Page 2 of Terms of Trade (Trade Wind 4)

This last question was spoken in a sultry, inquisitive voice—a woman’s.

Nicholas leaned against the wall, an invisible force seizing his lungs.

“Aye, if she’s built.”

The male stranger, presumably Captain Miller, asked another question, and Nicholas waited, willing the woman to speak once more.

She didn’t disappoint. Over the next few minutes, he stood out of view while both Americans peppered the engineer with insightful questions.

Nicholas's excuse for spying was that Macalester responded freely, without the nerves he evidenced when Nicholas queried him. If it so happened that while he learned about the waterwheel, he also delighted in her rich voice, her quick mind…

“Only certain mechanical elements.” Macalester’s reply followed the woman’s inquiry about which parts would be of metal.

“Most will be fashioned from timber, then. Which species would you use for the wheel’s slats?”

After he answered, she posed more detailed questions.

Nicholas's dark eyebrows rose, and he rubbed his lip with a forefinger.What manner of woman is this?Her bold voice and speech evidenced a sharp mind that wouldn’t, couldn’t, be hidden. Surely, with all her knowledge and wit, the owner of that voice had to be a mature woman of many years and children.

“Why, based on the strength and resistance to rot required, the planks would need to bemuchthicker!”

Nicholas choked down laughter at her open disagreement with the engineer’s assessment.

“Unless, that is, you used a more suitable timber.”

Nicholas closed his eyes.How much longer can I bear hearing that voice discuss the girth and hardness of wood?

“Elijah, you must see this!”

Nicholas knew she wasn’t speaking tohim, but he needed to see whatever had captivated her so. Stepping into the boardroom, he looked past Macalester, fiddling with a section of model aqueduct, and ignored the other man, a stranger, crouched beside the table.

In a pool of peacock-blue skirts kneeled a red haired siren, pointing to the replica of the iron crankshaft at the center of the wheel. She appeared to be a good handful of years younger than his own thirty-two!

His mind spun as he connected the enchanting sight with the brilliance he had overheard. Though modest in cut, her silk damask gown flowed tantalizingly over swells of ample breast. In his mind, his hand already curved into the indentation of her waist before sliding over the wealth of her hips.

She turned to her brother, a slow smile spreading, animating her delicate features. “They’ll need massive timbers for the connecting rods.”

Glimpsing her silk-clad ankles, Nicholas swallowed.You’re rendering my timber massive.

Her blue eyes sparkled, even in profile.

I’m jealous of the attention she’s giving a bloody architectural model!

The siblings conferred, and after the engineer replaced the section of aqueduct leading to the wheel, they rose and inspected anew.

She tapped the table. “How many revolutions per minute at full operation? Two? Three?”

The engineer nodded keenly. “I estimate two and a half!”

Nicholas stepped into view. “How many gallons pumped per minute?”

“Two hundred and fifty. Although that depends…”

Despite the importance of this project and his usual regard for details, Nicholas didn’t hear the rest, for the woman turned his way.

At first, she merely glanced in his direction before shifting her gaze back to the wheel. Satisfaction registered in him when she froze; she couldn’t ignore him, either. She turned back slowly, stalling Nicholas’s breath in his throat.

Nowhewas the object of her formidable curiosity.

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