Free Gallant Rogue (Reluctant Heroes Book 3) by Lily Silver Page B

place at his table and free lodgings for the rest of her life.
    Jack rubbed the back of his neck and muttered a curse. He didn’t know if he should be angry with Donovan for sending him on this fool’s errand or with himself for accepting the mission. It didn’t matter. He had given the count his word. He would keep it.
    A knock on his cabin door shattered his thoughts. “Enter.”
    Red Jami, the cabin boy came bearing a much-needed repast. 
    Jack studied at the plate of roasted pork, bread and potatoes the lad had just brought him and was reminded of his duty. He took a piece of parchment from his desk drawer, wrote a note to Mrs. O’Donovan and sent Red to deliver the invitation to dine with him in his cabin tonight.
    He was not looking forward to the evening. Mrs. O’Donovan was a morose soul, and that was on a good day. In her defense, she was devastated by the death of her husband and infant son. Dinner with Mrs. O’Donovan was bound to be dismal.
    Realizing the dark forecast for the evening ahead, he decided to go back out on deck to enlist reinforcements once his lunch had been devoured. He’d be damned if he was going to dine alone with the woman. He’d command his officers to join him and make it a full table.
     
     
    Chloe retreated to her cabin after the island of Ravencrest disappeared. She grew sad watching the endless horizon. The master cabin was delightful. It was a two-room suite including a private water closet that emptied into the sea. She walked about the room, enchanted by the deep red curtains framing the large galleon windows, the rich red and gold Turkish carpet covering the plank floor, the tasteful furniture and polished oak paneling. Paintings of faraway lands graced the walls and expensive ornaments and carved sculptures adorned the shelves and tables.
    She was off on a grand adventure , as Elizabeth liked to say of her younger brother’s frequent travels through Europe. This was a chance to start anew, to re-fashion herself as a lady and perhaps marry again one day. She wasn’t too old. Thirty-two wasn’t young, but many women had children still well into they’re thirties, and even at forty.
    She would find Uncle Miguel in Cadiz, or perhaps in Madrid, the capital city. The journey to Spain would take a few weeks so she would have plenty of time to prepare herself to enter proper Spanish society. She stepped over to her trunks, opened one, and began rummaging through it. Not finding the meticulous notes on etiquette and proper conduct in polite society that Elizabeth and Lady Greystowe had written out for her, she began to panic.
    “Ma’am?” Marta emerged from the water closet, holding her abdomen as she padded slowly across the floor. “What do you need?”
    “I’m looking for a sheaf of papers the countess gave me.”  Chloe straightened and observed her maid with concern. The girl was looking a little green, and she kept pressing her lips together in a grim fashion as if it were an effort to keep from vomiting.
    This was not the way to begin the journey. It was a bad omen.
    “Do you know which trunk the papers are in, dearest?” Chloe asked.
    “That brown one with the shiny brass fittings, ma’am,” the girl replied, and then made an inelegant sound as she whirled on her heels and hurried back to the water closet.
    Chloe could hear the girl retching beyond the panel. It was a disgusting noise.
    The knock at the outer door startled her. Chloe moved to the door to answer it. She opened it a crack and peeked out. No one was there to greet her, that is, until she looked down and realized it was a boy, not a man standing at her portal holding out a missive.
    “An invitation from the Cap’n, Missus O’Donovan. He requests you to dine with him at seven this evening.” The boy handed Chloe the note. “It’s an honor, ma’am, to be asked to dine at the captain’s table.”
    “Is it, now?” Chloe murmured with sarcasm as she closed the door on the cheeky lad. She