Chapter Twenty-Seven

Their First Family Christmas

"This is gonna be a really neat Christmas," Jonathan commented as he helped his sister set the table for breakfast with cutlery and plates.

"Yes…" Candy nodded as she followed his lead, frowning as she made sure of her words. "And even neater now that the real Captain Gregg can be with us tomorrow."

"You've already met the Captain?" their grandfather lowered the morning paper to ask. "The real one? I thought he said he had to be kept a big secret because of his hush-hush work for the navy."

Martha bustled up to the table carrying a covered dish of food. "Oh yes, we knew all along Claymore Gregg wasn't the real Captain Gregg. He used to be Mrs Muir's landlord until she bought the house from him. But we all swore a solemn oath that we'd keep the real Captain's big secret because we'd never, ever want to put him in any kind of danger. He comes and goes so quietly; at times you could almost swear he was a ghost…"

She smiled at her own joke as she put the dish down before laying one finger next to her nose, tapping it gently. "But Cousin Harriet was really keen to meet him that first time she came to visit us. After she found his pipe in the living room, she just wouldn't let the idea go. She was so sure Mrs Muir was seeing someone behind her back."

Carolyn took up the story as she walked to the stove to make the morning coffee. "Caught in a pinch because Daniel was away at sea and couldn't be back in time, we decided to ask Claymore if he would agree to pretend to be his cousin."

She stopped, frowning. "Well, no, actually that time, he ended up pretending to be his own twin brother because he inadvertently came back to the house as himself just as Harriet was leaving. I must say, she was rather taken with him. She said he was much more amusing than his twin brother."

"His own twin brother?" Emily exclaimed as she pulled out a chair at the table and sat down. "This is all very troubling. I do remember Hazel saying that Harriet told her all about him at the time. We thought it was very odd that there were two of them."

"Well, now it seems there's three of them…" Bradford shook his head. "Or have I miscounted?"

He pressed the fingertips of one hand to his temple. "I don't remember much about last night except the Captain being an excellent storyteller." He frowned. "My head aches. It must have been that Madeira. It was lethal."

"Oh, that's only the beginning of the story…" Martha turned her head to wink at Daniel who was standing in the kitchen doorway watching their performances unfold as he'd planned. "Then Harriet came visiting for a second time after you two went back to Philadelphia."

She shook her head, clicking her tongue with annoyance. "She just wouldn't take no for answer that time either. Thankfully, Claymore agreed to step in again. Harriet was quite smitten with him then, too." She shrugged, leaving the comment hanging as she walked away to collect another dish from the kitchen island.

Emily frowned at her daughter. "Are you saying that Harriet is the one to blame for all these odd deceptions? That doesn't sound like her. She's always been so careful not to intrude where she isn't wanted. I'm sure she was only looking out for your best interests."

"I think you'll find that Harriet has only ever looked out for what's best for Harriet…" Carolyn replied softly.

"Ah, huh. And when we went down to the beach, she didn't even want to touch the fine crab I caught for her," Jonathan affirmed with a nod, as he quickly dropped a strip of pilfered bacon for Scruffy beneath the table. "That was the time she said she really, really wanted to get to know the Captain better. Make sure he's the right one for our mom." Another strip of bacon found its way under the table.

"And Cousin Harriet said she wasn't gonna leave here until she did," Candy added, casting a swift glance at her mother. "So, since the Captain couldn't be here that time, either, we had to ask his Cousin Claymore to pretend to be him again. But that time Claymore was himself pretending to be the Captain and not his own twin brother."

"I think I'm getting a headache, too," Emily complained as she also put two fingers up to massage her temples. "This is extremely confusing."

"It's all rather easy, really," Martha supplied brightly. "Once you know who's who. The Captain you met last night is the real one. He's not his own cousin or his twin brother. In fact, the Captain's an only child. He doesn't have a twin brother."

"Yeah, that's right…" Candy affirmed as she and Jonathan smiled at each other, both proud of their roles in the family deception.

