by Ava Bradley
He reached out to brush away a strand of hair floating against her cheek. Adriana closed her eyes, but otherwise remained as still as a statue. She reminded him of a marble Aphrodite he'd seen in Paris.
"What good is money, or gaining more money, when the thing you want most cannot be bought? I want to be free. I want the chance to choose my own destiny. When I marry Mr. Weiss, my father's empire will grow, but I will have to give up what little freedom I have known."
She glanced up at him. Her eyes were shiny, but she didn't allow any tears to fall. "You were right, before. My father spoiled me."
The familiar stab of resentment poked him in the gut, but Christian forced it away.
Adriana turned her attention back to the water and a dreamy quality filled her eyes. "But not in the way you think. Not with trinkets and gifts and leisure. Those things are not truly wealth. He allowed me freedoms considered inappropriate of young ladies in polite society, and he never condemned me for my passions. When I marry Mr. Weiss, all that will change. I will have to become docile and obedient as I have been taught, and I will be taken away from the sea to live in the Adirondacks with his family."
It was a crime. Christian couldn't bear the thought of anyone killing the vivacious spirit inside Adriana.
He took her arm and turned her to face him. "You do not have to. You could stay aboard, and continue with me and my father."
Her eyes grew wide and Christian's pulse quickened. He didn't know exactly what he was saying, only that it was so daring it made his head spin. "I've already stolen the ship, what is stopping me from sailing it all the way around the cape and to the west? I hear it is a bold new land where my father and I will be able to disappear. A man can start a new life there. A woman, too."
She gasped. "Are you asking me to run away with you?" Adriana's cheeks flooded crimson. Christian collected himself and swallowed down the exhilaration welling in his throat.
"No, of course not. I am simply offering you your chance to seize the freedom that means so much to you. No one can force you to return to a life you don't want."
Her eyes drifted closed. "You are wrong. It isn't so easy as that. Perhaps for you it is, but not for me. We are too very different people. We come from different worlds, live different lives."
She'd said so their first day on the ship, but to hear it again was like a punch to the gut. What was he thinking, she with the likes of him? No, Adriana Montague was too good to ever consider taking up with a lowly thief.
"You chose the wrong path in life, Christian." Her whispered voice carried across the warm sea breeze. "It is a path I cannot take for myself."
He turned toward her and took her hand. This time Adriana didn't pull away. Instead she turned her body toward his and took his other hand in hers. Her eyes were soft and draped with mystery.
"There is no future for us, when there could have been a great one. Things could have been different, you know."
He kissed her then, before she could utter a protest or lift her arms to push him back. But she didn't. As he drew her against him Adriana moved into his embrace willingly, as though she had expected this all along. Her lips met his with a surprising fervor, and in her kiss he could feel the regret for their impossible future.
But at the forefront of this wonderful kiss was desire, longing, and the intense passion that made Adriana so wildly alluring. She was unlike any other woman he'd ever known, and Christian knew, would never meet again. He didn't want to. Adriana was all he wanted.
It was thanks to her that he had come this far. Thanks to her he would rescue his father. Thanks to her he was a different man than he'd been the day he first stepped aboard Lady Luck's deck.
Henri's voice carried through the bow hatch only a few feet away. Adriana pulled away and turned around at the rail.
"We'll have enough if you water it down some," he said to Mr. Ling as they emerged. He hesitated when he saw them. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing," Christian growled. His pent up desire had nowhere to go.
"Adriana?"
She turned around. "It is all right, Mr. Dupree." She pursed her swollen lips together as she glanced up at Christian. "We are just watching the fish."
She licked her lips, as if trying to determine if they'd somehow been changed. They had been, with that kiss. Neither would he ever be the same. He felt like a starving dog who'd been tossed a tiny morsel from a grand meal. He would never know the full power of a lifetime in her arms.
Chapter Twenty-Two
"Adriana! Mrs. Ling is serving breakfast." Mrs. Bailey gave a quick knock and twisted the knob. "You are not keeping this door locked as you promised."
She stopped in the doorway, aghast as she took in Adriana's choice of attire. "Why in heaven's name are you dressed like that?"
In black breeches and leather boots, her navy blue shirtwaist and a black waistcoat, Adriana was prepared to blend into the darkness. She'd collected her long hair into a tight bun at the nape of her neck.
