More Than You Know by Jo Goodman Read Free Book Online Page B

pass between telling Strickland and arranging Rand's own presence at the house. Clearly she wanted to come to terms quickly.
    He wondered if they believed he would change his mind.
    Rand was seated to the right of his host at the dining table. Claire, he immediately noticed, had made a point of dressing for dinner and sat across from him. As each course was served, Claire unobtrusively ran her index finger along the rim of the plate, feeling for the placement of the meat, or fish, or vegetable. The only real concession that Rand could observe Claire making was in her contribution to the conversation. With her concentration fully engaged in managing the cold soup, the steamed trout, and the lemon sorbet, she was able to offer little.
    Or perhaps it was simply that Strickland gave so few opportunities for her to slip in a word. The duke, Rand realized, might be willing to indulge his goddaughter by supporting the voyage, but he had a list of conditions of his own. All of them apparently leading up to the one he proposed over the port.
    "I want someone to attend Claire,” Strickland said, leaning back in his chair. He swirled his glass, considering the port's deep color and bouquet. He glanced at his goddaughter. “I really wish you would leave us now, dear. You cannot enjoy this."
    Claire smiled with genuine amusement. “And miss you haggling over what concerns me the most?” she asked. “I think I'll stay just where I am, thank you. Please don't let my presence keep you from enjoying one of your cigars.” To prove that she meant it, Claire rose from the table and went to the sideboard. It only took her a moment to find the duke's intricately carved cigar box. She carried it back, nudged open the lid, and held it out for Strickland's choosing. The duke took one and Claire came around the table to make the same offer to Rand.
    "Captain? His grace informs me these are the finest cigars in London."
    "That may be, but I don't smoke.” He turned back to the duke as Claire withdrew the box. “Miss Bancroft seems eminently capable of attending to her needs as well as everyone else's,” he said. “I'm not prepared to take another passenger."
    The duke chuckled. “You're referring to Claire's little display of independence. I beg you not to be misled. Before you commit yourself to any position, you should know that she practiced just that action for a large part of the afternoon."
    Rand saw Claire fumble with the box as her godfather gave her away. She placed it on the sideboard with enough force to make Rand wince; then she turned on both of them.
    "I practice everything,” Claire said without apology. “I've had to learn how to walk again and how to feed myself. You would have me remain helpless, your grace, dependent on your staff for my most basic needs. I told you at the outset that I would not have it so. I am not so independent as I would like, but I have no need for someone to be my crumb catcher."
    Claire pushed away from the sideboard and took up her chair at the table. “I won't have my place on board Cerberus jeopardized by your conditions, your grace. I told you Captain Hamilton would have terms of his own. I've yet to hear them."
    Rand did not believe there was anyone in all of the British Empire who could speak to the Duke of Strickland as Claire just had. He made allowances for her that he would grant no one else and Rand suspected this was not a recent turn of events. Rand hoped she did not expect the same license from him. On board Cerberus his word was the last word and there was rarely a time when he entertained discussion.
    Rand set his glass on the table. Candlelight flickered across his hand. “I think I should tell you, Miss Bancroft, that my first term is that you never speak to me the way you just did to your godfather. To do so privately will get you confined to your quarters. In front of others will get you keelhauled."
    Claire's cheeks pinkened as Rand began speaking. When he was finished, they