They'd been very keen to repeat the lines the Captain had taught them earlier. No one saw any problem with throwing Cousin Harriet under the bus. Martha said she richly deserved it all for being such a nosy busybody without a scruple to bless herself with.

"Thank you, dear." Emily took charge of the coffee pot her daughter delivered to the table. "Harriet did say that the Captain she met that night he came to dinner was the most interesting and incredible man she'd ever met."

"Oh, believe me, there's no one else quite like the Captain…" Carolyn replied, with a relieved smile. "He is utterly unique."

She glanced at her husband as she subsided into the chair next to her mother before accepting a cup of coffee. "But Harriet was so insistent that we had to improvise. We couldn't expose Daniel's real identity at that time. It would have been too dangerous. Harriet can't seem to keep a secret about anything. She tells Hazel everything and we couldn't allow that. The consequences would have been dreadful."

She took a long sip of the hot, black coffee to steady her nerves as she watched her parent's expression, seeing her deepening confusion. She didn't like doing it, but Harriet's ongoing influence within the family was far too pervasive to be ignored. As was Owen's. Both their ships had to be well and truly sunk.

Her mother frowned. "But, Ralph and Marjorie Muir told us they also met the Captain when they visited last year. They said he was a rather colourful character. Marjorie thought he was like someone from another world. Which one did they meet?"

"Oh, that was Claymore as well." Carolyn nodded quickly. "It would have been impossible for Daniel to meet them at that time. He was away at sea again. But he does like us to keep a trim ship in his absence."

"None of this makes any sense at all." Emily shook her head. "And we know Harriet had no part in that encounter."

"No, she didn't," Carolyn admitted, feeling slightly better after drinking more coffee. "But you do know how she likes to exaggerate. After her first visit, she inferred to you that the Captain and I were planning to elope when nothing could have been further from the truth. That was all very distressing to us both since he's a very honourable man. At times, he's almost nineteen-century in his thinking."

"Touché, Madam…" Daniel laughed softly.

Carolyn smiled as she patted her mother's hand. "And, of course, I couldn't marry Claymore because I didn't love him. So, we couldn't have the wedding you'd planned for us. Daniel really wished he could have been here but he was off somewhere secret again, busily saving the world."

"Yes, I see it all now…" Emily drank her coffee with a thoughtful frown. "At least I think I do. Well, I suppose Harriet sometimes does make more of the situation than she should. But I'm sure it's all out of the goodness of her heart."

"Or a need to always be first with the gossip…" Carolyn shrugged.

Her mother shook her head. "Well, I will say, this Claymore Gregg of yours must be something then, too. If he can fool all of us and impress Harriet that much. We're looking forward to meeting him properly."

She frowned. "But the man your father and I met here didn't seem all that interesting. He certainly was incredible, but not in a good way. He was very nervous and chattered a lot of nonsense. He looked like he was about to pass out a couple of times."

"Oh, that's because poor Claymore was quite overwhelmed with the heavy responsibility of pretending to be the Captain," her daughter hurried to reassure her as she served the children their food. "You must remember how Dad was when he first met your parents."

"I'm never going to live that down." Bradford frowned as he lowered his newspaper. "I do recall saying some ridiculous things and thinking I'd blown every chance of marrying your mother. I was a nervous wreck for weeks afterwards, wondering how I was going to pluck up the courage to ask her father for his consent."

"And yet, here you are today." Carolyn shrugged. "I'm afraid Claymore has always been more at home with facts and figures than the cloak-and-dagger world of espionage. He did his best at very short notice."

Her father folded his paper aside before helping himself to the food. "Well, all I have to say is the man we met last night was certainly the most interesting fellow I have ever encountered. We always said you had excellent taste in men, Carolyn. Are we seeing him again today?"

