Once Upon a Midnight Sea (3 page)

BOOK: Once Upon a Midnight Sea
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Henri stayed rooted. He tucked the derringer into his pants. "No, Adriana, he is not. Christian, let her go."

Adriana froze. "You...you know this man?"

"Here now, what's going on? Mr. Dupree, move aside." Mrs. Bailey stood behind him in the narrow hall. "Who is this intruder?"

Chauncey squeezed past their legs and dashed around Christian's feet, yipping shrilly.

Christian reluctantly released her. A cold void rushed up the front of his body. She sidled away, staring from one to the other with utter horror. The crimson flush vanished from her cheeks, leaving her unnaturally pale. She pointed a trembling finger.

"He is the Nighthawk. He stowed aboard to steal my necklace."

"Great mercy!" Mrs. Bailey exclaimed. "Mr. Dupree, do something."

"Oh now, calm down, all of you." Henri snatched up the dog and thrust him into Mrs. Bailey's arms. "Quiet him, would you?"

Adriana fixed her gaze on Henri. The horror in her face had been replaced by a mixture of hurt, anger, and disbelief.

Christian steadied himself as the ship rose and dropped. "Who is driving this contraption?"

"Ollie is on deck," Henri snapped. "Holy saints, Christian, what were you thinking?"

"You conspire with this man?" Adriana's voice shook. "Henri, how could you?"

"Mr. Dupree?" the fat woman snapped when Henri remained silent.

"Has my father not paid you well? What would make you choose to steal from us? We have been good to you. We treated you like family."

"
Oui
, that you have."

"Then why?"

Henri stared at the floor. Christian couldn't believe her pathetic antics were working on the old fool. "She has no idea, does she?" he bit out.

Henri's gaze snapped up. "No, and it won't be you to tell her."

"The hell it won't." He turned his long-awaited rage on Adriana. Without that ripe little body pressed against him, his thoughts were level again. "It is my right."

"To bring pain to an innocent who took no part in it?" Henri shook his head. "I won't let you."

"She embodies everything he stands for. She was raised with the spoils and privilege that my father paid for with his life!"

"What is he talking about?" Adriana pressed a hand to her forehead. "Please, somebody make sense."

"Yes, I do agree." Mrs. Bailey's voice had gone deep in her anger. "Mr. Dupree, explain."

An agonizing silence stretched.

"Henri!" Mrs. Bailey demanded with a stamp of her foot. Chauncy snarled.

The old man sighed. "No, it's the lad's story and he wants to be the one to tell it." Henri shot a warning glower Christian's way. "Respectfully."

"It isn't complicated, really." Christian straightened his shoulders. Years of resentment made his declaration vividly satisfying. "I am taking the necklace, and I am taking this ship."

Adriana issued a shrill chirp of humorless laughter. "Well are you now?" Her racing pulse throbbed under the pale skin of her throat. "Did you think I would simply stand aside and allow you to rob me without a fight?"

"You weren't supposed to be aboard, Miss Montague," Henri cut in. "You were supposed to be at a party."

She turned her anger on the old man. "That is why you were surprised to see me. And all those supplies–you're stealing Lady Luck!"

"
I'm
stealing her," Christian corrected firmly.

Adriana narrowed her eyes and delivered scorching glare. "I suppose you are going to throw me overboard because of some vendetta you have against my father."

"And deny myself the pleasure of your delightful company? I wouldn't dream of it."

"What do you intend to do with us?" she demanded.

Christian smiled. This couldn't have turned out more beautifully. "Why, take you with me, of course."

Her eyes grew wide. "Why, you, of all the–" She crossed her arms and turned up her nose. "I shall go nowhere with the likes of you."

"Perhaps you'd rather swim ashore."

"I do not understand any of this," Mrs. Bailey insisted. "Mr. Dupree, where are you taking us?"

"South America," Christian answered for him. He smiled, delighted by the gasp the heiress returned.

