“Nay!” shouted Mardon, clenching his jaw. “I don’t want a damned biscuit.”
“How about a new vest, Mardon?” asked Emmaline. “I have a cape in that trunk with lots of brass buttons that would look sharp on you.” She walked over to him and fixed the neckline of his shirt. “I can even make you a red woolen sash to go with it from the tippets of my winter gown. It would keep you warm in the cold weather.”
“Nay!” he spat. “I don’t want any bloody clothes.” He noticed the disappointed look in Emmaline’s eyes and felt as if he’d hurt her feelings. He quickly reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. “But thank you, my lady. It was a kind gesture and appreciated.” She smiled again, and Mardon found himself releasing a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. God’s teeth! Now he was acting no better than the rest of his addlepated crew where these women were concerned.
“Did you take care of that . . . one part yet?” asked Aaron, shoving the whole biscuit in his mouth at once. His eyes darted over to Emmaline when he said it. Mardon knew exactly what he meant. He was talking about sending Emmaline away. It was something that needed to be done.
“Almost,” he answered from the side of his mouth, not daring to look at her right now.
“What one part?” asked Emmaline with a sweet smile, taking Mardon’s hand in hers and giving it a slight squeeze. The poor girl. She had no idea he was going to tell her she couldn’t stay on his ship. “What are you two talking about?” She batted her eyelashes, looking up innocently at Mardon. Damn, why did she have to do that? It made her look so cute.
“Nothing,” both Aaron and Mardon answered her together.
“Cap’n, Nairnie told me to wake ye,” said Ramble, removing the headpiece and playing with his hair. “So did Stitch, actually. It’s important.”
“What is?” asked Aaron.
“Well,” he said, a wide smile spreading across his face. “Nairnie made hot cooked oats with honey to break the fast,” said Ramble excitedly. As if on cue, Aaron’s stomach growled.
“She did?” Aaron swallowed down the rest of the biscuit. “Did she put dried currants in it, too?”
“Lots of them,” answered Ramble, his eyes growing wide. “She’s got a big pot of it that will feed us all, and we’ll even be able to go back for seconds.”
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Aaron jumped up and headed for the door.
“Wait,” Mardon called out. “Ramble, you said Stitch had a message for me as well. What is it?”
“Oh, that,” said Ramble, snapping his fingers. “Aye. Stitch said to tell ye he’s been followin’ the Poseidon for the last few hours. He figures they must know where to find the treasure, so we’re stayin’ right on their tail.”
“Where does he think they are headed?” asked Emmaline curiously.
“Stitch believes they’re headin’ to Hastings. He says they’re probably goin’ to dock there since they’ve been slowly movin’ closer and closer to the shore.”
“Nay, that’s wrong,” said Emmaline, shaking her head. “We need to continue on, and go further south.”
“Emmaline?” asked Mardon. “What makes you think so?”
“It was the clue that Aaron told us about,” she explained. Looking up into the air as if trying to remember it, she spoke the clue aloud. “Hastily, find the bright angel with the fish mouth and bow right at her feet.”
“Yeah,” said Ramble, looking down at the headpiece in his hand and itching his head. “I still don’t understand it. It sounds like nothin’ but nonsense to me.”
“Speaking of nonsense,” mumbled Mardon, looking at Ramble’s attire once again and shaking his head. He still couldn’t believe that!
“I think the clue is talking about a path to take, not just a destination,” said Emmaline.
“Mayhap. But where?” asked Mardon.
“Hastily could mean Hastings,” she told them.
“Nereus must think that, too, since he’s headed there,” agreed Mardon.
“But there’s more.” Emmaline paced the floor as she spoke. “The bright angel probably means Brighton, the next town over from Hastings.”
“I can see that.” Aaron nodded.
Emmaline continued. “Fish mouth could really be Portsmouth, just south of Brighton. You know, since fish are found at a port.”
“Continue,” Mardon coaxed her, seeing where this was leading.
