Page 10 of Measure of the Stars

Chapter Three

Wesley woke to thelow drumming and cry of voices that signaled theManatee’sdeparture.

“Shit!”Delauney stumbled out of bed.He’d apparently kicked off his trousers in the night, and Wes had a full view of everything the poor fellow had to offer.It was almost difficult to look away.He’d seen his fair share of pricks over the years, but Delauney’s was the sort most people claimed to want in theory but could never handle in practice.It was a marvel that Delauney could walk.

“Trousers,” Delauney said, whipping around.His ass was so pale it practically glowed.“Where are the clean trousers?”

Wes realized that it was probably his job to lay out Delauney’s clothes the night before.“Sit down and I’ll find some.”

“But you have your own...”Delauney’s voice trailed off to a whisper.“Oh, yes, valets do that sort of thing, don’t they?”

“You should know, you’re the noble.”Wes fished a uniform out of the closet and tossed it on the bed.“You did say you had a valet before?”

“Yes, but Ned sort of...”Delauney waved a hand.“Reassigned him after a while.I kept forgetting to ask him to do things for me, if you must know.”

“I can see that.”Wes ignored Delauney’s slightly wounded look and grabbed his own work clothes.“For example, what do I do now?Follow you around?”

“I suppose?”Delauney’s voice rose dangerously high.“We’ll figure something out.”

Wes wanted to say that as his captain, Delauney should be doing the figuring, but he suspected that would be useless.

Setting sail on a ship the size of theManateewasn’t as complex a task as it would have been on one of King Adrien’s larger ships, but it was still a slow process.Moving a ship was a bit like moving an anthill.It didn’t look like much from the outside, but under the surface, a whole crew of workers were scrambling to make sure nothing collapsed.

Even captains weren’t excluded from the scramble.Wes started privately noting everything Delauney forgot on his way to the deck.Breakfast.Brushing his teeth, which a captain could very well do, even if ordinary sailors had to get by.Shaving.Fixing the collar of his uniform.Perhaps he was too busy for it, but Wes wasn’t sure.

“Sir,” Wes said, as they stepped out into the pale gray light of dawn.“Do you normally eat while you work?”

“What?”Delauney looked a little panicky.“Oh.You must be hungry.You should eat something.Come back to me in a moment; I’ll be at the helm.”

Wes couldn’t risk giving him a sarcastic look out in the open.Ned was already approaching, looking like a chiseled god of the sea strolling across the deck of a ship for a lark.Wes fled to the kitchen.He didn’t think he could handle two relentlessly cheerful noblemen so early in the morning.

Delauney was at the stern with Ned when Wes returned, looking as though he’d forgotten Wes entirely.He seemed even more baffled when Wes handed him a piece of bread studded with currants and told him that a proper meal would be waiting for him in an hour, thanks to an exasperated head cook.

“Oh, no,” Delauney said, shoving half of the bread in his mouth with the air of a starving hamster.“I couldn’t.I’m sure that I had breakfast in any case.”

“You didn’t,” Wes said.