“Percy would have known what to do with them.” An outright lie. Maybe she should have listened when he’d attempted to talk her out of what he regarded quite vehemently as “madness.”
“How? Because he is a gentleman? He is nothing more than a milksop and probably a virgin himself. His mother will have him cut off for his part in all of this.”
Daniella wanted to shake her head until she blocked out his perfectly sensible words but instead released a frustrated sigh. “Please take me home. You have saved innocent girls; you have saved me—though it was presumptuous of you to think I needed it. You have stopped the gossip and prevented possible murders therefore earning your spot next to God. Can you please take me home?”
“I am taking you home.”
“Not to your home, damn it, to mine!”
“Tut, tut, a lady should never raise her voice or use vulgar language. Did they teach you nothing aboard that pirate ship?”
She froze. It was one thing that the ton knew she’d been raised aboard a ship but no one had had the courage to ask her outright for details. “I beg your pardon?”
“Do pirates not use manners? Or perhaps just not those your father employs? Does one even employ a pirate? I’m not sure how that works exactly.”
“My father is dead.”
“We both know better than that.”
Suddenly it all made sense. The weight of the world lifted and Daniella laughed. “I understand it all now.”
“Could you explain it to me then?”
She stared at the marquess, if that’s what he indeed was, with dirt on his hands and face and in his hair, and smiled. “My father sent you to scare me, didn’t he?”
“Not at all.”
Without thinking, Daniella reached out a hand to rest it on his knee. “You can tell Papa that I’m not going to stop.”
“Stop what?”
“You tell him the only way I will cease is if I am back with him. Nothing short of my full reinstatement on board will make me happy.”
“You make it sound as though you belong to a regiment.”
“His ship is certainly run like one.”
“That’s interesting to know; thank you for the information.”
“So you’ll tell him?”
“I suspect you will be able to tell him yourself.”
Daniella’s hopes lifted and swelled until she could barely contain herself. “Are we going to see him?”
“I do hope so.”
“What do you mean? Aren’t you taking me to him?” All this back and forth and to and fro made her dizzy. She narrowed her eyes. “You are taking me to see my father, aren’t you?”
The marquess shook his head, his dark curls falling over his eyes as he lowered his gaze and straightened the sleeve of his shabby coat. “Not exactly.”
“Now I don’t understand. Could you explain it to me? Without riddles?”
“I can.” He took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze. “When your father finds out I have you, he will come to get you.”
“I told you, I don’t need to be rescued.” She tried to pull her hand away but his warm grasp only tightened more.
“Perhaps you didn’t before, but you do now. When your father finds out I hold you to ransom, he will have to come to collect.”
“All this for my virtue? I’m not a virgin anyway and he knows it.” Her cheeks burned but there was no point him thinking he held a better hand than he did.
“More lies, Daniella? They won’t help but you needn’t worry. I’m not going to touch you. I need you whole, hale and hearty for my plan to work.”
“Your plan?” she squeaked.
“You see, unlike your flimsy scheme, mine is detailed and considered. Even this…nonsense of yours tonight can be turned to my advantage.”
She grew cold all of a sudden. “What do you want?”
“Your father stole something of mine and I mean to use you to get it back.”
“How do you know he isn’t dead as the navy reported?”
“Last I heard he was still floating about making a nuisance of himself and terrorizing the fleet.”
“They killed him. It was reported that cannon fire tore the ship apart and all hands went down with the flaming wreckage. You must have read the headlines.”
“What else could the British navy report when your father constantly makes them look more foolish than they already do? The public need to think him dead, the navy needs to look to have a win.”
“So you have spoken to him? He is alive?”
“I haven’t spoken to him but I have heard from someone close to the situation and his heart still beats, his ship still sails.”
Relief flooded her. She’d known him smarter than the fleet. “Why do you not simply go and take back what he stole?”
“He would see me coming. With you, I can lure him to me. We will meet on my terms so he can stick no knives in my back.”
Daniella bristled but did not bite. Her father would never stab a man in the back. Unless of course he deserved it. She had a feeling the marquess probably did. She may even have to stab him herself if it came to it.
The last she had heard, her father was in retirement. It would have taken something drastic to send him out to engage with the law again, unless that was yet more lies.
“Nothing to say?” the marquess taunted.
“You somehow threatened those men back there into silence. How will he hear about my disappearance and know it was you?”
“Word will be sent. I would save my own name, even if you care nothing for yours. I will control who knows what and when. Even if you are not seen in London again, Sir Anthony will hardly allow the ton to believe you my captive. He will concoct a plausible story to explain your absence even if he hurries after us to avenge your honour; the details don’t matter so much as the outcome.”
“You have a
