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Hughes looked at him over the rim of his spectacles. “Why?”
“I’m afraid I may have misplaced a document assigning navy officers to the ships, and this information will help me find it.”
“Right,” said Hughes, as though that was exactly what he’d expected of Nathaniel. “The admiral must be quite displeased with you.” He stood up, walked to the bookshelf behind him, and searched through the large leather books in neat rows. “You never bothered about a document you misplaced in your life.”
Nathaniel’s jaw tightened, and he balled his fists at his sides, willing himself not to lash out. Part of him wanted to be pleasing to Calliope, even though he had no reason to. He glanced at her, and she met his gaze with an amused expression, her eyebrows raised.
“No, not until now,” said Nathaniel.
“Which date did you say?” asked Hughes.
“September 3, 1812,” said Calliope.
Hughes removed a large leather-bound tome. “I am not certain why your fiancée needs to be present to locate a document…” he mumbled and set it on the desk in front of them.
“Here you are.”
Calliope’s eyes practically burned as she laid her hands on it. “May I?”
Hughes frowned with an expression as though he was about to refuse her. “I’m afraid it’s not for laypeople—”
Nathaniel interrupted him. “How are your wife and daughter doing, Hughes? Are they well?”
Hughes paled and swallowed. “They are. Thank you.”
“Hughes has quite a story of how he courted the young woman, do you not, Hughes? Being much younger than you, she almost refused you, or am I mistaken?”
Calliope watched the two of them with a suspicious frown. “You’re quite right, Kelford,” said Hughes with a suddenly pleasant expression. “But this is the Admiralty, not—”
“It’s so fascinating to think that had it not been for her change of heart when you gave her that book of Shakespeare’s love sonnets, she may be married to someone else now and your daughter wouldn’t have been born… Do you ever feel thankful someone gave you that idea and encouraged you to try again and again?”
Hughes swallowed and nodded. “Quite right, Kelford. That someone was indeed quite helpful, and I will forever be thankful. I see you found a good future wife, too. Clearly, she will keep you organized. Please do look at it, Lady Calliope.”
Nathaniel gave him a satisfied nod. “Excellent, thank you. Do you, perhaps, need to confirm something with Peterson over there?”
He tipped his chin to the other corner of the room where several clerks and officers sat at desks with their backs to them and wrote or talked quietly.
“Indeed I do. Nothing will happen to important navy records with an officer present,” said Hughes with a drop of sweat forming at his forehead. “I’ll leave you to it.”
As he left, Calliope looked at Nathaniel with an amused smile. “I can only imagine what that was about, but I see that I’d never be able to access this without you. You did a nice thing for him back then, did you not?”
Nathaniel cocked his head in agreement.
She smiled. “Glad to know being a rake can lead to something good, after all…”
Something cracked and warmed in his heart at seeing her beautiful smile and sparkling eyes directed his way.
She opened the book, and Nathaniel watched over her shoulder as she flipped through pages of tables with dates, ships, and lists of names.
“Here it is,” she said, her finger pointed at the date.
“‘Departed on September 3, 1812,’” Calliope read.
Below was the list of the ships and Calliope’s finger slowly moved down. “Five navy ships were docked in London: Titan, Concord, Minotaur, Hector, and Aeneas. But nothing else.” She looked at Nathaniel. “Is there information in here about where they eventually sailed and when?”
He nodded and reached over her shoulder, suddenly very aware of her gorgeous back and her buttocks being almost pressed against his front. He sucked in a breath, trying to ignore the warmth of her and how heat rushed through his entire body.
He flipped through three more pages.
