by Marie Hall
“Aye, and you think I’m believing you not been laying about with Jinkins a like what you been layin around with me,” Asher replied and enforced the idea they were two people in a lover’s spat and nothing to be concerned about.
“I ain’t no harlot, this wot babe it’s yours no lying and you better marry me like you said,” Mia said and slapped Asher’s arm.
“Both of you be on your way.” The man waved his torch in the direction he’d have them go and Asher took Mia’s hand and started them that way. “Wait,” the man called and stepped up closer when Asher stopped the retreat. It was clear he was looking over the difference in their dress. Social status clearly different. “Now why don’t you explain why you would be refusing to wed a… lady of such high allotments?” the man asked his suspicion growing.
“A lady?” Asher scoffed. “What you thinkin’ she some nob up from High Street maybe she spend her days about in Beacon Park on a thoroughbred? She ain’t but a two pence wh—”
“Aye now, you shut your trap and name calling,” Mia put some true insult in her voice.
“That isn’t the dress of no cheap whore,” the man said and Mia tried not to shield herself from the light.
“Ah, now I ain’t no thief if that’s what you’re sayin’. I’s just have me a good, kind mistress and wot, let me borrow her nice dress so that I be presentable and all when I see the church man.” Mia watched him look her up and down once more. “I’s ain’t no thief now,” she repeated, hoping the women who worked on their backs in England were the same as those she was familiar with in the Caribbean and the concern of being caught stealing was first priority.
The man looked them both over once more and jerked his head in the direction he was sending them. Again, relief washed over them and they managed about six steps in the escape this time before another voice called out. This one Mia knew wasn’t going to be fooled by any act. “Mrs. Winthrop,” Jones called, and Mia felt the cold run through her. “What a pleasure to meet you again.” He stepped up, reached out and jerked her away from Asher who was then grabbed by two others. “Don’t we have some catching up to do?”
Mia leaned back and spat in his face. Back to bravado. This time she’d let rage and hate carry her through whatever battle came next. Though with the man’s next words Mia almost surrendered.
“Put her in the carriage and,” he turned and looked at Mr. Asher whom he couldn’t have recognized, “kill him.”
“No,” Mia yelled, hoping to wake up someone in one of these houses who might give a damn. “No, help,” she screamed and fought against being handed over to the men who’d carry her off to places unknown. “Help,” she managed once more before a hand covered her mouth. Behind her she could hear the struggle as Asher fought for his life then a shot rang out and everyone rushed to shove off before the sound brought down the authorities.
Mia was forced into a carriage where Commodore Michelinne already sat waiting. Jones climbed in behind her and forced her to sit back and introduced her to the man. “Commodore, I should like to introduce you to Mrs. Robert Winthrop. Wife of the hero Winthrop who was implemental in the taking of my ship and crew in the Caribbean last summer.”
She waited about ten seconds after the coach started moving to jab her elbow into the man’s face, he howled, and she then sent her elbow into his ribs before trying to climb past both men to jump from the carriage. Michelinne stopped her easily and forced her back into her seat.
“My, my. Commodore Dekker gave his only child in marriage. How splendid, and to a navy hero no less. Tell me, does your husband know of your father’s dealing in the waters? No? Well it hardly matters because now I have a way to force both the Royal Navy and that bastard Dekker, oh beg pardon, Mia,” he said then laughed wickedly. “Both will now fold and get off my stern or they’ll both lose the one thing they have in common… you.”
Mia took a breath, ready to tell the man where to go when Jones delivered a vicious blow to her face. She saw lights behind her lids and was unable to even move her lips without searing pain. “You bitch, you broke my nose,” Jones said with a wheeze as blood gushed from his face. Mia ducked and tried to shield herself from the second blow.
It was an unnecessary action as Michelinne grabbed his arm before Jones could deliver it. “Now, now, Captain. The woman is rather valuable. So valuable, I’ll wager Commodore Dekker will sign over all his assets to see her unharmed and returned. We’re about to become extremely wealthy men.”
