Petals on the River by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss Page A

skills of a
    wife, and their cook had fervently agreed, but Shemaine had not been the
    most attentive of students and could make no guarantees as to the extent
    of her memory.
     
    Accepting her reply as a negative responseS Gage heaved a dismal sigh.
     
    He wasn't at all excited about the prospect of having to endure a
    novice's cooking, but even Roxanne's skills in that area could not
    compel him to veer from the course he was quickly laying out for
    himself.   He knew by the very act of coming here today that he was
    seriously testing the winds of fate, but his desire to have Shemaine was
    beginning to far outweigh all other considerations.
     
    "You seem very young," he remarked, not wanting to dwell on her
    inexperience.
     
    "Not so young, sir," she readily rejoined, though at the moment she felt
    ancient.   "I was ten and eight this past month."
     
    "Young enough!" Gage scoffed.   "Unless, of course, you think a score,
    ten, and three is ancient."
     
    Shemaine was bemused by his statement.   "What's so significant about a
    score, ten, and three, sir?"
     
    " Tis my age," Gage informed her bluntly.
     
    Oh!   Shemaine's lips formed the word, though her voice failed to give
    utterance to the syllable.   Embarrassed by her blunder, she avoided
    meeting his gaze for fear he might detect her astonishment. She hadn't
    really thought him to be that old!
     
    An uneasy silence passed between them, and finally in fretful confusion,
    Shemaine raised her eyes to meet the ones that stared back at her.   She
    fully expected him to tell her that he would have to seek elsewhere for
    a servant, but his eyes delved deeply into hers and seemed intent upon
    searching out her innermost secrets.
     
    "Now," Gage breathed, as if speaking to himself, "all I have to do is
    convince Mr.   Harper to sell you to me."
     
    Shemaine's heart fluttered in genuine relief.   Though she had desired
    earlier to be bought by a woman, there was something about this man that
    made her confident of his integrity.   Perhaps it was the angry look that
    had sharply creased his brow when he had broached the subject of the
    prisoners being starved.   She just hoped her lack of skills would not
    bring that particular disaster to bear upon his small f amily.
     
    Gage returned to the bosun and offered a sum with a casual indifference
    that was well feigned.   "I'll give you fifteen pounds for the girl."
     
    James Harper felt his hackles rise.   Perhaps it was his own jealousy
    that had raised its inflated green head like a wary serpent when the man
    had looked the girl over, but he was beginning to suspect the colonial
    wanted her, not as a nursemaid for his son, but as a mistress for
    himself.   "The captain gave me strict orders about the girl, Mr.
    Thornton!   She's not to be sold."
     
    "Twenty pounds then," Gage said a bit more testily.   He removed a
    leather purse from a larger pouch that was slung from a shoulder by a
    rawhide strap and worn on the opposite hip.   Carefully he counted out
    the coins and offered them to the bosun.   "That should be enough to suit
    your captain."
     
    "I tell you, the girl is not to be sold!" Harper insisted, growing
    irate.   He refused to even acknowledge the outstretched hand.
     
    "Dammit, man!" Gage snapped.   Realizing his heightening intention to buy
    Shemaine whatever the cost, he asked incredulously, "You bring your
    prison ship into port and flaunt the cargo for every man to see, then
    you say you have no intention of selling the best part of it9" He
    laughed with trenchant skepticism.   "Come now, Mr.   Harper, is this a
    game?   If it is, I have no time to play.   Now tell me, how much do you
    want for the girl?"
     
    "What's going on here?" Captain Fitch demanded sharply as he joined the
    pair.
     
    "Sir, this pilgrim," Harper derided as he indicated Gage with an angry
    jerk of his head, "is insisting that he be allowed to purchase Shemaine
    O'Hearn.   His last offer was twenty