“After you stabbed him, he developed an infection. We thought he would die.”
“Well, he shouldn’t have attempted to take a ship of returning servicemen. We were on our way home after months and years of fighting only to be drawn into another fray. Your father does not own the ocean. He has no right to take anything he wants.”
“No more right than the English to think they own it, or the French to try to claim it. My father lost his leg after that day. He can no longer run the decks of the ship as he used to—he no longer sails as he used to.”
He hadn’t been aware of that. Guilt pricked through the hard shell of his numbness—one of the few emotions that could. “That is why you’re so sure he will be docked?”
She nodded.
“Where?”
“I won’t tell you.”
“How do I arrange a meeting?”
“Nowhere in England, certainly.”
“We stick to the plan and draw him out, get him to meet us. Hobson, search the gardens and see if you can discover the eyes watching Miss Germaine. A live messenger would serve our purpose better than an undelivered note.”
“We don’t need any of that. I tell you I can take you to my father. And if he hates you as much as you imagine, his home ground is the safest place to meet him. He keeps the peace there, and he ensures the rest do too.”
“If you knew where he was all this time, why did you not go to him?”
Daniella sighed and the guilt was there to needle him again. “’Tis a twelve-day land journey if the weather is kind. My brother doesn’t allow me enough pin money to hire a crew or passage on a ship and overland would be even harder to arrange without his notice. I might make thirty miles but then what? Alone and penniless. My plan was much the same as yours: draw my father out, make him send for me. It hasn’t worked, can’t you see?”
When her chin drooped all the way to her chest in defeat, James knew what she was thinking. That her father didn’t care enough for her to risk his own life.
Nor would he if their situations were reversed.
Daniella frequently behaved recklessly and without thought. Her father probably held out hope that she would one day wake up a woman and act like one. To James that day seemed a long way off.
“I assume we’ll find him in Scotland?” It’s where most of his intelligence gathering had led him so far.
She nodded.
“Where?” He gritted his teeth.
And she hers. “I won’t tell you but I can take you.”
“You expect me to blindly follow you into what could be an ambush? A trap? Worse?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t know who you were or what you planned to do—when would I have had the time to create yet another scheme?”
She was right but a smart man never went to battle without weapons or know-how. “Twelve days is too long to travel: we’ll go by sea.”
“He’ll see you coming.”
“How? You said he would be docked. Since he is a pirate who wishes to remain undiscovered, he would be moored somewhere shut off, out of the way.”
“There are many Scotsmen who still hate the English. Hours after the first one lays eyes on you, the message will be passed along the coast until everyone knows who you are. The news always gets through. How do you think we were so successful?”
“I don’t spend my days pondering the inner workings of pirates and thieves.”
“We wouldn’t have to thieve if we were allowed to be about our business without constant harassment by your king and his exorbitant taxes.”
He had to admire her spunk. She was a prisoner yet she acted like a houseguest helping him with complex puzzles and arguing about politics. That was preferable to sullenness but her calm might let them down once they were on their way.
“So we travel by road but send messages by sea?”
“That’s right. And after we cross the border, we’ll need guards. You would never pass for anything but English and the danger will be high.”
“How far into Scotland must we travel? Into the Highlands?”
Daniella smiled and sat back in her chair, her fingers steepled before her. “You can stop asking me our final destination because I’ll never reveal it.”
“How am I to know which direction to give the driver?”
“You won’t. After we cross the border, I’ll navigate. You’re going to have to trust that I want the same outcome as you do.”
“Trust you, a pirate? Once again you mistake your place in this.” In truth, James trusted no one save Hobson. It had kept him alive throughout countless campaigns so far.
Daniella stood and James fought to keep his eye from wandering to bare little toes once again peeking from beneath her revealing gown.
“You can’t control everything,” she pointed out. “Even generals have need of intelligence from the lower ranks.” She swished past him into the corridor where Mrs McDougal held a platter of sandwiches and a pot of tea. “Let me know when you decide my place in all of this.”
“And then what?”
But she didn’t answer. Just climbed back into the room below the stairs, took the tray from his housekeeper’s hands and closed the door.
Chapter Five
It took only another hour until James was forced to admit he might need Daniella’s help if he planned to reach his mother and sister. Each sweep of the minute hand around the clock face was another hour they were in danger, another hour his sister’s reputation sustained lasting damage and another hour he blindly stumbled about and prayed they were still alive. He’d wasted enough time on dead-end leads. If he couldn’t draw the captain out, he would have to risk marching up and knocking on his door—for which he would need Daniella. He didn’t take to inaction kindly and it had been nearly five months since their disappearance. He
