“By the by, I offer you my bed again, and no, that wasn’t an invitation to share it. The cot is for me.”
She looked at the bed. It was large. It was probably comfortable, with such a thick mattress. She ought to accept, but it just seemed wrong somehow to sleep in the bed of a man she was going to kill.
She shook her head. “I’ve already claimed the cot. You’ll stay the hell away from it.”
“As you wish.”
“But I’ll accept your offer of the bed if you take the cot out of here and yourself with it.”
He laughed. Of course he did, the bloody sod. She really was going to have to stop amusing him.
So she said, “I still want to know who you hired for that charade at the ball. An actor, or was it some destitute gentleman who didn’t realize he’d be risking the wrath of my family?”
“You still don’t think it was me?”
“You keep forgetting he had blond hair.”
“A wig, but then you also wore one that night.” Then he grinned. “Like minds . . .”
She snorted rudely. He opened one of his desk drawers, pulled out the blond wig, and twirled it on his finger, adding, “It never even occurred to me to hire someone else, but then I wouldn’t trust anyone else to pique your interest. Which reminds me . . .”
He stood and came around his desk. Jack bolted to the door. As usual, he got there first and positioned himself in front of it. She plowed a fist into his stomach, but that hurt so badly she wondered if she’d just broken some knuckles. He didn’t make a sound, lost no breath at all to the punch. Instead he caught both of her hands and gently locked them behind her back, leaving her entirely too close to him, their chests touching.
She looked up at him, about to scream, but that’s when he kissed her. It utterly surprised her, long enough for his lips to brush over hers once, then again, so sensually soft, so . . .
She head-butted him, hoping to bloody his nose. At least she tried to, but as usual, he anticipated her moves and lifted his head out of the way, so her forehead only struck the top of his chest.
“That was for looking so bloody beautiful at that ball, so don’t begrudge me one kiss. It won’t happen again—unless you want it to.”
Chapter Fourteen
HOW DARE YOU KISS me?” Jack snarled. “If you do that again, I’ll do more than try to bloody your nose.” She pulled away from him, able to do so because he’d loosened his grip on her hands.
But all he said was “If you keep hurting yourself on me, I’m going to have to restrain you again.”
“It’s the only way you’re going to be safe. Go ahead and tie me up. It’s no more’n I expect from a bloody pirate.” She quickly turned her back on him because she didn’t want him to see her rubbing her hand. Her knuckles were red, but no bones were broken.
He laughed. “I’m not worried about myself. Give it up, Jack. I’ve seen you soft and flirtatious. You liked me.”
That ridiculous remark made her swing about. He was standing behind his desk.
“Not you, fool! The mystery was all I liked that night. It’s what I expected from a masked ball and was disappointed that my beaus ruined that for me.”
“You mentioned that.”
“Yes, I did, so you should know that you merely supplied the mystery that was missing. I appreciated that. If you mistook that for ‘liking’ you, you’re dead wrong.”
“Yet you showed up at the park to meet me the next day. It’s too bad you didn’t come alone.” Then he sounded a little more than curious, almost indignant on her behalf, when he asked, “What could your father have been thinking, letting bruisers like that escort you? A dozen footmen wouldn’t have drawn as much notice as those four and would have been just as protective.”
“It worked to frighten you off, didn’t it?” she shot back with a smirk.
“I wasn’t frightened, Jack. I do lean on the side of caution though, and I like my face the way it is. It would have been quite a fight and would have served no purpose other than to let you ride off without me.”
She snorted. “You wouldn’t have won. Those four are longtime sparring partners of my father’s—when his brother Tony isn’t around to accommodate him in the ring. And answer me. Did you have my guards killed?”
“No, but detained, yes. All of the men you brought along tonight will be released after my . . . suggestion is delivered to your father. I’m not taking chances this time. I’m letting a full week pass before your father is informed that I have you and he comes after us.”
“Not if you left it to the posts again.”
“I didn’t,” he said a little smugly. “I left a trusted man behind to see to it.”
A full week? Her mother was going to be out of her mind by then!
“I hate you!”
“I’m aware of that.”
“You have no idea what you’ve—I should have shot you while I had the chance!”
“I agree, though it might not have accomplished all that you hoped for.”
“But your blood all over the room would most certainly have been a pretty sight.”
“Or no blood at all depending on what you aimed at.” He began to remove metal plates from inside his shirt.
She stared at him incredulously. It was laughable, that he’d taken a precaution like that. No wonder her hand hurt so much!
“This was an all-or-nothing plan, wasn’t it?” she demanded. “Telling me you were sailing tonight. Would you have sailed if I didn’t show up?”
“No.”
“But you played your final card in that last note, implying that you wouldn’t return to England if I didn’t see you off. What would you have done next? Wait a few days and then say you returned to England anyway?”
“I would have thought of something.”
“Playing it by ear instead of plotting far in advance? Doesn’t sound very piratelike.”
“And you didn’t come for a romantic rendezvous. How did you guess?”
