Where Seagulls Soar Read online

  By the same author

  The Stonecutter’s Daughter

  A Handful of Ashes

  Beyond the Plough

  A Dorset Girl

  Born and brought up in Parkstone in Dorset, Janet Woods now lives in Perth, Western Australia, although she returns to her English roots on a regular basis to visit family and friends.

  First published in Great Britain by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, 2006

  A CBS COMPANY

  Copyright © Janet Woods 2006

  This eBook edition, 2014

  This book is copyright under the Berne Convention.

  No reproduction without permission.

  ® and © 1997 Simon & Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

  The right of Janet Woods to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

  Simon & Schuster UK Ltd

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  222 Gray’s Inn Road

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  Simon & Schuster Australia, Sydney

  Simon & Schuster India, New Delhi

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  PB ISBN: 978-1-41650-252-4

  EBOOK ISBN: 978-1-47113-662-7

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  For my granddaughters

  Abbie Woods

  and

  Kate Larsen,

  with love.

  *

  The author is happy to receive feedback from readers via her website

  http://members.iinet.net.au/~woods

  or by post

  PO Box 2099

  Kardinya 6163

  Western Australia

  My thanks to historian Stuart Morris for his wonderful book,

  PORTLAND

  An Illustrated History

  first published by The Dovecote Press in 1985.

  An invaluable source of information for this, and my previous novel,

  The Stonecutter’s Daughter

  Contents

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  1

  ‘With this ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow. In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.’

  The ring Alexander Morcant slipped on to Joanna Darsham’s finger was fashioned from a nugget of gold unearthed from the Victorian gold fields by a convict jeweller.

  ‘Those whom God hath joined together may no man put asunder.’

  Thaddeus Scott, master of the clipper Joanna Rose – en route from Australia to England with a cargo of wool, 65,000 ounces of gold, seventy-three passengers and mail destined for families left behind in Great Britain – closed his Bible and smiled at the couple standing before him, both of them dear to his heart.

  ‘Best you tie the knot properly in a church when we go ashore, just to make sure it’s legal.’

  Later, Thaddeus wrote an entry in the ship’s log:

  Thursday 15th April 1858. Weather fair with following winds. Progress 203 miles. Able Seaman Philip Divers charged with falling asleep when on watch. First offence. Reprimanded and docked two days’ pay. Joanna Darsham and Alexander Morcant exchanged marriage vows before several of the ship’s passengers and some of the crew. The marriage conducted by Thaddeus Scott, Master of the Joanna Rose. Solemnized over the King James Bible and entered therein. May God bless their union.

  It had been a fast voyage so far. The anchor having been hove up eight weeks previously, the Joanna Rose had been towed by steamer to open water, where a wind from the north west had filled her sails and seen 260 nautical miles pass under her keel and turn into wake by the following midday.

  The shores of England were now only three weeks away, the equator crossing having been celebrated just the day before. Alex had proposed to Joanna during the revelries, and in front of everyone. He had suggested this unorthodox and romantic ceremony himself, knowing it would appeal to her adventurous nature.

  Joanna couldn’t stop smiling, and Alex couldn’t prevent himself from smiling back at her. ‘Now I’ve made an honest woman of you I can claim spousal rights without the damned passengers gazing upon my overtures towards you with disapproval,’ he whispered against her ear.

  She’d noticed that Alex was getting used to the ship’s motion now, though compared to her master, Thaddeus Scott, who’d spent his entire life at sea, he was a beginner, for he still had to cling to whatever was handy each time the ship canted, and he wove from side to side when walking, as if he’d imbibed too much liquor.

  The nimble-footed Joanna was much better at adjusting to the ship’s movement, but even she could be taken unawares. Alex laughed when a jolt pitched her forward into his arms and she said, ‘I swear, the sea’s got lumps in it today.’

  ‘You’d think that a ship which had been named after you would treat you more gently,’ Alex said.

  Blue eyes blazing with happiness she gazed up at him. ‘Ah, but she threw me in the right direction, for this is exactly where I want to be.’

  ‘Is it now?’

  Just then young Toby began to kick up a ruckus. Alex released her and stooped to pluck their son from the arms of the Chinaman, Chin Lee, who’d been holding him during the ceremony.

  Toby had been born three months earlier in Melbourne, on the eighth day of January. Named Tobias Alexander, he’d quickly become Toby.

  Father and son were alike with their dark hair and liquid dark eyes. For that reason alone, nobody would ever be able to dispute the relationship of the pair, though they might speculate about the boy’s sudden appearance.

  Joanna would never forget the look on Alex’s face when he’d first set eyes on his son, and, although Alex hadn’t said so at the time, Joanna knew the existence of the boy had given him someone to provide a future for. It would be a close relationship, a far cry from the lonely childhood Alex himself had experienced, which had been reinforced by the shock disclosure that he was the son of his mother’s affair, and not the absent father he’d always looked up to.

  ‘I must take Toby below and feed him,’ she said, refusing the celebratory tot of rum Thaddeus Scott laughingly offered her. It was a brew that was reputed to strip varnish from the mast.

