Elizabeth Grayson by Moon in the Water

together.
    For no reason she could name, the notion pleased her.
    “Hello, Ruben,” she greeted him and was struck by how dissimilar these two brothers seemed. Chase was big, broad-shouldered, and solidly built. His hair was a ruddy brown and his eyes were bright as bachelor buttons. Ruben was slim and exotic, dark as a Spaniard and lithe as a hickory withe. His thick, black hair curled long on his collar.
    Something about the close fit of his clothes and the ornate ruby-red stickpin threaded through his cravat hinted that he was more than a bit of a dandy. He confirmed the notion when he bowed over Ann’s hand and brought it to his lips.
    “What a pleasure it is to welcome such a lovely and cultured lady to the Hardesty clan.”
    Ann couldn’t help responding to the glint in those warm, brown eyes and the teasing curve of his mouth beneath his closely trimmed mustache.
    Ann dipped in a somewhat graceless curtsey. “Why, thank you, Mr. Hardesty. I hope I never do anything to jeopardize your good opinion of me.”
    “I doubt there’s danger of that”—he turned a wide, white grin on her—“especially in
this
family. And just so you know, everyone calls me Rue.”
    Just then, Mary Fairley came to give Ann a little hug and offer champagne. “I hope your captain proves himself a good papa to the wee one,” Mary confided in a whisper before she moved on.
    On the far side of the room James Rossiter cleared his throat. “I’d like to propose a toast,” he offered, “in honor of my daughter’s marriage.”
    Everyone raised their glasses.
    “May Ann and Captain Hardesty enjoy years of health and happiness,” he offered.
    They all drank.
    All except Ann, who, with a stubborn show of pride, refused to give her stepfather the satisfaction of accepting his good wishes.
    They’d barely swallowed the champagne when James Rossiter went on. “Now, then, since I know Captain Hardesty is casting off at four o’clock and eager to get down to the riverfront, I have one last toast to give you.” He raised his glass again. “To Captain Hardesty, my new son-in-law, and to the
Andromeda.
May the river always lie deep before the both of you and may your troubles fall quickly in your wake.”
    “Hear, hear!” everyone agreed and drank.
    From the way Chase swallowed the champagne, Ann could see he was impatient to be on about his duties. But Ann had a few things to settle with her new husband before he left.
    “I need to have a word with you,” she told him. “We can talk in my father’s study.”
    Ann saw Chase cast a glance in the commodore’s direction. That he thought he needed her father’s permission to talk to his wife boded ill for their discussion. And though Ann’s belly fluttered with uneasiness, she refused to back down.
    “Follow me,” she directed and led him down the hall.
    LAST SPRING CHASE’S SISTER MILLIE HAD MARRIED SAM Seifert in the orchard behind his parents’ house, then they’d all gone up to the top of the bluffs for a picnic. When his brother Will had spoken vows with Etta Mae Hoffsteader two years ago, they’d done it on the bow of her family’s houseboat, and pretty much everybody ended up in the river.
    This wedding sure as hell hadn’t been the kind the Hardestys were used to.
His
bride had stood up beside him like a spire of ice.
His
bride had refused to accept his ring, as if she didn’t think it was good enough. Now she was sweeping him down the hall toward her father’s study like a truant dragged back to school by his ear.
    He supposed she had a right to be mad at him. He
had
promised her one thing and done something else entirely. But then, he’d tried to explain.
    He’d come to Lucas Place three times in the last two days to see if he could make things right with her. He wanted to tell her what it was like to walk the
Andromeda
’s decks, to stand in the wheelhouse and know it was where he belonged. He needed to make her understand what captaining the
Andromeda
meant to