Stormy Persuasion (27 page)

Chapter Forty-Five

C
atherine was stewing. it wasn’t the first time she’d felt frustrated on
his
ship. She wanted him. It would have been nice to add the bonus of a passionate interlude
to the real reason she’d convinced her father to send her along on this venture. With
such a lengthy voyage to England and back, she’d been so sure she could seduce the
captain. But she’d found out too late that he despised her father, and because of
it, he could barely tolerate her presence on his ship. She
should
have known that, but her father never told her anything!

“I thought these men were yours, but they don’t seem to like you,” Andrew said as
he joined her on the deck.

“Shut up. You shouldn’t even be here.”

“Then why am I?”

“Do you really need to ask, after you took that silly moral high ground? I couldn’t
trust you not to spill your guts to the Malorys before we sailed.”

He quickly changed the subject from that reminder. “Where are we going?”

“After St. Kitts? To another island, one so small it doesn’t even have a name. You
won’t like it though.”

“Why not?”

“Pirates,” Catherine said smugly.

“So that’s who these men are?”

She snorted. “Do they look like pirates to you?”

“Actually . . . ,” he said warily, glancing around the deck.

She chuckled. “That’s just the flamboyance of the Caribbean, nothing more. These aren’t
my father’s men.”

“So
you
hired them?”

“No, but the captain does my father’s bidding. He was tasked with getting Jacqueline.
Amassing a fortune in jewels for Father was the only reason he let me go along on
this venture. He thinks I’m as incompetent as his other bastards. This was a test
for me, one he was sure I’d fail. But I haven’t failed. I even helped with the captain’s
mission, so now Father will know I can be an asset to him. He won’t send me away ever
again.”

“You barely know the man. Didn’t it take you most of your life to find him? Why do
you even want to impress him?”

“He’s my father! The only real family I have left.”

“But since you were not tasked with kidnapping Jacqueline, you could let her go.”

“Don’t be absurd. She—”

“Has the captain’s full attention. You think I haven’t noticed how you look at him—like
you used to look at me.”

Her eyes narrowed on him. “They were going to keep you locked up. Don’t make me regret
letting you out.”

“I’m only pointing out the obvious. You want him, but you’re not going to get him
with a beauty like Jacqueline aboard—kept locked in his cabin. He hasn’t let her out
once. Do you even know if she’s all right?”

“Of course she’s all right. She’s his
precious
cargo,” Cather­ine said scathingly, turning to glare at the locked door Andrew had
mentioned.

“I still don’t understand why you snuck their man aboard
The Maiden George
when they were following us to Bridgeport anyway. What was the point of that?”

“You ask too many questions,” she mumbled.

“You don’t even know why, do you?” he guessed.

“It was the captain’s doing. I’d already devised a way—you—to get
me
on that ship that was about to sail with a fortune in jewelry on it. They tried to
get to Jacqueline before the Malorys sailed, without success. The captain didn’t want
to waste time following the Malorys to America if he could get Jacqueline off that
ship a few days out of England.”

“He even had his man drug her, didn’t he? She kept saying how tired she felt the first
few days at sea. That smacks of desperation when stealing her off that ship could
only have saved a week or two of time.”

She shrugged. “
He
thought the timing was important. He didn’t say why, so don’t ask me! He’s so closemouthed
I don’t even know his damned name.”

Andrew was incredulous. “But he works for your father.”

“My father doesn’t tell anyone anything they don’t need to know, about his men or
anything else.”

The captain suddenly left his cabin, slamming the door, looking furious.

“What’s wrong?” Catherine asked.

“She won’t eat. Not once has she touched her food, and we’re four days out. Her belly
cries, but she refuses!”

The food
was
horrible compared to what they’d had aboard
The Maiden George
, dry, flavorless, half the time burnt, but that wouldn’t be causing Jacqueline’s
rebellion. As handsome as this man was, she was amazed he hadn’t cajoled the girl
into being reasonable. So captor and prisoner weren’t getting along at all? That eased
her jealousy a little, but not enough.

“Let me talk to her,” Catherine suggested. “I’ll get her to cooperate if I can see
her—alone.”

“When you led her out to me in that garden? She thinks you’re one of us.”

“Did you tell her that?”

“I’ve told her nothing.”

“Then I can convince her to at least eat.”

He started to deny the request, but then nodded stiffly and extended his arm with
a flourish toward the door. She expected Jacqueline to still be wearing her ball gown,
but when she entered the cabin, she found the girl wearing one of
his
long shirts and nothing else! She stared at bare legs from the knees down and saw
red. Had they made love?

