A Pirate of her Own (5 page)

A sudden doubt prickled the back of Morgan’s neck. Either both women were consummate liars or the confusion that creased both their brows was sincere.

“Why, sir, I have no idea of his identity,” Serenity said, releasing her sister’s hand and taking a step toward him. “I wrote the story as a piece to rally support for his efforts. If I knew his name, then I would have gladly sought him out and I would have written his views about his activities. I would be honored to report such grand news.”

“She’d be the envy of all!” her sister piped in.

For the umpteenth time since he first met Serenity, Morgan was baffled and unsure. Could it all be just a coincidence?

Surely not.

What were the odds?

Suddenly the door to the library swung open. An older man entered the room, and then catching sight of Morgan, he paused.

“Forgive me if I’m intruding…”

“Oh, Douglas, no,” Serenity said as she left her sister to greet the gentleman. “I am so glad you’re here. I’ve been wanting a chance to speak with you all evening.”

Morgan watched as she took Douglas by the hand and led him to stand before him. She gave both of them a dazzling smile, then turned back to Douglas. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your sending this man to the office this afternoon. Why, it was the best surprise I’ve ever received. He almost had me going again just a second ago, but I realize now he’s still—”

“My sending what?” Douglas interrupted. “Who?”

Serenity’s mouth dropped open and she looked back and forth between them. Morgan suppressed a groan, realizing finally that Serenity had no idea who he was.

“You don’t know this man?” she asked.

Douglas lifted his brows. “Should I?”

“You didn’t send him into the office as a birthday prank?”

Douglas shook his head slowly. “No.”

Serenity covered her mouth with her hand and took a step back. “Oh, heavens to Betsy,” she murmured, her face pale and mortified.

Morgan lifted one corner of his mouth into a smile. God’s blood, it
was
all just a bizarre coincidence.

Then Douglas smiled. “Is this another of your games, Miss Serenity? You really should warn me. I’m getting far too old to keep up with you and your shenanigans.” He extended his hand to Morgan. “Douglas Adams.”

Morgan wanted to laugh aloud. So, this was the man she’d been talking about earlier.

And she had assumed…

And then
he
had assumed…

Oh, this was rich. Truly rich. His anxiety had finally come home to roost.

Wouldn’t Barney have a good laugh about this?

On second thought, he better keep it to himself. The less Barney knew, the more peace he’d have.

Morgan took Douglas’s proffered hand. “Pleased to meet you, Mr. Adams.”

Douglas turned back to Serenity. “I just wanted to let you know that Annie isn’t feeling well. I thought that I should take her home, but before we left I had to wish you a wonderful birthday.”

Finally her gaze settled on Morgan and for a moment she became so pale he thought she might actually faint. “You must think me the greatest of fools.”

The irony of the incident amused him. Besides, it was his initial assumption that had begun this whole ridiculous misunderstanding. “Not at all. I think we have both been made the brunt of fate’s folly.”

Her laughter rippled. It was an enchanting sound, deep and throaty, not the silly little giggles practiced by most women of his acquaintance.

“What is going on?” her sister asked from behind them. “I don’t think I understand.”

Serenity turned to her sister. “’Twould seem that honest business brought this good man to my office, but he bore such a striking resemblance to my hero that I merely assumed Douglas had hired him as a prank.”

Douglas joined her laughter. “I wish I had thought of that.”

Now it was Morgan’s turn to feel foolish. All this time he had been ready to threaten and intimidate, even abduct her if necessary, and it had all been just a strange quirk of fate.

“Forgive me for intruding on your party,” Morgan said, giving her a curt bow. “’Twould seem we have both jumped to conclusions.”

“Well, Serenity certainly does that enough,” her sister said indelicately.

Pulling his gloves on, Morgan smiled again. “Allow me to wish you a happy birthday, Miss James, and I shall take up no more of your time.”

Serenity watched as her mysterious visitor walked out of the library.

He was gone.

A strange feeling enveloped her. One that warned her she had somehow just defied fate.

“I, too, must be going,” Douglas said, then followed after Morgan.

For several thundering heartbeats, Serenity stared out the open door. Her pirate was truly gone, and now she knew they would never again meet.

Nor would she ever know his name.

Oh, what did it matter? It wasn’t as if there could have ever been anything between them anyway. Handsome men like him never paid heed to women like her. Nay, such handsome men were always attracted to beautiful women like Honor and Heather Smith.

