Surrender of a Siren (41 page)

She knew how to lie. She knew how to run.

There was only one way she could set Gray free.

She rushed after him as he ambled down the dock, joking with his captors.

“Gray,” she whispered, clutching his bound wrist.

“Don’t be anxious, sweet,” he murmured, low enough that only she could hear. “I know these men. I’ve lined their pockets for years. They’re not going to hang me. I’ll have it all sorted out soon enough.”

“I’m certain you will.” She swallowed back a wave of nausea. “But … I won’t be here when you do.” He deserved this much, to hear it from her. Just as Toby had deserved the same. Gray was right. She didn’t regret the things she’d done, but what she’d left undone.

He tensed. “What do you mean?”

“I have to leave.”

He stared at her, his eyes wide with disbelief.

“My courses came,” she whispered. “There’ll be no child.”

“You know that’s not the reason—”

“No, it’s not the reason. It’s not why I’m leaving.”

His expression hardened to anger. “What the devil are you saying?”

Be strong
, she told herself.
Cut the line cleanly; don’t dangle false hope
. “I just have to leave. Gray, please don’t make this harder than it is. You don’t understand.”

His hand encircled her wrist, like a cuff. “You’re damned right I don’t understand. And I’ll be damned if I’ll make it easy. Were you lying to me when you agreed to marry me? When you told me you …” He lowered his voice. “When you told me you loved me?”

“It doesn’t matter if I love you.”

He swore violently. “It matters to me.”

Surreptitiously, she wrestled against his grip. She kept her voice low. “Gray, we can’t be together. We just can’t.” She finally wrenched her arm from his grasp and turned away, her gaze dropping to her feet. He made a motion toward her, but the chains cut it short.

“Look at me, damn it,” he growled.

She did. “Gray, I—”

“If you leave me, I will follow you. And I will find you. I’ve the fastest ship on the sea, and boundless determination. I don’t lose what’s mine.” His eyes burned into hers. “I will find you.”

She shook her head. “Please,” she whispered. “Don’t try. You won’t find me. You don’t even know my name.”

He flinched. Good. She’d struck a blow.

Soldiers took him by either arm. Gray tried to shake them off. “I’m not done here, damn it.”

“Sorry, Gray,” Jenkins said. “It’s time we took you in. Your sister can visit you at the jail.” He gave Sophia a cautious look. “Don’t know about your sweetheart.”

“I won’t be visiting,” Sophia said. “And I’m not his sweetheart.”

He winced this time, as if she’d dashed saltwater in an open wound.

Tears stung her eyes. She whispered, “Go with them. Don’t let them drag you by the chains. You wouldn’t want Bel to see you that way.”

“Listen to the lady, Gray.”

The men pulled him back a step, and Gray’s feet moved under him. He hesitated, still staring cold fury into her eyes. “We’re not finished. I will find you.” Then he turned and let them lead him away.

Oh, Gray. We were finished before we began
.

Miss Grayson came to her side, crying into her brother’s handkerchief. Together they watched him disappear down the dock. The crowd parted around him as the soldiers marched him into a narrow street and out of view.

There, it was done. She’d never hold him again. The pain of it threatened to split her in two.

“Will you be coming with me, Miss … ?” Miss Grayson asked. “I’m so sorry, I never did learn your name.”

Sophia turned to the young woman. The irony twisted in her heart. Hathaway, Turner, Waltham … She might assume any identity she wished, claim any name for her own.

Any name, that is, save the one she truly wanted.

Mrs. Sophia Grayson.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX

“Joss. What the devil is going on?” Gray shuffled into the dank cell. The guard released him from his shackles and left, clanging the door shut and securing the formidable lock.

His brother rose to greet him. “Evidently, we’re pirates.”

“Says Mallory, I gather.”

“Yes.” Joss sank back to a crouch and leaned against the wall. “Swine went for the officers the instant we made port. I should have kept him in the brig until you arrived.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Joss shrugged. “He kept shouting and spitting. It was damn annoying.” He swiped his cuff across his face. “Besides, I didn’t think they’d pay him any mind. Your reputation is worth gold here, quite literally.”