Jacqueline was standing at the windows that faced behind the ship, not a full bank
of them, just two, but with clear, clean glass. Hoping to see her father’s ship appear,
no doubt. Back stiff, arms crossed, she turned at the sound of the door’s opening
with eyes blazing. And the anger didn’t dissipate at the sight of Catherine.

“What do
you
want?” Jack demanded.

“My lover isn’t happy with you, Jacqueline.”

“Your
what
?”

“He didn’t mention our relationship?”

“Are you mad? How can you consort with that bastard? They’re going to kill my father!”

Catherine tsked. “Whatever happens, you won’t be able to help, will you? Not if you’re
so weak you can barely stand up because of this childish refusal to eat.”

Jacqueline marched over to the captain’s desk, where a plate of food had been left,
untouched. Catherine smiled, anticipating the captain’s gratitude for her success
in making Jacqueline behave reasonably. But the girl didn’t lift the plate to eat
from it. Catherine ran out of the cabin, but not before the plate came flying after
her to break on the deck and make quite a mess.

She smiled to herself, despite the scowl the captain was now giving her. She could
not care less if Jacqueline ate before she was delivered. She didn’t need to be in
good health when the exchange was made.

Andrew noticed Catherine’s smirk as she sauntered away. He took a chance and approached
the captain himself. “That was a mistake, you know. Jack has never liked Catherine.
She wouldn’t listen to anything she had to say, but she’ll listen to me. I guarantee
if you let me speak to her, she’ll start eating her meals.”

“You have until more food arrives and not a moment more.”

Andrew nodded. Catherine hadn’t bothered to close the door. He peeked around it to
make sure Jack wasn’t ready to throw something else before he rushed inside. But she
wasn’t happy to see him, either.

“You, too, Andrássy?” Jack snarled.

He gave her a weak smile. “It’s actually Andrew, but there’s no time to explain. You
know I’m not part of
this
,” he whispered urgently. “But I might be able to help you escape.”

“I’ve thought of nothing other than escape—when I’m not thinking of ways to kill
him
. But how? He keeps me tied at night, the door locked in the day.”

He nodded toward the two windows. “Use a blanket to break those, as quietly as you
can. I will knock three times on the door to let you know when we are nearing the
harbor at St. Kitts. That’s when you must do it and quickly, while the captain is
distracted by docking the ship and the noise in the harbor. But you must eat in the
meantime, or you won’t have the strength to do this.”

“Catherine said nearly the same thing, just without mentioning escape, so how can
I trust you?”

“I’m only going to give you the signal, Jack. The rest is up to you. But once you
escape, I would advise you to hide and stay hidden until these people give up and
go away.”

“And if they don’t leave?”

“Do you really think they will stay and face your father without you in hand?”

She grinned for the first time. “No, that wouldn’t be very smart of them.”

Two days later, they reached St. Kitts late in the morning. Andrew had given his signal
to Jacqueline, but since he was not allowed to debark and the captain’s cabin was
locked, he had no way of knowing yet if she had successfully escaped. The captain
went ashore to arrange for a go-between. The exchange wouldn’t happen here. They just
wanted to make sure that James Malory wasn’t going to arrive with a flotilla of ships
before he was directed to the next and final location. But by the time the captain
returned and gave the order to sail again, Jacqueline had been gone for several hours.
They might even have sailed without knowing that if the captain hadn’t gone straight
to his cabin when he got back.

Of course he was in a panic when he saw that Jacqueline had escaped. He began to send
his men to search the docks nearby. Catherine approached him quickly. “Call them back,”
she warned. “There’s no time to waste here now that your hostage is gone and her father
could arrive at any moment.”

“He won’t. I sank every ship in their harbor.”

“You underestimate him if you don’t think Malory would have found another ship within
hours. We need to report to my father right away. The fortune I am bringing him will
lessen the blow of your failure—or I could lie for you.”

“Lie?”

She coyly put a hand on his arm. “I can tell him she jumped ship and drowned. That
there was nothing you could do. You will of course assure him that you will leave
immediately to obtain another Malory to use as a hostage instead. His wife, perhaps,
while she’s still in America. Or you can return here to try and catch Malory yourself
while he’s looking for his daughter, though I do assure you that isn’t likely to go
well—for you. But in either case, I insist you return me to my father now. You can’t
risk losing the fortune I went to great risk to get for him, by allowing me to be
discovered here.”

