“I don’t want to argue about Luke,” he said. “This is the last time the three of us will be together for a while. Can we please have a cup of tea without sniping at each other?”

Caroline raised a finely arched eyebrow. “That’s entirely up to you. Luke and I never snipe.”

The statement was unsettling, mostly because it was true. Luke and Caroline were naturally buoyant people; he was the gloomy one.

It was a windy morning, and the waves were capped with white foam as gulls wheeled in the sky. He shaded his eyes to peer across the jetty, looking for Luke. A few sailors lugged their packs, stevedores operated cranes to load cargo, and passengers mingled on the pier, waiting to board.

No sign of Luke. Gray’s temper began to heat. He’d dragged Luke out of bed an hour before sunrise and sent him ahead to register a crate of spices for export, but there were half a dozen taverns lining the docks, and if Luke had found his way into one of them—

“There he is.” Caroline laughed and sprang ahead toward the jetty.

Sure enough, Luke sat on a stack of coiled rope, playing jacks with a couple of ragged children. To Gray’s surprise, Philip Ransom, Luke’s old college roommate from the Naval Academy, stood alongside, casually watching the game. Luke had seen Gray and Caroline approaching but did a good job of ignoring them as he tossed the ball and was uncharacteristically clumsy while scooping up jacks. Both boys leapt into the air and cheered, and Luke reached into his pocket and turned over a few bills.

“You’ve cleaned me out, boys,” Luke said with a rueful smile before he and Philip began strolling to greet them.

“Morning, Gray,” Luke said. “Can you spare a few bucks? I just lost my last five dollars to Eddie and Dan.”

“You lost five dollars before eight o’clock in the morning?” Gray couldn’t mask the displeasure from his voice.

“Look at them, Gray,” Luke said in an impatient voice.

Gray didn’t need to look; he’d seen the bare feet and filthy clothes. Those boys should be in school or helping their parents, not loitering on a dock.

“I’ve got something,” Caroline said as she opened her reticule.

Luke burst into laughter as he reached out to close Caroline’s bag. “I’ve got plenty of money. I just wanted to see what Mr. Sunshine would say.”

Gray’s ire faded. Luke had always known how to get beneath his skin, and losing a game of jacks to a pair of waifs wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

He nodded a polite greeting to Lieutenant Ransom, then pulled Luke aside. “Let’s go for a walk,” he said casually. He needed to impart some important information and didn’t want Caroline or Luke’s old college friend in on the conversation.