Lady Pirate (30 page)

Sighing, she set the book down on her lap and peered around the small, sunny room unhappily. She could see her future quite clearly if something did not happen soon. The days stretched out before her, an unending parade of hours spent sitting here, staring off into space, miserable, as she waited for mealtime, when her husband would reappear from whatever mysterious chores to which he was tending. Good Lord, how did other women stand it? Her life had been full of tasks up to now. There had always been some chore or other to accomplish aboard ship: sails to mend, ropes to check, maps and charts to read, orders to give. Even as a child her time had been full of lessons and chores. But Valoree had no idea what women did once they were married and beyond the schoolroom. Was there anything to do at all besides stare around?

The only good thing about it was that, if
she
was bored, her men, stuck on the boat with its cramped living quarters and lack of entertainment and women, must be near climbing the rigging by now. She was positive that trouble would break out soon, and then they would see who was the real captain.

“My dear girl!”

Valoree's head snapped around, her eyes widening in amazement as they fell on Lady Thurborne barreling into the room, arms outstretched, a wide, welcoming smile on her face. Guiltily shoving the chapbook she had been reading down under the cushion she sat on, Valoree stood, and felt her body stiffen as she was
engulfed in a cloud of rose-scented taffeta.

“Oh, my dear girl! I wanted to tell you how happy I am to welcome you as my daughter-in-law,” the woman trilled in her ear gaily, then pulled back to smile. “I was beginning to think that Daniel would never marry. I feared even the requirements of Mother's will would not move him to it. But you managed it, you clever girl! Come sit with me; we must chat.”

Valoree allowed herself to be drawn over to the settee, her expression bemused. “When did you arrive? How did you know we were here?”

“I arrived just now, dear.” Lady Thurborne dropped onto the settee, dragging Valoree down with her so that they sat half turned and facing each other. “That nice young man with the unfortunate missing nose arrived with Daniel's letter, telling me you had married and were here.”

“No-Nose,” Valoree murmured to herself. Three months had seen his leg heal quite well, though he still limped.

“And the moment I read that, I had the servants start packing, the carriage drawn around, and I headed here.”

“Oh,” Valoree murmured, then glanced toward the door with a frown as another round of clattering, crashing, and curses in both Greek and English reached them.

“What on earth is that?” Lady Thurborne asked, rising anxiously.

Valoree sighed and waved her concern away. “It is just Petey and Eleni going at it again”

“Eleni?” Lady Thurborne sat down with a frown. “Daniel's cook?”

“Aye. She and Petey, my cook, are struggling for who is in charge. They have several battles a day.”

“I see,” Lady Thurborne murmured with a frown,
then tilted her head slightly to the side and peered at her consideringly. “You do not look happy,” she announced.

Valoree sat a little straighter. “Oh, I—” she began, but Lady Thurborne waved her to silence.

“What do you do with your time?”

Valoree hesitated slightly, then gazed around the room rather blankly.

“Being a lady is much different from being the captain of privateers, I imagine,” she said now, and Valoree nearly fell off the settee in shock. Smiling at her expression, Lady Thurborne explained. “Meg told me everything.”

“Meg did?” Valoree asked in amazement. “When?”

“The day the men drugged you both and took you back to your ship to sail out. She did not wish me to worry about Daniel's suddenly going missing.”

“Did Henry know?”

“Yes. Apparently he was not pleased with the idea, but she convinced him it would be right—that I might be able to keep Daniel's driver quiet about his going missing from your town house. And she was correct. I did handle the man.”

Valoree peered at her with confusion. “Why?”

“Why did I help the plot along in that manner? Well, because, my dear, I wanted to see Daniel married, settled, and starting on my grandbabies. And it did seem to me that he wanted to marry you, only you were reluctant to agree.”

“You do not mind that he married a pirate?” she asked with disbelief. Lady Thurborne grinned.