"It's not possible, not without a crew!"

He shrugged. "It is thanks to you and your quick change of plans we don't have one."

"It's thanks to you as much," Henri grumbled. "If you had waited until midnight like we planned–"

"If I had waited until midnight I would be standing alone on a vacant dock." He matched Adriana's stance, crossing his arms over his chest. "You should know me by now, Henri. I never reveal my true plans to anyone."

"I don't believe it," Adriana whispered. "Mr. Dupree, I cannot believe you would betray me like this. Betray my father."

"Oh, I'm going to be ill," Mrs. Bailey wailed. In her arms, Adriana's small dog yapped and growled.

"I am sorry, Miss Adriana." Henri's gaze fell to the floor and stuck there. "It was not supposed to happen like this. If I could change it, I would."

"It's just as well," Christian cut in. "I want you to know why I'm going to ruin you, and your father."

Mrs. Bailey moaned.

Adriana glared at him. He had expected her to be terrified, perhaps attempt to buy her freedom, or at least break down in tears. Instead she responded with a spiritedness that astounded him.

"I am not interested in anything you have to say."

The old man turned away and drove his fingers though his silver-streaked hair. Christian knew he wasn't happy about this, but things had turned out this way for a reason. It was meant to be. His heart raced with the triumph he so thoroughly deserved.

"Oh my," Mrs. Bailey wailed. "Oh blessed heavens."

Henri turned around and reached for her elbow. "Come up on deck with me, woman. I've got to keep watch."

"I will not leave Adriana alone in her boudoir with this...this
vagabond
." Mrs. Bailey jerked away from him.

"Oh come on now, you old land-lubber." He pushed her out but stopped and turned back, pointing a gnarled finger at Christian. "You don't lay a hand on her, you hear me? I won't tolerate it. So much as a hair on her head, and our deal is off."

Christian knew he meant business. The old man had always been generous and kind, but as firm as chiseled stone at the same time. Christian admired him with every part of himself that was good, and he would never intentionally disappoint the man who had been like a father to him all these years.

Adriana's chaperone squawked like an old hen as Henri dragged her away. "You shall get your just reward for this, I shall see to it. Don't push me, I don't do well on these ladders. Why you insensitive old crab, you'll face the gallows for this."

"Henri..." Adriana watched him go with hurt brimming in her eyes. A sliver of regret tried to needle its way into him, but Christian forced it away.

"Your father isn't the saint you believe him to be." His voice faltered. Now alone with her, Christian felt some of his resolution slipping away. He clenched his jaw.

Her expression turned to ice and she scanned him with that haughty glance again, as if he'd just tracked mud over her imported silk rugs. "You will forgive me if I do not believe you."

He imitated the mocking smile she'd given earlier. "Do you know where the stones in your necklace came from?"

Her eyes widened. "He had it made for me after my mother died...by the jewelry maker to the royal family."

Christian detected the hesitance in her voice; she didn't truly believe that story. "A ship builder? From humble beginnings?" He shook his head, enjoying the glimmer of doubt working its way into her eyes. This was what worried the privileged few–the threat to the crystal bubble surrounding their perfect lives. "I suppose you would believe him if he told you he dines with Queen Victoria on Tuesdays."

"Certainly more than what you are about to tell me, I'm sure." She crossed her arms across her chest, trying to appear confident, but Christian could see the façade slipping.

Enjoying the final release of his long-awaited anger, he decided to change his tactic and entertain himself. "When you were in London at Chadwick's finishing school, your father didn't visit you once."

More chips chiseled away from her ardent expression. This was what he'd hungered for all these years; to break her, destroy the untarnished world Adriana and Edmund Montague believed they ruled. Strangely it wasn't as satisfying as he'd hoped.

"If your father ever goes back to France, he'll be arrested the moment his feet touch the soil. He is afraid to venture even as far as England."