“It
was
. Not any longer, I gather.”

“Once the judge hears your side of things, he’ll set us free.”

“Damn right, he will.”
And he’d better do it soon
. She thought to leave him, did she? There wasn’t anywhere she could go, on this island or from this island, that he couldn’t follow her. A few hours’ delay, even a few days —he’d track her down. And when he did, this time he would demand some answers.

Gray looped an arm through the bars of the door. “What’s Mallory told him? Do you know?”

“That we attacked the
Kestrel
without provocation, destroyed her cargo.” Joss lifted an eyebrow. “Shot down her mast with our cannon.”

“The blackguard.” Gray made a fist around the bar. “Why didn’t I let him go down with his miserable ship?”

“Ah, I expect you were enjoying playing the hero too much. Bent on impressing the ladies, you know. How is the lovely Miss Turner, by the way?”

Gray’s chest deflated. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Good God, man, what did you do?”

“I asked her to marry me.”

Joss gave a low whistle. “And?”

“And—” Gray grabbed the bars with both hands and pushed back. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

He didn’t want to think about it, either, but he could hardly keep from doing so. What had frightened her? For all her brave talk, Gray was certain he’d seen fear in her eyes. Was it watching him put in chains that had spurred her to flee? Perhaps she had her own reasons to avoid arrest.

“Her name isn’t even Jane Turner,” he said bitterly. “She’s not even a governess. She’s some sort of conniving little thief with six hundred pounds beneath her stays.”

“I thought you didn’t want to talk about it.”

Gray shot his brother a look. It was then that he noticed the haggard shadows on Joss’s face, and the bruise purpling beneath his left eye. “No, let’s talk of other things. How long have you been here?”

“Two days.”

“The guards give you that?” Gray gestured toward his own eye.

Joss shrugged.

Gray released a string of oaths. “Which one was it? He’ll pay for it with his life, I swear to you.”

“Settle down, Gray. And for God’s sake, don’t go punching yourself in the eye just to even the score.”

Gray shot him a look. “Not amusing, Joss.”

“Oh yes, it is. Give me credit for a joke when I make one. It’s nothing, Gray. I’ve had worse.
You’ve
given me worse. And it’s no more than a man can expect, I suppose, when he’s an alleged pirate.”

“Piracy charges.” Gray cracked his neck. “What a joke.” This was the voyage he’d finally gone respectable, and what had it gotten him? Jilted and jailed. No good deed went unpunished.

A few hours later, the guard sauntered back down the corridor. “You’ve a visitor, gentlemen. A lovely miss.”

An irrational surge of hope rose up in Gray’s breast.
She came back
, some fool voice whispered.
She wouldn’t leave you
.

Light footfalls sounded on the stone floor, and a figure emerged from the darkness. Of course. It was Bel.

“Joss. Dolly.”

She clung to the bars, and the two of them joined her from the other side.

“How’s Jacob?” Joss’s voice was tight. “How’s my son?”

“He’s fine, Joss. A bit taller than he was when you saw him last, and twice as mischievous. A Grayson man, through and through. He’s been asking for his papa.” She sniffed back tears.

“I’ve spoken with my friend, Mr. Wilson,” Bel continued. “You’ll remember him, Joss. He’s the one who used to be a solicitor in London, before he devoted his life to charity.” Her gaze flitted toward the guard and she lowered her voice. “He’s made some inquiries. He says … He says your situation doesn’t look good.”

“What does that mean?” Joss asked. “Surely once the judge has the story from Gray, he’ll not press any charges.”

“That’s just the problem,” Bel said. “It’s Mallory’s word against Gray’s.”

“And mine,” Joss said. “And every crewman’s aboard the
Aphrodite
and the
Kestrel
.”

“Not every crewman. There’s someone … an officer who just arrived today, who’s taking Mallory’s side.”

