She stiffened, just a bit, at his tone. "Yes, she is."
"I doubt she is running the plantation house now."
"Why, of course she is. My father has the greatest respect for her." She chuckled. "She also intimidates him a bit, I think."
Lyon realized he'd let his mouth run ahead of his mind. Oh, well, she would find out soon enough. Better for her to have time to accustom herself. "Your father has remarried."
Diana slapped a tendril of hair from her face. "That is not a very funny jest, Lyon."
"It isn't a jest. Lucia received a letter from your father just before we left."
"But she said nothing of it to me."
"She didn't want you made unhappy. Also it appears you have a stepbrother, evidently grown."
"Good morning, my lord. Diana, your bread."
They both turned, each taking bread from Blick. Diana, her face a study in confusion and chock, walked toward the poop deck. She began flinging bits of bread upward.
The birds squawked loudly and flew closer. She heard a curse from a sailor and saw that one of the gulls had relieved himself on the hapless man's head. She wished it had been Lyon, then she could laugh. From the crew she had met, they were dressed well enough and were clean. Of course, if there were not much rain during the voyage, all of them would be as smelly as cow's ears before they reached St. Thomas. She'd heard stories all her life about the cruelty aboard his majesty's ships in the royal navy. These men, however, did not look at all abused.
Lyon tossed his own bread, his eyes on Diana. It didn't really matter now that her father had taken another wife. After all, Diana would be married to him and be herself a wife and no longer a daughter attached to her father's house. I am amazing myself, he thought. I am already used to the idea.
Diana continued tossing bread bits, her mind in a whirl. Her father married! To whom? Why hadn't he written to her to explain? And a stepbrother! The last of the bread gone, she wiped her hands on her skirts. She saw that Lyon was talking to Blick. She moved away, careful of the coiled hemp rope just ahead. She raised her face to the sun, looking at the billowing sails.
"We'll not get rid of the blighters easily now," said Rafael, coming to a halt, his feet planted wide apart on the deck.
"They will not come out much farther from land," Diana said.
The rigging creaked overhead and Rafael, out of long habit, cast an expert eye upward. He called out to Rollo, who was at the wheel, "A bit higher in the wind!" He grinned down at Diana. "You're right, of course. What do you think of the Seawitch?"
"She is beautiful, save for all the gun ports and cannons. Am I correct? You have ten cannons? Six swivel guns?"
"You've an accurate eye. England is at war, you know. I am not so foolish to venture out without protection."
"I remember my father telling me of the English taking St. Thomas in 1807. Not a shot fired."
"Not a one. The Dutch folded their proverbial tents and left."
Diana smiled. "He also told me the story of the Dutch commander who asked for verification that the English did indeed have overwhelming odds."
"An honorable surrender," said Rafael. "When Napoleon is at last beaten, we will give St. Thomas back. Ah, your husband." He grinned at Lyon. "I suggest you, Lyon, take care with the sun. You'll need at least a week to accustom yourself."
"You're already quite red, Lyon," Diana said, frowning a bit. "I suppose it is better than your previous pallor."
Sharing a small cabin had further disadvantages, Diana discovered that evening. She wasn't at all tired, and as was her habit, she fetched the novel she'd been reading from the armoire.
"Douse the lamp, Diana," said Lyon from the bunk not five minutes later.
As he had the night before, he had kept his eyes closed when she had undressed and bathed. Unfortunately he'd said nothing about sharing the floor. She decided to give him another night to recover from his injury.
"I wish to read awhile. I will move the lamp down here on the floor beside me."
He grunted. Another five minutes later, Diana was enthralled with a particularly exciting scene when he said irritably, "Enough. I can't sleep with that bloody light."
She looked up to see him on his side, looking down at her. "In a bit," she said absently. "Not yet."
"Diana ---"