The Sea Rose (9 page)

“
No.”

“
Any good with a
knife?”

“
No.” She shuddered at the
thought.

Big Jim sighed. “Can you ride at
least?”

Roselyn deflated. “No.” She was
useless, irretrievably and hopelessly useless. If Jack died because
of her complete lack of skills, well, she’d never forgive
herself.

“
Who are you exactly?” Big
Jim asked.

Who was she anymore? Clearly, she was
a woman with no useful skills. Reciting the books of the New
Testament probably couldn’t help save the man she loved. “I’m no
one. Jack saved me when my ship sank. I was coming here to marry
your minister.”

Big Jim looked at her with distaste
she was certain signified her complete lack of helpfulness. “You’re
the minister’s fiancée? You were going to marry that prat
Merickel?”

“
Not anymore.” She sighed.
There had to be something she could do to help.

“
Good,” Big Jim boomed.
“That man is a real horse’s ass. I can tell by looking at ya, you
deserve better than that one.”

Roselyn smiled, heartened. “Really, I
want to help rescue Jack. He’s helped me so much…” She couldn’t
finish the sentence. She wanted to tell Big Jim and his gentle,
smiling eyes just how much Jack had saved her and how much she
loved him, but that seemed foolish.

“
Well, you’ve given me an
idea.” Big Jim didn’t have the chance to elaborate before the
Neptune’s Revenge’s crew burst through the door. They all ignored
Roselyn while they loudly discussed a plan. Roselyn breathed deeply
and urged herself not to give up hope.

“
Have no fear, Miss,” the
Quartermaster told her with a squeeze to her shoulder. “The Revenge
crew is the best there is. We’ve gotten out of worse.”

Oh please, oh please, oh
please.

Chapter Twelve

Roselyn smoothed her palms over the
borrowed dress. Apparently, Big Jim had a wife, Little Bess, whom
Roselyn didn’t find to be little, necessarily, but next to Big Jim,
everyone was little. Bess had showed up at her husband’s office
right after she’d heard the news of Jack’s capture. Apparently,
Little Bess was as fond of Jack as her husband was, so she was more
than willing to help Roselyn dress for her part in the
rescue.

The gingham material of the shirtwaist
depressed her. Although, it occurred to her that in the plain,
checked, cotton dress, her former fiancé would have found her
perfectly acceptable. Even her father would have allowed it.
Perversely, she wanted nothing more than to slide back into the
gorgeous lilac silk Jack had found for her, the dress that made her
feel pretty and sensual and loved.

“
Now remember to walk real
slow once you get inside so you don’t jingle,” Little Bess told her
while she finished the buttons up the back.

“
Right,” Big Jim agreed
with a nod of his massive head. “That’d ruin
everything.”

“
I’ll remember,” Roselyn
promised. How could she forget? She was mildly terrified that if
she moved too quickly one of the knives sown into the hem or
waistband would stab her. Besides, it was hard enough to walk with
loaded flintlock pistol strapped to her thigh.

“
Here’s the book.” Amos
handed her the only bible he could find in the lawless pirate
harbor.

“
Are you ready, miss?”
Blake and a few others of the pirate crew remained at the Harbor
Master’s office. The others had gone back to prepare the ship or
had already taken up their positions along the route.

Roselyn nodded. She didn’t want to
think too much about her role in the breakout – it would only make
her nervous, and what she had to do was much too important to get
stage fright now.

Amos accompanied her on the walk to
the jail. His chatter calmed her even though she couldn’t listen to
his words, the lilting sound of his Caribbean accent smoothed over
the nerves she sought to soothe.

The boy pointed to a squat, stone
building. “There it is.”

Roselyn knew she didn’t have to
concern herself with the soldiers outside the post but the ten or
fifteen of them made her nervous anyway. Amos walked with her to
the door.

“
Remember,” the boy
whispered to her, “these soldiers will all be gone when you and
Jack come out, so head right for the ship.”

