More Than You Know Read Online Free PDF Page B

him. Now, given this opportunity, she found that her mouth was dry and the words were a tangle in her head. Sightlessness had not made her especially courageous when facing someone down. She found that her imagination still worked too well, and what she encountered in her mind's eye was far more intimidating than anything her healthy eyes would have confronted. Or at least she hoped that was the case. There was cause to wonder when she'd made the acquaintance of the one called Cutch. The giant had called a great obsidian obelisk to her mind, and she could not remove the image.
    It was not so very different with Captain Hamilton. She had witnessed how his quietly confident manner could border on arrogance, and he had already proved he could be uncompromising. She had immediately envisioned the stone sentinels she had seen on Easter Island and throughout Polynesia. Claire embellished this tiki to be larger than its companions, with a face more aggressively carved but every bit as implacable.
    "I came to ask you to reconsider,” she said. “You're a man of science as well as adventure. I hope you will be a man of reason."
    "Thus far your attempt at flattery is falling short of the mark. I am always a man of reason."
    Beneath his words the tone was as dry as bleached bones. Claire could almost imagine there was a hint of a smile at one corner of his mouth. Perhaps the captain was not as obdurate as stone after all. If she was wrong, he could always crush her to prove himself. “Stickle told me you recognized my father's name."
    "I didn't remain long enough to identify the relationship between you and Sir Griffin, but yes, I recognized the name and the fact there was a connection. The duke says your father's in the South Pacific."
    "Yes, that's right.” Claire paused. “The last I knew that was true."
    Rand frowned and realized the expression was lost on her. “Miss Bancroft, if what you're looking for is to mount an expedition to locate your father, then why not just do that? Why do you need me?"
    "Because I can think of no one with so great a chance of being successful."
    "Your flattery improves."
    "I have no wish to flatter you, Captain. I state what I have because I believe it to be the truth. I also cannot allow you to consider my request under any pretenses. It's unlikely that my father is still alive, and while I find I cannot give up my last hope, I have made some peace with it. My desire to return to Solonesia is not so those fears can be confirmed or relieved."
    "Then why?"
    "My brother's there. Or at least I hope he is. While I don't think my father is alive, I believe that Tipu is."
    "Was there some accident? Illness?"
    Claire shook her head. She touched her temple and said faintly, “I'm not certain.” This was met with silence. “Are you glowering, Captain Hamilton? Or is your expression merely confused?"
    Rand was fairly certain he was glowering. “Confused, I'm afraid."
    "Then you have some idea what I feel. I have no clear memory of the events of my last days in Solonesia. It may be that I am missing only a few hours or as much as a week. What I can recall clearly begins as I was being lifted from an outrigger by islanders at Raiatea."
    "Raiatea? But that's almost six hundred nautical miles from the Sun Islands."
    "Closer to seven. Stickle plotted it out for me on a map."
    "You did this alone?"
    Claire didn't fault Rand for his disbelief. She found it difficult to credit herself and she had been the one to do it. “Apparently so,” she said. “I say that because I can't be certain. I'm told there was an empty skin in the boat which probably held water. There were crumbs on the floor that I hadn't found. One paddle was missing. There was no one with me at Raiatea. My exposed skin was burned and I was dehydrated. I weighed quite a bit less than I do now."
    That would have made her very nearly insubstantial, Rand thought. For a moment he pictured her at the taffrail of Cerberus. A gentle Pacific breeze