His announcement of Mel’s parentage did. It left Mrs. Lee wide-eyed, gape-mouthed, and, above all, silent.One corner of Rafe’s mouth twitched upward. “Something surprises you, madam?”“I—well—” Her pale cheeks grew rosy in the morning sunshine. “You can’t be old enough to be Mel’s father,” she blurted out.“I’m two and thirty. She turned twelve years last month.” An ache punched through his chest for the mere lad he’d been at her birth, so joyful, so proud, so certain his life held everything he wanted and more, despite not expecting to be a father that young. “I married her mither at nineteen, so you ken there’s naught improper about her birth.”“I never—” Her cheeks turned from rose to cherry, and her hands flew to her face.The brig slid into the trough of a wave. Without support, without the strength of leg muscles that seasoned sailors possessed, she lost her balance.Rafe caught her beneath her elbows and held her until she steadied and the deck grew reasonably level again.
