SOMEONE TO LOVE
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
SOMEONE TO WED
Praise
Books By Cheryl Holt
Copyright
About the Author
“Are they bad men?”
Caro peered at Libby, waiting to hear her decision. Libby was their leader. Libby was in charge. She was very bossy and liked to tell them how to behave, and Caro was happy to let her. They were only five, and there were too many huge problems to solve. Libby liked to pretend she knew what was best.
Caro didn’t bother to seek Joanna’s opinion. Joanna hadn’t talked in ages, so it was pointless to expect a response.
“They might be bad,” Libby said, “or they might not.”
“How can we be sure?”
When Joanna’s mother had still been alive, she’d warned them to watch out for strangers. The Caribbean was awash with pirates and other criminals who would be eager to kidnap a little girl. They had to constantly be vigilant.
They were up on the promontory, the highest point on the island. Earlier that morning, sails had appeared on the horizon, and gradually, a large ship had come closer and closer. Finally, it had dropped anchor out in the bay.
Sailors scurried about, tying down the canvas and seeing to various chores. A man in a blue coat studied the island through a brass spyglass. He gestured toward their dilapidated hut, then orders were shouted, and two long boats were lowered.
A dozen sailors scampered down the rope ladder and jumped into the boats, then they rowed for shore.
“What should we do?” Caro asked Libby.
“Hide,” was Libby’s quick reply.
“Where?”
Joanna slipped her hand into Caro’s and gripped it tight. She was trembling, but then, she was younger than Libby and Caro. She frightened more easily and fretted more intensely.
“In the hut,” Libby said. “In the traveling trunks.”
Many objects from their sunken ship had washed ashore, including several trunks filled with adult clothes and other personal items.
“It’s the first place they’ll look,” Caro complained.
“Do you have a better idea?”
“Let’s sneak into the jungle.”
“The traveling trunks are safer.”
“No, they’re not.”
The long boats were getting nearer, the man in the blue coat perched at the front like an angry statue. His coat was covered with medals, ribbons, and gold braids.
Joanna was tired of listening to them argue. She started off, dragging Caro away from the cliff and out of sight of the men who were swiftly approaching. Libby and Caro glared at each other, then Libby ran in one direction, while Caro and Joanna ran in the other.
The island was very small, so there weren’t many spots where they could conceal themselves. Caro chose a tree in the center where rain had carved a hole around the roots. They snuggled into it, Joanna still fiercely gripping her hand.
“Don’t worry,” Caro whispered. “They won’t find us.”
Joanna stared, wide-eyed with alarm. From the minute so many months prior when the storm had struck their own ship, people had been telling Joanna that she’d be fine. She didn’t believe it anymore, and neither did Caro.
They hovered under the tree forever, but ultimately, three sailors stomped toward them. One of them blustered over and knelt down.
“Out with you,” he said, but they didn’t move. “Come out. Do you understand me? Do you speak English?”
They still didn’t move, but gaped at him as if he were a peculiar creature they’d never observed previously. For an eternity, it had just been Caro, Libby, and Joanna, and the encounter seemed to be occurring in a dream, as if they’d never seen another human.
He grabbed Joanna’s ankle and pulled her out. She wailed with dismay, and her fear galvanized Caro. She always yearned to be more like Libby who wasn’t afraid of anything, and Libby and Joanna were Caro’s only friends, her only family. They were like sisters, only closer than sisters. She wouldn’t permit anybody to harm Joanna.
She burst from the hole like a wild animal, and she attacked the man, wrestling and clawing to yank Joanna away from him, but the other men seized her and pinned her arms to her sides until she lost the energy to keep fighting.
“We won’t hurt you,” a sailor repeated over and over. “You don’t have to be scared of us. We’ll help you.”
“Is your mother here?” another asked. “Or your father?”
“No.” Caro’s voice sounded rusty and rough.
“Are there any grownups with you?”
“No.”
“Where are they? What happened to them?”
“They died. What would you suppose?”
“Were you in a shipwreck?”
“Yes. In a really, really big storm.”
The men exchanged glances Caro couldn’t decipher. What were they thinking?
“We should take them to the captain,” one of them said. “He’ll be stunned. They’re like a couple of orphaned wolf pups.”
“We’re not wolves,” Caro protested. “We’re girls. Can’t you tell the difference?”
“Yes, you’re girls, very pretty little girls.”
Caro figured he was simply being polite. At the moment, they weren’t pretty, but were incredibly bedraggled.
Their hair was knotted and bleached white from the sun. They were scrubby and barefoot, their dresses faded and bleached white too. Their skin was bronzed though, the slow, lazy days on the tropical beach burnishing them so they were the color of copper coins.
The men marched off, with Joanna and Caro encircled so they couldn’t dash away. They walked out of the jungle and onto the sand where their meager hut sagged under a palm tree. Joanna’s mother had built it before she’d passed away. It was merely some logs they’d scrounged and stacked together, and they’d covered them with palm fronds. It wasn’t much, but it provided shelter from the occasional rain squalls.
For a brief instant, she hoped Libby had escaped, but no. She’d been found too. The man with the medals and ribbons on his coat was standing beside her. While Caro watched, he picked up Libby and balanced her on his hip—as if she were a baby.
Caro’s first reaction was jealousy. She wished the man would pick her up too; she’d
