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better about her situation—at least she had escaped marriage to a man she loathed—Katherine finished her meal and her wine. But now she was feeling too warm. “I think I’ll take a turn about the deck,” she said, fanning herself as she rose unsteadily to her feet. The deck pitched sideways and in the blink of an eye Jack was there to steady her, his hand gripping her elbow. “Thank you. The sea seems to be getting rougher,” she mumbled as she tried to put one foot in front of the other. She wasn’t doing a very good job. She stumbled. “Oh!”
    “I’ve got you, Katherine; just lean on me,” Jack said, his other hand at her waist. “I think you should go below. Let me help you.”
    She didn’t want him to treat her so familiarly, but under the circumstances she had no choice. So she let him guide her down the stairs and into the cabin. “I’ll be fine now. I just need to lie down.” She had no one to blame but herself; she’d had too much to drink, and now she would have to pay for it. She would undress and get into bed. By morning she would feel much better. Dropping her shawl onto the bed, her hands went to the laces of her dress. When her hand met his where it lay at her waist, she turned and looked up at him. Why was he still there? “Will you please leave so that I may undress?”
    “I thought you might need help with these,” he said, and his fingers easily undid the laces. Her dress fell open in back, and Katherine’s hand shot to her chest, preventing the gown from revealing too much.
    “Jack!” she screeched, her hands becoming trapped between them as he drew her into an embrace. His arms were like metal bands, but his lips were as soft as goose down as he pressed them to hers. Her first thought was that she wanted him to stop kissing her. She felt trapped and a bit frightened. No man had ever kissed her like this before. No man, other than her husband, should kiss her like this. She knew this, and yet it felt so nice, so tender and sweet, that she couldn’t bring herself to do anything that would end it. Indeed, she was enjoying it so much that she wished the kiss would go on forever. When Jack stepped back, drawing his lips away from hers, she felt bereft.
    “I’ve wanted to do that ever since I saw you standing there in the jail.”
    “Do you always do whatever you want?” she asked, her pride reasserting itself. He had no business touching her, let alone kissing her.
    “Quite often, but I don’t always enjoy it as much,” he replied with a devilish smirk. “Good night, Lady Katherine. I hope you’ve enjoyed your evening as much as I have mine,” he said with a low bow, and then he left the cabin.
    * * * *
    The following morning Katherine’s head hurt as though someone was inside trying to hammer their way out. But after drinking a cup of tea, she ventured up on deck, eager to find out how soon they would be going ashore. Behind them was one huge mass of gray clouds. She hoped that didn’t mean they would try to outrun the storm instead of stopping.
    “When are we going ashore?” she asked, standing at Jack’s elbow, as he stood at the wheel.
    “We’ll reach the island by mid-afternoon, well ahead of the storm,” he said with obvious relief. The entire western sky had gone gray, and not just dove gray but as dark as a crow’s wings.
    At midday they ate a cold repast on deck in companionable silence, and it was some time after the meal, while she was standing at the rail and he was steering the ship, when they heard a euphoric shout from above.
    “Land! Land! I spy land, Captain!” the man clinging to the mast cried out, pointing east.
    Katherine looked toward the eastern horizon and saw a faint gray shape, but it was too far away for her to tell exactly what that shape was. So she remained at the rail, marveling at the fish jumping and swimming alongside the bow of the ship, while keeping an eye on the mysterious shape as it grew larger and larger.
    Gradually, as