“What a strange thing to happen,” Honor said, her voice breaking into Serenity’s thoughts. “Who would have thought a man like that would want to investigate your sources for your story. What could have caused him to pursue you all the way to the house?”

“What?” Serenity asked, her mind whirling at the significance of the question.

“I said, who would have thought that such—”

“Yes, who would have.”

Honor took a step back. “Serenity, you’ve got that look on your face.”

“What look?” she asked, arms akimbo.

“That you’re-thinking-something-you-shouldn’t look.”

Relaxing, Serenity smiled and tapped her fore-finger against her chin while her thoughts tumbled around. “Tell me, Honor. Why
would
a man like that pursue me so?”

“He was curious about the story.”

“Yes, but
why
would he be curious?”

“Maybe he wants to meet the Sea Wolf?”

“Or maybe he
is
the Sea Wolf.”

“He’s what?” Honor asked, her eyes wide.

“Don’t you see?” Serenity asked Honor excitedly as the full implication hit her. “’Tis the only thing that makes sense. He was so angry this afternoon, so accusatory. He has to be the Sea Wolf and he thought I knew him! That
I
would betray his identity.”

Honor scoffed. “Serenity, you’re jumping to conclusions again.”

“Nay,” she said, her mind positive. “Not this time. I know I’m right.”

“That’s what you said about the butcher being in league with a French spy to steal the secrets of our new government.”

“’Tis not the same.”

“What about thinking the Widow Pennington was the one who was pilfering the collection plate, or that the chandler, Mr. Phipps, was working with the British government to—”

“Very well, Honor,” she said, irritated at her sister. “You’ve made your point quite nicely.”

Honor put her arm around Serenity’s shoulders and gave a comforting squeeze. “I’m not trying to be harsh, sister. But God blessed you with an incredible imagination and I’m grateful for the wonderful stories you create. It’s just that you need to remember that life is never as incredible as your dreams. Fantastical things just don’t happen to everyday people like us.”

Too bad Serenity didn’t believe that. Incredible things could happen to people who were just minding their own business. After all, Moses had just been tending his flock when the Lord spoke to him. David had been a humble shepherd until he faced Goliath.

Extraordinary things could happen. Extraordinary things
did
happen!

And her pirate could be the Sea Wolf.

Nay,
she corrected herself. Her pirate
was
the Sea Wolf. She would prove it!

Hours went by slowly as Serenity waited for the house to quiet. She’d never noticed before how long it took her father and brother to find their beds.

Nervously she paced the floor of her darkened bedroom, her black kidskin riding boots whispering across the pine boards.

An hour ago she’d sneaked into her brother’s room to borrow some clothes while he sat below discussing his latest story with her father.

Jonathan’s large black breeches felt strange, and not very secure; she’d made a belt from one of her sashes, and Serenity prayed it wouldn’t break and send her pants falling into a pool around her feet.

She must blend in with the dock workers tonight. No one must ever suspect she was a woman alone, or there would be much more than Mrs. O’Grady’s gossip to fear!

She knelt by the fireplace and smeared soot across her face, neck, and hands, hoping to conceal herself in the darkness.

As she continued to wait, she debated the sanity of her mission.

How was she to ever find her mysterious hero? She didn’t even know the name of his ship.

Yet she was confident that she knew enough details to distinguish his ship from the others. Pulling out from her pocket the small book where she made notes for her stories, she reviewed what Jonathan had told her about the Sea Wolf’s ship. It was a hundred-gun frigate, painted black and trimmed in gold with a serpent masthead.

How hard could
that
be to find? Out of the six ships that had come in today, only two had been black—one trimmed in red, the other in gold. And that one had also been a frigate.

She smiled.

Imagine, an interview with the Sea Wolf! She would be the talk of the Colonies.

For once she would be like her idol, Lady Mary. She would brave unknown dangers to uncover this story.

No matter what, she wouldn’t return home tonight until she had interviewed the Sea Wolf.

“Hold me tight, sweet courage.” She tucked her book back into her pocket.

Then she saw her opportunity—the flickering of a candle’s light beneath her door as her father made his way down the hall to his room. The door handle rattled, then she heard his door open and close.

This was it.