“Actually, I think it is all rather exciting and romantic. Though I think you are being rather hard on yourself, my dear. You are not really a pirate. You are a privateer. Meg explained about your keeping the king's portion to give to him.” She tilted her head again and said, “It must be very hard for you, though.
I fear I did not think of all this from your point of view. No doubt Daniel took over everything the minute you were married. He has a tendency to do that,” she added with irritation. “And doubtless he did not consider that someone who has led the adventure-filled life you have, would need something other than embroidery to fill her time.”

“I do not
do
embroidery,” Valoree said with disgust.

Lady Thurborne laughed. “Somehow, I do not think Daniel really minds.”

“I fear you would be wrong,” Valoree muttered.

Lady Thurborne glanced at her sharply, but before she could comment, the sound of a rather ostentatious throat-clearing filled the room, drawing their attention to a short, flamboyantly dressed little man standing in the doorway.

Valoree sighed at the sight of him, then forced a smile for Lady Thurborne when the woman glanced at her questioningly. “My dance instructor,” she explained. “Daniel's idea.”

“Oh.” Lady Thurborne looked nonplussed for a moment, then patted Valoree's hand and stood. “Well, I shall just go see how Bessy is doing getting things put away in my room, then.”

Master Henderson smiled beatifically at Lady Thurborne as she passed him, then closed the door behind her and started toward Valoree.

“My lady!” Taking the hand she offered, the man bent low, pressing several sloppy kisses over her knuckles as he murmured, “My dear, dear, sweet lady. What a delight to see you again.”

Valoree snatched her hand back and glared at the man suspiciously as he straightened. He was a bit effusive for her taste.

“I understand that Master Carson will not be with us anymore to play the music.” He gave a sad little
moue, then sighed heavily before murmuring, “Then we shall have to make our own music, shall we not?”

 

Daniel was coming from the kitchen, where he had been trying to sort out yet another disagreement between Petey and Eleni, when he spied his mother bearing down on him like an avenging Valkyrie. Cursing under his breath, he managed a weak smile. “Mother. When did you arrive? Someone should have informed me you were here.”

“I wanted to see Valoree first,” she announced. “Then I went to speak with Meg. And now I would have a word with you. At once,” she added firmly, and turned on her heel to lead him into his library.

Daniel followed curiously, vaguely amused at the way his sweet, slightly conniving mother was storming ahead of him. But his humor turned to shock the moment he closed the library door and she whirled on him in a fury.

“I have never been so disappointed in you in my life, Daniel!” she cried. “What have you done to that poor girl?”

“Who? Valoree?” He blinked at her in bewilderment. He had never before heard his mother raise her voice above a mildly strident tone in his life. Lady Thurborne was ever sweet and gentle, using trickery to get her way, as most ladies did, rather than straight confrontation. “I married her, Mother. That is all I have done.”

“That girl is miserable.”

“Nonsense,” he said irritably. “Where is she?”

“With her dance instructor,” she announced with a disgust that made Daniel frown. “And that is another thing I would talk to you about. Why are you forcing her to take lessons?”

He released a short laugh at that. “I am not forcing her, Mother. She wants to learn to be a proper lady.”

“A
proper
lady?” She gasped in horror and he scowled.

“You know what I mean.”

“Aye,” she said slowly and almost sadly. “I do know what you mean. 'Tis no wonder she feels as though you do not think she is good enough for you.”

Amazement filled him. “Did she say that?”

“Not in so many words, but I gather that Meg fears she feels that way.”

“Well, it is not what I intended. I just do not wish her to be embarrassed or uncomfortable in society. She—”

“She speaks several languages quite fluently,” Lady Thurborne interrupted, and he turned to her in amazement.

“What?”

“Aye.” She nodded slowly. “And the fact that you do not know that tells me that you have not even talked to Valoree about her ‘lessons.'”

“I just assumed—” He scowled, then shook his head. “I will tell Master Thomas he need not continue the language lessons.”

“You need not bother,” Lady Thurborne said dryly. “Valoree sent the man off the first day.”

Closing his eyes, Daniel sighed. “Tell me.”

