Sail With Me (A Discovery Series Book) Read Online Free Page A

else.
    “I need to be like you,” I finally said.
    “Like me? What do you mean?” He let go of my hands and sat on the end of
Eric’s bed.
    “I need to be a boy.”
    “Charlotte, you’re not making any sense.” He leaned back on his elbows so
he was almost lying down on Eric’s bed. The skin between his brows squished
together in confusion.
    “To get on the Rose ,” I said. “I need to be a boy.”
    Benjamin shot back to sitting and opened his mouth to say something, but
I held up my hand.
    “Just listen first, all right?”
    He closed his mouth and waved a hand for me to continue.
    “You know I’ve never meant to stay on land,” I started. “I’ve always
wanted to sail. I can’t do that on any of the ships that frequent Southampton because
everyone knows about my father’s disapproval. That new ship, the Rose ,
is my only hope, Benjamin. With a simple enough disguise, it’ll be easy to fool
an outsider into thinking I’m a boy. We know the Rose’s captain is short
a deckhand. I could take his spot. It all makes perfect sense.”
    “Until you get caught,” Benjamin said. “Charlotte, this is crazy. You
have a perfectly fine job at Lady Elizabeth’s where—”
    “She’s going to ask me to be governess to her child,” I finished. “Take a
minute to picture it, Benjamin. I’m suffocating here. Cripes, I can’t breathe.
I don’t want to take charge of a little one. I don’t want to serve tea and
scones in the garden. I want to be on the water. I want answers to my questions
about what’s out there. I want to see the world. You… you could come with me.”
    I hadn’t meant to say the last part, but seeing the pained look in his
eyes made me want to take him along.
    “You know I can’t leave Southampton,” Benjamin said. “My father isn’t
well. You’ve seen him. He’s been training me to take over Watkins’s Post, and
you know what? I want to take it over. I do. I like working there. I
like being close to the water without having to be on it. I like getting the
sailors the supplies they need. I like it here, Charlotte, and I like having
you here too.”
    He ran his hand through his hair and let out a long breath. “I won’t ask
you to stay, though, because I know it’ll kill you. I want you to be happy,
Charlotte, wherever that is.”
    I took a hesitant step closer to him and put my hands on his shoulders.
He caught me around the waist with his arms and pulled me to him so his head
rested on my stomach. It wasn’t awkward as I thought it might be. Instead, it
was safe, like a warm blanket on a chilly, winter night.  
    Benjamin was the first to drop his arms, and I took a step back. He
walked over to Eric’s wardrobe.
    “One disguise, coming up.” He opened the wardrobe and scanned the
clothing Eric had left behind. I came to stand behind him and peered into the
closet as well. Several pairs of breeches, a number of plain tunics, a
waistcoat, and a homespun sweater still hung on their wooden pegs.
    I pulled out a pair of tan breeches and held them up to my waist. Though
I was thinner than both my brothers, I was not much shorter than either of them.
Eric’s breeches reached to my heels and could be stuffed into a pair of boots.
A rope belt could solve the waist difference.
    I surveyed a linen tunic next. I would need to sew up the front a bit so
it wasn’t so open at the neck, perhaps add some laces to tie it closed. After
shrugging out of Eric’s other coat I was wearing, I slipped on the waistcoat.
    Benjamin laughed and shook his head. “Too big and fancy.” He held out his
hand and I gave him the waistcoat. “You want to stick to simple. Deckhands do a
great deal of the dirty work on a ship.” He returned the waistcoat to the
wardrobe and pulled out the sweater. My throat grew tight as I took it from
him.
    My mother had made it.
    The sweater was a simple brown pattern, squarely cut with a crew neck.
The yarn was itchy wool and tightly knit. I slipped it on and felt