She carefully left her room and headed for the stairs. Just as she reached the front door, she heard the raspy shuffle of boots moving toward her. Her heart hammering, she dodged into the drawing room.

“Goodnight, Kingsley,” her brother called to their butler as he trudged up the stairs.

“Goodnight, Master Jonathan.”

Serenity trembled in the shadows as another wave of apprehension washed over her. Maybe she should stay here and let Jonathan have this story.

After all, anything could happen.

True, she was dressed like a man and it was a dark night, but what if someone should realize she was a woman? A woman alone on the docks at night was a disaster just waiting to happen.

Come now,
her mind snapped.
What is this cowardice? Would Lady Mary shirk at such a challenge?

Well, nay. Lady Mary would carry on regardless of the danger. Indeed, she would revel in it.

Besides, the Sea Wolf was a man of honor. It showed in the way he carried himself, in the fact that he risked his very life to save others. He wouldn’t dishonor her. He was the noble Sea Wolf. The protector of innocents.

This was her chance to be the person she wanted to be.

With that thought foremost in her mind, she slipped out the front door, into the cool night and into her future.

It was just after midnight. Jacob Dudley sat waiting beneath the bower of a weeping willow, his eyes trained on the James household, and most importantly, on the single light in the upstairs window. He was waiting for it to go out.

You’re a fool on a fool’s mission,
he groused at himself as he shifted a large package in his lap. He’d come to Savannah just that afternoon to pick up his wife’s dress, and he’d been delighted to find Morgan in port. Of course, Morgan’s dinner story about his near miss with Serenity James had been less than amusing.

But they had laughed anyway and shared drinks until Morgan had taken his leave. Jake had been just about to follow when he’d overheard a man in the tavern questioning the patrons about the same story that had brought Morgan to town.

Wayward Hayes.

It was a name he knew as well as his own. A name any good profit-minded sailor kept his ears open for word of. Hayes made his living by tracking down pirates and privateers and handing them over to the governments who paid the most for them.

Now that man sought the Sea Wolf.

Just like Morgan, Hayes had decided the author of the newspaper article knew the Sea Wolf by sight; only, Hayes had yet to learn S. S. James was a woman.

That gave Jake enough time to make sure Morgan escaped before Hayes learned his identity.

But first he must make certain Serenity was secure. Hayes wouldn’t ever believe she’d written her story without firsthand knowledge of Morgan. Nor was he the type of man to go easy on her just because she was a woman.

Nay, with the price the British had on Morgan’s head, Hayes would interrogate her every bit as thoroughly and painfully as he would a man. And Jake wasn’t the kind of man to leave a woman to suffer. Not when he could help it.

The light went out.

Scooping up the package, Jake rose to his feet. Just a few minutes more and he would make sure Serenity and Morgan were safe from Hayes’s clutches.

He sneaked across the yard.

It had cost him quite a bit to learn about the James family. There were three women living in the house—the brown-haired Serenity, her blond sister, and an elderly housekeeper.

Jake smiled. True, it’d been a while since he’d infiltrated a home for such mischief, but he’d done it enough in the past to believe he’d have no problems finding the chit and getting her out. He could move as stealthily as a ghost, and in his bachelor days, he’d roamed in and out of many a woman’s room without her husband or family being the wiser.

He drew even with the sweeping front porch.

The front door creaked open.

Jake froze. And before he could move, a small form ran from the house. Like lightning, someone scampered across the porch, down the steps, and straight into his chest.

A startled cry escaped before the person who hit him stumbled back, tripped over a root, and fell to the ground with a solid thump.

Bemused, Jake dropped his package and knelt down to check on who had accosted him.

“Well, fate be damned,” he laughed as he caught sight of the pale form in a buttery shaft of moonlight. She was dressed as a man, but only a fool could miss her curves, and Jacob Dudley was anything but a fool.

Jake looked up at the bright, star-filled sky. “Thank you, Lord,” he said. “You’ve helped me out once again.”

And surely He had, for she’d knocked herself unconscious in her fall. Aquick check assured him that she still breathed and hadn’t broken the skin of her skull, though from the knot that was forming he could tell she’d have a wretched headache when she awoke.

Now all he had to do was get to Morgan and see to it he sailed before Hayes identified his ship. Easy enough.

His spirit light, Jake hefted Serenity up over one shoulder, grabbed Lorelei’s package, and headed for his concealed horse.