Mia refused to shed the tears burning in her eyes out of pain and fear. And when the coach rolled out to the end of a private dock and Mia was forced aboard a French Brig flying undeclared colors, she knew there was nothing left to do but wait and hope the chance came for her to jump ship or sink it.
Chapter 24
“God damn this,” Devin yelled and slammed his fist onto the table where the maps were spread out. “Are you even certain he took her west through the channel? He could have headed due south and landed in France already.”
“He’s already a wanted man in France, Captain Winthrop,” Captain Ellis of the Briton said.
“I told you he cleared out ahead of my arrival. I had six ships coming in off the North Sea, no chance a French Brig could get by all of them unnoticed,” Gregor Dekker said. “He went west. He’s heading to Egypt or Istanbul. Either way he’s going for the Med.”
Devin shoved away from the table and paced the small ready room of this three-masted, triple-decked, one-hundred-twenty-four-gun, man-o-war frigate. What he wouldn’t give to have his light weight, fast little brig to use to chase down Mia’s captors. But with potential battle brewing in perhaps sovereign waters, the big ship slow as it was at nine knots was the more logical choice. And if Dekker was correct, the ship that carried Mia was as large and as slow. And given the winds hadn’t let up or once changed their due west heading, when the ship they chased turned south to find the Mediterranean, they’d have to fight the winds giving the Briton and Devin the chance they needed to catch up.
“Captain,” Mr. Asher called with a knock and a look of pain as he moved.
“You’ll have to be more specific, man,” Captain Ellis said even as he waved Asher in.
“Pardon, Captain Winthrop,” Asher clarified then yelled out in pain as the choppy waters of the English Channel tossed him into the wall. A few deep breaths and he straightened and faced the captains. “Mr. Smithe and Mr. Quiggly thought you should know we are coming up to the mouth of the channel. Only a few ships in the waters, and none of them a galleon.” Again, the man’s expression turned to one of utter pain as the ship rolled.
“Would you sit your ass down, Mr. Asher,” Devin yelled. “God save me, you are as bad at commands as Mia. Mutinous the whole lot of you,” he grumbled as he helped the man find a seat on the bench under the aft widows.
“I’m sorry Captain,” Asher said and grabbed Devin’s arm that he might give him that look again.
“We’ll find her, Asher. We will,” Devin said though he was only hoping for the outcome they all wanted. If not for this man, Devin wouldn’t even know Mia was taken or by whom. And it well might have been she’d gotten herself killed rather than taken, again if not for Asher.
Mia—all of them—the commodore, Mr. Hong, Grim and Devin all had this man to thank for that much. He’d dragged himself to a doorway where someone was at least willing to send for the authorities then for a doctor to dig the bullet out of his shoulder. And every time he roused to consciousness all he could say was Mia was taken by Jones. It took hours and Devin’s own collision course in his search for her to bring everyone together to figure out what happened.
Commodore Dekker came into port that very morning Mia was being reported missing. His evidence of the activities of a man by the name of Michelinne handed over to the admirals just as Devin came in saying he wanted a ship because his wife was taken. The frantic hours wasted readying a ship and gathering a crew, more like thinning one out because every man from the Iron Rose, all o
f the crew of the ships of the Wind and Pearl as well as many who knew Mia from the school, were fighting to join in the chase.
“How far west might Michelinne go before he turns south, Commodore?” Ellis went on. “Is it possible we can cut across and intercept them?”
“He’s a seaman himself. He’ll cut in as far as he can, but not so much he’ll be noticed by others on the water. He knows he’s been made, that’s why he ran,” Dekker said and traced his finger along the map. “It might be possible we can come along leeward, but he has a two day run on us and—”
“Two days,” Devin snapped. “Two days because you didn’t bother to mention you were hunting a pirate when you handed Mia to me and sent us back here where she was in reach of his grasping hands.”