"You lie." She lifted her chin, staring down her patriarchal nose.

"Your father was one of the most illustrious jewel thieves France has ever known."

She barked out a mocking laugh. "My father is the most successful shipbuilder in all of Baltimore. His father was a shipbuilder."

"They were dockworkers, both of them. Nothing but hull monkeys."

She started toward him as though to make good on that promise to claw his eyes out. Christian caught her by the wrists and hauled her against his chest. That powerful heat washed over him again as the fury in her eyes sent his heart racing.

He didn't want this now, he needed to think clearly, to focus on his anger. He shoved her away, sending her sprawling across her bed. But seeing her toppled across the plush, velvet coverlet had the opposite effect on him.

She caught herself on her elbows, staring up at him like some hell-sent vixen, her full breasts straining against the modest confines of that demure yellow dress. She watched him with bright horror in her eyes, as though afraid he would ravish her right here, right now. And for a moment too long, he considered it.

He took a step back and drove his fingers through his hair. He'd given his word to Henri, a promise that meant more to him than anything else.

Adriana pushed herself upright and stood, smoothing the wrinkles from her dress.

"I grow bored of you." Her voice quaked, revealing the fear she hid under her proud façade. "Finish your story and leave."

He advanced on her and pointed an accusing finger. "And I told you, this is my ship now. I give the orders."

"Mr. Dupree should have told you the Lady Luck doesn't have a brig. Until you release me, this shall remain my cabin."

Her defiance kept those strange, quivery vibrations in his gut burning hot. She had more strength than he'd anticipated, and he couldn't help but admire her for that. Growing up wealthy had undoubtedly caused her to think highly of herself.

"This trinket you wear..." he reached out and dabbed a finger at one of the sapphires. Adriana gasped and clutched his wrist.

Get away from her
, Christian thought.
Before you do something you will sorely regret
. He slowly pulled his hand from her grip and took a step back.

"Have you ever heard of India's Midnight?"

She regarded him levelly. "Everyone has heard of it. But it is nothing more than a legend."

"I assure you, it was no legend. Your father stole it. Yours and mine together. Your necklace is made from the remaining accent stones after your father sold off the main gems."

Adriana issued another shrill, mocking chirp of laughter. Already she was getting on his nerves.

"I sincerely doubt it."

"Oh, it's true, heiress. Paris's famous Black Cat burglar was not one, but two men. In fact, the Black Cat didn't truly exist. It was a cover."

The color drained from her face. "If you expect me to believe that my father–”

"They were successful for many years because they devised a fool-proof plan. Devious, but fool-proof. You see, they were the most notorious of rakes. One of them would seduce a rich, married woman, and the other would commit the robbery. The burglar would stalk right in as if he had nothing to fear. And he didn't, because the lovers couldn't risk being found together. While one was burgling, the other was playing the sniveling coward, convincing the poor wench to turn over her most valuable trinkets."

Christian allowed himself the smirk pulling at his lips, delighted by the shattered expression Adriana wore. "Of course, their quarry couldn't call for the gendarmes because she was, after all, in a compromising position. So whichever of them was in her bed would simply convince her to wait a day and report the theft, blaming it on the famous Black Cat, and the two of them got away unscathed."

Adriana's chest rose and fell with heavy breaths. Christian knew women well enough to know tears were soon to come. He expected her to deny it, to accuse him of an outright lie, but instead what she said surprised him.

"You sound proud, but you've just described your own father as no better."

"I am proud, heiress. So much that if it were not my resolute rule to work alone, I would probably do the same."

"Then why the hatred for my father? For me?"

The letter in his pocket burned against his breast. The day he'd learned his father still lived, Christian's feverish need for revenge had grown hotter, but his plans had changed. Before he did anything else, he had to rescue his father. To do it, he needed both the ship, and Starry Night, which Adriana now wore around her neck.

BOOK: Once Upon a Midnight Sea
2.37Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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