But she didn’t, and she wouldn’t. She looked up at the cliffside before quickening her pace, never once looking back.
She did not look back and he did not call out after her.
She truly ought to have been glad for that—that the only sound that followed her was the ocean breeze.
She might have told herself that she was happy he’d let her go. Happy that she’d walked away. She might have even convinced herself if she’d been any good at lying.
Just like she might have fooled herself into thinking that the salty tears trickling down her cheeks was just some mist from the sea.
Chapter 9
Minerva’s father was so preoccupied with the visiting gentry the following day that he did not notice that Minerva had disappeared to the cave to once more meet Marcus and fill him in on the officers and the townsfolk. This meeting was short and chaperoned by Caleb, who was not the most proper of chaperones, to be certain, but his presence served its purpose.
Their conversation remained strictly business. There were no stolen kisses and no talk of running off together, sailing into the sunset on some whim.
Which was good, Minerva reminded herself as she trekked back to her home. It was for the best.
Her heart did not necessarily believe the admonition, but her heart had no say in the matter.
Minerva’s father was not yet home when she returned, so it only meant one interrogation to endure.
“But what did he want?” Abigail asked from where she’d positioned herself on the bed.
For me to run away with him.
Minerva tugged on her gloves. No, she would not tell even Abigail about that, even if her other three sisters weren’t listening in on every word.
“You have to tell us,” Hattie said, her blue eyes big and filled with excitement. Hattie and Abigail had inherited their father’s coloring with their ivory skin, fair hair, and wide blue eyes. The youngest of the five, Hattie had turned sixteen this past summer and was already turning out to be a beauty.
One of these days, she’d be more in demand at the dances than even Rebecca. Or, at least, she would if she ever overcame her shyness.
Minerva went over to her and started to pin up her blonde curls while Rebecca did the same to her own hair in the mirror beside Hattie.
Rebecca, Hattie, and Sally had used their free hours that afternoon to finish decorating and making arrangements for the ball; while they knew Minerva had gone off to meet with their father’s old friend—twice now—they now also knew he was no old friend at all.
“I cannot believe you did not tell us earlier about your fright the other night,” Sally said. She was perched on the bed beside Abigail. Not one to be overly concerned with appearances, she had donned her nicest gown and pulled her hair back into a neat chignon and left it at that.
Sally was far more interested in talk of pirates, as Minerva had suspected she would be, which was why she hadn’t mentioned it to her earlier. She’d brought Abigail with her to the tavern for this reason as well. Abigail trusted her implicitly and never pestered her for answers.
As the two closest in age and having shared the same room since they were babes, Abigail knew full well that Minerva would tell her everything when she was good and ready.
Sally did not share her patience.
“Who was he after?” Sally asked, leaning forward on her elbows. “And what did he want with you?”
Minerva sighed. “You can rest easy, Sally. My honor has not been slighted, and you do not have to rush off and fight my battles for me anymore.” She reached over to tweak her younger sister’s nose.
Even though she was two years younger, Sally had grown taller quicker than the rest. And even before she’d outlapped Minerva in height, she had been stronger and more athletic by far. Sally seemed to have taken this as reason enough to take on anyone who dared to slight her sisters or tease them too mercilessly.
Minerva’s lips hitched to the side as a wave of something bittersweet settled upon her. She wondered what Sally would have made of Marcus’s teasing.
Not even Sally could have been too angry, she decided as she picked up a strand of Hattie’s fine blonde hair and tucked it into a pin. There was something so very warm and kind about Marcus, which was all the more fascinating considering his mysterious profession, if one could even call it that.
“There she goes again,” Rebecca said softly.
Minerva snapped to attention, her gaze meeting Rebecca’s laughing eyes in the reflection. “There who goes?”
“You,” Rebecca said, sticking a hair pin between her lips as she went back to toying with her locks.
Hattie ducked her head as she laughed softly.
It was Abigail who clued her in. “Min, you’ve been awfully...distracted since you’ve met Marcus.”
“Someone has fallen in love,” Hattie sang softly.
“Oh, please.” Minerva took a deep breath and ignored their laughter. “I hardly know the man.”
“That is what all heroines claim when they meet their soul mates,” Hattie informed her.
“Is it?” Minerva gently guided her littlest sister’s head, so she was facing front again. “Then I suppose that is why all the heroines of those ridiculous romantic novels you read are such featherbrained ninnies.”
“Hear hear!” Sally crowed with a laugh.
Hattie shrugged. She was used to their mockery when it came to her novels and rarely let it bother her.
Abigail smiled at her sisters fondly. “So, you are not even intrigued then, Min?”
“Intrigued?” Minerva pursed her lips and gave Hattie’s hair a little more attention than it necessarily required. “Of course I’m intrigued. In the short time I’ve known him, the man has been a scoundrel, a thief, a privateer, and then some sort of rogue hero bent on taking down a villain. It would be odd if I didn’t find him somewhat intriguing.”
Her sisters were too quiet, and she suspected they were sharing looks galore but she would not glance up to confirm it. “Besides,” she said finally. “I have Roger.”
