Read Online Almost a Lady by Jane Feather - Free Book Online Page B

ma’am,” his companion agreed. “Yours to command, ma’am.”
    “Why, thank you . . . thank you both,” Meg said with a warm smile of her own. “I will endeavor not to get in your way.”
    Both young men blushed scarlet and were rendered mute. Cosimo rescued them with a wave of dismissal and they backed away.
    When they were out of earshot, Meg asked, half amused, half disapproving, “Shouldn’t they still be in school?”
    “They are,” Cosimo said easily. “The sea is both their school and their tutor. But they’re older than they look. Just not very experienced in the ways of the world outside this one.”
    “They could be brothers.”
    “In fact they’re cousins.” He moved away from the wheel as the helmsman came up. “Lash it well, Mike. There’s a touch of mischief in the wind.”
    “Aye, thought so meself, sir,” the man said, giving Meg a small nod. It seemed that now she’d been officially introduced, she could be noticed properly. She responded with a friendly nod of her own.
    “Let’s watch the moonrise,” Cosimo invited, steering her towards the stern rail. Meg was aware of a bustle of activity behind her as she rested her forearms on the rail and gazed out over the water. A thin river of silver flowed over the surface as the moon rose.
    “How do two nearly identical cousins come to be working on the same ship?” she inquired casually, enjoying the feel of the breeze rustling through her wonderfully clean hair.
    “Families often do. You’ll find brothers on the same frigates and men-of-war all through the navy. The sea runs in the blood.”
    Meg turned to look at him. “But this is not a naval ship. I suspect it’s a privateer, Captain Cosimo. Why would a family entrust their young men to a ship that has little if any legitimacy on the high seas?”
    He chuckled. “Are you talking of the ship or of its captain, ma’am?”
    “Its captain, of course.”
    “Then there, my dear, you have your answer.” He said nothing more, merely gazed out towards the invisible horizon.
    Meg contemplated this. He was, of course, telling her that he was the reason the families of his lieutenants had entrusted their scions to his ship. “Are they related to you in some way?” she asked.
    He turned his head lazily and regarded her with an unsettling gleam in his eye. “You are very inquisitive, Miss Meg.”
    “Why would it be a secret?” She raised her eyebrows and returned his look with a slightly sardonic air.
    “It’s not. They’re the sons of my sisters. Tell me how else I may satisfy your curiosity.”
    “Are they older or younger than you? Your sisters, I mean.”
    “They’re twins, and they’re four years younger than I am.”
    Meg nodded. That would explain the cousins’ physical resemblance. “So how old are your sisters?”
    “I think you mean how old am I,” he observed, that gleam intensifying. “It seems I interest you.”
    “Don’t flatter yourself,” she said acidly. “I’m merely trying to find out what kind of man has me imprisoned on his privateer. Purely in the interests of self-defense, you understand.”
    “Tell me honestly, Meg, have you felt threatened even for a second on my ship?”
    Honestly obliged her to say no. “But that doesn’t alter the fact that I’m here against my will and you refused to take me back once the mistake was realized,” she added.
    Cosimo drummed his fingers against the rail in what could only be called impatience. “If it had been possible, I would have taken you straight back. But it wasn’t, as I’ve explained, so can we have done with it, please.”
    Meg inhaled sharply at the asperity in his tone. She had been singing the same song, she knew, but it didn’t alter its truth or its relevance to her situation. She was silent and after a minute Cosimo said in a placatory tone, “My sisters are thirty-three.”
    Well, that was a droplet of information. “How old are the cousins?”
    “Seventeen.”
    Meg reflected that