Roselyn gave a jerky nod.
“Stay with me.” Her armpits were damp and she couldn’t blame it on
the Caribbean humidity.
Just breathe,
Roselyn, just breathe
.

“
Hello, pretty lady.” A
soldier moved to her side and walked with them the length of the
walkway to the door. He was of an age with her father, but there
was nothing paternal about the man. The way he looked at her made
her skin crawl. “Pretty, pretty lady. What brings you to our dirty
jail?”

“
She come for the hanging,
I bet,” said a fat soldier who looked even sweatier than Roselyn
felt. She studiously ignored the man’s heartless comments and
concentrated on gliding, jingle-free, towards the
stockade.

“
How can I help you,
miss?” Standing just inside the open doorway, the soldier who
addressed her was young and tall, and he had more epaulets on his
jacket than the other men. He looked disdainfully past her shoulder
to the soldiers in the yard.

“
I’m here to minister to
the prisoner,” Roselyn said with as much serene dignity as she
could muster under the circumstances. “I hope to save his soul
before you mete out his punishment.”
Save
his soul and his beautiful neck
.

“
The boy I know, but I
don’t believe you’ve been here before.” The young man squinted at
her like he could see into her heart and new she was lying.
That’s your father talking. He can’t see
anything.

“
I am Miss Weldon,
Reverend Merickel’s fiancée.” It was only a lie for the last
several hours. She had been the reverend’s fiancée for longer than
she hadn’t been. “I’ve helped many lost souls find redemption
before they meet their final reward. No matter what the man’s
crime, he deserves to know his maker before he dies.” Amos sidled
nearer the man in charge.

“
Oh, let her go, Major
Hansen,” the lecherous old soldier told his superior while he ogled
her. “Let the last thing he sees be a pretty piece.”

The young major shot the man a
distasteful glare. “I’m not sure that’s wise, miss. The prisoner is
a dangerous and desperate man.”

Roselyn suspected he was feeling very
desperate, indeed. “I’m not afraid, officer. The saving of souls is
often a dangerous and desperate occupation.” Roselyn kept his gaze,
schooling her features into a passive and benign expression she
hoped belied her own feeling of desperation roiling in her
stomach.

Finally Major Hansen nodded and
stepped aside to allow her entry. He took her elbow in a courtly
gesture to escort her deeper into the jail. “The boy must remain
outside. For your safety, I won’t allow you in the cell. You should
be able to conduct your business from a chair a relatively safe
distance away.”

Well, that’s not going to
work.

“
I’ll wait for you out
here,” Amos assured her and shook her hand.

The hallway seemed excessively long,
and the pistol strapped to her thigh was wiggling its way further
and further down her leg. Pretty soon she’d have to clench her
knees together just to keep it from clanking to the floor. They
rounded a dark corner and, there at the end of the hall, was Jack’s
cell. A barred window situated high on the wall, too high for a
prisoner to see out and too small to wiggle through, afforded
enough light for Roselyn to see her pirate.

Barren of any furniture, Jack sat on
the floor of his cell, his back against the wall. His long, black
hair hung loose across his face and it was several seconds before
he acknowledged their presence approaching down the hall. He kicked
out one leg in an overtly relaxed pose and scooped his hair back
with one hand to reveal dried blood on his jaw line and his neck.
Roselyn barely suppressed a gasp. At least he wasn’t chained. His
eyes flashed fire when his gaze met hers and then he was
immediately sullen and withdrawn again as he glared at the major
with open antagonism.

“
This young lady has come
to offer your soul succor.” The major settled a wooden chair a good
five feet from the bars of his cell – too far for the prisoner’s
grasp should he mean her harm and too far for Jack’s skillful
fingers should he wish to caress her. “You are to act in a
gentlemanly manner to her while she is here. Am I
clear?”

Jack snorted and remained seated
across the room.