Andrew was close enough to have heard most of that and note how annoyed Catherine
was when the captain didn’t answer her either way. But they did pull up anchor and
depart in haste. Andrew looked longingly at the shore as they left, wondering if he
should dare to jump overboard. But Catherine would probably send the ship back for
him. He knew too much now. And Jack couldn’t come out of hiding until they’d gone.
So he didn’t jump and just hoped he wasn’t making an even bigger mistake than he’d
made when he’d succumbed to Catherine’s wiles.

Their final destination was only a few hours away. The tiny island was overgrown with
plants and tall palms. It didn’t look inhabited, yet two other ships were anchored
there in the aqua waters. The only building that could be seen from the ship was the
top of an ancient, crumbling fort. There was no dock. They rowed ashore and started
climbing a steep, sandy hill. At the top, a small village of huts was spread out in
a clearing in the jungle. Inside the fort, near the huts, was a new building, a big
one, which is where they headed.

Catherine was obviously happy and excited to be home, particularly since she’d succeeded
in her own task, and she ran ahead of them to crow to her father about it. The captain,
having failed in his task, looked distinctly worried, which infected Andrew to the
point that his feet stopped moving.

He called after the captain, “I’ll just wait on your ship, if it’s all the same to
you.”

The man turned. “You aren’t my guest, you’re hers, and she would have left you in
St. Kitts if she was done with you. Come along.”

“But—is her father actually dangerous?”

The captain took Andrew’s arm to get him moving again. “Yes. But if you still have
her protection, then you have nothing to worry about. Just try not to draw his attention
to yourself, and if you can’t, address him respectfully as Captain Lacross.”

They entered a big, open room that contained large, long tables and resembled a medieval
great hall. The balcony in the back had rooms off it upstairs and below. But this
main room was where men were gathered. Catherine was hugging an older man who had
stood up at one of the long tables.

But then she turned and pointed an accusing finger at Andrew. “Daddy, he helped Malory’s
daughter escape!” Then she pointed at the handsome captain. “And your captain took
no steps to prevent it!”

Chapter Forty-Six

D
rew knew St. Kitts well; his father-in-law lived here. But most of Drew’s brothers
knew it, too, since the well-populated island had long been on Skylark’s trade route.
The plan was for all the Andersons to debark immediately to begin scouring the town
and asking questions. It wasn’t necessary. Jack was standing on the dock waiting on
them, wearing her soaking-wet ball gown and barefoot.

James didn’t wait for the ship to be tied off nor the ramp to be dropped, he simply
jumped to the dock and gathered Jack into his arms. And ushered her onto the ship
the moment the ramp was dropped. They still didn’t know what they had to deal with.
He wanted her out of harm’s way before they did.

Jack was passed around; everyone needed a hug, and now they were all damp from her
gown.

Judith got hers last and didn’t want to let Jack go, whispering, “I was
so
frightened for you, Jack!”

“I was fine,” Jack replied with a short laugh. “Enraged, but fine.”

“Were you simply let go, or did you escape?” James wanted to know.

“I broke a window and jumped into the water just as they were docking.”

“But you’re still dripping. Did this only just happen? Are they still here looking
for you?” The gleam of battle had entered James’s green eyes. He was only waiting
on her answer before he charged off to find her abductors.

“That was a few hours ago. I swam behind the other ships moored here. I had hoped
one would be a Skylark vessel, but it appeared not. And I was hesitant to cross the
dock looking like this, which could have gained too much notice, and someone might
have led them in whatever direction I took. So I just stayed in the water, hiding
behind the last ship down at the end of the pier. I was still floating there when
I saw them just sail off without me about an hour ago.”

“Uncle James, please,” Judith interceded. “If they are gone, can I at least get Jack
into some dry clothes before we hear what happened?”

James nodded. “Of course. Bring her to Tremayne’s cabin when you are done.”

“Tremayne?” Jack asked as Judith led her below to her cabin.

“This is his ship and not really designed for passengers, but he showed up in the
nick of time and agreed to assist in your rescue. They’d disabled
The Maiden George
.”

“Yes, I know, I heard all about it,” Jack said with disgust. Judith tossed a pair
of breeches and a shirt on the cot for her. “Oh, thank God, I was afraid you were
going to hand me one of your dainty dresses.”

Judith laughed as Jack stripped out of the wet gown and petticoats. It seemed like
forever since Judith had been able to laugh. “How on earth did you swim in that? Your
legs didn’t get tangled?”