The lack of agreeable responses made the silence feel even heavier. Or perhaps it was the fact that Minerva wasn’t quite certain if she’d said that to remind her sisters about her very agreeable suitor, or if she was only reminding herself.
She tucked one last curl into a pin and regarded the final product with approval.
Truth be told, she hadn’t given much thought to Roger since he’d escorted her home the other night. Not while she was plotting out the lies she would tell him to aide Marcus’s plan, and certainly not while kissing another man.
She froze before the mirror as she waited for guilt to choke her.
Guilt never came. She scowled down at the top of Hattie’s head. Was it odd that she felt guilt for not feeling guilty?
Probably.
But, then again, she hadn’t done anything so unforgivably wrong. First, Roger wasn’t officially courting her. He had not yet spoken to her father and they had yet to even speak of marriage or courtship. It had merely been understood that they would find their way to one another eventually.
Perhaps she’d thought there’d be a moment—a draw or a tug that would make their courtship begin in earnest. Something like the gravitational pull that had led her into Marcus’s arms the day before.
“Speaking of Roger,” Sally said. “What are you going to tell him about all this?”
She opened her mouth to respond but Rebecca beat her to it. “Never mind Roger. What will you tell Father?” Her eyes were wide with apprehension.
Oh, Rebecca. Sweet, kind, dutiful Rebecca.
She and Sally shared a quick look of understanding. While Rebecca lived to sing and dance and charm and flirt, she had never once crossed their father. She’d never been tempted as far as Minerva was aware. She seemed to have no desire at all to rebel or, heaven forbid, seek adventure.
Her father was under the assumption that Caleb had volunteered to stand guard during the ball. And that
was the truth. It was merely the rumor that the cave would be unguarded that was the lie. Surely that was not such a great omission.
“I don’t believe I’ll tell Father anything just yet,” Minerva said. “And I would appreciate it if you didn’t either.”
Rebecca clapped her mouth shut and nodded.
Minerva gave her a smile. Rebecca might have been dutiful, but just like all of the Jones girls, sisters came first. Always.
Her smile faded as a wave of sadness hit her unexpectedly in the chest. She’d put her sisters first, and she could not regret that.
“Back to Roger, then,” Sally said, not one to be derailed from a topic. “What will you tell him?”
Minerva shrugged. “The same lie I’ll be telling the others, I suppose.”
“That you’ve convinced Father to leave the treasure unguarded so that the officers will not miss out on the entertainment?” Hattie arched her brows in disbelief. “No one would think you so much of a nitwit. Not even my heroines would be so foolhardy as to put dancing and toasts above the safety of this town.”
Minerva pursed her lips as she considered. That was precisely what she’d thought, too. And for Roger who knew her so well to believe it? Well, she would certainly have to be convincing with her lie.
You'd be amazed what lies men will accept from a beautiful face.
Minerva turned away from the mirror to hide her grin, but apparently she wasn’t quick enough. She heard Rebecca’s teasing laughter behind her. “There she goes again.”
Chapter 10
Roger believed her.
Minerva tried not to scowl as he patted her arm affectionately as they led a small crowd into the ballroom.
“Only a young lady would be more concerned about dancing than the criminal activity underfoot.” He said it with an indulgent laugh that made her jaw clench. Her lips twitched with the urge to protest.
She did protest, in the end, and she managed it with a smile that nearly killed her. “It will only be for a short time. Less than an hour, I’d think. But surely all your men deserve to hear what our visiting nobility have to say.” She forced a laugh. “After all, it is not every day that we receive a visit from the great Earl of Elwood.”
Roger smiled down at her. The affection in his eyes that normally made her smile in turn now made her stomach churn uncomfortably. “I have no doubt you’re right, Minerva. I am certain the younger officers will be delighted to know that you are looking out for their interests.”
Her smile made her cheeks ache. “Then it is settled,” she said. “I’ll let Father know you agree, and we shall both let the guards know.”
His easy agreement rankled more than it ought.
When Abigail joined her at the refreshment table a little while later, she was still stewing over it.
“You seem awfully disgruntled for someone who’s just gotten her way,” Abigail said mildly as she took a sip of her lemonade.
“Mmph.” A grunt of agreement was all Minerva could manage as she turned to face the large room which served as the fort’s assembly area whenever her father or Roger was called upon to address the dozens of young officers who made up their small contingent.
“Are you not pleased that your Roger was so accommodating?” Abigail asked.
“He is not my anything.” It came out a bit more defensively than she’d intended, and she did not miss the way Abigail’s brows arched in surprise.
“Min, is anything the matter?”
Minerva pointedly ignored her sister’s stare. “You mean aside from the fact that our shores have been overrun with pirates and smugglers?”
Abigail’s voice was laced with amusement. “Yes. Aside from that.”
“I don’t know,” she said honestly. Well, almost honestly. The vision of a certain bearded, handsome scoundrel wouldn’t stop filling her mind’s eye and memories of his lips on hers seemed to be seared into her skin. A part of her could not shake him loose, no matter how much she told herself that it was ridiculous and meaningless.
