I quickly settled into the room I shared with Amelia above the office. Broom and Graham were a couple doors down.

Three days later Graham assured me that William would be back within a few days, earlier than planned. For some reason this didn't make me happy, only irritated.

For this reason I decided to take a walk outside without a chaperone. My stepmother would have been furious had she known, but I'd heard from Graham that she's moved to a small town miles away.

As I strolled through the gardens in a public park, I tried to sort out how I was feeling.

I was certainly on edge because of Amelia. She had a silly, selfish air about her. As soon as we'd retired that first night, she'd cornered me, asking about Broom and his tastes. She didn't seem at all concerned that he was a pirate, which bothered me even more.

The next morning I woke up early in order to tell Broom of my worries. I silently put a shawl on over my nightclothes because I feared the sound of me dressing would wake Amelia. I needn't have worried. I know now pirates could attack and she wouldn't wake.

I crept to Broom's door and knocked lightly. It was barely light, but I had no idea what sort of schedule Graham kept, and I worried about what he would think if he saw me.

At first I thought he hadn't heard me, so I readied myself to risk a louder knock when the door swung open and Broom appeared in the doorway. He was wearing only a pair of shorts, his dark, lean chest bare, but I hardly flinched. I'd seen my share of naked men on the Justice and Destination. His eyes were blurry and his dark brows rose, but he didn't seem surprised to see me, only curious. Maybe he's not surprised because he was expecting someone else, I thought, but banished it immediately. Broom stood aside and let me enter the room, then shut the door behind me. I was only then aware of how this must look to him, knocking on his door at midnight in only my shift.

He seemed to be thinking the same. "What is it you want to talk about Miss Kington?" he asked, settling into a chair beside his bed.

His blankets are all rumpled I thought. Of course! You woke him a minute ago.

"Nancy?" he said again; his voice was hoarse, but he was grinning as if he could guess my thoughts. "I'm guessing that you aren't here to keep a lonely sailor company, am I right?"

My cheeks colored. "Of course not." I readied myself. "Are you certain you can trust Amelia to know about you being a pirate? I know Graham trusts her, but there's something about her that bothers me." I fiddled with my shawl.

"Is that all you came her for?" What else could there be? "Don't worry about it." He laughed shortly. "Amelia's fine. She's too stupid to do anything, Trust me," he added when I said nothing.

"Now then," he stood up. "If that's all, then I'll be getting back to sleep."

"Sorry," I mumbled as I left, embarrassed. That had been pointless.

After that I dressed quickly, not caring if I woke Amelia. She slept on. I then went down to the parlour, thinking to see if Graham was awake yet. As I went down, I noticed a letter in the parlour addressed to Broom. After my earlier embarrassment, I decided to wake a while before giving it to him. I continued on down, found Graham awake, and spent the rest of the morning helping him with his books. It was noon when I finished, and I figured Broom would be awake by then, so I went to his room to give him his letter. It was empty, but I thought Amelia might know.

And here is the other thing that was irritating me. When I opened the door to our room, Broom was sitting on the edge of the bed beside a fawning Amelia, buttoning his shirt. He merely glanced up when I opened the door and Amelia didn't acknowledge me at all.

I shut the door quickly, both heart and mind racing, cheeks flushed. My initial reaction was embarrassment, but that gave way to anger, I heard the doorknob turning behind me and realized I was still standing in the hallway. I hurried toward the stairs so I wouldn't have to meet either of them, but a hand grabbed me and spun me around before I reached the first step.

Broom was standing calmly before me, fully dressed right down to his boots. "Nancy."

"What?" I snapped, trying to twist out of his grasp, but he held tight.

He stared at me. "It's not as if you've never seen me with a woman before." That was true. Several times in fact, at the taverns we'd stayed at. But-

"This is different! She's not just some whore you picked off the streets. She's a lady. She has a reputation." I couldn't look in his eyes, so I stared at his silk neckerchief. It was pale blue.

"She didn't seem to mind," Broom said matter-of-factly. Then "Is that all you care about Nancy? Reputation?" He grabbed my chin and forced me to stare in his eyes. We stood there for a moment, and I almost thought he would kiss me, but then he thrust my face away.

"What was it you wanted? You were looking for me, right?"

"Oh." I handed him the letter. "I found it this morning." Broom gave me an odd look and took the letter. It was only then that it occurred to me what a dumb thing it had been to bring him the letter personally. There were servants for that. I felt like a complete moron.

I forced myself to walk away slowly. Every thought was a blur. All I knew was that I couldn't stay in that house any longer, and most certainly not in that room. In the end, I stayed, but only for Graham's sake. I didn't want to ruin the visit, or for him to find out what had happened upstairs.

I avoided the room- in fact the entire upstairs- for as much as possible the next two days, going up only to change. I slept downstairs on a couch in Graham's office, forcing myself awake early in the mornings so Graham wouldn't find me there and figure out what was going on. It was uncomfortable and needless to say, I slept very little.