She looked at the table, placing her hand flat against the surface. "Is she still alive, your mother?"
"Yes." Someday soon he'd take her to meet Mother, but he didn't tell her of that. "And the sister you once spoke of? Is she alive as well?"
"Pearl." She smiled a little sadly. "Yes, she's still alive. She's married, in fact, to a land steward in Essex. She seems happy."
"Seems?"
"I haven't seen her in years," Coral said softly.
Isaac frowned, but before he could question her, the maid entered with a full tray of food. There was a pause as the maid set the table and arranged their repast, and then Coral thanked her and she left.
Coral placed a large ham steak on a plate and handed it to him. "At what age did you go to sea?"
"Twelve." Isaac helped himself to coddled eggs from a dish and some toast as well. "And I was so homesick the first month that I thought I'd die before I ever saw land again."
"Truly?" Coral paused, the teapot half-lifted toward her cup. "I can't imagine you uncertain or afraid."
"But I was just a boy like any other," he replied in amusement. "All boys miss their mothers when first they go to sea."
"All boys may miss their mothers, but I doubt very much that you were like all the other boys. You became a captain—surely they don't all rise so high."
"No, of course not." Isaac buttered a piece of toast. "I was fortunate to serve my first commission on a ship with a wise old captain. He took me under his wing."
"You were fortunate."
"Yes, I was. He made me into the man I am today."
"Then I would thank him if I met him, for I like very much the man you are today," she replied quietly.
Isaac looked at her, wondering at the sad undertone in her voice. "You'll put me to the blush."
"Yes. well." She stared down at the table, fiddling with her silverware. "I wonder that you haven't heard that quite often from other females."
"Not so very often," he said gently.
"You said your wife died years ago," she said, still to the table. "Haven't you thought of marrying again?"
"I'm away for months at a time at sea. A captain's wife can accompany him, but not many ladies are strong enough for that life. Alice, my late wife, certainly wasn't. Any woman I take to wife would either have to be able to sail with me or be able to withstand months alone."
"Ah."
He was thrilled that she seemed interested in the subject, but frustrated that he couldn't read her face. Was the prospect of being a captain's wife too daunting? Or was she intrigued by the thought of sailing the sea?
"I confess," he said carefully, "that for a time I thought I would never remarry. Lately, however, I have begun to think a wife would be a very good thing."
"Oh," was all she said.
Still, he decided to take her response in a positive light--she had not rejected the idea outright. Isaac made sure to keep the conversation light after that and when he rose from the table some fifteen minutes later, his cheerful mood was restored.
"Tonight then?" he asked as he paused at the door to her room. "This is the seventh night of my winnings, I believe."
She caught her breath as if she'd just remembered as well. Suddenly she was before him and she reached up and caught his face between her soft hands and pulled him down to kiss him. Her mouth was open, her lips wild, and he felt himself harden, took a step back into the room, crowding her toward the bed.
"No," she gasped, tearing her mouth from his. She placed her hands flat on his chest and smiled, though her lips trembled. "I'm sorry. I know you have business to do today. Go."
"You're sure?" He had business, but at the moment whatever it was had flown his mind.
"Yes." Her fingers worried at one of his brass buttons. "Just don't forget me."
He grinned. "Small chance of that."
"You promise?"
"Yes," he said slowly. She was too intense. What worried her now?
But before he could ask, she stepped back and wrapped her arms about herself. "Go, then."
He left quickly before his body could change his mind. With only a few days left now before the Challenger sailed, he was indeed busy. Still he found time to visit a small jewelry shop and make a purchase before the day was over. By the time he made his way back to the Grotto that night, it was well past dark.
So he was a bit surprised then not to find the usual guards outside the big double doors to the brothel. Perhaps they'd been called inside to deal with an unruly patron. Isaac let himself in the Grotto and immediately saw a crowd of girls and some guests gathered at the door to one of the salons.
"It's my house!" someone was screaming from inside.
Isaac pushed his way through the crowd, fearful that Jimmy Hyde was threatening Coral. But what he saw inside the salon was a different scene altogether. The two men who usually stood guard by the front doors each held one of Jimmy's arms—and none too gently. The little man was half lifted off his toes. But still he managed to hurl threats and scream obscenities at the man who stood in front of him. Big Billy had his arms crossed and was watching Jimmy with dispassion.
When the little man stopped to gasp for breath, Billy spoke. "You saw the papers right enough. Our Aphrodite has bought the shares fair and square and signed the Grotto over to me an' the girls. Now git on wi' ye. We have no use for ye anymore."
With that Jimmy was dragged through the crowd which began to cheer.
"Drinks on the 'ouse for all in honor of our Aphrodite!" Billy cried above the shouting.
Isaac made his way to Billy's side as the girls and men began to go in search of free champagne. "What has happened?"
Billy looked at him, a grin splitting his homely face. "She did it! She went to the other shareholders and persuaded them to buy out Jimmy. He'd gotten into debt, made a few bad deals, and she had them demand a marker there, whisper a word here, and hey, presto! Jimmy's out of the Grotto. It belongs to us now—the girls and the guards."
"And to Coral as well, I presume," Isaac said quietly.
Billy shook his big head slowly, sobering a bit. "She sold out."
Isaac felt ice enter his chest. "What do you mean?"
"She's gone."
Even as he heard the words, Isaac was running from the salon, making for the stairs. But as he took them two at a time he knew already.
Coral had left him.