Calypso Magic (Magic Trilogy 2)

"Perhaps it's best that you don't. You will only make me furious with you, I doubt not."

He sighed deeply.

"Lyon? What is wrong? Your head doesn't still hurt you, does it?"

She sounded genuinely concerned and he smiled painfully. "Why don't you tell me some more about the West Indies?"

"I will tell you a story, a true one, if you will tell me something about yourself."

"Fair enough."

She was silent for a moment, then said, "I told you already that many Quakers settled in the West Indies. Well, one of the most famous was Dr. William Thornton, though perhaps he is still alive. In any case, my father knew him, of course. He practiced medicine, ran a plantation on Tortola, and dabbled with architecture. He is the one who designed the new American capitol building in Washington. There, that is my story for tonight."

Lyon was silent for a moment, then said, "That is interesting. I had no idea. Are there still Quakers in the West Indies?"

"No. Practically all of them were gone nearly a decade before I was born. 'Tis a pity, for they were known for their compassion, and usually they were more temperate than other landholders. Now it is your turn, Lyon. Tell me something about you, not a story."

Why not? He thought. After all, a wife should understand her husband. He settled back, pillowing his head in his arms. "I wanted more than anything in my life to join the army and fight Napoleon. When Napoleon broke the Treaty of Amiens back in '03 I was all of seventeen years old and quite ready to run away to serve my king and find glory. Then my father died. A stupid accident. He was overseeing the cutting down of trees when one of them fell on him." He heard her suck in her breath and quickly added, "He died immediately, I was told. It was tragic and I was saddened, but I was also torn with guilt. You see, for the longest time I was furious at him for dying. I was only a boy, but I knew that I was now the Earl of Saint Leven and there were no brothers behind me to take my place were I to fall in battle. My duty was to my name and to my lineage. So I tucked away dreams of glory and learned from my father's steward how to manage my estates."

"I am sorry, Lyon."

"It is life, Diana. Compromise never killed anyone. It simply hurt for quite a long time."

"I am glad you didn't go into the army. I shouldn't like it if you had been killed."

She wouldn't, would she? Well, that was a proof of sorts of her lack of indifference. "We will never know now."

"How did you come to know Hawk, the Earl of Rothermere? Lucia told me he was in the army, in the Peninsula with Wellington."

"We were boys together, then in school. I remember feeling the liveliest envy of him when he bought his commission and left England. At the time he had an older brother, you see. But with life, one never knows, does one?"

"I suppose that is a profound question."

"No, not really. How do you feel, Diana?"

"Feel? About what?"

"Do you have any physical discomfort?"

"No. What an odd question! I only drank two glasses of wine, Lyon."

"I was thinking about your belly."

"I didn't chew any goatweed either."

"You are being obtuse, my girl."

He heard her turn on her pallet. "I do not understand you."

"Did you have any discomfort yesterday?"

"No, well, not really," she said honestly, wondering what the devil he was talking about.

"Ah." Four more days, he thought. It seemed at the moment like a damned decade. It must be very difficult to be a woman on board a ship, confined in such a small space. He supposed that he might as well try to woo her during the next four days.

"Diana, I truly do not find you at all repellent."

"Thank you."