Soon enough it would be just a memory.
He would be just a memory.
“Why, Minerva.” Abigail’s concern-filled voice cut into her thoughts. “You look as if you might weep.”
Minerva blinked up at her sister. Did she? That was not terribly surprising. The urge to cry was making it hard to breathe, let alone speak.
But she did not cry. Not often, at least. And certainly not over a man who was little more than a stranger.
Lie. Her inner voice mocked her. She might not have known Marcus long, but she had never once thought of him as a stranger.
Abigail’s smooth brow furrowed as she wrapped an arm around her in that motherly way that came so naturally to her younger sister. “Is it guilt that is weighing on you?”
“Guilt?” she choked out. What on earth should she feel guilty for? Well, aside from going behind her father’s back, but that could hardly be helped. And besides, she would be paying the price for that deception soon enough.
Abigail frowned. “For lying to Roger as you did.”
Minerva stared at Abigail for a long moment. “Oh. That.”
Well, now she felt the guilt her sister mentioned. She looked away in shame as she realized how little she’d cared about the lie. Now she felt guilty that she hadn’t felt guilty. Again.
Goodness, perhaps she was their mother’s daughter after all. So self-absorbed that she did not have the basic kindness and conscience that came so naturally to her sisters. Perhaps her portion of goodness had gone to Abigail instead. She obviously had a double share of empathy and concern.
“Dear Min,” she said as she squeezed Minerva’s shoulders. “This will all come out right in the end. Have no fear.”
Minerva nodded. Fear was one thing she did not have. She had every confidence that Marcus and his cohorts would handle this smuggler matter. She had no doubt that the thieves behind this would be brought to justice and the excitement and intrigue would disappear from their lives just as quickly as it had entered.
And perhaps...
She swallowed, pretending to watch the musicians tuning their instruments as they prepared for the dancing to begin.
Perhaps that was what she feared. That this would end. For when the threat was gone, the excitement would be gone as well. And with it, the sense of purpose that she’d come to realize she craved.
She would go back to being the caretaker of her household. Managing her father’s home and her sisters’ schedules. But her sisters no longer needed her the way they once had. Even Hattie had grown into a young lady this past year. She was no longer a child who needed Minerva’s guidance and discipline.
She supposed that meant it was time for her to start her own family. She bit her lip as she watched Roger laughing with some of his friends nearby.
He glanced over and she looked away quickly, oddly feeling as though she’d just been caught. Perhaps she did feel some guilt, after all.
The thought was mildly reassuring.
“Come,” she said to Abigail, who still hovered beside her. “We’d best mingle with the others and be good hostesses, don’t you think?”
“I suppose,” Abigail said with a sigh of resignation that was unlike her.
“Is everything all right?” Minerva asked.
“Oh yes, of course.” Abigail’s smile was brilliant as ever, but Minerva found herself watching her sister closely. Despite her efforts, her smile seemed a little strained.
But Abigail was already in action, smiling and laughing and dancing just as soon as the music got underway. Rebecca, too, seemed to be in her element. Her wide, inviting smile was on full display as she laughed and danced and charmed every officer in the room.
She would be able to have her pick of officer’s when the day came. Of that, Minerva had no doubt.
Sally, not surprisingly, was standing with their father and his friends. Her father looked more intimidating than ever as he presided over the event, waiting at the door for their est
eemed visitors to arrive. Her sister was engaged in conversation with the doctor from town, their expressions so serious that Minerva had no doubt they were discussing the newest medical journal or one of the science tomes that so fascinated Sally.
Sally had her science and her outdoor adventures to keep her occupied. Abigail had her children to teach and nursing when anyone fell ill. Rebecca had her neverending fetes to plan and her clothes to embellish. Hattie, of course, had her books.
And Minerva had...
What, exactly?
Her maudlin thoughts were fortunately interrupted by the long-awaited arrival of the earl and his visiting friends.
The sense of ennui and the disarming sadness she could not seem to shake disappeared in an instant when she spotted the newcomers. Not because she was so very overwhelmed by the high and mighty—though it was amusing to see Hattie, Rebecca, and some of the younger officers gaping as they craned their necks to see the new arrivals enter.
“Well, I certainly never saw anyone in Billingham dress in such finery.” Roger’s tone held a hint of mockery as he joined her near the dance floor.
Drat. She shot him a quick sidelong look. He’d kept his distance from her all evening as he’d mingled and talked with his friends and the men who served under him. Why now, of all times, had he decided that he ought to be an attentive escort?
Her gaze darted around the room to take in the crowd.
Why now, when the fun was about to begin?
No, not fun. It was hardly fun to discover a traitor in their midst.
Excitement had her heart racing. No, this was not fun at all.
She bit her lip. Oh, how she wished she could talk to Marcus right now. She glanced over at Roger who was so calm and civilized beside her.
There was the guilt her sister had referred to.
But it didn’t have anything to do with the lie she’d told. It had everything to do with how ardently she wished that it was Marcus standing beside her instead, that it was Marcus who was now turning to her and asking her to dance.
Miss Minerva's Pirate Mishap Page 9