“Give you Amelia? She’s not a toy. James has searched for her for months. Did you see her today?”
He nodded and gulped, steadying his mare over a rough bit of ground. “Aye. I saw her. She needs to be somewhere safe for the birth of the child, not a ship surrounded by strange men in a foreign place.”
“It’s your baby then?” she asked.
Patrick actually blushed and turned his face away. “I didn’t believe her when she came to me. I told her to try her tricks on another man and as good as threw her out.”
“But you and she obviously…” She trailed off, thinking the actual words unnecessary.
“Aye, just the once. ’Twas silly and brash and exactly the stunt my father said would land me in a pot of boiling water.”
“It’s landed you in more than that. When James finds out it was you, he’ll skin you and leave you for carrion.”
“He isn’t going to find out. Not yet. Not until I’ve had the chance to make it right with Amelia.”
“Do you love her?” Daniella asked, fresh tears burning her eyes; she shook them clear and focused on her horse’s path. Love was a silly notion for fools and debs.
Patrick said, “If she’ll have me, I’ll make an honest woman of her.”
“And if she won’t?”
“I’ll fight until she does.”
It was good enough for Daniella. “I’ll speak to Amelia. I won’t make her go with you but I can try to make her see what is in store for her and the child aboard a ship.”
It had been too much for her mother. One hundred and forty-eight pounds her father had paid her to leave Daniella with him. It was one of her earliest memories. Her mother had had enough of life on the seas, of living with men and the constant rock of the vessel. No parties to attend, no friends, no fine things and sometimes no food or fresh water. She wanted to leave and was going to take Daniella with her. Her father forbade it. Her mother said he would have to kill her then.
The captain had gone to his little chest beneath the bed, unlocked it and poured out its contents. A pearl necklace, an amethyst ring and one hundred and forty-eight pounds. Her mother disappeared at the next port.
Emptiness clung to her very being and she couldn’t shake herself free of it. Why did no one want her?
*
James stopped only to ask the direction to The Aurora and how long it would take to get there. It was another twenty-five minutes before he got the details from the captain, who was unwilling to cooperate until James vowed not to do Daniella any harm when he found her. He had to swallow what was left of his dignity and explain his nightmares to account for her injuries. Explain that Daniella could look after herself and that it was she who had given him his two blackened eyes. It was no small feat. He still wasn’t sure the captain or even his own mother believed him about any of it but they consented and gave him the information he needed.
Another twenty minutes passed while horses were haggled over and saddled.
She already had over an hour’s head start. How long did it take to ready a ship for sail, providing the storm damage had been repaired? Surely she would also need time to convince her father’s crew to leave without their captain?
Germaine and his mother agreed to stay at the inn and give James the chance to speak with Daniella alone. He’d had to grovel for that, on his knees. Thank God he had little pride left.
Had he not shown her in his actions how much she meant to him? He’d married her damn it and still she ran. Perhaps her ship and her independence really did mean more than anything else in the entire world and it wasn’t an act? Why couldn’t she just bloody well see what he could offer her?
James swore a blue streak as he mounted, Hobson on a horse behind. When he found her, he was going to tie her to a chair and make her listen. Make her see he would do anything for her if only she would stay at his side. Surely she would listen then…
Chapter Thirty-Two
Time seemed to stretch itself out until minutes felt like hours before her beautiful ship came into view. Docked in an inlet big enough for two ships if neither one needed to turn around, in water calm and almost clear.
It wasn’t her father’s usual place to dock but then Darius had mentioned the ship sustained some damage in the recent storms. She found the humility to be grateful for the pirate’s intervention: without it they’d be headed for the wrong port and James have thought her the worst kind of trickster.
She hoped her father had already completed the repairs. Once she was on board, they could weigh anchor and leave this wretched land behind.
Her father would forgive her. He had to. After this, she had no place left to go.
As they neared the ship, Daniella slowed her horse to a walk. Shock took hold and devastation ate her soul in one mighty gulp.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. A nightmare? Yes. But was it real?
Of the three towering masts, only one stood. There was no evidence the other two had ever been there. Even from a distance she could tell half the railing was missing. No men worked her deck. No shouts or orders reached her ears over the horse’s hooves thudding on the earth.
The majestic ship she’d spent her life on was as broken and as silent as a dead man.
“That’s what you’ve been fighting for?” Patrick asked. His tone didn’t mock or condemn. She wondered if he was as stunned as she was.
Daniella only nodded. She didn’t have the words to explain to him how beautiful The Aurora had been. How other captains coveted her and a king had