“I’m not exactly sure on that last part since it is a stretch,” said Emmaline.
“Tell us anyway,” said Ramble.
“Well,” she said tapping her chin with her finger. “I know all these ports and places since I used to travel a lot with my father when I was younger. So, I think bow right at her feet, is a play on the word right, and could mean Wright Island. There is a little graveyard on that island with a very tall stone angel there.”
“Aye, you’re right. I know the exact one that you mean,” said Mardon, feeling hopeful now. “Bowing at her feet must mean to dig at her feet to find the treasure.”
“That’s . . . amazing,” said Aaron, shrugging and holding up his palms. “And to think it was figured out by a wench. Mardon, I think the girl might be right.”
“The clues do seem to lead a trail to the island,” admitted Mardon. “We might have just found our final destination.” He pulled Emmaline into his arms and kissed her hard. “My lady, you are amazing in more ways than one.” He pulled back, looking at her bright smile and winked, letting her know he also was talking about their intimate time together last night.
“I’ll tell Stitch and the crew,” said Aaron, rushing out the door.
“I’ll let Nairnie know,” said Ramble, following him.
“You never fail to surprise me,” Mardon told Emmaline. “It really is nice having you around.”
“Why, thank you,” she said with a giggle. “I love being here.”
“You do?”
“Of course, I do. And I wouldn’t even think of being anywhere else right now but at your side.”
His body stiffened when he heard her words. He didn’t expect her to say that.
“Oh, by the way, Mardon. What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
Mardon couldn’t answer that question now. Not after she was the one who just figured out where to find their treasure. Nay, not after she’d just told him she loved being here and would be nowhere else but by his side. He felt like he was being sucked into some kind of crazy spiral and losing control. He couldn’t stop anything from happening anymore. His crew was proof enough.
“It can wait,” he said. “Come on, we have a treasure to find.”
“It won’t be long before we’re there,” Mardon told Emmaline a little later. Stitch was at the helm wearing his new fingerless gloves. Mardon stood at the stern, leaning on the sidewall, looking out to sea. “I would have given anything to see Nereus’ face when we shot right past him instead of stopping.” Mardon chuckled. “He’s docked at Hastings, and we’ll have the treasure and be on our way before he even knows what happened.” Mardon started thinking about Emmaline again and his fists clenched and his jaw tightened. He was going to have to tell her soon.
“Mardon, is something bothering you?” Emmaline laid her hand over his.
“Why would you say that?” he asked, still not able to look her in the eyes. He had to find an easy way to let her down and tell her that she couldn’t stay. However, he didn’t want to hurt her either. This was proving to be harder than he thought. “Why do you think something is wrong?”
“I don’t know. Mayhap I’m just imagining things,” she answered sweetly. “Mayhap it’s just a look on your face that pirates usually have, I’m not sure.”
He turned his head to look at her and smiled. “I didn’t realize pirates have a certain look.”
“How did it happen?” she asked.
“What? The look? I didn’t even know I had one.”
“Nay,” she answered with a soft giggle. “I mean, when did y
ou become a pirate? What made you do it?”
“It doesn’t matter.” He turned his face away from her and looked down into the water below them.
“It matters to me.” She started to gently rub her fingertips in small circles over his back.
“Well, if you must know, I was the son of a fisherman.”
“You and your brothers, Aaron and Tristan.”
“That’s right. We had – I mean, have – a sister named Gwen.”
“You do?” she asked in surprise. “Well, where is she?”
“Nairnie tells me she’s married and has a family back in Cornwall.”
“Are your parents there, too?” she asked curiously.
“Nay. They’re dead.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I miss my mother, but blame my father that my brothers and I ended up as pirates.”
“How so?”
“When the fishing wasn’t so good, my father, Cato, had to do something to make money to put food on the table for his family.”
“So he turned to piracy?” she asked, her eyes opening wide.
