Page 38 of The Heart of an Earl

His hand moved out, clutching the top of her bare knee, his thumb dipping to the inside of her thigh. “You don’t need leverage, Jules. All you need is me. I swore I would get you home and I intend to keep that oath.”

“I know.” She leaned forward, her hand landing on the side of his cheek. “And you don’t know how much that means to me—your surety of how easy it will be to get me home. But anything can happen on a ship at sea—I know that well. So I need this. Need it for my own peace of mind. In case something happens to you.”

He bristled. “Nothing is going to happen to me.”

A teasing smile came to her face. “You just coupled with a cursed woman. I’ll not tempt the fates any more than that. Please just leave it be, Des. The box is on the ship, well hidden. That is all you need know.”

His gaze shifted to the right, looking out at the sea. Several heartbeats passed before he looked back to her.

“Aye. That is all I need to know.”

{ Chapter 12 }

Jules squinted as she leaned forward on the forecastle deck railing, attempting to bring back into focus the tip of land she was positive she’d just seen.

Land.

True land, her home. Her home waiting for her. Her feet on floors that didn’t constantly move beneath her.

She squinted harder.

“Don’t expect the land to be all that ye hope it to be, child.” Captain Folback’s gravelly voice cut into her ears, jarring her attention to her left.

He stepped along the railing, his red coat catching the few rays of sunlight and setting the color to sparkle, almost as if gold thread had been woven through the fibers. He wasn’t as tall as Des, but she still had to crane her neck to look at his face, his red-brown beard full across his chin, his weathered brown eyes intent on her.

She had to blink twice. The captain had never spoken a word directly to her—only to Des in front of her.

A quick glance back to the far-off land she was determined to spot and her full attention shifted to him. “It won’t?”

He shook his head, his finger going to stroke his long beard. “You survived much, there is no doubt. But the land will disappoint, eventually. It always does. And ye’ll be wanting to be back on the sea.”

She turned to him, her right hand gripping onto the railing. “Forgive my opposition, but I disagree. I don’t think I’ll ever look at the sea again, much less willingly step foot onto a ship.”

He chuckled, a shrug lifting the wide berth of his shoulders. “Ye are an ornery one. But life won’t be what ye hope it to be. It never is. And it’s best to prepare yerself for that eventuality.”

Her eyebrows lifted at him. “What do you know about it?”

“Des mentioned to me who yer father is. And living on a pirate ship for six years is a long fall into the derelicts for a highborn lady such as yerself.”

Panicked, Jules glanced around, looking for ears that may have overheard what he’d just said. Her voice went low. “Des told you who I am?”

Captain Folback set a thick, ruddy hand on the railing with a nod. “He mentioned it to me, and me alone. It is not common knowledge—not knowledge to anyone but Des and me.”

Her eyes closed and she drew a deep breath. Of course Des wouldn’t betray her confidence like that. She looked at the captain. “Did you know that fact before or after you made me shine Bart’s boots?”

“Before.”

She nodded to herself. “You would have tossed me overboard without that knowledge, wouldn’t you have?”

His lips pursed for a quick second. “I would have considered the option of the briny deep with more viability. Ye know as well as I, lass, that a ship doesn’t run without an iron fist atop it.”

“Aye.” Jules drew in a deep breath. Of course she knew it. Knew it too well. She should have known the worrier in Des would have made him tell Captain Folback who she was. Anything to keep her safe. All eventualities covered.

Her look centered on Folback, studying his face. There was kindness in it, kindness she hadn’t seen before—not that she’d ever searched for it.

She inclined her head to him. “Then I thank you for that. And for resting easy on the whip to Des’s back.”

His left eyebrow lifted up. “I don’t rest easy on any sailor of mine.” A twinkle flashed across his eyes and he looked down, reaching into an inner coat pocket and pulling free a grey cloth wrapped around something. “I’m actually here to deliver this.” He flipped back the grey cloth and the delicate silver tips of a fork, a knife and a spoon flashed in the sunlight.

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