Scarlet Butterfly by Sandra Chastain Read Free Book Online Page A

couldn’t, even if I wanted to. Haven’t you heard? The state’s put in a claim.”
    “Oh?” The old man’s flatboat bobbed in the water as he struggled to find a calmer spot near the shore where he could escape the unsettling swirls of water.
    “They’re trying to claim state ownership.”
    Carolina felt a chill come over her. “But they can’t,” she protested. “The
Scarlet Butterfly
belonged to Jacob Rogan. You must be his descendant. That makes it yours, or at least it belongs to the Rogan family.”
    “Yeah, well it looks as if I’m going to have to find a bill of sale to prove it.”
    “Too bad,” Harry said. “Well, I’ve got to get on downstream. I want to check on Miss Lucy. You know she’s got no phone on that old houseboat where she lives, and she might need something. Can I bring you anything on my way back?”
    “No, but thanks,” Rogan said. “We’ll be fine. If it stops raining, the water will drop by morning.”
    Harry pushed himself away from the bank and let the current move him out. “See you in a day or so.”
    They watched Harry lift his steadying pole from the water, allowing his boat to be swept downstream and around the curve of land, out of sight.
    “Why didn’t you send me with Harry?”
    Rogan looked startled.
    “In a flat-bottomed boat in a fast current? Not safe. Look at you, you’re getting soaked.”
    She was. The soft cotton shirt hugged her slim body as water dripped down her forehead. A silence fell between them, and she didn’t know what to say. The raindrops no longer bounced off the deck, but fell gently on its polished surface. The wind was gone, so that the trees hung heavy with water, the limbs bending down and being dragged by the current.Its swiftness had abated, but it was still powerful and still carried debris, slamming it against the hull of the ship and off again in a furious chase.
    Rogan set his lips sternly. He stood opposite her, waiting for her to speak, studying her with regret and confusion. He wished he had sent her with Harry. It would have been a smart move. Lucy could have taken her in until they could reclaim her car. Or she could have gone back to Ida’s in town. But he hadn’t, and he recalled with a jab in the gut that for one second he had considered it, then had deliberately closed off the thought, further saddling himself with this half-starved woman-child who’d boarded the
Butterfly
and sought refuge in his bed.
    Her hair was wet, plastered to her head like a cap. Her eyes seemed more blue, a silvery blue. They were opened wide, watching him with childlike innocence and trust. At the same time she was waiting as if she expected to be censured and was willing to take his rebuke. Something about that trust caught him off guard and made him want to draw her close and comfort her. She shivered.
    “Oh, hell!”
    Rogan swept her into his arms and carried her to his quarters. “What were you thinking, standing out there in the rain like some water sprite?”
    He took a thick towel from behind the door and began to dry her hair, to blot the moisture from her face. To Rogan the cabin was warm, very warm, but her skin was cool. “You’re soaked, and I don’t think you’re strong enough to take this kind of chill.”
    She nodded as he knelt down, drying her legs and ankles.
    “You’ve been ill, haven’t you?”
    “Yes.”
    “I thought so.” He swore and began unbuttoning the shirt. “I want you back in that bed, under those covers.”
    “Will you come too?”
    The implication of her question took his breath away and stilled his hands.
    “No. You’ve already had a sample of what can happen. I might not have been conscious of what I was doing then, but I know better now. I’m going back on deck. You get in bed and cover up. I’ll bring you some hot coffee later.”
    Abruptly, he left the room, climbing the steps in one long stride. Inside the cabin Carolina finished unbuttoning the shirt, draped it across the bureau, and