She stood from the vanity and faced Mrs. Bailey. Her heart sped as she sensed the coming onslaught of disapproval. "We rescue Christian's father tonight."
"You shall take no part in this insane plan. Those two are sure to be captured. Why, we shall be left alone here, helpless and adrift. What will become of us?"
"I am not helpless. Neither are you."
"You cannot sail this ship alone. And that old Mr. Ling is of no help at all–”
"I am going ashore with Christian and Henri."
The heavy woman drew herself to her full height and put on her firmest face. "You shall do no such thing. It is much too dangerous. I have entertained this ludicrous voyage so far, but enough is enough. I will have no more of this foolish nonsense."
For a moment Adriana's confidence wavered. She drew a deep breath and forced herself to remember just what was at stake here. For Christian. For his father, and her own father. For herself.
"I will not be talked out of it."
"Adriana, you made me a promise." Mrs. Bailey clasped her hands together beseechingly. "Do you not remember? You agreed to simply drop Mr. De la Croix at his destination and set for home. Now I find you preparing to go ashore to that savage penitentiary. Why, that strange island eatery was bad enough. Now you want to go into a prison filled with cutthroats and unsavories of the worst kind. This is preposterous! It is madness, I tell you."
Adriana approached her chaperone, and the woman's expression softened a bit, if only with worry. She gripped Mrs. Bailey's clasped hands.
"You must understand that I have found a greater purpose than merely being the most elegant party guest in Baltimore circles. A man's life is at stake here. Repaying my father's debt to him is important to me. If I cannot do this, I am unworthy as a daughter."
Mrs. Bailey cringed and cupped Adriana's cheek. "Oh no, child, you mustn't believe that."
Adriana glanced down. "By now you know I act on my own accord. I want to help Christian. I care for him. I am sorry to disappoint you."
"Someday, if you succeed in this, you will see that what you do is wrong."
"I believe I have never done anything that has mattered so in the course of right before."
Adriana slipped past her and left the cabin. Mrs. Bailey followed her through the main cabin and started up the ladder after her, sputtering pleas and arguments all the way.
Henri and Christian leaned over a crudely drawn map spread out across the main cabin roof.
"Why if it isn't Penelope Pirate." Christian laughed. "My, don't you look fierce." He wore one of her father's casual day suits. The long ends of his hair were tied back with a black ribbon at the nape of his neck. His eyes gleamed with anticipation. A thrill of excitement raced through Adriana at the very sight of him.
"Do not begin your plans without me."
Christian's amused expression faded and he slowly stood upright. "Whatever is that supposed to mean?"
She stopped and squared her shoulders. "I am going with you."
<
br /> His face creased with incredulity. "You most certainly are not."
"Of course I am." She pushed up and brushed against him as she craned to see the map. His nearness brought her senses alive with a jolt.
Mrs. Bailey finally grappled through the hatch and strode toward them with ferocious purpose.
Henri grinned at Christian. "She'll put a stop to this nonsense."
Adriana scowled at her captain before turning to Mrs. Bailey. "There is no sense arguing with me."
"We can't have a woman tagging along, slowing us down," Christian insisted.
Adriana turned around and glared at him. "I am as strong as you on your best day. You are still weak with illness."
"I am not." Christian's expression furrowed with anger, but he took a deep breath and wiped it away. "Devil's Island is no place for a lady."
"For once Mr. De la Croix and I are in agreement." Mrs. Bailey huffed. "There are murders and rapists, and God knows what else living there. Your father would not want you to take one single step on that island."
Adriana whirled around. "On the contrary, I think he would."
Mrs. Bailey's face blossomed red. She shook her head furiously, sending all her jowls quivering. "I will not hear another word of this madness!"
"Adriana." Christian took her by the arms and turned her to face him. "I cannot allow you to risk your life for me."
"Oh? What has changed now?" Adriana straightened her spine if only to draw back and put some space between them. His clean scent and the up-close sight of his handsome features robbed her of logic.
Christian glanced down, sweeping over his pale green eyes with a forest of black lashes. He blew an exasperated sigh before continuing. "If anything happened to you, I would never forgive myself."
She was holding her breath. Adriana let it out slowly as tiny bright lights swam before her eyes.
He cares for me. She wanted to say the same back to him. If anything happened to you, I would never forgive myself, either.
"None of you are more suited to go ashore than I," she said instead. "I have it all planned out."