"Ah, no…" Carolyn replied quickly, trying to ignore the sudden knot of anxiety that returned to her stomach. "I… he's been called away. Some loose ends he needs to tie up for the navy. But, don't worry, he promised he'll be here tomorrow for Christmas. He said he wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Excellent…" Her father nodded. "I'm looking forward to hearing a few more of his stories. He certainly knows how to bring the past to life. He's so convincing, it's almost as if he'd lived in those times himself."

"Yes, sometimes it can almost seem as if he did live back then…" Carolyn replied as she exchanged cautious glances with her husband.

"Neatly done, Madam," he approved. "Now for my part. I shall take great delight in dealing, once and for all, with that brittle-boned fraud, Mitford."

He smiled grimly as he dematerialised and went in search of Lucius Beaumont.

※※※※※

Overnight, a new fall of snow had clothed everything in a fresh blanket of white. It muffled every sound, adding a serene layer of silence to the already hushed landscape.

With the dawn of Christmas Day came the hardy group of carol singers from the town, dressed in layers of warm clothing as they went from house to house. They walked slowly along Bay Road, stopping at the open front gate of Gull Cottage, holding up flickering electric lanterns as they began to sing, 'Oh, Come All Ye Faithful…'

Their beautiful sound drifted gently on the still, early morning air. As they neared the end of the final chorus, they smiled as they turned and walked on through the fresh snow.

Candy and Jonathan ignored the fading sounds of the singing. They were already out of bed and downstairs in their nightwear and dressing gowns, surveying the piles of presents that had magically appeared beneath the Christmas tree overnight.

"I guess it does still pay to believe in Father Christmas," Candy remarked with a smile when her mother walked into the living room. "Merry Christmas, Mom."

"Yeah, Merry Christmas, Mom," Jonathan added as an afterthought as he crawled about beneath the laden tree, carefully checking each gift in turn.

"Merry Christmas. And yes, I do think the big man is safe enough for a few years yet," Carolyn reassured them with an indulgent smile as she used the poker to stir the banked fire back into life to warm the room.

She walked over to hug and kiss each child in turn. "Now, don't take too long here before you go up and get dressed. We're going to need your help in the kitchen with making the dinner. And you know what you need to say if anyone asks about the Captain."

"Oh, okay, Mom…" Jonathan sighed. "We know. But, geez, we'll never get to open any of these if we have to do some silly chores as well…"

"Oh, Jonathan…" His sister sighed, as she too looked through the presents to find the ones with her name on them. "Blast…" she said, too softly for her mother to hear.

"Merry Christmas, my love…" Carolyn smiled up at her husband's portrait. "I have a feeling this is going to be a day we will never forget. I can only pray that nothing goes wrong…"

She sighed, shaking her head. Her headache had eased but the odd feeling in the pit of her stomach remained. She put a hand to the back of her neck, trying to ease the knot of tension in the base of her skull. Leaving her children to their Christmas fun, she crossed the foyer to the kitchen to help Martha with the preparations.

※※※※※

Claymore hurried up the snowy front path of Gull Cottage, balancing the stack of Christmas gifts in his arms. He knew he was right on time, as he'd been commanded, but it didn't make him feel any easier about the precarious assignment he'd been given.

"Remember you're now his cousin, not his great-nephew…" he mumbled. "Don't get yourself mixed up…"

Only the tantalising thought of another bag of treasure and the direness of the Captain's promised wrath kept him from turning tail and running. All the fine hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he managed to press the bell beside the front door with his thumb.

Martha opened the door and smiled at him. "Why, it's Cousin Claymore," she exclaimed in loud tones. "How wonderful. And right on time, too."

Scruffy barked as he scurried from his duties in the kitchen to worry at Claymore's trouser leg. It wasn't the ideal welcome.

"Get off him." Martha grabbed the dog's collar, pulling him back. "Merry Christmas, Claymore." She sent Scruffy back to the kitchen with a sharp command.

"Merry Christmas, Martha…" Claymore mumbled as he leaned as close as he could over his burdens to whisper, "I… Is he here? I mean, can you see him?" He glanced around the foyer with hunted eyes.