Mardon bit his bottom lip and slowly nodded. “He did, but didn’t tell my sister or mother. He took me and my brothers with him, and we learned to love it.”
“What happened to your father?”
“Well, he gave up piracy after a while. Then, when my mother died . . . well, my brothers and I were angry with him. We ended up leaving him and my sister and going back to piracy. After that, we never saw him again.”
“Why were you angry with him?”
Mardon clenched his jaw, not wanting to relive the events leading to his mother’s death. “I don’t want to talk about it,” he told her. “Anyway, Nairnie told me our father is dead and, honestly, I don’t really care.”
“Oh,” she said, her hand stilling on his back. “Mayhap someday, you’ll want to tell me more about it. When you’re ready.”
“Mayhap,” he said, knowing it wouldn’t happen since she wouldn’t be there to hear it.
“Do you have siblings?” he asked her.
“Nay. It was just me. My mother had trouble birthing me, and couldn’t seem to get pregnant afterwards. She died from a weak heart, and it was just me and my father for the last few years. Then, that horrible woman, Lady Aldusa, came along and convinced my father to marry her. My father became ill, and Lady Aldusa talked him into agreeing to marry me off to a Frenchman. A Frenchman, that is, that I just found out is really her brother!”
“So you said you think she poisoned your father?”
“I know she did.” Tears filled her eyes. “But he’s gone now, and it no longer matters. The wretched woman has taken everything from me and gotten away with it, too. There is nothing I can do about it.”
“Can’t you tell someone what she did? Have her thrown in the dungeon?”
“Who would believe me?” she asked. “Especially since I have a horrible reputation, thanks to her brother. I’m sure it was part of their plan all along.”
“You have that bottle of poison that you hid in the stair,” he reminded her. “You might still be able to prove she’s guilty.”
Her head jerked upward. “You know about that?”
“Sweetheart, this is my ship, and I’m captain. I know everything that goes on around here.”
“I wish I would have taken that poison back to the healer right away. But I was whisked away to the convent and kept there. I couldn’t come home.”
“It’s not your fault. There wasn’t anything you could have done.”
“Mayhap not,” she said, sniffling, wiping away a tear with the back of her hand. “But if there was, I would do everything in my power even now to at least take back the manor.”
“Well, mayhap that will be a possibility.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m just saying, that you are noblewoman, Emmaline. You should fight to keep your father’s manor. That is, go back, and try to save it from Lady Aldusa.”
“Is that what you want? For me to leave?”
Mardon looked the other way and didn’t answer. It wasn’t what he really wanted, but it was what had to be done. “A pirate ship is no place for a lady,” he said in a hoarse whisper.
“Cap’n, we’re approachin’ the island,” Stitch called out.
“The Poseidon is headed this way at a good clip,” reported Aaron from up in the lookout basket. “We need to get to that treasure, fast.” Aaron slid down the lines, rushing around, getting the crew prepared. “Bring the shovels and ropes to carry the treasure if it’s heavy,” commanded Aaron. “Be sure to grab the axes and picks, and take your best weapons. If we don’t move fast enough, we’re bound to have to fight Nereus and his men again.”
“Aye, Quartermaster,” shouted the men, rushing around to do as Aaron ordered.
“Take us in, Stitch,” ordered Mardon, running down the steps of the sterncastle to help the others. “We’ve got a treasure to collect and get back to the ship before Nereus gets here.”
“I’m ready,” said Nairnie, walking out of the galley wearing a metal pot lid tied to her head, and another fastened around her chest. She shoved her cooking knife under her belt. In one hand, she clutched an iron pan, and she had her new ladle in the other.
“You’re bringing your ladle?” asked Aaron.
“Aye,” she answered. “In case ye need help diggin’, I am ready.”
Mardon chuckled. “I know you mean well, Nairnie, but you are not stepping foot off this ship. Stay here with Emmaline where you’ll be safe. We won’t be long.”
“Stay here? I will no’!” spat Nairnie. “I am the one who brought the information to ye about this treasure, and I’ll be there when ye find it as well.”