  Alex declined it too, saying casually, ‘I’ll come with you and collect your luggage, for you’ll both be with me in the stateroom tonight.’

  Later, when they were alone in their luxurious cabin together, Alex said, ‘Do you realize you’ve kept me waiting eight weeks?’

  ‘But we’d agreed to wait until we reached England before we wed.’

  ‘Damn it, Joanna, you never needed a ring on your finger before. We’ve already produced a son between us to prove it.’

  ‘I wanted the second one I conceived to be legitimate. Besides, it’s not my fault you were sick for the first few weeks at sea.’

  Alex shuddered. ‘Don’t remind me. Thaddeus had no sympathy at all. He said I’d get over it, and as head of the Darsham and Morcant Shipping Company I should have gone to sea earlier with my brother Oliver, to learn the ropes.’ He brushed a finger gently down the side of her face. ‘So why did you change your mind about wai
ting until we got back to England?’

  ‘Why?’ She grinned. ‘How could I reject such a romantic proposal. And if you kiss me again, you will know exactly why. I just cannot resist you, Alex Morcant. We’ll cause a scandal as it is when the existence of Toby is made known. And it will be me who’s whispered about, not you.’

  He smiled at that. ‘I’ll tell them we were secretly married at Gretna Green.’

  ‘No more falsehoods, Alex. They’re too hard to maintain. Will you change the name of the shipping company now?’

  Her blue eyes drowned in the darkness of his gaze. ‘Is that what you want, Joanna Rose?’

  ‘Yes. I talked it over with my father, and that’s what he wants too. He said that the less people who are reminded of the Darsham name, the more comfortable he’ll feel.’

  ‘But when you married him neither of you knew of the blood tie between you.’

  ‘All the same, I can’t help feeling that I ruined his life. If he and I hadn’t accidentally met he’d still be running the company. He gave up everything he loved to save my reputation.’

  ‘And his own, and the future of the company.’ Alex kissed the sadness from her lips. ‘You needn’t feel guilty, Joanna. Despite the problems it caused, finding you brought Tobias Darsham great joy. It was just a pity that you wed. Luckily, he realized the mistake before any harm was done. Your father knows what he’s doing, he always has. He’s enjoying the challenge of his new life.’

  ‘And he and Jane are expecting their first child.’ A smile spread across her face at the thought of having a brother or sister after a lifetime of being an only child. ‘He deserves to be happy, Alex.’

  ‘Aye, he does. He told me that learning of your survival was something he’d treasure for the rest of his life. One day we’ll make this trip again, I promise. I can’t turn my back on Tobias, or Gabriel Tremayne, as he now calls himself. He was always there for me as a child. I love the man as much as I love his daughter.’

  ‘Do you truly love me, Alex?’

  ‘What a thing to ask me on our wedding day,’ he said, his voice gruff. ‘Would I have wed you otherwise?’

  She wondered. If circumstances had been different, with their different backgrounds, would he have considered her a suitable wife for a successful businessman?

  She dismissed the lingering doubt that she’d manoeuvred Alex into following her to Australia, and the thought that the existence of Toby had tightened the noose around him. ‘I’ll be a good wife to you, Alex. I promise.’

  She was sitting on the bunk, which was fitted against the wall. He traced a fingertip across the breasts so recently exploited by their son. One by one he opened the buttons on her bodice to expose the camisole beneath. She quivered when his lips grazed over the material, seeking the swollen nubs where their son had recently suckled.

  He gazed down at her, unsure. ‘Are you positive you’re fully recovered from Toby’s birth?’

  Her arms snaked around his neck and she gave an exasperated snort. ‘Are you going to talk all night, Alex Morcant?’

  His eyes met hers for a moment, his lips twitched and his hands slid under her buttocks. Lifting her from the bunk he held her against him. Her long legs wound around his waist. How enticing she was. He surged up to connect with her warmth, his need for her making him as eager as a youth as he pressed against the front of his linens. ‘I imagine not.’

  She was laughing now, covering his face with kisses. He had a job lowering his trousers, and they were trapped around his ankles, so he teetered backwards on to the bunk with her on top of him, his head in an awkward position against the bulkhead.

  She stood up to pull his ankles free, throwing aside his shoes at the same time, then she bent forward and gently kissed him where it ached the most.

  ‘Oh, God,’ he groaned, feeling his control falter as she slipped from her skirt and tossed her bodice and camisole aside.

  ‘Do you like what you see?’ she cooed, parading in a red satin corselette, frothy petticoat and high buttoned boots.

  ‘You’re exquisite.’

  She turned her back on him, looked over her shoulder and demanded, ‘Loosen my laces, then.’

  He grinned at her tease. ‘Damn it, Joanna. I’m going to have you wearing them, first.’

  ‘Feeling frisky, are you?’ she whispered. ‘Lay down then, else you’ll break your neck.’

  He was surprised by the request, but complied, sliding down on to the pillows. Under her flaming petticoat she wore nothing.