"Oh yes, the Captain will surely be along any minute now," Martha replied brightly for the benefit of the listening ears behind her in the kitchen. "You'd better come along inside in case you're in his way."

"Oh, we can't have that…" Claymore hurried over the threshold with alacrity.

"Mr Gregg?" Emily appeared from the kitchen, with an apron tied over her dress. "How wonderful to finally meet you properly. I must say you made quite the impression on us last time."

She walked to the door and held out a hand to him. Claymore managed to shake it around his burdens with two nervous fingers. "It's so lovely to meet you again, Mrs Williams. Really, really lovely, indeed, yes…"

"Oh, please, call me Emily," Carolyn's mother replied with a smile as she studied him from head to toe. "We don't stand on ceremony in this house."

She frowned. "I must say, you're looking more than a little nervous. Carolyn did say you might be worried about meeting us as yourself this time. There's nothing to be afraid of here, I can assure you. We're quite harmless." She gave a little laugh.

"Harmless, quite…" Claymore murmured nervously with a giggle. "Ah, Merry Christmas, um… Emily…" He remained in the open doorway, looking hunted.

"Won't you come on inside?" Emily encouraged. "You're letting the cold air in. We're all in the kitchen making the dinner. You can sit down and talk to Brad. Since the Captain is yet to arrive, he's in desperate need of a man to hold up his side of the conversation."

"Yes, yes. Of course. Be… be civil… enjoy a good meal and make excellent conversation…" Claymore's eyes glazed over as he repeated his great-uncle's terse instructions like a mantra.

"Exactly…" Emily stared up at him, now looking deeply unsure. "Are you sure you're all right, Mr Gregg? You're looking rather pale."

Claymore drew a sharp breath. "Oh, do please forgive me. I was tongue-tied there for a moment by your beauty."

He sighed as he stepped down into the foyer. "I can be such a clumsy nit at times. Sometimes I don't even feel like myself. And, ah, please, do call me, Claymore. I insist. My father's name was Mr Gregg."

He lifted the stack of parcels burdening his arms. "Um, I… where should I put these?"

"Come on in and I'll show you, Claymore." Martha shut the door behind him before she took his arm, encouraging him quickly toward the living room.

Carolyn's mother looked after them. "A very odd young man, indeed. Thankfully, not at all like his cousin, the Captain…" She shook her head before returning to help her daughter with the cooking. "I wonder how Carolyn could think we would be fooled by him…"

"I really don't like this," Claymore hissed as he managed to stack the gifts beneath the tree. "I'm not even sure I can pull it off. I'm feeling quite faint already."

He took off his hat, tossing it aside as he pressed the back of one hand to his damp forehead. "He said he has all these new powers and threatened to use them on me if I didn't do as he commanded. And when he grabbed my shoulder…" He grimaced as he eased the offended joint.

"If you value your life and everything in it you had better play along," Martha advised. "There's far too much at stake for any of us to slip up now. You know how the Captain gets if you cross him."

"Oh yes, I know how he gets," Claymore complained, still rubbing at his abused flesh. "All lightning and thunder. Everything's always been about him. He's never once asked for my help, nicely. He's always barking commands at me like I'm just a low-ranking member of his crew."

"Well, you are." The housekeeper shrugged. "We all are. It's the only way any of this will work. He's in command and we all have our parts to play. Even the children. So, you'd better shape up or ship out. And I wouldn't advise you trying to do the latter. It wouldn't be good for your health if you pike on us now."

"Aye, aye, Ma'am…" Claymore saluted weakly, trying to look encouraged and failing. "Very well, you may lead the way to my execution. I doubt I shall ever see another sunrise…"

"Oh, don't be so melodramatic." Martha frowned. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"Plenty," Claymore grouched. "It always does."

Martha smiled as she shook her head. "We just have to convince the Williams that their precious daughter is in the safe hands of a man ghost who loves her deeply and will never allow them to take her away from him. Persuade them that Gull Cottage is the best place for Mrs Muir and the children and there's nothing at all for them to worry about. Nothing that they need to send Harriet back here again to snoop on."