“
I’ll just wait for you
over here, Miss Weldon.” Major Hansen indicated a shadowed corner
across the room.

Frustration flashed across Jack’s
face.

“
Oh, sir, that won’t do,”
Roselyn placed the bible reverently on the wooden chair.
“Mr...Handsome Jack needs privacy to come to grips with God, don’t
you agree?”

Major Hansen’s eyebrows met in
consternation. “Miss Weldon, I have to insist that I remain – for
you safety. If anything should happen to you, Reverend Merickel
would not be a happy man.”

You’d be surprised.
“If you were in this man’s place,” Roselyn
gestured with a sweep of her arm, “you’d want some
privacy.”

The major looked from Roselyn to Jack
and back again, clearly unsure how he should continue. “Ummmm…. I
don’t know.” Roselyn willed him to do what she said. Time was of
the essence if the plan was to go off without a hitch.

“
Oh for Christ’s sake,”
Jack burst out, rising to his feet. “I’m not going to hurt her. How
the hell could I behind these bars?”

Major Hansen glared at Jack before
facing Roselyn. “I’ll be right in my office up front. I’ll be able
to hear if you scream. Don’t approach the bars, Miss Weldon. He may
act perfectly gentlemanly but he’s a filthy, lying pirate who will
do anything to escape – even use you as a hostage if
necessary.”

Roselyn kept her victory smile in
check. “Of course, Major Hansen. I’ll be very careful.” She
remained steadfast, her hand gripping the back of the chair so hard
her knuckles turned white until Major Hansen’s footstep faded
completely.

“
What are you doing here,
you crazy woman?” Jack was already at the bars with his right arm
extended towards her when she turned from the sound of Major
Hansen’s retreat. His grasping fingers hooked her skirt and, with a
little giggle, she let him pull her to him. They twined their arms
through the bars and managed a deep kiss even while the iron
pressed tightly against their faces.

“
I am part of Plan A,” she
told him when they finally came up for air.

“
You shouldn’t be here,”
Jack told her before he pressed his lips to hers again.

“
But if I didn’t come how
would you ever get this?” Roselyn gave a little shimmy until she
heard a thud on the stone floor. With a broad smile, she took a
side-step. The skirt of her dress swayed enough that Jack saw the
gun on the floor.

Jack bent quickly, scooped up the gun,
and shoved it in the back waistband of his trousers.

“
You’re the loveliest jail
breaker I’ve ever had the pleasure of being sprung by.” Jack
chuckled, the familiar sound shimmering over her body in the most
delightful way.

“
I suspect that’s not
saying much,” Roselyn teased. “I’ve seen your regular crew.” She
emphasized her point with a comical shudder.

“
True.” He nodded. “I’ve
rarely ravished my accomplices in gratitude either.” He squeezed
her waist.

“
Ow! You won’t get to
ravish this one either if you stab me to death.”

Jack loosened his grip. “That little
quip calls for all kinds of bawdy comments.”

“
We don’t have time.”
Roselyn slid her finger into a hole at the sash of her dress and
withdrew a throwing knife which she promptly handed through the
bars. She did the same with four more in the hem of her
dress.

“
Good Lord, woman.” Jack
slid the knives in his boot. “What else you got in
there?

“
Just one other thing.”
Feeling quite coy, she enjoyed seeing Jack’s eyes widen when she
dipped her hand down the bodice of her dress and pulled out the
cell key.

“
How?”

“
Amos.”

“
Amos is with you? Who
else?” Jack slid the key soundlessly into the cell door and, with
concentrated slowness, swung the door open enough to slip
out.

“
Big Jim, Little Bess,
Blake, and some of the other men from the crew. The rest are back
preparing the Revenge.”

Jack drew her to him, her body finally
flush against his without the hindrance of the jail bars between
them. “You don’t have anything else lethal or poky in there, do
you?”

Roselyn giggled again. The man made
her giddy. She shook her head. This kiss was much more
satisfying.