The Sea Rose (8 page)

“
Anything you wish, Rose,”
he grinned and pleasure coursed through her. “Still go to the shops
and get everything else you need – under things and bonnets,
ribbons and lace and whatever suits your fancy.” They came to a
crossroads, the intersecting street was much wider and shops with
all types of commerce lined the sandy walks. Jack pointed towards
several likely buildings. “Right down that way you’ll find what you
need. I’ll come find you in an hour or so and help you tackle
anything else you lack.”

It occurred to Roselyn that fripperies
such as ribbons and lace were a foolish extravagance when she
didn’t have a house to put them in but, as she shifted in the
too-large silk slippers Jack’s cabin boy had found for her in the
hold, the idea seemed less of an indulgence. Since she no longer
owned a single item of clothing that didn’t come from the bounty of
stolen goods in the Neptune’s Revenge, some underclothes and a
corset and a chemise or two would be prudent.

“
An hour then?” Roselyn
squeezed the pouch of coins in her fist.

“
Or so,” Jack answered and
kissed her on the nose before turning and heading the opposite way
down the road, away from the shops and docks and further into the
heart of the town. He moved quickly, his strides long and
purposeful. He glanced back and blew her a kiss before he turned at
the next block and disappeared from view.

Roselyn hesitated another minute
before she proceeded along the lane and into a feminine domain of
shop keepers and seamstresses to attempt to rebuild her
wardrobe.

Jack was loathe to leave her alone in
the town but, the way things were shaping up, there weren’t any
pirates left in Nassau to harass her and the rest of the unsavory
lot who hadn’t fled were laying low. He had to get to his little
house to collect the few things he’d need if he intended to leave
this profligate life and move back into respectability with Rose.
Besides the gold and other treasures he’d stashed, there were
papers he’d need when he returned to England.

England.

He puffed out a deep breath and
quickened his pace.

England.

The thought of the place, specifically
his ancestral home, threatened to give him hives. But his father
wasn’t there to look down his long, patrician nose at him any
longer. The old man couldn’t judge him from the grave and his
brother, the new earl, had never expressed the same tired
sentiments – not when they were children and not in the few letters
he’d received from him over the years. Though not lengthy or
plentiful, the letters had hinted that his brother knew the truth
about Jack and his career at sea and yet Edmund still urged him to
return home.

He would much rather have made a
comfortable life here in the Caribbean, but that was no longer a
possibility. This beautiful island paradise was no longer capable
of giving him his desired retirement from piracy. If he wanted
Rose, and he wanted her, badly, then home he would go.

He crested a small hill and veered off
the road onto a path through a scrubby, wind-blown meadow. Taking
the short cut, he hoped to shave valuable minutes from his chore.
From that vantage point, he was able to see the smoke from the
burning ship and, though he couldn’t see the actual bodies of the
dead pirates in detail, he could see the shape of them swinging
from the gibbets at the harbor. He sped up his pace until he was
jogging, the cutlass lashed to his side banged against his
leg.

His house came into view, the solid
stone of the walls broadcasted strength and comfort that he knew he
could no longer find there, or anywhere else on Nassau. He used a
hefty, iron key to unbolt the door and, when it swung open, he was
relieved to find his house just as he’d left it six months prior.
The home was cluttered and comfortable with maps and charts spread
over thick, wooden tables, exotic trinkets from his travels spread
about the rooms. He paid little attention to the front parlor as
soon as he recognized that nothing had been disturbed. The location
of his house was not a secret; everyone in Nassau knew where he
could be found and that common knowledge had worried him.
Perchance, once the new governor had begun the raiding and hangings
which had cleared out the harbor, the scalawags in town had been
too intent on saving their own necks or turning traitor to worry
about raiding his coffers.

In the kitchen, moving the cast iron
oven was much harder to do alone, but he managed by wedging himself
between it and the wall. Grunting and swearing, he scooted the
massive oven the several feet required in order to get to the false
stone in the floor underneath. Using a thick butcher knife as a
lever, he pried the stone loose and reached into the dark hole with
both hands to hoist out a bulky strongbox which he plunked on the
floor with a weighty thud.

“
Praise the heavens,” Jack
muttered in relief. The safe was heavy. It had to be. It held his
entire future.

He trotted down the hall and stripped
the bed of its linens. He took the pillowcases in hand and headed
back to the kitchen.

Once empty of the gold, jewels and
other treasures, Jack dropped the box back into the hole and set
the kitchen to rights. There was no point in making it obvious to
anyone who came looking for him that he’d been there.

Jack doubled up the linen pillowcases.
A person’s future was a substantial weight – heavier than he’d
expected it to be. Perhaps he miscalculated and should have brought
a cart. Well, there was no time for it now. He dropped the bags on
the floor of the hall and headed back into the bedroom. He pulled
the documents he needed from a less secure, but still well hidden,
secret compartment in the headboard of his bed. A few trinkets and
small keepsakes were added to his pockets.

One last glance around the room and he
was ready to go.

Back to collect Rose and then he was
home free.

“
It was certainly
convenient of you to collect so much evidence for me. I always find
that task to be so mundane and tedious.”

“
Fuck.” Jack didn’t
recognize the voice but he knew who it was before he turned around.
“Governor Rogers. I had hoped to avoid this
introduction.”

“
Well that would have been
a shame.” Rogers shifted his weight to one side and adjusted a lace
cuff with an air of complete ease. It was probably the five armed
soldiers who had come up behind him that allowed him the luxury.
“Then you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to partake in the
hospitality Nassau has become so famous for of late.”