“Fine, just don’t get in the way,” said Mardon, not having time to argue with her. The ship docked and the boarding plank was slid into place. All the men stood there waiting for Mardon to give the command to go.
“Let’s get the treasure,” shouted Aaron, raising his fist in the air. All the men roared and ran after Aaron, disembarking the ship. Mardon was impressed with the way that Aaron had embraced his new position, but didn’t like the fact he was giving orders now when Mardon should be giving them instead. He’d have to talk to Aaron about that later.
“Cap’n, do ye want me to stay here with the ship?” asked Stitch, coming to his side.
“Aye. Ramble will stay here, too,” he said as the boy walked past donning a new weapon belt now that was loaded down with new weapons. Mardon figured those must have come out of the booty from the French ship as well.
“What?” Ramble stopped, looking sorely disappointed. “Ye want me to stay here?”
“Aye. You’ll be the messenger. If Stitch spots Nereus getting too close, run out to the island to tell us.”
“But ye’re lettin’ a wench go,” he said, pointing to Nairnie, waddling down the boarding plank, holding on to Peg Leg Pate. Mardon wouldn’t be surprised if they both ended up in the water.
“Speaking of wenches, have either of you seen Emmaline?” Mardon looked back up to the sterncastle, but she was no longer there.
“Nay,” said Ramble.
“I thought I saw her headin’ to yer cabin,” said Stitch. “I’ll find her, ye go.”
Mardon didn’t like the idea of leaving when he didn’t know where Emmaline was. She had seemed upset with him after their last conversation.
“Mardon, hurry up! The men are already digging at the foot of the angel,” shouted Aaron.
“I’ll stay here and help Stitch look for Emmaline,” said Ramble with a sigh.
“Keep her safe. Both of you,” he instructed. “We won’t be long.” Turning, he ran down the gangplank to meet up with the rest of his men. He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, but had to go. He was the captain, and his crew needed him. He was doing the right thing, he told himself. But if so, why did he suddenly feel like he’d just ruined everything between him and Emmaline?
/> Chapter 17
Emmaline snuck out of the galley, holding a hammer that she’d found in Peg Leg’s tool box. She waited until the men walked away and then ran out to the stairs leading up to the sterncastle. Quickly, she tried to pry the step open. At first, it was stuck. But then she was able to lift the top enough to get her hand inside. Scooping out the bottle of poison, she pushed the step back into place.
“Oh, there ye are, Lady Emmaline.”
She pushed the hammer into the shadows and stood up and turned around. “Hello, Ramble.”
“Mardon was lookin’ for ye. He was worried about ye.”
“Was he?”
“Aye, but he went to the island with his crew to get the treasure.”
“Not that worried after all, I see,” she mumbled.
“What’s that in yer hand?” he asked, noticing she was holding something.
“Oh, it’s nothing. Well, I guess I’ll go join them in digging up that treasure.”
“Nay, ye’re supposed to stay here,” said Ramble. “Mardon said so.”
Emmaline knew exactly what went on because she’d been watching them and listening in secret. “Nay, I’m sure Mardon told Stitch I could join them. Why don’t you ask him?”
“Stitch? I’m not sure where he went.”
“He went to Mardon’s cabin.”
“All right. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
As soon a Ramble walked away, Emmaline ran to the bow of the ship, releasing the winch and pulley holding the shuttle boat to the side. It fell down into the water with a big splash. If Mardon didn’t want her here, then she would leave. Why did she think a pirate would want a woman on board, let alone a noblewoman? He wouldn’t. Emmaline had nowhere to go but she realized that staying here with Mardon would only create problems. She had the bottle of poison, and would take it to the king. Hopefully, he would believe her story of how her stepmother poisoned her father. Then, mayhap, he’d let her stay at the manor. Or at least until she found a nobleman willing to marry her.
Mardon (Pirate Lords Series Book 2) Page 18