by Amy Morrel
The Ruthless Redhead's Revenge
An Erotic Tale on the High Seas
Text copyright © 2013, Amy Morrel
All Rights Reserved
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 – Roberta
Chapter 2 – Preparing for Departure
Chapter 3 – Ship Ho!
Chapter 4 – Captive
Chapter 5 – You Can't Rape the Willing
Chapter 6 – Sealing the Deal
Chapter 7 – Planning Ahead
Chapter 8 – Willingly Given
Chapter 9 – Disguise
Chapter 10 – Scouting the Target
Chapter 11 – The Raid
Chapter 12 – A Bed of Gold
Chapter 13 – Reunited With Geoff
Chapter 14 – Future Plans
* * *
Chapter 1 – Roberta
Roberta was a classic redhead; she had the pale skin and freckles common to them. She also had the fiery temper of a redhead in abundant measure. After her mother had died when Roberta was five years old, the only female influence she had received was from a series of governesses that her father had attempted to employ. As each one failed to remake Roberta in the ladylike mold that her father desired for her, they were fired. When she turned sixteen he had finally given up on governesses and hired a lady to be her companion and tutor. He was happy to do so when he found out that the salary for the new position was noticeably less than that for a governess.
Roberta enjoyed the company of her companion Madeline. She didn't mind her constant presence as she had virtually no social life by dictate of her father. The sole people she saw on a regular basis were her father, her three brothers, and Madeline. About once a month she was allowed to go into town, in the company of Madeline of course, to do any shopping that might be necessary for her needs. Aside from that she was kept in the house or on the grounds of the house at all times.
Roberta chafed at her confinement, but when she had broached the subject with her father, he had simply asked her if she was ready for marriage so soon since he had been waiting until she turned eighteen. When he mentioned that he was sure he could make her a good match at her current age, she dropped the subject quickly. Her father's idea of a good match was any male that would be able to provide money in exchange for her hand in marriage. The family was having financial difficulties. Her father claimed it was from bad investments, but she knew better.
Roberta had seen her father and her two oldest brothers, Marcus and Alex, deep in their cups. She had seen the quantities of expensive liquor they drank. She had seen the whores that they tried to smuggle into the house with no-one else seeing them. She had seen the lavish gifts they rained on the more respectable women that they wished to bed. She supposed that bad investments was as good a term as any to describe the debauchery that the three of them indulged.
Her youngest brother, who was still older than her, was Geoffrey. Geoff was her favorite relative. He was her only full brother; the other two were half-brothers from father's first wife. Geoff was as nice and respectable as her father and eldest brothers were callow and self-indulgent. He was the only family member she spent any time with of her own choice. Aside from Madeline, he was the only other person that she regularly saw whose company she actually enjoyed.
Geoff had been trained in all the respectable skills that a man of his station would need. When Roberta had expressed an interest in several of them he was happy to teach her what he knew. What her father would say to her, or do to Geoff, if he knew that Roberta had been trained in both sword and knife fighting, was something she didn't like to consider. In the three years that he had trained her they had never been caught at it by anyone but Madeline, though, and her only reaction was to comment that getting at least some physical exercise every day was a very good idea.
Roberta was conscious of her eighteenth birthday rapidly approaching and she feared its arrival. She knew her father had been negotiating with several other men, offering her for their bride. He was essentially auctioning her off and he knew it, as did the men who were his negotiating partners. She knew it as well, and knew that any man who participated in such an auction would be sure to treat her as a possession and not a person.
* * *
Chapter 2 – Preparing for Departure
The day of Roberta's eighteenth birthday dawned and when she and Madeline arrived at the breakfast table her father informed Madeline that her services would no longer be required. He gave her a pouch containing her earnings and, as he said, “a small bonus for keeping our Roberta out of trouble”. He then informed Madeline that she had forty-eight hours to vacate the premises as a lady escort from Roberta's fiance would be arriving two days hence and Madeline's room would be needed.
“Who am I to marry then father?” asked Roberta.
“Master Gutren has made a sizable bridal offer for you.”
“Who is Master Gutren? I've never heard of him.”
“That is because he doesn't live here on our island. You'll be traveling by ship to his estate.”
“What is he like?”
“How would I know? I know he's not that good at negotiations though.” her father laughed cruelly.
“How old is he?”
“I believe he is in his early fifties, not that it matters. He has offered five thousand gold escudos for your hand in marriage. Also, he will bear the cost of transporting you to his estate and will provide the escort for your journey.”
Roberta was dejected. She knew that he was going to auction her off to the highest bidder but hadn't thought it through to realize that those with the most money for such a thing would also be the oldest. She thought of running away, for perhaps the thousandth time, but what could she possibly do? If she didn't make it off this island there were enough people who knew her father that she would be returned within the week. She would keep her eyes open. Perhaps an opportunity would present itself on the journey.