Serenity came awake to a fierce pounding in her temples. Moaning softly, she tried to put her hand to her head only to learn her hands weren’t free. Someone had tied her to a chair! A hard, wooden chair that seemed to be in a small cabin on a ship…

Her blood racing, she remembered running out of the house and into a tree.

Nay,
she thought, her body going cold. It had been a man. A huge man.

“Listen to me, old man, we’ve not got enough time for you to argue.”

“But Jake, the captain’ll have me head if he finds her on board. And you know how he is when he gets riled.”

Her vision blurry, she blinked her eyes. The man called Jake came into focus. He was extremely tall, at least six foot five. He wore the humble clothes of a farmer, and his long blond hair had been pulled back into a queue.

However, it was the coldness of his eyes that held her transfixed. They were steely, devoid of emotions, and they were set into a face that would rival her pirate’s for sheer handsomeness.

“Barney, I swear I’ll hang you myself if you don’t give the order to sail.”

“Sail?” Serenity gasped, wincing as more pain sliced through her head. “Sail where?”

The old man stepped around Jake and eyed her curiously. “See now, she’s awake. You can be taking her with you.”

“Barney,” Jake growled, his voice laced with warning.

“All right then, I’ll tell the captain about her and—”

Jake grabbed Barney by the arm and turned him around until they faced each other. “Listen, unless you want Wayward Hayes to hang Morgan, you’ll get this ship out of here while you’re still safe.
I’ll
deal with the woman, and with Morgan.”

“Fine then, it’s your arse he’ll be skinning.” Barney gave her one last look, then headed out of the tiny cabin.

“Excuse me,” Serenity said, her voice cracking with alarm. “But I really don’t think you’ll be sailing with me on board.”

Jake quirked a smile. “And what do you intend to do about it?”

“Scream?”

His laugh was low and evil. If it were true that the eyes were the window of the soul, then this man didn’t possess one at all. His intense gaze betrayed no emotion whatsoever as he reached beneath his navy cape and pulled out a long, wicked knife. “Try it and I’ll have your tongue.” He fingered the shining blade.

“You wouldn’t dare,” she squeaked, her voice constricted by terror.

“I’ve done worse things in my life.”

And by the light in his eyes, she could see he spoke honestly. Dear Lord, how could this man have so little regard for human decency?

For the very tongue she loved so well!

“Why have you taken me?” she asked.

He returned his knife to the folds of his cape and sighed. “Believe it or not, it’s for your own good.”

“My own good? Pray tell, how do you figure that?”

“Under the circumstances, I fear I don’t have time to explain it. I have to make sure Barney carries out my orders and that a stubborn man sees reason. So, if you’ll excuse me…” He started for the door.

“Wait!”

He paused and turned back to face her with one arched brow.

“I won’t tell anyone you kidnapped me,” she begged. “Just, please, let me go.”

“Unfortunately, that’s not possible.” He cocked his head to one side and eyed her like a hawk watching a hare. “Now, do I need to gag you before I leave?”

Serenity shook her head. She was quite attached to her tongue and she was determined to keep as much of her freedom as she could. One way or another, she was going to get off this ship, even if she had to jump off and swim back home; sharks and sea monsters be damned.

Two hours later, Serenity sat in the small crevice that Jake had called Barney’s bunk room. Bunk water-closet was more like. She owned hatboxes that were bigger.

She’d been doing her best to free herself, but it was too late.

She had felt the ship leave its moorings and now it rolled across the waves at full speed.

Whatever was she going to do?

You should have screamed anyway,
she said to herself in frustration.

Well, had I done that, Jake would have cut my tongue out.

Yes, well, better he cut out your tongue than your father get ahold of you after this.

Closing her eyes, she could just imagine the look on her father’s face.

What had she done? This was not the adventure she had wanted. She had never once dreamed of being trapped in the belly of a ship headed for who knew where.

Oh heaven, this was definitely not a good day for an adventure.

Suddenly she heard steps outside. She held her breath in fear.

The door swung open.

“Barney, I need…” The familiar voice trailed off as her dream pirate looked up from the fob watch he’d been checking. His gaze touched on her, and if she thought he had looked angry that afternoon in her shop, she had certainly underestimated him.

“Barney!” he bellowed with a force that shamed the raging sea.