Will returned to the cabin a short time later in the oddest of moods.

His meeting with the ship’s captain had not gone well. The ship was heavily laden with goods and there was not a spare hammock to be had with the crew.

Added to that problem, was the fact that the captain did not know his crew, having picked them up only recently in the West Indies. There were some of them he considered untrustworthy, others downright dangerous.

“Even if I had somewhere for you to sleep Mr. Saunders, such as in my cabin, I would not offer you that accommodation. Your fiancée may be in danger from the crew if she is left to sleep in your cabin on her own,” the captain explained.

The lock on their cabin door was nothing special. The same key fitted most locks on board the ship. Will would have to sleep in the cabin with Hattie.

That news pushed another thought to the forefront of his concerns. What was he to say to Felix Wright when he returned Hattie to London?

He had retrieved her from out of the sea. Been semi naked in front of her. And to top it all off had spent the best part of two weeks sharing a private cabin with her onboard a ship.

If her uncle was any sort of gentleman, he would demand the obvious. Will would have to marry Hattie.

He stopped outside the cabin door. It would not be the first time he had married out of sense of duty. His initial reason for agreeing to marry Yvette was to help build a false identity in Paris.

He had been a rash young man. Yvette was beautiful and strong willed. Lust and adventure had overruled any reservations he may have had about marrying the French undercover agent. Her father had also had a firm hand in the decision.

He had quickly learned not to regret his decision. Yvette was a sensual woman. She soon won Will’s heart, and in time he had owned hers.

While Hattie was different from the vivacious Yvette, she was possessed of her own unique charm. He had little doubt that with time, they would come to a comfortable arrangement. There was even the chance that they could come to care for one another.

I am not a complete ogre, who knows she may fall in love with me.

The topic of marriage was for later, when they were closer to England. Between now and then Will had time to get to know a little more of the real Hattie Wright. Time in which to set the scene for the inevitable conversation.

Inside the cabin, he found Hattie seated at the window. She was watching the waves and the distant shore line that was the coast of Spain.

“Bad news I am afraid,” he said.

“Yes?”

There was no point in trying to keep the truth from her. If she had worked the slums of St Giles parish, Hattie would know enough of the dangers of the street.

“The captain is not convinced that every man in the crew is of good reputation. I shall have to sleep in the cabin.”

She shrugged her shoulders.

“That’s perfectly alright. The bed is big enough.”

Will frowned. Sharing a bed with her was not part of his plans, not yet anyway. Marriage first, then the sharing of the marital bed and the pleasures that came with it.

“I have some bedding, the floor should suffice,” he replied.

She looked at the small gap between the bed and the rest of the furniture. It was a tight squeeze. Will would have little room to move about once he was down on the floor.

“Are you certain? It’s not as if either of us is going to don our nightclothes. I am quite happy for you to share the other side of the bed,” replied Hattie.

She was a practical minded girl, but Will suspected that Hattie was not overly familiar with the male form and what the effect sleeping next to a young woman could have on a man. Waking beside her in the morning with a raging erection was a real possibility he did not want to have to face. He did not want her to think he would treat her the same as Reverend Brown had clearly intended.

“While you may have been away from polite society for some time, don’t think for one minute that it has become acceptable for an unmarried couple to share a bed. The floor will do.”

With that the discussion was at an end. Will would have to hope that the gentle rocking motion of the ship on the sea and the sound of the waves was enough of a lullaby to put him to sleep each night.