Madeline was packing her things when Roberta went upstairs to her room. Roberta, herself, would have to do the same shortly, and she was sure that she wouldn't be allowed to take everything she wanted to. She thought about it as she assisted Madeline in her packing.
Obviously, she would need to take clothing. She wanted all of her mother's things that had been left to her. She would love to take some books, but all of them technically belonged to her father's library, so those would have to stay. Perhaps her husband-to-be would have a library as well. As she continued to muse about what to take and what to leave she found herself thinking:
To the Devil with it! My escort will probably have been told what I am allowed to take and what I mayn't have. I'll wait. It's better to wait than to be told that I may not take something I had planned on taking with me. I should let my father have his say as well. The only things I'll fight for are the things left to me by mother.
Madeline was sensitive to her changes of mood. She glanced at Roberta and said:
“Go Roberta, go out on the grounds and work off your anger. I can do this myself and you and I will have all tonight and all day tomorrow for our good-byes.”
“How do you always know when I'm in a mood? You never fail to notice.”
“Well since I'll be leaving, I'll tell you now. Come here.”
Madeline rummaged through her belongings as Roberta approached. She turned with a small mirror in her hand.
“Look at your face Roberta, anytime you get excited this happens. I just need to determine what mood it is that you're in.”
Roberta glanced in the mirror
to see her pale skin flushed a bright red.
“You never told me that I looked like this when I was angry?”
“Angry, happy, or whenever you are stirred by strong emotion. It is a drawback to your otherwise beautiful complexion.”
“Beautiful, hah! Pale white with brown spots is not what I would call a beautiful complexion.”
“You'll find that others disagree, men especially.”
“As though that will matter to me. With a fifty-year-old husband I doubt that I'll be out on the social scene much. Things will be as they are here. I wish there were something I could do about this, but I don't know what I could do.”
“Go outside Roberta. Work off your anger walking the grounds or something. You know that you do not think well when angry. Work off your anger, calm down, and then think about it again.”
Roberta took her advice. Madeline was frequently right when it came to what Roberta needed to do to clear her head. So she would take this opportunity to do so and then perhaps she and Madeline could come up with an idea this evening.
After a long, brisk walk through the grounds on which she stopped at all of her favorite spots, rationalizing that she might never see them again, Roberta returned in a much calmer mood. Madeline was still packing but nearly done. Once she was finished, Roberta sat her down and asked her if she had any ideas what she could possibly do.
“Well, if he's that old, you might be able to sneak out and do other things.” was her first comment.
“I don't want to be underhanded, but if that's my only option, then I'll go with it.”
They discussed the situation for an hour or more. Neither one of them could come up with a truly good idea to avoid the marriage that wouldn't potentially cause worse problems for Roberta. Madeline closed on a sobering thought:
“You might end up getting captured by pirates on the way there. I hear they've been more active lately. That would solve your problem but, I fear, not necessarily in a way that you would enjoy.”
They spent the rest of the day with each other, knowing that they only had one day left before Madeline had to depart.
Roberta's father mentioned at dinner that Geoff would be taking the coach in the morning to pick up Roberta's escort so after dinner Roberta cornered Geoff.
“Geoff, would you be willing to take Madeline to town in the coach tomorrow morning? I don't know what she has planned to get her and her belongings to town but father said she had to be out before the escort got here.”
Roberta had been paying a bit more attention to people since Madeline showed her how she flushed when excited. She would swear that Geoff reddened slightly when she asked him.
“Of course, I'd be happy to do that.”
“Thank you. I don't think it's right that you have to go and pick up the escort. It seems that for the past six months you're the only one doing any work on the family business. Everyone else just keeps wasting money and lamenting about how the family's finances are in such horrible shape. I wanted to let you know before I have to leave that I noticed, even if no-one else here has.”
“That's quite all right; I don't mind doing it. Especially because I have a little secret. I've been discussing with all our normal trade partners the fact that I don't trust the rest of our family. They revealed to me that we are getting less business from them because they don't trust our family either. As soon as you're gone I'm going to stop working on the family business and stop living here. I'm going to get my own place, albeit smaller, in a port town and start my own business. Many of our long term business partners have said that they will gladly deal with me instead of father. Perhaps I'll find a woman to settle down with also. I wouldn't want to bring any woman here though, I wouldn't trust their safety. That's part of the reason I taught you weaponry, to defend yourself and Madeline should the need arise.”
“Oh Geoff, I'm so happy for you. It seems that at least one of us has managed to find a way out of the trap father has set for us. At least you can plan the rest of your life yourself now. Did you have a woman in mind? I know that you spend lots of time in town by yourself. Is there, perhaps, a woman there you've got your eyes on?”
