My Father Went to Prison for Their Money, So I Married Their Heir novel · Chapter 13 of 32
Chapter 13: The Boat
We took the Second Wind out at dusk that Wednesday, with the canvas off her and the engine coughing awake on the third try.
Beau took the wheel and I took the lines, and I let him show me which rope did what.
"My father said not to go out on the water with you," I said.
His hands tightened on the wheel.
"Did he say why?"
"No. He made me promise. I'm breaking it."
"Then I'll be careful of you," Beau said, "since he can't."
The river widened below the port and turned the color of weak tea.
The cranes fell behind us, one after another, with their red lights coming on.
He took us down the channel past the last marker and out into the marsh, where the tide ran in pale ribbons through grass that stood higher than the mast.
He dropped anchor in the lee of a sandbar no wider than a driveway, with nothing on either side but sky.
The engine stopped, and the quiet came down over the boat.
"There's nobody for two miles," he said.
I stood in the cockpit with the brass key in my hand.
It was nearly dark.
The first stars had come out over the water, and a heron stood on the bar, motionless, watching us.
"I'm going to open it," I said.
"I know."
"Not yet."
He raised his eyebrows.
"I've spent eleven years opening Ravenel paper," I said. "I want one hour that isn't theirs."
I put the key in my pocket.
I crossed the deck in my bare feet and stood in front of Beau, close enough to feel the heat of him through his shirt.
He had not moved.
He was looking at me and he had not blinked.
"Take your hands off the wheel," I said.
He did.
"Put them on the rail behind you. Both of them."
He did that too, and the muscles in his forearms stood out as he gripped.
"Is that in the terms, Mrs. Ravenel?" he said, hoarse, and half smiling.
"New terms. Item five. You keep your hands where I put them."
"God help me," he said.
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