Riveted by Meljean Brook Page B

island?”
    “Accompanied by her nurse, yes. They have the stateroom on the second deck. You saw her on the docks?”
    “Yes.”
    “I hadn’t realized that she’d been allowed to leave the ship.”
    Perhaps she hadn’t been. David hadn’t seen how the trouble at the port gates had started, but he felt certain that her birth documents were false. Had she been trying to escape?
    Maybe he should have helped her. “Do you know her name?”
    “Maria Madalena Neves.”
    “Lusitanian?” That couldn’t be right. She hadn’t spoken Portuguese at the gates.
    “I believe so. She boarded
Phatéon
in Nova Lagos—though I do recall she said that her grandmother was from one of the northern kingdoms. Sweden, perhaps.”
    That might be the answer, then. If she’d been unmanageable, she might have been sent away before, to family in the north. Would she know
his
mother’s family? “Will she be at the captain’s table?”
    “She has been these past two nights. I can see to it that you have a seat next to her, if you like.”
    “I would.”
    His aunt nodded, but a hint of uncertainty weakened her smile. “David, I hate that this must be said, but I hope that she has not misled you in any way. It hasn’t happened on this ship, but I’ve heard that some of these girls will attempt to make themselves…ineligible. And they’ll use any man to do it.”
    David grinned wryly. “She must not be that desperate. I asked her to join me for dinner at the inn. She refused.”
    “She
refused
—?” Lucia seemed to stumble, at a loss for words.“Ah, well. Perhaps she will be desperate enough to seduce you after we are under way.” When David began to laugh, she raised her hands to suddenly pink cheeks. “Oh. No, dear. That is
not
what I mean. Only that her fate will seem more inescapable at that point.”
    He’d known what she meant. That didn’t make the other any less true. “Is it inescapable?”
    If so, he would offer to help her escape it.
    “No. The Vashons receive a fee from the family, and so the captain will fly the girl to Heimaey. But on
Phatéon
’s next docking at the island, she’ll receive free passage away if she doesn’t want to stay.”
    “Do the families know this?”
    “Of course not. But here is something you won’t expect to hear, David: Of the fifteen girls we’ve taken, only two have left.” With a sly grin, she patted his hand. “Perhaps this one will have reason to leave, too?”
    He’d dug this hole, hadn’t he? “That’s not what I—”
    “Hush, now. And make certain to comb your hair.” She turned away from him, unpinning her own hair. “If you can tear yourself away from Miss Neves after dinner, I would like to introduce you to the crew in the wardroom. We’re rather starved for new company, and so passengers are always welcome—and there is one person in particular who I think would interest you.”
    Only Maria Madalena Neves interested him, and if what he suspected of her origin was true, Lucia would certainly understand why. “I will see you again shortly, then.”
    “Comb your hair,”
was her only reply as he left.
    David’s cabin was on the second deck—and, he realized after asking for directions—only a few steps from the stateroom. His heart pounded when he stopped at his door, and he stood looking down the passageway toward hers. She might emerge at any moment.
    What would she think of seeing him there, after she’d run fromhim on the docks? What would she think of suddenly facing him across a table? Perhaps he ought to prepare her. He could look in on her, inquire that she was all right after her ordeal at the port gates.
    Everything would be proper. Her nurse would be in the stateroom. He wouldn’t even enter the cabin, but simply make his inquiry from the passageway.
    Oh, he was a fool. Knowing that, he still combedhis fingers through his hair and approached her door. And if by some terrible chance, she was alone and desperate enough to invite him into her