“It would appear that your Master Thomas explained to her on his first day here that she was a woman, and therefore inferior, but that he would attempt to force some intelligence into her poor female mind.” Daniel winced at the news, and his mother nodded.

“As you can imagine, Valoree took exception to that and told him, in Latin, that she had learned her languages as a child under her brother's tutor, then had continued them well into her teens under her brother's tutelage. She told him that she spoke Latin, German, and French quite fluently, and that if he ever spoke to her in such a way again, she would cut his tongue out
and shove it down his sorry throat. Your Master Thomas apparently turned quite pale at that and left. He has not returned since.”

Sighing, Daniel began to rub his forehead agitatedly. “Well, someone should have told me she could speak—”

“Which is the music instructor?” she interrupted, and he paused in his rubbing to eye her warily.

“Master Carson.”

She nodded. “Master Carson has not been here since the third day.”

“Tell me,” Daniel repeated, moving around his desk to sink wearily down into a plush chair.

“From what I gather, he started her on the lute for the first two days, then decided she had absolutely no talent and switched to the harpsichord. Unfortunately, his method of teaching was to rap her knuckles with the handle of his horsewhip when she hit the wrong key. The third time he rapped her so, Valoree smashed the lute over his head and told him that if he ever showed his face here again she would stick his whip handle up his—er—well, you get the idea. He left at once and did not return.”

Daniel snapped his lower jaw, which had dropped open upon hearing this news, then arched one eyebrow suspiciously. “What of the dance instructor?”

“I told you, she is with him now. Apparently he has not given her any trouble yet.”

“Thank God,” Daniel muttered, then scowled. “If she had told me she could speak languages fluently, I never would have hired Master Thomas. And had she told me about Carson rapping her knuckles, I certainly would have handled it, but—”

“She did not need you to handle it,” Lady Thurborne said heavily. “She can handle herself. That is the point.”

Daniel stared at her blankly for a moment, obviously
not understanding her meaning. At last he began, “Aye. Well, I shall arrange for new tutors on the morrow, but—”

“Daniel!” she cried in exasperation. “You have not heard a single thing I said!”

“Of course I have, she…Oh, well, of course, she will not need a language tutor, I had not realized that she was fluent in the languages, but a music and dance instructor would—”

“Why did you marry her?”

He blinked at the question. “I hardly think—”

“You married her because she was strong, independent, and
different
from all the rest of the women of the ton, did you not?”

He smiled warmly, his eyes beginning to sparkle. “Well, yes, I—”

“Then why are you now trying to turn her into another one of those vain, feckless females you despise so much?”

Daniel blinked in amazement at her words. “I am not—”

“Aye. You are. You are trying to turn her into something she is not. And in the process, you are making her feel that she herself is not good enough.”

“She wants to learn. She—”

“Have you asked
her
if she wants to learn? Obviously not, or you would have known she is fluent in several languages,” she pointed out.

“Well, how was I to know that? She did not protest when I suggested it, and she is not shy with her opinions. Just look how she handled those tutors.”

“Oh, Daniel.” His mother sighed unhappily. “How did you, my son, end up this dense?”

“What?” He stared at her with anger.

“There is a vast difference between how she will handle you and how she will handle a tutor. Your opinion matters to her. Theirs does not. At least your opin
ion probably did matter to her. By now, I would think she is beginning to resent you.”

“Resent me? Why would she resent me?” he asked.

“Meg says you have taken her men away.”

Daniel rolled his eyes at that. “They are not toys, Mother. I cannot ‘take them away.'”

“They are her crew.”

“How the hell would you know they are her
crew
?” he asked in sudden realization. It was her turn to roll her eyes.

“Meg told me.”

Daniel eyed her warily. “And you do not mind?”

“Mind?” She laughed slightly. “She got you before a minister, did she not? Anyone who could manage that is the perfect daughter-in-law for me. Besides, you need a strong woman or you would be miserable. Now give her back her crew.”