“I told you to take the wind from her sails. That you let her do whatever she pleased is not my fault,” Dekker yelled back. “I never expected the man to try and personally claim his holdings in England. He never should have come to port.”
“It is completely your fault. You’re the one who taught her to be a mutinous pirate whenever the feeling struck her. You should have been acting the father not the pirate. If you’d bothered to control her—”
“I controlled her fine. And what happened to ‘the whip speaks loudly’?” You should have kept a better eye on her. She never behaved like a pirate when she was with me.”
“Like anyone would ever believe that. Every bit of what she is she learned from watching you. What made you even think it was a good idea to let her see what you were doing? What were you doing anyways? Not parenting Mia. No, you and your need for revenge turned you into exactly what she is now, a damn pirate.”
“I told you the navy knew what I was doing. They allowed me to hunt those bastards as I pleased so you didn’t have to. I was never anything pirate-like in front of my daughter. If you didn’t wet yourself so much in front of the admirals you had a flooded bilge—”
“I did no such thing. And you were the only one who might have taught her early on that she couldn’t sail an entire ship alone. That she needed a crew. No, you made her think she could be captain, crew and guns all on her own,” Devin yelled, never cursing Mia’s complete independence as much as he was now.
“You were supposed to be man enough to handle a real woman,” Dekker yelled back and then cast a nasty look at Asher who played at least some role in Devin being the man selected to take Mia as his wife.
“Gentlemen,” Captain Ellis bellowed and stepped between them. “As we have had this argument out ad nauseum,” he looked between the two men, “perhaps it’s time you both concede the young lady is not simply a ship for some man to hold the helm, but the very sea herself, and will sink anyone who tried to ride against the current.” Captain Ellis looked between them and Devin knew he was correct. “And from everything I’ve heard, she isn’t going to become weak and useless in the face of such troubles.”
“She won’t,” both Devin and Dekker said at once.
“That’s right,” Devin said as it occurred to him that Mia wasn’t going to simply sit and be kidnapped. “God save us, would she jump ship?”
“Not unless she knew she could stay afloat and make shore or there was another vessel in sight. But,” Dekker said pushing the maps away and lifting the artist rendering of the Black Tide, the ship Mia was taken on, “but she might try and cripple it, even scuttle it.”
“Samuel,” Captain Ellis called to his aid. “Go topside, tell the crew to search the waters for wreckage. Anything large or small.”
“Aye, Captain.” Devin watched the man scurry off. Ellis’s crew was more formal than his own ever was but that was how it went with ships and captains. Each their own enclosed tight-knit family. He turned to look at Asher.
It was well known now that the man was part of Dekker’s crew as much as he was part of Devin’s. Dekker having approached him five years ago when he was placed on the Iron Rose and asked him to report about the captain, how he ran his ship, the kind of man he was. By that time Devin was one of the few left in the running to be Mia’s husband.
That it turned out Devin won the prize was coincidence. That Asher continued to send reports about how well the couple was getting on irritated but didn’t really surprise Devin. He should have suspected something was a foul when Mr. Smithe found him in the middle of the ocean after the incident with the slave ship and again when Dekker knew to come looking for Mia when she fell ill.
Only someone on board would be able to keep everyone apprised and as the man wasn’t giving out secrets about navy activity only telling a father that his daughter was mutinying against her husband Devin wasn’t going to press the man nor charge him. None of it mattered now and the man had risked his life for Mia. Devin wouldn’t be able to repay that. And he rather thought because Asher stayed in touch with the commodore to know how to help find the man responsible for all the pirate activity the man might be able to claim hero status and Devin’s acts could fade into history.
“Why don’t you two go on deck,” Ellis suggested, and Devin lifted his coat and made his escape with very little in the way of courtesies.
He made his way to the bow and lifted his face to the spray. Damn. What he’d give to be able to feel the currents the way Mia could, a knot or two faster and they could catch her.
