Read Online Winds of Folly by Seth Hunter - Free Book Online

Correglia was Nelson’s dolly. It was common knowledge that he paid the rent on her apartment in Leghorn and she was frequently to be found in residence aboard the flagship.
    Nathan closed his eyes for a moment. Then he sent for the purser.
    â€˜They are
what
?’ McIvor echoed Nathan’s own initial reaction when informed of the situation. Nathan told him. The purser stared over the side.
    â€˜How many of them are there?’ he enquired finally.
    â€˜I assume, McIvor, you can count as well as I,’ Nathan rebuked him coldly. His normal good humour was beginning to fray a little at the edges. ‘Probably better, given your occupation.’
    â€˜Seven of them?’ McIvor’s tone expressed his rising astonishment and indignation. ‘But where on earth are we going to put them all?’ Nathan kept his counsel. ‘And if I am to draw upon stores to feed them, how am I to account for it in the ledger?’
    â€˜You may enter them as whatever you goddamn like,’ Nathan replied shortly, doubting it a proper subject for the Captain of a King’s ship upon his own quarterdeck. But he could not leave it at that. Nor did he want McIvor making unsuitable entries in the ship’s books. If they were read by the wrong persons there would be hell to pay. The press might get hold of it. Questions might be asked in Parliament. ‘Enter them as supercargo,’ he suggested more reasonably. ‘And you may stow them in my cabin until more appropriate accommodation can be arranged for them.’
    â€˜But they are whores,’ Mr McIvor hissed, in the low but scandalised tones of a Scotsman, a citizen of Edinburgh, provoked beyond his normal reserve.
    â€˜Courtesans,’ Nathan corrected him mildly, though the distinction, as it had been explained to him, was a fine one.
    â€˜But why do they want to leave Leghorn?’ McIvor demanded forcefully.
    This question had occurred to Nathan. While it might be considered unpatriotic to confess it publicly, he would have thought there was little to choose between a French Captain of Hussars and an officer in His Britannic Majesty’s Navy. If you were a whore, that is. Or even a courtesan.
    â€˜I am told they have formed certain “attachments” to some of our officers,’ Nathan informed him in a low voice.
    But McIvor was still looking mutinous. ‘Now lookee here, McIvor.’ Nathan tried a different tack. ‘This is a delicate matter. Several of these young persons are under the protection of very senior officers on the Navy List. I have entrusted you with their care because I can count on your discretion and your … your diplomacy.’ And also, though he did not say it, because he was the only ship’s officer of any seniority whose dignity could be compromised in this way. ‘I trust you to steer a fine course between Scylla and Charybdis,’ he concluded vaguely. ‘And now if you will excuse me, I have rather more urgent matters to attend to.’
    He clapped his eye to the glass and pretended to be observing the French positions above the town. But despite the rigidity of his stance and the gravity of the military situation, his mind remained very much preoccupied with the problem of his new charges. He watched covertly as they came aboard – were helped aboard, in fact, by an outrageous number of the ship’s company, far more than was needed to bring seven fit and healthy young women up a quarter-ladder. But they were a comely crew; there was no getting away from it. A vision in satin and lace. He closed his glass with a sigh. He supposed he must be civil. After all, she was theCommodore’s particular friend and they had dined at the same table.
    â€˜Signora Correglia,’ he enthused, making an elegant bow. ‘Welcome aboard. Delighted to be of service.’
    She smiled and gave him her hand, but her eye, he noted, was cold. He had, after all, kept her bobbing