“Not there, exactly, although there is one.”
Roberta put together the earlier blush plus his evasive statement and came to a conclusion.
“Does Madeline know?”
“Well, yes and no. I expressed interest last year and she told me that so long as she was working here she would not allow herself to explore a relationship with me. Well, as of tomorrow morning she won't be working here any more. Your request to provide her with transportation to town gives me a perfect opening to see if she was simply being polite or if there may actually be something there.”
“Well you'll have that chance tomorrow. Hopefully she is interested. The two of you would do well together and you could both be out of this dreadful old place. Although be careful of father and our brothers if you do open up a competing business. Who knows what they might try to do to you.”
“I've thought that through. I'll be moving as far away as I can on the island and still be in a port city. It would take them several days to get there on land and you know how father hates traveling on ships.”
“Still, be careful. I don't trust them. Madeline and I have been barring the door at night for the past year and more than once I think someone tested the door trying to get in.”
“You should have told me sooner!”
“So you could do what? Stay awake all night guarding us? You've been doing what needs to be done here on your own already, I didn't want to add to that.”
“Well, back to your original question. Yes, I'll be happy to take her if she wants a ride with me.”
“Thank you. Hopefully we will get a chance to talk more before I leave, but I've no idea how long it will be until I do.”
“Father didn't tell you? The escort will have three days here before you will be leaving.”
“No, he didn't tell me. Thank you again. Good night Geoff.”
Roberta went and told Madeline that she had a ride to town the next morning with Geoff if she wanted it. She noticed Madeline flush when she mentioned Geoff's name and thought that perhaps the two might get together after all.
They're both very good people and they'd be good for one another, she thought, I hope they do get together. For now though, I have to worry about myself.
Roberta was up early the next morning to see Madeline off. As she watched Geoff drive the coach away she knew the next time she saw him he would have Master Gutren's escort for her in the coach. That took away the brief pleasure she had felt seeing Madeline and Geoff together. Their smiles had been sweet and hopeful and had given her a pleasant feeling to see. That feeling was gone now though. Anticipation, and fear, of what was happening replaced the pleasant feeling with an unease that took over the pit of her stomach.
She returned to the house and wandered through it. She had never loved the house, not since her mother had died in it. Now that she knew she would be leaving it, and probably never returning, she found herself fonder of it than she could recall being. She was about to be uprooted. All of the familiar people, places, and things in her life would be gone. She was both eager and frightened at the concept. She didn't know how well she would adapt to new people and places since she had never traveled farther away from the house than the nearest town.
The rest of the morning passed her by in a dizzying rush of melancholy. When she heard the coach coming back she fought the urge to run and hide. She needed to meet the escort and determine what her course of action would be. She was no coward, to hide from a battle of wills, but if one were necessary she thought it best to wait until they left the house before it occurred.
When she first saw the escort, she was unimpressed. The lady appeared to be in her thirties and had the look of a spinster or perhaps a widow that could not find someone to remarry. She was small and thin as a bird. Her first impression was quickly revised though. When she was i
ntroduced to Annabelle she found her to have a quick wit and an acid tongue.
“So this is what all the fuss is about. Master Gutren could've gotten hundreds like you for the same amount in any of the larger cities.”
“It's a pleasure to meet you also, Annabelle. I'm sorry that your manners seem to have deserted you.”
“Young lady, I do not care what your opinion is of me. I have one job and that is to ensure that you arrive at Master Gutren's estate. It is not a pleasant task for me so I do not intend to make it a pleasant journey for you. I speak my mind as I will and better women than you have not put a stop to me.”
“I speak my mind as well, I just don't indulge in idle rudeness for the sake of being rude, unlike some.”
Geoff stepped between the two.
“Annabelle, allow me to show you to your room. I shall carry your case there for you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Annabelle stalked off and Roberta could tell that the journey would be every bit as hellish as she had feared.
The next three days passed in a hellish haze for Roberta. She meekly accepted the conditions that Annabelle passed on to her. She did get to keep her mother's belongings though so she didn't care what else she could, or couldn't, bring. On the morning of the third day, immediately after an early breakfast, Geoff once again had the coach set for the drive to town. She entered the passenger area with Annabelle, her luggage already strapped to the roof by Geoff. Her father and elder brothers hadn't even woken up to say good-bye, not that she missed them at all. Geoff started the coach's horses moving and Roberta's journey began.
* * *
Chapter 3 – Ship Ho!
The journey to the port passed far too quickly for Roberta's taste. Well before noon they had arrived and Geoff had unloaded her luggage. He went out to the ship that they would be traveling on and spoke with the captain. When he returned he told them:
“The two of you will be sharing a small cabin for the voyage. I'll get your bags into it now and then I'll show you where it is.”
