EXCERPT Emily was up early the next morning, hoping to be the first to catch sight of
the coast of Nova Scotia. She was relieved to see no sign of the Captain,
unwilling to risk another unpleasant scene. Like many of the sea-going men she
had met throughout the years, McAllister was a bully, and a lout. Exactly the
sort she hoped to escape by marrying a gentleman like Mr. Withers. An educated
person who could speak of art and music, with aspirations to something beyond a
bulging hold of stinking fish or a profitable cargo of potatoes and lard.
She had been on deck for only a few minutes when McAllister appeared at the
helm, in the company of two other men, one of whom she recognized as the
Elizabeth B. Portman’s First Officer. She made quickly for the hatch, but
McAllister saw her, and approached.
“Miss Fowler, a moment of your time, if I may?”
Emily threw her hair back and attempted a haughty look, with only mild
success.
“What is it, Captain? I have things to do before we land, if you don’t
mind.”
“Please. This will take only a moment. I had intended to apologize when we last
spoke, before you became so suddenly ill, but, with your permission, I would
like to do it now. It has come to my attention, Miss Fowler, that you are
somewhat older than I had reason to surmise, by your… your diminutive height and
demeanor. Had I known your true age, I surely would not have… I would not have
treated you, or your person, in the indiscreet manner in which I did. Without
the intention of doing so, I’m afraid I’ve been guilty of an act of unforgivable
disrespect.”
Emily cast a cold eye on him. Without realizing it, Ethan McAllister had just
offended her pride almost as hatefully as he had in chastising her so publicly.
Throughout her adulthood, Emily had been teased relentlessly about her small
stature and youthful appearance, and she did not find it flattering, especially
as she prepared to begin life as a married woman.
“You are suggesting, as I understand it, Captain, that I look like a child?”
McAllister flushed. “No, not at all. I simply mistook your size and lack of…”
He stopped. The conversation was not going as he had intended.
“Lack of what?” she demanded. “You are an intolerable boor, Captain, in
addition to being a very poor judge of either age or maturity. No apology is
necessary, however, since I do not make it a practice to hold persons of low
intelligence, such as yourself, to normal standards of etiquette or decency. I
am twenty-seven years of age, and unaccustomed to being treated like a…” She
stopped, unable to think of a word that wasn’t vulgar.
McAllister was smiling again, in that irritating and superior manner she had
observed at their first disagreeable encounter.
“Treated like… Excuse me, but what was it you were about to say, Miss?”
“You know perfectly well what I meant, sir! Or, could it be that you are as
slow-witted as you are rude?”
McAllister’s smile faded, and he clasped his hands behind his back, unable to
trust himself. He would have liked nothing better at this moment than to throw
this unendurable little wretch across the rail and use Mr. Johnson’s wide strap
on her obnoxious ass.
“Fortunately for both of us,” he said grimly, “this voyage is nearing its end.
If I am extremely lucky, and obey each and every Commandment, and if I am very,
very generous to the poor, perhaps God will grant my sincere wish that I never
lay eyes on you again. Closely seen, Miss Fowler, I would now have to confess
that you look every day of your twenty-seven years, and it is only your
appalling behavior that makes you seem a child. Children as insufferable as
yourself usually profit from being soundly and frequently spanked, and were I
your sainted mother or your unfortunate intended spouse, you would have your
drawers lowered and your insolent backside blistered at least once a day and
twice on Sundays, until you had learned some manners. Good day, Madam!”
For perhaps the first time in the twenty-six years since she had learned to
speak, Emily was speechless.
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Children`s Fiction
Erotica Fiction