“
Yes,” Jack nodded. His
fingertips caressed the handle of his cutlass. “Unfortunately, the
lodgings I noticed at the harbor are somewhat less hospitable than
I’ve grown accustomed to.”

Rogers gestured at Jack’s hand next to
the scabbard. “I wouldn’t suggest you act hastily, Jack, unless you
wish to proceed directly from capture to execution. Although, it
doesn’t matter to me either way if we hang you in town or shoot you
dead in your own home.”

Jack pulled his hand away and he
raised it to his side, palm up. He couldn’t give Rogers any reason
to kill him here. There was so much more at stake than just his
life now.

Chapter Eleven

Roselyn wiggled her toes in a new pair
of leather half boots. She hadn’t expected to have such luck
finding what she needed in the pirate capital, but apparently there
was a thriving industry in women’s clothing in Nassau. Evidently,
the abundance of houses of ill repute and lusty sailors looking for
presents for their wives and mistresses afforded enough business
for even some competition among the milliners and seamstresses in
town. Although, not all the clothes were what one would have
expected in London. Roselyn did a considerable amount of blushing
when she found the “small clothes” section and discovered the items
rather more risqué than she was accustomed to. The proprietress of
the shop helped her pick out a few suitable items and even
convinced her to add something pretty and flimsy to her pile of
purchases.

Laden with packages in both hands,
Roselyn stepped out on to Nassau’s main thoroughfare. She glanced
along the street, first one direction and then the next, unsure of
what to do with herself now. The shopkeepers offered to have a boy
run her purchases home for her, but she’d refused having no idea at
what address to have them delivered. Once again, she wondered why
Jack had been so wary of allowing her to come into Nassau by
herself. The streets were relatively empty. A few women bustled
along the walk to and from what appeared to be a grocer’s, and a
couple of workmen toted some lumber and tools towards the harbor.
There weren’t even as many children out and about as she’d
expected.

Even as she finished the thought, a
lad barreled around the corner and skidded to a halt in an effort
to avoid running her over completely. Nevertheless, her carefully
wrapped parcels tumbled to the ground when they
collided.

“
Sorry, miss.” The boy
reached down and helped to gather the bundles strewn along the
ground.

“
No harm done,” Roselyn
smiled at the boy. He couldn’t have been more than seven or eight.
His skin dark brown from the sun, his crooked smile flashed white.
“Where are you going to in such a hurry?”

“
They caught another
pirate,” he told her and a flash of anxiety mixed with excitement
slid across his face. “I gotta go tell Big Jim.”

Sweet lord, don’t let it
be her pirate
. “Who?”

“
Big Jim,” he repeated,
“the Harbor Master.”

“
No, who is the
pirate?”
Oh please, oh please, oh
please
.

“
It’s a big fish this
time.” The boy nodded his head in agreement with himself. “Not as
big as if they’d nabbed Teach before he hightailed it out of here,
but still, bigger than Horton or Ching.”

Roselyn blinked several times in rapid
succession while the boy rambled off a who’s who of captured and
escaped pirates. She grabbed the boy by the arm to make him stop.
“Who was it?” she asked a bit louder.

“
Handsome Jack,” he told
her with authority.

“
Oh my God.” Roselyn’s
fingers gripped the packages tighter and her knees felt liquid.
What was she to do now? She couldn’t allow Jack to die. A heady
image of him propped on his elbow, his tan skin in stark contrast
against the white bed sheets, grinning at her with desire in his
dark eyes flittered through her mind. “How long ago did they
capture him? Where? Did they hurt him?”
So
many questions…

“
I saw them dragging him
out of his house just a few minutes ago.” The boy watched her with
interest.

“
Dragging him!” Roselyn
exclaimed. They were dragging her lover off to his death while she
shopped for clothes to tempt him. How unbearably frivolous of
her.

“
Only ‘cause of the chains
around his ankles.”

“
Oh,” she moaned. The
liquid feeling in her legs increased. She glanced around but there
was nowhere to sit. She needed to calm down and think.
Think Roselyn, this is no time for missish
panic.
“What is your name?”

“
Amos.”

“
Do you want to help
Jack?” At this point, she needed all the help she could
get.

“
That’s why I was going to
Big Jim.” He reached over and took half her bundles and jerked his
head in the direction of the harbor. Together they headed off at a
fairly quick pace along the empty street.

“
What will Big Jim
do?”

The boy raised a shoulder in a bony
shrug. “I don’t know, but he and Handsome Jack is
friends.”

“
I wonder if anyone aboard
Neptune’s Revenge knows yet.” Surely Blake and the other men would
come to his rescue if they knew. They would, wouldn’t they? Surely,
there was honor among thieves.

It turned out Jack’s crew didn’t know,
but Big Jim sent a courier out to the vessel right away with the
news. From the office of the Harbor Master, she could see the crew
streaming off the ship like rats and rowing to the pier. Certainly
with so many loyal men, Jack would be rescued.

Oh please, oh please, oh
please.
The mantra ran repeated under all
of her other thoughts like the chorus of one of her father’s church
hymns, a silent and desperate plea.

Big Jim it turned out was an
understatement. Roselyn shook the hand of the biggest man she’d
ever laid eyes on after Amos sputtered out the alarming news of
Jack’s arrest.

“
I’m Big Jim,” he’d told
her. Big? More like humongous or gargantuan. His voice boomed
through the small office, deep and sonorous, and tempered her panic
with a sense of his command and capability.

“
Roselyn Weldon,” she
answered back. “I’ll do anything to help Jack.”

Big Jim looked her over with an
appraising eye. His review of her wasn’t lascivious, instead it
seemed as if he was taking her into account and assessing any
skills that could be used later. “Can you shoot?” he
asked.