Columbine by MIRANDA JARRETT Read Free Book Online Page A

accepted every foul word Sir Henry had said against her. And what was that to her? He was a liar, a rogue, the over-sized colonial ox responsible for her conviction.
    Why, she’d almost fainted from being shut in the same cabin with him! So why, then, did it matter so much that he believe her?
    She slammed the door after her, and Kit heard her heels echo on the deck as she ran toward the forward companionway. Why the devil did she have to say that about her uncle .9 The more the chit denied her past, the worse he decided it likely was. He swore to himaeff and kicked the bulkhead. He had no choice but to avoid her for the rest of the voyage. Two months, at most three. Not so very long.
    He remembered how her silvery eyes had roamed so freely over his body, and he swore again. He knew he had to leave her alone. And he knew, just as surely, that he probably wouldn’t.

Chapter Five
    Carefully, Dianna opened her hand and stared down at the hard half-biscuit that would be her supper and her dinner, as well. For the past four weeks, since the end of the fresh food, ship’s biscuit had been all any of them between decks were given to eat, and even that had dwindled from three biscuits a day to one. The slow starving worsened each day, gnawing mercilessly at both strength and will
    Sitting on the deck beside Dianna, Mary Penhallow cradled her youngest son in her lap. The dry rattle of the boy’s breathing shook his wasted little body, and he was too weak now to resist the fever that unnaturally brightened his cheeks. The arc of light from the swinging lantern overhead caught the dread in Mary’s face, and Dianna looked away.
    The siilor who brought the biscuits and water each morning growled that they should expect no better on a winter crossing, but Dianna didn’t believe him, not with his jowls and fat belly. But the Penhallows and the others did not agree with her. The Prosperity was a Christian vessel, they argued doggedly, the captain a good man, a gentleman who had promised to treat them well, and to question him would only cause trouble..
    The sick boy cried out fretfully. As Mary tried to comfort him, something inside of Dianna at last rebelled.
    Abruptly she shoved the dry biscuit back into her pocket and rose, steadying herself against the ship’s rocking, and hurried toward the companionway.
    She could no longer sit and do nothing. Somewhere in the ship there was still plenty to eat, and she meant to find it.
    Kit pushed his chair back from the captain’s table and let his head drop back on his shoulders. He was past exhaustion, but even the hot stew and Abraham’s rum could not make the tension in his body fade. To fight his boredom and restlessness, he’d chosen to work the same watches as the crew, and it was hard work, made harder by the winter storms that haunted the North Atlantic. Kit would not soon forget this last one, a blizzard that had shrouded the deck in white and treacherously coated every line with ice. For fourteen hours they had straggled to keep the Prosperity from destroying herself in the shrieking wind and snow.
    Despite his inexperience, Kit was strong and agile, and that was what had mattered most. Another man on the foremast had not been so lucky. One moment Caleb Tucker had been beside Kit, reefing the stern-sheets, and then the next he was gone. Kit wished he could forget the memorybf Caleb’s startled face as he’d lost his footing. And Caleb still scarce a bridegroom when they’d left New London, his pretty wife—widow, now—Patience, newly with child. Although he’d make sure Patience never wanted for anything, the old fear ate at Kit again. Why had Caleb died, and why had he, Kit, been spared?
    “By my reckoning, Kit, we’ll make New London in less than a week,” said Abraham with satisfaction as he lit his pipe with a wisp from the candle.
    “Your Prosperity’s a sweet sailer, no mistake.”
    “She’s Jonathan’s, not mine,” said Kit automatically.
    It bothered Kit