  Kneeling across his lap she gently lowered herself on to him, covering him in red taffeta. Her thighs trapped his hips, her hands were planted either side of his head and her glorious dark hair tumbled in a fragrant curtain about their heads. Bare buttocks cushioned themselves on his thighs, her leather boots grazed against his knees.

  Joanna’s sleepy blue eyes were an inch from his, her mouth a curve of desire. ‘I adore you, Alex Morcant.’

  He liked her uninhibited ways and found himself sinking into the mesmerizing depth of those eyes – losing himself in her, in the intimate togetherness of them.

  Reaching up he took her face between his palms and, bringing her mouth down to his, he drowned in the sea of her sensuality as she gently tightened her muscles around him.

  As they neared England the weather worsened and they sailed into a series of squalls.

  To Alex, the ship became a highly unstable creature. Her stern rose and fell like a whore’s backside. Her prow cut into the water and scooped it up. It rolled along her deck at knee height to pour over the legs of the unsuspecting, then it cascaded out of the scuppers. Spray was thrown sky high, to run off the snapping sails in every direction, usually the one he was standing in. To make matters worse, the horizon canted this way and that, so his perspective was constantly shifting.

  Her master, thinking nothing of this ungainly behaviour from his elegant ship, calmly smoked his smelly tobacco and threw incomprehensible orders to the crew, who swarmed over the rigging, seemingly with complete disregard for their safety.

  Sails were run down lines, others just as quickly run up, so there was a constant kaleidoscope of movement.

  Although Alex had determined not to succumb to seasickness again, the Joanna Rose had other ideas. Much to his chagrin, he was overtaken by the misery of it. Even though he wasn’t actually sick, he was constantly queasy and was forced to remain in his cabin. As he hugged his stomach, Alex swore he’d never go to sea again unless desperation drove him to it, whatever he’d promised Joanna.

  Thankfully, Toby had inherited Joanna’s stomach, for he was affected not at all. He bawled loudly and forcefully when he was hungry or uncomfortable, but otherwise was sunny natured.

  At least he had Joanna to care for him now, Alex told himself, and he wouldn’t have to live in that big house, alone with his own thoughts. But he envied the fact that his wife seemed to thrive on, even enjoy, the uneven motion of the ocean, as if she were a piece of seaweed floating on the currents.

  She looked after him, washing the sweat from his pallid face, or coaxing him to eat a little. She tempted him with morsels of food, soft words and sympathy in her eyes. When they made love she was passionate and innovative, and he couldn’t get enough of her.

  But when Joanna came to the cabin one day, her eyes sparkling and raindrops glistening in her hair, to bring the news, ‘England is on the horizon, come and see,’ Alex instantly began to feel better.

  ‘Thank God,’ he croaked. ‘I hate living on this damned ship, even though I now own the company. I worked hard enough to get it, though, and thanks to you it’s now mine. And I’ve got myself a wife into the bargain.’ The pride and arrogance in his words suddenly vanished as he said pathetically, ‘I’ll be so pleased to have solid ground under my feet again.’

  She giggled and held his head against her breasts. ‘My poor darling man, I know you will. But you’ll change your mind about the ship when we go ashore, and you’ll look on the voyage as an adventure.’
<
br />   ‘I shouldn’t be at all surprised.’ He felt quite comfortable being held like this and wondered if his own mother had put him to her breast to feed, as Joanna did with Toby.

  A shudder ran through him at the thought. But no, Clara Nash hadn’t been a motherly type. He’d spent most of his childhood with Tobias Darsham and his mother, unless his late father had been home from sea. Despite their mother and son relationship, Alex had never felt close to Clara, and neither did he hold any respect for her. Surprise filled him, for he realized that he didn’t even like his mother.

  He turned his head to kiss the pert little bud that had suddenly ripened against his ear.

  Joanna laughed and combed her fingers through his hair, relaxing his scalp. ‘You’re beginning to feel better, aren’t you?’

  ‘By the second.’ His mouth moved a little further up. ‘How do you feel?’

  In the cradle next to the bunk, Toby woke. His legs rose in the air, taking the blanket with them. They quivered in a stretch for a moment, then the blanket fell off and covered his face.

  ‘In demand,’ she said, grinning as Toby’s head turned from one side to the other, as if wondering where the light had gone. He began to punch at the air and voice his annoyance at the event.

  Alex gave a rueful smile and rolled off the bunk.

  Toby’s indignant squawk became a chuckle when his father uncovered him. Smothered in Alex’s kisses and convulsed in paroxysms of giggles, the beautiful and robust little boy who so resembled Alex was brought to the bunk and placed in Joanna’s arms. Alex was going to be a good father to him.

  She frowned when Alex paled and an expression of pain appeared on his his face.

  ‘Do you feel unwell again?’

  ‘It’s nothing much. It comes now and again. I’ll be all right once I get ashore.’

  And that was only a day away.

  Up on deck with the rest of the passengers, who were beginning to disembark, Alex glanced towards the building where the company’s offices were situated.

  Joanna grinned. ‘I suppose you’re going straight there.’