Page 90 of The Pirate Lord
The man had a point. Gideon was still rational enough to realize that.
His gaze flitted from Hargraves to Ann, whose face showed every bit of the fear that Hargraves tried so bravely to mask. “Please, sir,” she said in a voice wrung tight as a spring. “Don’t hurt Petey. He stayed here for my sake. He believes in Atlantis as much as I do. I couldn’t bear it if . . . if somethin’ happened to him.”
“Don’t you worry, Miss Ann,” Silas put in. “The cap’n ain’t gonna hurt Mr. Hargraves none. Not as long as your man intends to behave himself on the island.”
“Stay out of this, Silas,” Gideon warned. He stared at Hargraves another long moment and fleetingly thought of what pleasure it would give him to see the man flogged for having a hand in Sara’s leaving.
But he’d never approved of flogging, and he certainly couldn’t do it while sweet little Ann stood there, her heart in her hands, begging for mercy. Besides, Hargraves had only done what he saw as his duty. It was Sara who’d betrayed them all, Sara who’d abandoned him.
With an oath, he thrust Hargraves away from him. “Fine. You and Ann do as you wish. But you’ll stay out of my sight if you know what’s good for you.”
He’d turned toward his cottage, his bleak, empty cottage, when another voice stopped him.
“And what about the weddings?” Queenie asked. “Do we still have to choose a husband in two days time?”
He leveled Queenie with a cold stare. He wanted so badly to tell her she’d have to choose a husband in two days. It would serve the impudent tart right to be forced to the yoke of one of his men.
But even before Sara had left, he’d seen the foolishness of trying to dictate who married whom, especially if he wanted themen and the women to have genuine affection for each other. That was one thing Sara had taught him. Not even desire could replace respect and affection in a marriage, and those could never exist when people were forced into the union. He’d forced her into being with him, and now he was paying dearly for it.
“There will be no weddings except for those of you who wish to marry.”
As astonishment struck the women, Louisa stepped forward. “Thank you, Captain. That’s good of you. We appreciate your kindness.”
“Kindness? I don’t do it out of kindness! I do it because it’s what Atlantis needs. That’s all I’ve ever cared about. That won’t change just because Sara is gone. She may have left us, but this place will go on . . .wewill go on.”
They would make Atlantis a place to be envied, by God, with or without Sara. Then one day he’d find her and throw it up in her face, show her what she had left behind. Because this time he wasn’t a little boy who had no say in what happened after a woman abandoned him. This time he had all the say in the world.
Chapter Twenty-Four
She said, ‘I’ll never forsake my dear,
Although we’re parted this many a year.’
— ANONYMOUS, “THE SAILOR AND HIS LOVE”
Nearly a week had passed since Jordan and Sara had arrived in England after spending a month at sea returning from Atlantis. It was evening, and Jordan stood at the bottom of the stairs in his London town house, pacing and glancing at the hall clock every five seconds. Sara was late. She’d agreed to attend the Merrington’s ball with him tonight, and now she was half an hour late at least.
He wasn’t sure how he’d persuaded her to go. This morning she’d said a horrified no, acting as if he were asking her to run naked through London. This afternoon when he’d arrived home from Parliament, she’d changed her mind.
Thank God. It was time she went out into society and put that deuced pirate out of her mind. A few dances with men of her own station, and she’d realize how foolish she’d been to fall for a pirate captain. Besides, people needed to see her so he could putan end to any breath of scandal. God knows he’d gone to enough trouble to protect her reputation.
He’d covered up her experiences with the pirates by paying the owners of theChastitya huge sum to claim she’d been sent back unscathed with the crew of the ship after the pirate attack. He’d let it be widely known that she’d been recovering from the trauma of her experience in the weeks since then. So far everyone seemed to believe the tale.
Thomas Hargraves entered and cleared his throat loudly just as Jordan made his fifteenth circuit of the hall. Though Jordan wasn’t in the mood to be accosted by his butler, he hid his irritation. After all, Hargraves had lost his brother forever, thanks to Jordan, and some sort of amends for that had to be made.
“What is it, Hargraves?” he snapped as he cast another glance up the staircase.
“It’s about Miss Sara, my lord. You told me to report on her comings and goings while you’re at Parliament during the day, and I thought I would do that now before you leave for the evening.”
Jordan looked at the hall clock, then sighed. “Why the devil not? I’ve got nothing better to do at the moment.”
“Yes, my lord.” Hargraves took out a sheet of paper and bent his head to read it, his balding pate shining in the candlelight. “At 9:11 this morning after breakfasting with you, Miss Sara took a bath, attended by Peggy. Peggy helped her to dress—in the pink cambric walking gown, I believe—and Miss Sara came downstairs at 10:05.”
There was a slight rustling of paper before he continued. “Then she played the pianoforte in the drawing room. I believe the first tune was ‘Down by the Banks of Claudy.’” He tapped his chin. “Or was it ‘Down by the Sally Gar?—”
“I don’t care what she wore or what she played,” he said impatiently. “I just want to know what she did.”
“Yes, my lord,” Hargraves said, sounding a bit miffed. “She played the pianoforte until 10:32, at which time she asked me for a copy ofDebrett’s Peerage. She read that until 12:19. I must say it engrossed her rather much. For luncheon, I brought her a tray upon which Cook had placed a chicken pie—Miss Sara’s favorite, you know—a salad with six walnuts, two slices of?—”
