Free The Ice Princess by Elizabeth Hoyt

over bit by slow bit.
    So he rose as wel and donned his breeches and shirt, moving slowly, feeling as if he trod delicately about a wild animal who might be frightened by
    sudden movement.
    The maid came to the door and Coral went to consult with her before returning to the middle of the room. She stood twisting her pale hands together.
    Isaac smiled. "Come sit with me at the table."
    She nodded and sank into a chair.
    He took a seat opposite her. "When I was a boy my mother would make me runny eggs for my breakfast."
    She wrinkled her nose. "Runny eggs?"
    "With the yolk stil liquid." He stretched his legs under the table. "She'd toast me slices of bread, butter them wel , and cut them into sticks and I'd dip them
    into the yolks."
    She seemed to relax a little. "Where did you grow up?"
    "On the coast of Cornwal ."
    "Real y? I would've thought London or nearby."
    He shook his head. "I grew up near the wild windy cliffs. My father was a mining foreman and my brothers still work managing mines. But I always loved
    the sea. My mother's father was the captain of a ship and he bought me my first commission."
    She looked at the table, placing her hand flat against the surface. "Is she stil alive, your mother?"
    "Yes." Someday soon he'd take her to meet Mother, but he didn't tel her of that. "And the sister you once spoke of? Is she alive as wel ?"
    "Pearl." She smiled a little sadly. "Yes, she's stil alive. She's married, in fact, to a land steward in Essex. She seems happy."
    "Seems?"
    "I haven't seen her in years," Coral said softly. Isaac frowned, but before he could question her, the maid entered with a ful tray of food. There was a pause
    as the maid set the table and arranged their repast, and then Coral thanked her and she left. Coral placed a large ham steak on a plate and handed it to
    him. "At what age did you go to sea?"
    "Twelve." Isaac helped himself to coddled eggs from a dish and some toast as wel . "And I was so homesick the first month that I thought I'd die before I
    ever saw land again."
    "Truly?" Coral paused, the teapot half-lifted toward her cup. "I can't imagine you uncertain or afraid."
    "But I was just a boy like any other," he replied in amusement. "Al boys miss their mothers when first they go to sea."
    "Al boys may miss their mothers, but I doubt very much that you were like al the other boys. You became a captain—surely they don't al rise so high."
    "No, of course not." Isaac buttered a piece of toast. "I was fortunate to serve my first commission on a ship with a wise old captain. He took me under his
    wing."
    "You were fortunate."
    "Yes, I was. He made me into the man I am today."
    "Then I would thank him if I met him, for I like very much the man you are today," she replied quietly.
    Isaac looked at her, wondering at the sad undertone in her voice.
    "You'l put me to the blush."
    "Yes. Wel ." She stared down at the table, fiddling with her silverware.

    "I wonder that you haven't heard that quite often from other females."
    "Not so very often," he said gently.
    "You said your wife died years ago," she said, stil to the table.
    "Haven't you thought of marrying again?"
    "I'm away for months at a time at sea. A captain's wife can accompany him, but not many ladies are strong enough for that life. Alice, my late wife, certainly
    wasn't. Any woman I take to wife would either have to be able to sail with me or be able to withstand months alone."
    "Ah."
    He was thril ed that she seemed interested in the subject, but frustrated that he couldn't read her face. Was the prospect o f being a captain's wife too
    daunting? Or was she intrigued by the thought of sailing the sea?
    "I confess," he said careful y, "that for a time I thought I would never remarry. Lately, however, I have begun to think a wife would be a very good thing."
    "Oh," was al she said.
    Stil , he decided to take her response in a positive light--she had not rejected the idea outright. Isaac made sure to keep the conversation light after