Read Online Corsets & Crossbones by Heather C. Myers - Free Book Online Page B

never admit it, of course, but Brooke suspected that Fiona had feelings that ran deeper than sisterly affections for the young man.  Brooke could understand if her suspicions of her friend’s feelings were correct.  Joel was incredibly handsome with short, strawberry blond hair and clear blue eyes.  His skin had a peachy tone to it, and his lips were red.  He was tall and lean, and when he smiled, people could not help but smile along with him.  His voice was low and tainted with humor, and when he spoke, witty satire sprung from his red lips like water from a fountain.  Joel was quite charming and highly-sought after, but Brooke could see that he, too, had eyes only for Fiona.  However, he was merely a mapmaker, and while there was an undeniable and unspoken attraction between Brooke’s closest friends, society would say that their match was not a smart one.
    Once the greetings were over, Brooke and Fiona were led to their study hall while Joel surprisingly followed Governor Radcliffe and Master Cunningham.
    “Why is Joel going with our fathers?” Brooke asked Fiona in a whisper.  The servants residing in the Radcliffe mansion were all shameless gossips, so any secrets must be spoken as though walls could hear.
    Fiona shrugged and gave a sideways glance at her friend.  “I have not the slightest of clues,” she responded, her voice just as soft as Brooke’s.  “All I know is that Father called for his presence early this morning.”
    “I’m sure you had no objections to that,” Brooke teased lightly.
    Fiona’s cheeks colored slightly, but before she could respond to Brooke’s jest, the two had reached their study hall.  A short, squat man was writing on a green chalkboard with his right hand, and with his left, he was holding onto a bundle of cluttered papers.  When he would glance down at his notes, his hard, grey eyes would squint, and when he copied his notes onto the board, his writing was small and hard to decipher.  He was wearing a wrinkled tunic that was only halfway tucked in, and his dark trousers were loose at the waist and ran well into the floor, masking his dirty shoes.  His grey hair had thinned on his round head, and the color was so light that depending on the lighting, one could not make out if he had hair or not.  His eyebrows were dark and bushy, and his nose was round and touched with an apple-red color.  His chin camouflaged with his neck, and his cheeks were sagged in.  He spoke with a rough voice, and his teeth were crooked and yellow.  He taught with little patience, his naturally short fuse further shortened by his two young pupils.
    When he finished writing his notes, he turned and set the papers down rather noisily on the desk before him.  He immediately narrowed his eyes at the two young women seated in front of him, innocent smiles on their faces.
    “Good to see you again, Mister Slater,” Brooke said.  Her face was angelic but there was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.
    “You watch your tongue, Miss Cunningham!” he exclaimed sharply, pointing a thick, stocky finger at her.  “I may not be able to see well, but I can hear trickery from a serpent’s tongue!”
    Brooke and Fiona exchanged an amused look as soon as Mister Slater glanced down at his papers, and both had to bite their lips from laughing.
    “Now copy these notes without a word out of either of you!” he said , and plopped down into the seat to go over his wrinkled sheets of paper.
    Brooke and Fiona both started to copy his notes on the chalkboard, albeit with slight difficulty at recognizing a particular word from time to time.  A moment went by when all that was heard was the scratching of the pens writing, and Mister Slater’s heavy breathing coming from his mouth.
    “I received a visit from my stranger last night,” Brooke whispered as she wrote.
    Fiona glanced up sharply from her work to make sure Mister Slater had not heard Brooke’s soft murmur, but he was currently occupied