She laughed softly. "Nothing could be simpler if you think about it."

"I never knew you were such a comedian," Claymore grumbled as he followed her lead out of the room and back into the foyer. "I don't want to even think about it. I don't even want his treasure. I just want to go home."

The Captain materialised at his elbow looking thunderous. "Do not let me down, you malingering barnacle!" he barked, making his great-nephew jump and whimper. "You will stand fast and true. You'll earn every blasted cent of your blasted treasure or it will be the worse for you! Remember you're privileged to carry the Gregg name. Act like it for once!"

"Aye, aye, Captain!" Claymore saluted smartly as he scurried away into the kitchen.

"You'd better ease up a little on him, Captain," Martha advised in a quick aside. "He's already shaking in his boots. If you scare him too much, he'll pass out on you again. Explaining that away would take some doing."

"Thank you, Martha," Daniel acknowledged as he began to dematerialise. "But someone has to put the steel into that jellyfish's backbone or he'll ruin everything we've worked so hard for with his inane jibbering."

"I guess you're right. And you're just the man to do it." Martha shook her head as she followed Claymore into the kitchen.

Jonathan was sitting up in the window with his pet, both looking eagerly out into the front garden. He suddenly clapped his hands, scrambling off his perch.

"There he is! The Captain's coming! The Captain's coming!" He went to dash around Claymore and out the door with Scruffy close behind.

Martha caught him deftly by his shoulder. "Oh no, you don't. Let your mother answer the door, Jonathan. The Captain is here to see her, not you. You can come and help me with peeling the potatoes."

The boy subsided reluctantly. "Aw, do I have to? The Captain's always much more fun than a bag of silly old potatoes. He's groovy."

"I promise I won't keep him from you for too long," his mother replied, ruffling her son's hair as she walked quickly past him.

She could feel her mother's considering eyes on her back as she sent the barking dog back into the kitchen. Stepping up to open the front door, she had no true idea of what to expect. But the sight of her husband dressed once again in his cream roll-neck sweater beneath his dark naval jacket and trousers snatched her breath away.

"I thought, since you liked it so much the other night…" Daniel murmured, indicating his sweater when he saw the look in her eyes.

"You have no idea what I'm thinking right now…" Carolyn whispered, wanting nothing more than to be taken in his arms and held close.

"Oh yes I do," Daniel murmured, studying her expression closely. "Because my thoughts are exactly the same. Blast your parents and their interfering ideas. But bless them for forcing us to play our hand…"

"Something like that…" Carolyn reached out a hand to brush the palm across the front of his jacket, catching at one of the buttons with two fingers. "I miss the brass ones. And dancing in the moonlight with you under the mistletoe. I've been thinking about that a lot…"

She felt the nervous tension in her body easing as she glanced beyond him into the snowy front garden. "I want to go back there, right now. To kiss you and make love with you…" Her voice trailed off on a deep, gusting sigh. "What could be a more perfect gift at Christmas?"

"We might get a little chilly out there…" Her husband smiled intimately. "I do prefer making love with you in a bed. But I'm willing if you are..."

He sighed as he shook his head. "Your mother would be deeply shocked if she could hear how very forward you've become, Madam. But since your parents are here, we must make the best of it. Merry Christmas, my love…"

He produced an enormous bunch of flowers from behind his back and held them out. "I had to travel quite a long way last night to find just the right ones."

"Oh, Daniel, thank you. They're lovely…" Carolyn took the flowers and inhaled their exotic perfume.

"Nothing in this world is as lovely as you…" Her husband sighed as he captured her free hand and carried it to his lips, kissing her open palm. "If only we could be alone again, standing under that mistletoe…" he whispered, then stiffened when he sensed they were no longer alone as they could wish.

"Hello again, Captain. Merry Christmas." Emily walked up to them, eying him with intense speculation.

