After what seemed like hours, she heard her father stir in the cabin next to her. Leaving her room, she knocked on his door. “Papa?”
“Eliza?” he called and she heard him cross the room and then open the door.
He looked awful. His face was haggard and worn. “Are you all right?”
He gave a stiff nod. “I am not the young man I used to be.” He grimaced as he rolled one of his shoulders. “Did you need to speak with me?”
She nodded, stepping into the room. “I wanted to ask you something.”
“Of course.” He gestured for her to sit on the chair as he returned to the bed.
She took a breath, trying to gain courage to push out the words. “The dispute with the farmers. What happened?”
He father stared at her, his mouth open. “I beg your pardon?”
“The farmers who were upset with Stone. What happened?” Her words were tumbling over each other as she twisted her hands in her lap.
“I have to confess, I am surprised by your choice of topic. I’d thought we’d be discussing pirates, or your marriage prospects, or…” He tapered off. “What does this have to do with?”
She started in surprise. “I suppose it is about my marriage prospects. In a way.” She didn’t want to tell her father more.
But his eyes lit with understanding. “Has Stone expressed an interest?” His grin said it all. “I hope he has; yesterday showed me I am not a young man. I’d like to see you settled before I depart this world.”
That made her pause. Life without any family at all? What would she do? “What happened with the farmers?”
Her father leaned back. “They demanded double the price they’d been getting from the mills. They were attempting to take advantage of the new earl. But if the mills pay double they either make no profit or they charge the people more. Stone was smart enough to see that it would start a downward spiral of the local economy.”
She closed her eyes. Of course, Stone had actually been looking out for the people in his province. And of course, he hadn’t explained his reasoning to anyone. A man like Stone did the right thing without worry or care to what others thought. And though she’d met several people who thought the worst of him, she remembered the butcher, who seemed to understand what the lord of the land was attempting to accomplish. “Stone held firm against them.”
“Yes. He did.” Her father stood again. She heard the creaking in the rope
s under his bed. “I was worried he might not. He actually has quite a soft heart, though he does his best to hide it.” Her father sighed. “It makes my job more difficult at times.”
“He most certainly does,” she whispered. “And I could see how it would.”
And there it was. What her father likes least about Stone was what she liked best. It had been in front of her all along.
Water splashed and she cracked open her eyes to see her father begin shaving. “You’ll have to ask him to take you on a tour of the infirmary he’s building.”
A lump formed in her throat. “Infirmary?” As her mother lay dying she’d spent useless hours raging as to why they didn’t have access to real doctors. Her father had defended the lord of the region, saying it wasn’t the way it was done. She wondered if he regretted it now.
Her father nodded. “You didn’t see it when you went into the village?”
Was that the monstrosity being built in the village? “Perhaps I did.”
“Costing a small fortune but Stone insists that he can afford it and that it’s worth investing back in the people. That they will be happier and thrive here for it.” Her father scraped his razor down his face. The doubt in his voice answered her question. He didn’t see it the way she always had, the way Stone did.
Eliza covered her eyes with her hands. All this time she’d been resisting Stone, afraid he was the exact man she hated, when all along he was the embodiment of what she’d always hoped for. A caring overlord. Stone’s only sin was not touting his own accomplishments. This news should have elated her, but somehow it made her stomach sick to think that all this time, she’d been referring to him as the devil.
She wanted to apologize. To swear to help him. She wanted to throw her arms about him and never let go. Stay pressed in the warmth and safety of his arms.
How could she have been so blind? All of the answers had been right in front of her. Rising, she returned to her cabin to ready herself for the day. At the very least, she needed to talk with Stone.
But by the time she’d checked in on her patients, Stone was off. He had other boats to check on, other business in Kirkaldy. Even that night, he was locked in the Captain’s quarters with the captains of the trapped ships and her father. She didn’t know what they were discussing but she was sure it involved the pirates.
She tried to stay up. She assumed that if she heard her father arrive back at his cabin that Stone would be returning to his. She could go to him again. Sleep pressed against his side. But somehow that thought made her drift off before she could put her plan into action.
By the time she woke the next morning, they’d set sail to return home. And it was home to her now.