“Brackett.” Gray released a groan. “The bastard.”

“And the other crewmen, Mr. Wilson says their testimony could be too easily disregarded, since they might face charges themselves.”

“What sort of charges could they face?” Joss asked.

“Piracy, for the crew of the
Aphrodite
. Mutiny, for the
Kestrel’s
men.”

Gray swore under his breath. No, their situation did not look good. “So we bribe the judge. Every man has his price.”

“We can’t.” Bel shook her head.

“Bel, this is no time for scruples. This is hanging we’re discussing.”

“I mean it won’t work,” she continued. “Mr. Wilson knows something of this Mr. Fitzhugh. He’s ambitious, Mr. Wilson says, eager to make a name for himself and obtain a better post. That’s why he’ll press charges on such slender evidence. He means to make an example of Gray.”

Joss turned to Gray. “Why would he make an example of you?”

Gray clenched his jaw. He knew precisely why. “Not all privateers stopped seizing ships with the end of the war. Some of them kept right on plundering, even without letters of marque. They’re pirates now, with no allegiance to the Crown. It’s a problem for honest merchants. Like me,” he added ironically.

Understanding lit his brother’s eyes. “And the best way to discourage privateers from turning pirate …”

“Is to capture the most successful privateer of them all. And hang him.” Gray turned and paced away from the door. “This Fitzhugh plans to make his career on my neck. Goddamn it.”

“Dolly, please don’t curse.” Bel’s voice cracked as she spoke. “We need God on our side now.”

“Seems no one else is,” Joss added.

“There’s to be a sort of hearing tomorrow,” Bel said. “The judge will hear testimony and decide whether he has sufficient evidence to convene a court of piracy.”

“A court of piracy?” Joss repeated.

“Yes,” Gray said, “in order to charge us, he has to summon representatives of the governor, all the way from Antigua. It’s no small undertaking. He won’t go to the trouble if he’s not certain we’ll hang.”

“I see,” Joss said. “It would seem much hinges on tomorrow.”

“Everything hinges on tomorrow.” If he didn’t walk free tomorrow, she’d be too far away. He might truly lose her. Damn.

Bel reached for his hand through the bars. Gray accepted the comfort of her small, chilled fingers wrapped around his own.

“Mr. Wilson will try to intercede for you,” she said. “The rest of us will pray.”

Gray squeezed her fingers. “You do that.” If Bel prayed, God might actually listen. “What of Miss Turner?” The question was out before Gray could stop it.

“Who?” A strange look crossed Bel’s face. “I don’t know any Miss Turner.”

“The lady from the dock, Bel. What happened to her?”

Bel frowned. “I don’t know,” she whispered, eyes downcast. “She said someone would be meeting her, and then Mr. Wilson found me, and …”

“And she left.” Gray pressed his forehead to the bars.
Christ
. She’d truly left. She’d truly left
him
. Until that moment, he hadn’t believed she could do it.

He must have done something wrong. Perhaps he ought to have demanded her secrets. Perhaps he should have held back some of his. Or maybe … God, maybe she’d been playing him for a fool all along.

“I’m sorry,” Bel said. “I suppose she just slipped away.”

“I can’t believe I lied to him,” Miss Grayson said, opening the green plantation shutters to admit a sultry breeze. “I’ve never lied to my brother in my life.”

Cringing, Sophia sat on the edge of the bed. As if all her own lies to him weren’t bad enough, now she’d gone and corrupted Gray’s sister. “I’m sorry to ask it of you,” she said. “But it was for his benefit. If my name reached the judge’s ears today, he might not believe my story tomorrow.”

“But how could the judge not believe the truth?”

How, indeed
. Sophia’s lies were growing so numerous, even she couldn’t keep them straight. But when she’d assumed Sophia to be a missionary, Miss Grayson had handed her the perfect way to help Gray, as well as the perfect escape. One more day of deceit—in this, her most challenging role yet—and she would be done.