Page 20 of The Pirate Lord
His expression hardened. “One week. Take it or leave it. Either way, your womenwilltake husbands. I’m giving up a great deal by letting the women make the choice. The men will grumble.”
“And what if a woman chooses not to marry?”
“That’s not a choice.” He tucked his thumbs under his wide leather belt with its strange-looking buckle. “At the end of one week, if a woman hasn’t chosen a husband, one will be chosen for her.”
“Thank goodness we’re not bargaining over anythingimportant,”she snapped. “I’ll have to speak to the women first, of course. I can’t make such a decision for them.”
“Of course.” Moving to the desk, he settled his hips against it and crossed his legs at the ankles. “I hope this means an end to the ladies’ caterwauling.”
The words were a command. She shrugged. “Ifthey agree to your terms, I suppose it does.” Smoothing her skirts down with a clammy hand, she said, “May I go now, Captain Horn, and present your offer to them?”
“Certainly. I’ll give you an hour. Then I’ll send Barnaby for your answer.”
She turned to the door, relieved to finally escape his disturbing presence.
But as she opened it, he said, “One more thing. This offer refers toallthe women, even you. You have one week to choose a husband from among my men.” He paused, a wicked grin crossing his face as he swept his gaze down over her lips, her throat … her waist and hips. “Or I’ll take great delight in choosing one for you.”
Chapter Six
Oh, I command a sturdy band
Of pirates bold and free.
No laws I own, my ship’s my throne,
My kingdom is the sea.
— R. B. DAWSON, “THE PIRATE OF THE ISLE”
Captain Horn’s words rang in Sara’s ears as she hurried out onto the deck.That includes you.What a beast! She’d avoided marriage for five years because she couldn’t find the right man, and now he thought he could hand her over to any old scoundrel he picked for her?
He could just forget it!
Squinting in the brilliant sunshine, she hastened across the deck to the hatch leading to the hold. She would never let him shackle her to some foul pirate simply because he ordained it!
She bent to open the hatch, and a young pirate with cropped hair rushed to her side. “Let me help you, miss,” he said as he unlatched it, then opened it for her.
The courtly action took her completely aback. When she stared at him in astonishment, he added, “I hope the ladies arecomfortable below. If they need anything, you tell me and I’ll see that they get it.”
Although it was hard to stay irate in the face of such cordiality, she was still smarting from her encounter with Captain Horn. “The only thing the ladies need right now is to be set free. Will you do that for us?” When he colored and mumbled that only the captain could, she snapped, “Then you’re of no help,” and descended the stairs.
The air of the hold was thick with the sounds and smells of frightened women and children. Although theSatyrwas smaller than theChastity, the hold was bigger and there were no bars. Still, without berths stacked up along the walls, the women were forced to share the bedrolls that had apparently been laid on the floor for the “cargo” the pirates had expected to accumulate in the Cape Verde Islands.
At least there was more light than in theChastity,thanks to the lanterns lining the walls and filling the ship’s belly with the acrid smell of burning oil.
As soon as the women spotted her, they leapt off their bedrolls and rushed to the stairs.
“What’re they goin’ to do with us?” Queenie demanded.
“How long do we have to stay down here?” asked another woman, while the children clamored to be fed and cried about being thirsty.
“I don’t know when they’ll let us above deck,” she answered. “But I do know what they’re planning to do with us. That’s what the captain wants me to speak to all of you about.”
Amid the shuffling of feet and the complaints of the children, she described the bargain she’d made with the captain, explaining about Atlantis Island and what the pirates wanted. By the time she finished, the women had fallen silent. Clearly, they didn’t know what to make of the captain’s offer anymore than she did.
After a few moments, Louisa pushed her way through the crowd. Her blond hair hung in a tangled mass and her face was white as bleached ivory. “Do you mean to say that they plan to force us to marry and then keep us captive on some remote island for the rest of our lives?” There was a note of panic in her voice. “We can never return to England?”
“Who gives a bloody farthing about returning to England?” Queenie snapped. “Ain’t nothin’ for any of us back there. Besides, if we’d made it to New South Wales, we’d have been stranded there, too. You got to pay yer own passage back to England once yer sentence is up, and that ain’t likely to happen, seein’ as how it costs a bloody fortune.”