"Merry Christmas, Mrs Williams…" Daniel removed his sea cap and bowed his head gracefully.

"You really do know how to make an entrance, young man. Your cousin Claymore could take some lessons from you." Emily reached out to finger the petals of the exotic flowers in her daughter's hands. "And you certainly know how to impress. These would not have been easy to find around here at this time of the year."

"They're just a small token of my affection for your lovely daughter." Daniel reached to take her hand, pressing a kiss to the backs of her fingers. "And her beautiful mother."

"Oh, why, thank you. And please, as I told your cousin, do call me Emily," Carolyn's mother murmured, sighing as she watched him straighten up to smile at her. "You'll soon find we don't stand on ceremony around here."

Carolyn observed their interplay with cautious eyes. She could see her mother's freshly aroused doubts slowly evaporating. Daniel certainly was irresistible when he chose to turn on the suave Gregg charm. She prayed it was enough to get them through the long afternoon ahead and finally allay her parents' fears for her future.

※※※※※

"…and that's how the good Captain finally managed to escape from that shark's attack." Daniel looked around his entranced audience as he sat back in his chair at the kitchen table. "He used his wits."

The scattered remnants of their excellent Christmas meal covered the tabletop. The conversation had been easy and varied. Even Claymore had finally managed to look as if he was almost enjoying himself. It had taken more than one glass of Daniel's best Madeira to achieve the desired effect on his great-nephew's state of nervous tension.

As soon as they'd finished eating, Bradford had asked for another tale from the original Captain Gregg's eventful life. Daniel had quickly settled on the safe retelling of his shark story.

"Well, I must say, I was expecting something rather more dramatic than poking the beast in its eye with a piece of driftwood." Carolyn's father frowned. "But I can see what a brave man he must have been. As I said before, he's my idea of a true sea captain."

He saluted with his half-filled glass of Madeira. "They certainly don't make them like him anymore."

"Thank you. They do not, indeed…" Daniel inclined his head. "But you forget. Without that piece of wood floating by, the Captain would have been an easy meal. He wrote in his journals he was a fast swimmer but also that shark was already tying on his napkin and reaching for his knife and fork."

Sitting on his stool beside his grandfather, Jonathan shrugged. "I guess the Captain knew what he was doing. But he must've been pretty scared." He grinned at his hero, doing his best to look as if he'd never heard the story before. "Right, Captain?"

"A really tough audience," Carolyn sympathised, smiling at her love.

She'd quietly taken some more medication for her headache and upset stomach and now felt somewhat restored. The dinner had gone better than she could have hoped for and she had managed to eat more than she thought under her husband's watchful gaze. She prayed it would remain that way and her parents would be able to leave in a couple of days knowing she was being well taken care of.

"I never said the Captain wasn't scared." Daniel laughed ruefully, watching his wife closely. "He wrote he was glad to have survived the encounter."

He reached to take Carolyn's hand between his. "Otherwise, I might not be here right now, eating this superb meal and we would never have met."

"Yes, without the good Captain's fascinating sea journals, we might never have met at all," his wife affirmed quickly.

Emily studied their warm intimacy for a moment before turning to Claymore. "Your cousin's ancestor seems to have been an excellent man of the sea. Do you like following in his footsteps? Harriet said the last time you met; you said you were signing on as a deckhand on your brother's ship."

She stopped, frowning. "I'm sure you meant to say your cousin's ship." She waved a hand toward Daniel. "I guess I'm still a bit confused."

"Me?" Claymore squeaked, quickly wiping his mouth on his napkin. "Oh, no, no, no. I was only playing along that day, pretending to be my… ah, cousin's own twin brother. I'm strictly a man of the land. The salt water runs in his… in my cousin's veins only."

He smiled weakly at Daniel. "He can be quite the salty fellow at times." He raised a hand to his abused shoulder pointedly.

"But we do see eye to eye on many things," Daniel commented, watching him. "At times, it's almost as if we could be brothers rather than cousins. We deeply treasure the close bond we share."