She clamped her mouth shut. He sat down and crossed his arms. “You want answers, you have to give some in return, Jack.”
“What makes you think I play by the rules?”
“You don’t? Then I guess you have no more questions for me.”
She did. Before she turned the tables on him, she’d like to know where his boss was hanging his hat these days. Her father had suggested that if it did turn out to be Lacross, the pirate might have set this plan in motion right from his prison cell, but she couldn’t believe a man that evil had ever won any type of loyalty from the few men who might have escaped capture the night his fortress got raided, at least, not enough loyalty to do the bidding of a man already behind bars. Besides, that particular pirate didn’t win loyalty, he coerced it.
Which brought an incredible thought: “Is Lacross holding family of yours hostage to get you to do his bidding?”
“No.”
Completely wrong about everything? Or he was lying. “If you don’t work for him, then who?”
“First, please answer one of my—”
“Yes, yes,” she cut in angrily. “I didn’t know for sure it would be you at the docks, but I thought it was a likely possibility because your handwriting is so similar to the writing in that more polite ransom note you told me you wrote and posted in Bridgeport.”
“You weren’t there to see that note.”
“Because of you!” she snarled, but after a moment added, “My father kept it and I bedeviled him into showing it to me on the trip home.”
He chuckled. “My, what sharp, beautiful eyes you have.”
She scowled at him. “It could have been a minuscule chance and I still would have come prepared for a fight if it meant capturing you!”
“I’d hoped you’d bring your father.”
She choked back a derisive laugh. “You should pray you never do come face-to-face with him. He has splendid plans for you, Bastard—in my opinion, that is. You will find them so painful you will beg for a quick e
nd. But it won’t be quick, and you won’t walk away from it.”
He shrugged. “Sounds like the same thing you predicted previously, torn limb from limb, et cetera. Nonetheless, I hoped he would escort you, which is why I hired so many men. Even the mightiest can fall to overwhelming numbers.”
“Then why didn’t you do that before, instead of following us to America?!”
“Because he didn’t go slumming, and you can’t take an army of riffraff into the upper-crust end of town without raising a hue and cry. But we did try unsuccessfully a couple times with a few of my crew.”
She shook her head at him, pointing out, “He would have mentioned it.”
“Does he tell you every time he’s accosted by men he believes are thieves?”
No, he actually wouldn’t. He’d just deal with it and go on his way as if nothing had happened.
She raised a brow. “How many died?”
He choked back a laugh this time. But a knock at the door drew him to open it, and a moment later he set the tray of food on the table. She moved over to the table to see if he’d lied about having a real cook this time. Apparently, he’d told the truth. The food on the two plates looked appetizing: fresh peas, roasted chicken with a caramelized sauce that smelled divine, rolls still steaming, even dessert.
She sat down and reached for a plate, the aromas reminding her that she was hungry. But when he started to do the same, she said adamantly, “I won’t dine with you as if I’m not your prisoner and you’re not a bloody pirate.” She pointed at his desk. “You eat over there if you want me to eat.”
“For now,” he allowed, and took one of the plates with him back to his desk. “But we will dine together, perhaps do much more than that, before this voyage ends, Jack. I may even invite your brother or rather the man who looks like your brother up here for a meal if you ask me nicely.”
Bloody smiling liar, she thought. He wouldn’t. He just liked to dangle carrots.
But as Jack took a bite of the roasted chicken, she thought about what Bastard had told her about his attempts to capture her father. Was that a lie, too? Or was he crazy and desperate enough to think he could take down James Malory? Her nemesis was more dangerous than she’d thought.
Chapter Fifteen
IN BERKELEY SQUARE, THE vehicles were lined up two deep at the curb outside James and Georgina Malory’s town house. The elders, as James and Anthony referred to their two older brothers, were there. Anthony and Roslynn were there, since he’d been the first one whom George had sent for when Jacqueline hadn’t come home for dinner. Danny was there, too, since her husband was also missing, and she knew that Percy was with him. And Amy had been fetched in case she had any out-of-the-ordinary insight into the situation.
They were gathered in the parlor. Edward was seated next to Georgina with his arm around her shoulders. She’d stopped crying for the moment. They’d already searched the house for a note Jacqueline might have left about where she’d gone and questioned all the servants. They knew only from Jacqueline’s maid that she’d decided not to attend the scheduled party that night and was going for a ride with Jeremy and expected to be home in time for dinner or shortly thereafter. And Artie had confirmed she’d left the house with Jeremy. But dinner had been hours ago.
“Would she elope?” Amy asked.
“With whom, all twelve of her suitors?” Georgina replied.
“She was interested in a new one she met at the recent masked ball you took her to,” Amy continued.
Georgina frowned, remembering. “James didn’t like that fellow because he refused to introduce himself when the young man returned Jack to us after a dance.”
Amy said, “She didn’t know his name when she told me about him yesterday, but she’s had time to find out.”