“I didn’t teach Mia to behave in any criminal manner, but I wasn’t the only one to influence her,” Dekker said, stepping up to search the waters before them.
“She’s not a criminal, just a bit of a pirate… sometimes,” Devin said, and heard the man snort. “You’re not a criminal either. I know why you’ve done what you have. I suppose if someone hurt Mia, I wouldn’t leave the earth until they suffered. Love makes men crazy.”
“That it does,” the commodore agreed.
“Tell me, would you have committed piracy to avenge Molly? Protect Mia?”
“I don’t know what I might have done to see Molly avenged.”
“If I’d have refused to wed her, would you have killed the governor? The others?”
“If you had been willing to risk it, you wouldn’t have been the man I chose as a husband to my daughter or a father to my grandchild.”
Devin nodded. “I have to admit, their lives hardly mattered, nor did my career, after I set eyes on her.” Again, the older man chuckled. “When you said she was special you spoke the truth.”
“Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?” Dekker asked.
He’d been floored by the news Mia was pregnant and under different circumstances likely would have gone and bought a new ship to celebrate and christen after the child.
“I haven’t thought about it,” Devin admitted. “She doesn’t even show. I suppose a son would be commonplace to hope for. But a daughter…”
“She was born with those green eyes,” Dekker said. “Most babies have blue eyes when they are born, not Mia. Green like they are now from the first day.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Mia, it means—”
“Rebellious, I know. I looked it up,” Devin admitted.
“She was that too from the day she was born.”
“She a fighter,” Devin said as much to state the fact as to reassure himself she wasn’t lost to him.
“She’s strong,” Dekker too sounded as if he was reminding himself of Mia attributes.
Devin felt a heavy drop of water hit his face. Glancing skyward, he noticed the darkening. The water too began to roll with more force. Turning, he faced Dekker as the skies opened up and a downpour began. “Does she control the weather too?” he yelled and when the man threw his head back and laughed, Devin felt the first real surge of hope fill him. Mia might not control the weather, but she’d had some damn good fortune with it.
By morning even with the waves surging up over the decks they came up on the Black Tide. She was riding quite low. The Briton came along broadside keeping its distance in the strong waters, but close enough they didn’t need a glass to see Mia being dragged on deck and held at g
unpoint. The crew looked to be in the middle of abandoning ship. Devin almost laughed wondering if Mia caused that.
With the waves and the winds, there’d be no verbal communications possible and neither ship would dare put a boat out to pass messages in the surge as it would get tossed and possibly smashed between the ships. All that was left was the flags.
“He’ll know the basic English codes,” Dekker said. “We all do.” That earned him a scowl from every navy man.
“Raise flags, order his surrender,” Captain Ellis put out and men scrambled to send the message up the mast. They waited, rocked harder now by the sea which seemed determined to bring the ships closer together. From the other ship the reply was for them to surrender, unconditionally.
“Do we fire on them, Captain?” One of the Briton’s crew asked.
“No,” Devin, Dekker and everyone that came with them, for them, shouted.
“No,” Captain Ellis confirmed and glared at those who were only guests on the ship. “She’s disabled but it’s hard to tell how much.” He was about to say something else when something flew over and hit the deck. One of the crew picked it up and ran it to the captain. A glass bottle in a cork sleeve and in the bottle a message.
Captain Ellis pulled it free of the protective casing and broke the bottle on the rail and pulled the message. He laughed but there was no humor at all in his voice. “He wants us to abandon ship and surrender it to him. Then he’ll let the girl go.” He looked at both men who found Mia to be the most precious thing in their lives. “I’m not surrendering a royal ship to anyone; I don’t care who she is.”
Devin stepped to the rail and braced as the wave washed up. The ships were pulling closer and Devin watched Mia struggle towards the rails as well. He watched as she turned and argued with the man holding the gun, saw her working to reason or such then saw him lower the gun and step forward with her to the rail.
“Devin,” she yelled out over the distance.
“Mia,” he yelled back, acknowledging he could hear her.
