The Countess' Lucky Charm Read Online Free PDF Page A

kicked off her boots and grabbed the neatly folded blanket from her bunk. Curling into the fetal position on the thin feather mattress, she drew the blanket up to her chin and held it there with clenched fists. Beneath her, the motion of the ship changed, from an imperceptible bob to a gentle glide.
    The Annabelle had set sail.
    Simone’s thoughts drifted much like the ship drifted with the current. She didn’t want Temple to know she had hidden in his trunk to escape prison. His leaving London had been a bonus. She didn’t know how long it would take to sail to New Caledonia but it would give her extra time for the constables to forget about her. And surely a few days sharing a cabin and playing the part of Lady Wellington was a small price to pay.
    She couldn’t turn back, even if she wanted to. Mrs Dougherty would worry about her and she felt bad about that, but there had simply not been the opportunity to bid farewell.
    And what in the packet was so important to Lord Wellington that he would willingly take a stranger with him, indeed pass her off as his wife? An inquiring squeeze through the folds of oil cloth had indicated something hard, perhaps a small box. Small but heavy. How pointless to wonder about it, though—the well-hidden packet would have to wait for their return.
    No, the more pressing matters were how to appease her cabin mate and how to play her part as Lady Wellington.
    Temple had demanded payment from her, knowing full well she did not have it. He had been jesting about sharing her bunk. Hadn’t he?  
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
    Several days later, an awestruck Simone watched the Annabelle cut through foam-crested waves in a spray that flared out from the bow like a glittering diamond shawl. Above her head, the sails snapped and billowed and below her feet, the deck surged, rising majestically to meet each wave before dropping, down, down, only to rise again in a never-ending motion.
    England lay behind her, a barely visible line on the horizon. Before her, the Atlantic Ocean rolled away so far that it didn’t stop until it met the sky.
    And the sky—clean, crisp, dotted with lace white clouds against a brilliant blue such as she had never seen.
    It was beautiful.
    It was terrifying.
    It was exhilarating
    It was her road to a new life.
    “I ain’t ever smelled air like this before.” Simone gripped the ship’s railing and filled her lungs, a pleasant change from London’s foul air.
    She glanced sideways at Temple, draped pathetically over the handrail. It was all that stopped him from tumbling into the green swells below. She supposed she should warn him to hang tight but then decided against it. The poor man suffered too much already without her nagging at him.
    “Ah, Temple?”
    He grunted.
    “Ye know I’m not a lady of quality.” This was the first opportunity she had had to broach the subject with Temple. He had avoided her blatantly, difficult to do on the confines of the Annabelle , but somehow he managed it.
    “What did you say?” Temple barely got the question out before another bout of retching overcame him.
    “I’m supposed ta be yer wife but I’m not a lady of quality. What happens when everyone on this ship figures that out?”
    “Oh that.” He managed to shrug even though his hands clutched the rail so tightly his shoulders could barely move. “Once the voyage is over, we’ll never see any of our fellow passengers again. What they think of us is of no concern to me. Besides, I’ve already introduced you as my wife. Who said you needed to be a lady?”
    Amazed, she looked at him. “Ye really don’t care, do ye?”
    He shook his head.
    “But what do I have ta do? To be Lady Wellington?”
    “It’s simple, really. Pretend shyness. Keep your eyes lowered. If you must converse, smile and nod.”
    It seemed straightforward. “Very well.” She nodded. “ Yer the lord. If ye don’t care, I suppose I don’t care.”
    But she did care, in