Sir?”
“No, I can’t say that I do.” Jonathan pressed his fingers together and pointed them up like a steeple. All this talk about women was making him apprehensive. He wasn’t used to it.
“Good. We will have a real feast tonight. I can’t wait. Anna is helping the steward, so we are in for a right treat.” Jake looked at his captain. “Will there be anything else, sir?” he asked, reverting back to a professional capacity.
“No, that’s all for now.”
Jonathan did not hear Jake leave the cabin. His mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Amelia again. Suppertime was fast approaching, and he had no idea how he was going to soften her up a little and maybe get a smile out of her. He immediately discounted the last thought.Let’s start with making her like me a bit – that would be a good start,he thought.
