The Captain of All Pleasures (Sutherland Brothers #1)(69)
Author: Kresley Cole

Nicole sat down at the mention of her mother. “We both loved sailing. I remember hearing her laughter.” She met her grandmother’s eyes and said, “She was happy in her life.”

Her grandmother took a deep breath and nodded. “I understand now what caused her to run away—though her choice of accomplice remains a mystery,” she added dryly, and Nicole had to smile.

Then the marchioness turned serious. “I won’t chase away my granddaughter as well. Circumstances will change around here. I’ll never make it like that for you again,” she vowed resolutely.

Nicole must have looked incredulous.

“What? You don’t believe me?” Raising an eyebrow, her grandmother boldly challenged, “Invite your father to dinner here tonight.”

“Father?” Nicole asked in a strangled tone. “Here? With you? Are you serious?”

“I am always serious.”

“What about Chancey?” Nicole ventured to ask.

Her grandmother swallowed and allowed in a pained voice, “Very well.” Then amended, “In proper attire ”

Nicole nodded, then dared, “Father also has a guest with him.”

The dowager frowned before flashing a comprehending look. “Oh, a guest . Well, I suppose we should invite her, too.”

That night when Jason Lassiter first encountered the marchioness, he lost the ability to speak. Because she said briskly, “I was confident you’d bring her back safely, Jason.” Then she mumbled, “Thank you.”

When Maria nudged him to speak, he sputtered, “You should thank Chancey. He was the one who watched out for her.”

Chancey didn’t think, just pulled at his collar and spoke. “It weren’t me that saved her. It were Sutherland.”

“Oh? And who’s this Sutherland?”

Nicole affected an unconcerned look while everyone around her fell silent. The dowager glanced from face to face, trying to determine why the room had grown quiet. To break the awkwardness, Maria approached her and curtsied.

The marchioness, out of long habit, looked her over, taking in every detail from the unadorned navy dress of fine fabric to the spectacles. With a decided look on her face, she declared, “You must be a governess.”

Needed laughter bubbled up. Nicole had to fold her lips in and stare at the ceiling.

Dinner was initially awkward. But the sumptuous meal of braised duck with shallots served with an unstinting flow of wine made even Chancey stop glaring at his utensils.

By the time the footmen removed their dishes, talk had turned to the shipping company. Nicole had learned on the return voyage that Lassiter and Maria had secured financing to fund the line. Their first step, they’d decided, was to commission the construction of a replacement flagship or to purchase one outright. But they and Chancey were reluctant to leave Nicole.

“I’m fine,” Nicole asserted to the table. “I know you have to take care of business. Please stop hovering over me. I’ll try not to marry while you’re away,” she teased.

Her father smiled, though clearly unconvinced.

Nicole reassured him. “You know I want what’s best for the line. After I marry, I plan to help you as much as possible.” She turned to Maria. “You will make him go?”

Maria’s eyes were questioning.

“Please, Maria. I’m twenty years old. We have three footmen, and I’m living in Mayfair. I’m safer than I’ve ever been in my whole life.”

Grandmother pointed out, “Jason, it might be for the best if you two aren’t seen together for a bit. I’ve stuck to the same story for fifteen years. If we call her by her middle name, no one in the ton should be able to connect her to Nicole Lassiter, the sailor. At least not until after she marries.”

“Are ye sure about this, Nic?” Chancey asked gruffly.

“Yes. I want to be married. I want children, and I’ll be twenty-one next month.” She smiled at the marchioness. “Grandmother’s giving me no pressure, but I’m ready. Plus, we don’t have much time—the season’s already begun.”

The others began talking of something else, and Lassiter leaned closer and said in a low voice, “You don’t have to do this. I take back all the things I’ve said before. Soon I’ll be better able to provide for you.”

She smiled fondly at him. “With Maria’s help ”

His eyes lit up. “I think we’re making it official—”

“You’re going to marry her?” she whispered excitedly.

He looked startled and confused. “No. Officially make her a partner. She plans to sell her Brazilian, uh, enterprise. Why would you ever think we’d marry?”

“I think you could be very happy together.”

The look on his face made it clear he’d never thought of Maria in those terms. “Nicole—Iam married.”

“I understand.” And she meant it. But that wouldn’t preclude her from trying to change his mind.

He abruptly asked, “What about Sutherland?”

Nicole deliberately chose to misunderstand him and waved off his concern. “Pssh, I’ll be sure to stay out of the Mermaid and any other waterfront holes, so I probably won’t run into him.”

Father smiled at her bravado. “That’s my girl. Always were a strong little thing.”

Her grandmother heard this last comment and interjected. “Perish the thought. She’s not strong—she’s delicate. Not another word from you, Lassiter.”

Five days later, Nicole waved the trio and many of the Bella Nicola ’s crew off on the Griffin, another of her father’s ships, bound for Liverpool. She had no time for sadness, because Grandmother had whisked in an army of seamstresses to slave over Nicole. At the end of the week, she was prepared for her first ball. She’d complained about the extravagance of having so many women working on her gowns, but her grandmother had decreed it an emergency, so she’d gone along.

The marchioness would introduce her to society, secure invitations, and settle Nicole in. Then she would rest, by God.

The first ball they attended dazzled Nicole with the lights, the silks, and the beautiful, bejeweled people fluttering on the ballroom floor.

She quickly got over it.

In fact, she had been right all along. This world, this social sphere, was not her place. If she had to be on land, then she wanted to see the land. Not imposing mansions with a tease of a garden, or even a park to really whet the appetite, but miles and miles of land laid out in flats and swells like the ocean.

To be honest, she didn’t necessarily want to return to the sea, because without the Bella Nicola, everything had been altered. But the ton life wasn’t meant for her, either. After a few weeks of this existence, she felt as if she’d found a shining coin on the street that disappointed when found to be worthless.

The ball she and her grandmother attended this night was much the same as the others. Nicole was slowly dying, smothered by the weight of convention and the cut of her dress. The perfumes that initially had delighted her swirled in her head and assaulted her senses, as did the odor of a thousand lit candles cloying in the crowded ballroom. She couldn’t get quite enough air.