“I tied the skirt up first, sort of like swaddling, and just dropped it before I climbed
out of the water. It left me tired though . . . well, my limbs are. You can’t imagine
how exhausting it is to try to stay afloat in one place for over an hour.”

Such mundane subjects when Judith had so many questions she was nearly bursting with
them. But she didn’t want Jack to have to repeat herself, so she held her tongue.

But Jack wanted to know, “So you’ve forgiven him?”

“It doesn’t matter, when he hasn’t forgiven me.”

Jack winced for her. “Well, don’t fret it. He’ll come to his senses if you want him
to.”

“Oh?” Judith managed a grin. “Wishful thinking will do it, will it?”

“Not a’tall! But a nudge or two will, so we’ll figure something out—after we get home.
I do want to go home, Judy. I don’t like this part of the world anymore.”

Judith nodded as she hurried Jack to Nathan’s cabin. Kidnapping, sunk ships—heartache.
Judith would just as soon go home, too.

The only one sitting was Nathan, behind his desk. He glanced at Judith as she arrived,
even stared at her for a long moment before he gave Jack a slight smile in greeting.
But then he just stared pensively at a long-tipped pen he was winding through his
fingers, as if he had no interest in this reunion.

He’d told Judith before they’d arrived that he was releasing her from her duties because
he knew she’d want to spend every moment with Jack as soon as they got her back. Magnanimous
of him, but she didn’t want to be released! She’d hoped they’d have enough time together
for her to breach his defenses. She’d been so encouraged every time he laughed or
smiled at her. But then that stiffness would sneak back into his demeanor, the obvious
anger just under the surface, and she was afraid whatever they’d had between them
was truly gone. She couldn’t even blame him when she’d accused him of stealing as
quickly as her family had. How did you forgive someone for thinking the worst of you?

“Did they hurt you?” James asked carefully as he approached Jack.

“No, just my pride. I was captured too easily.”

James smiled as he hugged her to him fiercely. “Do you know what he has against me?
Why he did this?”

“The captain who took me? He doesn’t even know you, he works for someone else. Never
even gave me his name, so I gave him one. Bastard. You can refer to him like that.
I certainly did.”

Quite a few smiled over Jack’s disparagement. James wasn’t one of them. “Why were
you kept in the captain’s cabin?”

Jack blushed. “How did you—?”

“It’s the only cabin on a ship that would have a window big enough for you to escape
from.”

“He pretended I had a choice, there or his brig. When I chose the brig, he just laughed.
He didn’t want his
prize
to suffer deprivation. But nothing untoward happened—other than me trying to kill
him. And then Andrássy—well, it’s actually Andrew—he helped me escape. It was his
idea to go out the window and he gave me a signal when the time was right for it.”

“So it appears he told the truth then,” James said.

“About what?”

“He left us a letter of confession. He admitted he’s no relation to us, that Catherine
hired him to pretend to be one just to get them on
The Maiden George
so they could steal the jewelry.”

“
They
did it?” Jack asked in surprise.

A few embarrassed eyes went to Nathan. His expression was no longer pensive or detached.
His eyes moved over the room and ended on Judith. His anger was definitely back.

But James and Jack weren’t watching this byplay, and Jack said to her father, “I knew
this wouldn’t surprise you, that they were impostors. You didn’t trust them from the
start.”

“No, but the theft wasn’t enough for Catherine. Andrew suspected she was going to
abduct you, too. Instead of warning us before it happened, he foolishly thought he
could stop it.”

“He did try, actually, but he got knocked out. I didn’t even know they’d taken him,
too, until he was allowed to see me one time on the ship, which was when he assured
me he’d help me escape. I really wish Catherine would get blamed for that, but she
probably won’t be. She and Bastard are quite chummy.
Very
chummy, if you get my drift.”

Judith gave Jack an odd look. That had been said quite scathingly. But then Jack hugged
her father again and added, “I just want to go home.”

Nathan stood up. “I’ll begin departure.”

But James stopped him. “I need to go ashore first, Captain Tremayne. I won’t be long.”

Drew followed James out of the cabin. “You think some of them might still be here?”

“If they are, they’d be the proverbial needle and would take too long to ferret out
in a town this size. However, first instinct is usually the accurate one, so come
along and take me to your Skylark office here. I want to arrange for someone you trust
to find out if our mutual nemesis is still in prison and send me word. I would like
him crossed off the list, or not, before I return to settle this.”

“I hope you will include me in your numbers when you do.”

“Itching for a fight, Yank?”

“I don’t like how this played out. None of us do. Lacross or not, they stepped over
the line when they took our Jack.”