“I’ll be the first to admit Jack is impulsive, even reckless,” Georgina said. “But she’s not crazy. No one marries someone they’ve only just met, certainly not our Jack, who’s touted repeatedly that it’s not her goal to marry this year—much to James’s delight.”
“But she’s obviously enlisted Jeremy’s help with something,” Danny put in. “And both Jeremy and Jack are angry and hurt that James wouldn’t let them go with him. They talked a lot about this last night when we escorted Jack to the soirée.”
They all stared at Danny, which had her add, “No, Jeremy would not leave the country without telling me.”
Georgina sighed in agreement. “Jack might have wanted to follow her father, but she’d leave a damned note if she was going to do something that foolish. And they certainly wouldn’t take Percy with them.”
“Do you have any feelings about this, Amy?” Edward asked his daughter.
Amy sighed. “Nothing that will help.”
“Anything at all?” Georgina persisted.
But Jason added, “Jacqueline has Jeremy with her, and Percy, and her four-man escort. She must still be in the city and is just delayed for some reason. That she didn’t leave a note means she expected to be home before she was missed. She’s probably going to show up here any minute.”
They all stared at Jason for making that prediction, then immediately turned to Amy again. Amy rolled her eyes. “I’m not a bloody magic ball. I’m sensing nothing about this situation, which you should take to be a good sign, no harm, no danger, no disaster. I haven’t had any special feelings a’tall since yesterday when I shared with Jack that she’s found her man.”
“Her man?”
“The one for her. And she got quite angry at the suggestion, flatly denying it. But she was also excited about the masked man. But as I said, as of yesterday, she still didn’t know who he is—unless she lied to me.” Amy shook her head. “No, she wouldn’t do that. Maybe she found out who he is or figured out how to find him.”
“So you think she’s gone off to meet him and dragged Jeremy along as a chaperone?”
Amy shrugged. “As good a guess as any.”
“Now that sounds like something Jack would do,” Roslynn put in. “Especially if the man posed a mystery to her and she hasn’t solved it yet. But I do agree with Jason. They are probably just delayed in getting home.”
“We can’t depend on that,” Georgina said. “We need to start looking for her. I’ll make a list of Jack and Judy’s friends here in the city. The rest of you, figure out where an innocent rendezvous might take place in case she did run off to meet that man from the ball.”
“A restaurant, since she left near dinnertime.”
“It’s way past dinnertime, but that’s not a bad idea.”
“The man’s hotel if it has a restaurant. If he’s new to town, he might be staying in one and could have suggested they dine there. And Jeremy is chaperoning her.”
“But we don’t know his name.”
“Won’t need to know,” Danny said. “If they’ve gone to either a restaurant or a hotel, her four-man escort will be waiting outside and will be easy to spot. Jeremy took his chaise, that’s also easy to spot.”
Jason started giving orders. “We need more men for the search in case she doesn’t walk in the door soon. George, send a man to every Malory household in town to collect all available footmen. I need to attend to something, but won’t be long. I imagine she’ll be back by the time I return.”
“What the devil, Jason, where—?”
Anthony didn’t finish his question because his eldest brother was already out the door. Georgina had started crying again on Edward’s shoulder. Anthony sighed and dropped down on the sofa next to his wife.
“Are we sure we’ve searched everywhere for a note Jack might have left to explain where she went?” Edward asked Georgina gently.
“Her room, mine, the parlor. The maids are still searching the rest of the house, though Jack would have left the note in a place where I’d surely see it.”
“Who was manning the door today?” Danny suddenly asked.
“That would be me,” Artie said, standing just inside the parlor door.
“So
you got left behind this trip?”
The two old salts who’d sailed with James during his ten-year absence from England usually drew straws to see which one would accompany James if he sailed without the rest of his family. But Artie was shaking his head.
“ ’E left us both behind with the womenfolk this trip,” Artie grumbled. “We were to guard them with our lives—fat lot o’ good we did, eh.”
“Nonsense,” Danny told the ex-pirate. “Amy has assured us there’s no danger yet, and for the time being we’re going to assume there won’t be. But did Jack receive anything today out of the ordinary?”
“A single rose, same as the one she got yesterday. She took them to her room.”
“I saw the two roses on her vanity when I looked earlier,” Anthony remarked, “lying side by side.”
“Were there notes with them?”
Anthony leapt up from the sofa and headed for the parlor door. “We only looked for notes that Jack might have written to George. Bloody hell, didn’t even think to look for any others written to her.”
Chapter Sixteen
JACQUELINE HAD NOTICED THE last time Bastard abducted her how circumspect he was about his body. She’d thought at the time that he must be badly scarred and wanted to hide it from her. Why else would a pirate not want to get undressed in front of her? Now, he was doing it again, getting into bed with his clothes on, removing only his belt and boots. The last time he’d never changed clothes in the room, either. When he’d needed fresh pants and a shirt, he’d leave the room with clean clothing. To do what, change out on the deck? That must have gotten a few snickers from his crew.
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