At the Captain's Command. Louise Gouge M.

a different man this evening, all affability and manners. He turned to Thomas, who sat on his left. “And so pleased for her kinship to you and to us.”

      The captain nodded his appreciation of the cream-covered peach pie the maid set before him. “Ah, Miss Templeton, I did not know of your kinship to Mr. and Mrs. Hussey.” He gazed across the table at her, and a pleasant feeling warmed Dinah’s heart. Thomas was more than easy to look at and, for a naval captain, not the least bit intimidating. “You must tell me more about your family.”

      “Well,” Artemis said, “it’s not as if we’re blood relations—”

      The captain slid his attention to Artemis briefly. “But I should like to hear Miss Templeton recount the connection.”

      Artemis coughed into his napkin. “Yes, of course. Miss Templeton, do proceed.”

      With great difficulty, Dinah withheld a laugh over the captain’s gentle rebuke to Artemis. After all, this was not exactly a jolly tale she’d been asked to relate.

      “Both Anne and I were orphaned, she first, and then I. Two dear spinster sisters, daughters of a whaling captain, took us in and reared us. And thus we consider ourselves foster sisters.” She sent a fond look to Anne. “I know her far better than I know my own brother, who was absent nearly all of my childhood.”

      Memories flooded her with sadness. “Aunt Matilda and Aunt Eunice, as we called them, died when a fever struck Nantucket, and by that time Anne and Artemis had married.” She drew in a deep breath to still the sorrow that tried to close her throat. “I was left alone.” Indeed, she had felt alone all her life, abandoned by all, even God, despite the tender care of the Gardiner sisters. They had never known quite what to do with her excessive energy, while Anne had been all quiet compliance to their Quaker ways.

      The captain leaned forward. “I grieve that my question has distressed you, dear lady.” The light from the candle centerpiece reflected in his blue eyes and deepened his compassionate frown. “You need not go on.”

      “Not at all.” She forced a smile and dug into her pie, determined to enjoy its sweet flavor. After a moment, she continued. “It’s not as if we were the only people to suffer in this life.” Jamie once told her Thomas’s wife and son had died a few years ago. To fully regain her composure, she swallowed another bite of pie before going on. The gentleness in the captain’s countenance invited her confidence and stirred within her a deeper, fonder sentiment toward this good man.

      “When that dreadful rebellion began in Boston, most Nantucketers took a neutral position on the growing war due to their Quaker convictions. But a few foolish young men who…well…they—”

      “They tarred and feathered several Loyalists.” Artemis sniffed with indignation. “Had we not left, I cannot imagine what they might have done to me.”

      The captain kept his attention on Dinah, and the intensity of his gaze sent a wave of encouragement through her. He truly wanted to hear this story from her. “If Anne and Artemis had not permitted me to come to St. Augustine with them, I’ve no idea what I would have done.” She would not mention her cousins in Boston who supported the rebels’ cause. Her break with them had been the worst of all cuts to her heart. At least her brother had forsaken his interest in the rebellion and now dedicated himself to his import business, avoiding the war altogether.

      “It would seem to me,” the captain said, “that Nova Scotia or Newfoundland would have been a wiser choice, being closer to Nantucket. Why did you three not remove to one of those loyal English colonies?”

      As much as Dinah enjoyed his kind attention, she felt compelled to look to Artemis for an answer. He had made the decision for them all, while her choices had been few: stay on the island of her birth and be shunned or even starved, take refuge with her rebel cousins in Boston or come to East Florida. “Artemis, perhaps you might enlighten Captain Moberly.”

      Artemis’s eyes brightened, and he took a sip from his water goblet. “Well, you see, Captain, East Florida holds many more opportunities for advancement than those northernmost colonies, which already had established societies.” Tugging at his ruffled cravat, he grew more animated as he warmed to his topic. “When the Crown obtained East Florida from the Spanish in ’63, it provided great opportunities for a man with any degree of ambition.”

      “So you had no plans to return to Nantucket?” Thomas lifted his chin. “Did you not think we would quickly defeat the insurgents and have order restored?”

      Dinah thought she detected a hint of humor in his voice, although she could not imagine why. After five years, the war continued on, and the rebels seemed to grow stronger and more determined with each passing season.

      As if mirroring the captain’s posture, Artemis lifted his chin, and his eyes narrowed. “When order is restored by the efforts of our brave military—” he lowered his chin and gave the captain a fawning smile “—courageous men such as yourself—nevertheless, I shall never be able to forgive or forget the cutting words of my childhood friends as we departed.” Anger flashed in his eyes, but he seemed to remember himself. “No, Captain, I shall not return to Nantucket. St. Augustine is my home now.”

      “And these four years,” Anne said, “have been more than pleasant, have they not? Here amongst other Loyalists and the British citizens who have settled here, those of us who have been displaced have come to appreciate our English heritage more than ever.”

      She glanced between Dinah and the captain, and Dinah quizzed her with a look. At the lift of Anne’s eyebrows, Dinah gave her head a little shake. She must cut short her friend’s matchmaking. As engaging as Thomas was, with all his travels at sea, he would make a poor choice for a husband. At least for Dinah.

      “And how we do appreciate Governor Tonyn.” Calmer now, Artemis puffed out his chest like a rooster. “I’d not been here two months before he employed me as a clerk, and he has personally seen to my subsequent promotions.”

      Dinah could detect no hint of boredom in Thomas’s expression as they related their stories, but surely it was time to inquire about his interests. “Now it’s your turn. Please tell us about your move to our city.”

      He lifted one shoulder in a shrug Dinah found charming for one of such august rank. “There is little to tell. My ship is the HMS Dauntless, a forty-six-gun frigate, which you may have seen in the harbor. After three years in Admiral Rodney’s fleet, I’ve been given the duty to join His Majesty’s other two frigates in protecting St. Augustine and the St. Johns River from the French and Spanish fleets. And of course any colonial vessels foolish enough to wander this way.” He took another bite of his pie. “Delicious. My compliments to the cook.”

      Artemis shifted in his chair, and from the narrowing of his eyes, Dinah guessed what he would say. “And while you protect our shores, by chance will you be responsible for ridding us of pirates?”

      “I suppose you are referring to the one they call Nighthawk.” The captain appeared more interested in his pie than the question. He ate another bite and seemed to savor it.

      A wave of satisfaction swept through Dinah at the thought of pleasing the captain’s palate. If she had not dried those peaches last fall—

      “I do indeed refer to Nighthawk, and I will be nothing short of disappointed if you do not apprehend this brigand and sink him.” Artemis’s lips curled into a sneer as he spoke. “I have dabbled a bit in commerce, and he has stolen my wares. Mine, Captain Moberly.” He clenched his jaw and shoved away his pie. “Our mutual friend Captain Templeton was delivering molasses to Jamaica when this pirate accosted him. Of all the cargo on the ship, he seized only my barrels. It was a dreadful loss.”

      Dinah took a turn at clenching her jaw. “At least Jamie and his crew were not harmed.”

      “Thank the good Lord.” Thomas gave his head a little shake. “I hear strange reports about that fellow Nighthawk. He seems to avoid bloodshed. Perhaps that reputation encourages merchant captains to give him what he asks for. Most pirates are murderers as well as thieves.”