"Yes, treasure is a very good word…" Claymore nodded quickly. "I like treasure."

"But you're not twin brothers?" Bradford asked, sipping his Madeira. "That took some clearing up and even now I'm not sure what it was all about. You don't look anything alike now that I see you both side by side."

"A simple but necessary ruse for the safety of us all," Daniel apologised easily. "I could not reveal myself until now. Therefore, my cousin proved he was an excellent stand-in. I will say one thing for Claymore, he certainly knows how to keep a confidence. Some secrets can be grave."

"Yes, I do know how to do that, don't I?" Claymore brightened. He poured himself another glass of wine. "Sometimes I even surprise myself."

He knew he still needed to tell his great-uncle about Paul Wilkie's unwanted telephone call of the previous morning. But he was painfully aware that this was not the time or the place. He wanted to escape the house with his hide intact.

He took a mouthful of wine and began to preen with a weak smile. "I was quite good, wasn't I?" He looked around the table. "I managed to fool all of you. Maybe I should go on the stage."

"Don't overdo it, Cousin," Daniel warned. "Remember your reward is in helping out your family in their time of need. And I am the only relative you have in this life."

Claymore's face paled. "You know, I really should be going…" He pushed his half-empty glass away. "I really do have some very important counting I must get back to…"

"But you can't go before we've opened all our presents," Jonathan exclaimed. "We have one for you too, Uncle Claymore."

"Yes, isn't it about time for our presents now, Mom?" Candy asked wistfully, looking around at the adults. "You promised we could open them after we ate all our dinner."

She indicated her empty plate. "I ate all of mine."

"Me too," Jonathan hastened to add, also showing his empty plate. "Can we, please?"

"We promise we'll help with washing the dishes later," Candy said hopefully. "Please, Mom…"

"I supposed it won't hurt," Carolyn mused with a smile. "But first, we must clear the table and tidy up."

"I think we're being outnumbered and out-gunned," Daniel commented softly, smiling at his wife as she got up to start collecting the used dishes.

He was deeply aware Carolyn's parents had been watching him closely and were still trying to make up their minds about his intentions toward their daughter. Honourable or otherwise, he obviously had plans for their future together. They'd been doing it throughout the meal, making and discarding their assumptions about him as the afternoon wore on.

He could sense that the blasted wretch, Owen Mitford, still figured large in their plans for their daughter's future. If Lucius succeeded in scuppering him as Daniel had ordered, the man would be a very large obstacle removed from the future of their path together.

The women and children quickly set about clearing the dishes and putting away the leftovers. The three men were left temporarily alone at the table. Claymore sat staring morosely down his glass of Madeira, still looking as if he wanted to be elsewhere.

Carolyn's father leaned closer to Daniel, placing a hand on his sleeve. "Captain, I would very much like to have a word with you when we're alone. It's important."

"Of course…" Daniel responded automatically, expecting such a request but suddenly unsure of how to deal with it.

He raised his brows. "Ah.. after the children have gone up to bed?"

"That'll do fine…" Bradford nodded quickly, before turning away to engage Claymore in a rather stilted, one-sided conversation as the women returned to the table.

Daniel watched them all as he eased the collar of his sweater with one finger. It felt suddenly tight for some reason. It was a totally new experience for him, being assessed and perhaps found wanting by prospective in-laws. It was something he hadn't encountered before and wasn't at all happy about. But he knew it was another brewing storm he needed to face and weather successfully.

He felt his wife's worried eyes on him and he managed an encouraging smile as an uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. For the first time in his life, he began to wonder if he would be able to meet her parents' exacting expectations and make the grade as a prospective son-in-law.

It was an unwelcome thought that he didn't like one little bit. But all his bridges had been well and truly burnt behind him. There was no turning back now. No retreating to the safe security of his wheelhouse and slamming the door shut behind him in a fit of ghostly pique.

※※※※※