"Oh you do, do you?" Henri stepped forward and hitched his pants. "Listen, Missy. Not on my life will I let you get involved."
Adriana laughed. "It is a bit late for that, I do believe." She stabbed a finger on the largest of three islands drawn on the map. "This is Devil's Island?"
Christian's gaze slid to Henri. Reluctantly he nodded.
"This map is correct? The island is over four hundred and fifty meters wide. Where is your father kept?"
"We do not know."
Mrs. Bailey threw her hands in the air and paced away. "This outrageous scam becomes more insane the more you speak of it!"
"How do you propose to find him?" Adriana tried to keep her voice calm. She knew they needed her help, all she had to do was convince them of it.
Her heart thrummed in her chest. If she could only do her part to assist in Gilbert's rescue, Christian might see that her family was worthy. That she was worthy. Perhaps if his hatred abated, he would not disappear from their lives. If only she could look forward to seeing him, even so much as an occasional glimpse across a crowded room, her own doomed future might possess a glimmer of hope.
"Where did you get this map?" she demanded when he didn't answer.
"Eight years ago a man named Emil Poilet escaped and eventually traveled back to England," Henri told her.
"Unfortunately, at that time my father hadn't yet been transferred to the island, so he could not tell us which hut he occupies," Christian said. "Only that the prisoners scratch their names above the doors. That is how they lay claim to their domiciles."
"So you are left merely to search, in the darkness, for a legibly scratched name?"
"I tell you, this is madness!" Mrs. Bailey shrieked from her seat amidships. "You will never succeed. It shall be the doom of you all!"
"Such talk is unwelcome." Christian shot a glare her way. "If you have nothing encouraging to add, keep quiet."
"How dare you! Young man, you should be thankful I haven't dived overboard and swum to shore to reach the authorities. All of that I would do, and more, for there mere satisfaction of seeing you behind bars, now that I know what you've gotten my Adriana into."
"It seems your Adriana has made her own choices, for once in her life." Christian tossed his discriminating glance from Mrs. Bailey to Adriana. "Were it not for the fact I agree that she should stay right here, Madame, I would say it is quite splendid."
Adriana placed her hands on her hips. "Would you care to explain how you and Mr. Dupree alone plan to traverse four hundred and fifty meters in a single night? You can hardly negotiate the hatch ladder by yourself. Perhaps we should wait until you are stronger."
"I am quite strong enough to walk across this small island and back," Christian responded angrily.
"No, she's right, boy," Henri agreed. "You're too weak to do any such thing by yourself."
"I refuse to allow my father to sit and rot one more day than he has to!" He slashed his hand through the air, enunciating his words.
"Nor can we risk being spotted in these waters," Henri added. Reluctantly, he nodded. "We must act fast. But chéri, your father would skin me alive if I let you go ashore–”
"Wait a moment." Christian had a strange look in his eye. "She said she had a plan all worked out. All right, Miss Montague. Let us hear it."
"You will see the wisdom in it, or I shall abstain." She raised her eyebrows.
Christian nodded impatiently. "Oui, oui. I agree."
"You two shall take Lady Luck's quarter boat, I shall take the jolly boat marked Windfall. If I am caught, I will merely claim that my ship was seized by pirates, and I managed to escape in the jolly under cover of darkness. Windfall is nowhere near so my story will appear valid. Likewise, it shall provide an alibi for the crew of my sister ship Lady Luck, who set out to rescue me, if they happen to be found on the island."
She held her breath, waiting for one of them to argue. But Henri stared off as he scratched his bristled chin, and Christian merely regarded her with a quirky expression.
"After all, I am Adriana Montague, heiress and socialite. What reason would I have to smuggle a man off the island? And even if I did, why should I do it myself?"
Christian scowled. "Your arrogance astounds me." He drew a long breath in, and out. "But it just might work."
"It is only a secondary plan," she reminded them, "as I do not intend to be discovered."
"That would explain your attire." Christian's gaze raked over her, and Adriana felt as though his eyes shot sparks of fire. But when they reached hers again, they held seductive appreciation. "I dressed like that on some of my own capers," he finished with a raffish smile.
"Bah! That is the most foolish idea I have ever heard." Mrs. Bailey kept her back to them. "Were I to publish my memoirs, no one would ever believe such idiocy."
Henri grumbled under his breath. "I am against it."
"I am against it as well," Christian stated.
"Be against it all you wish." Adriana matched his smug expression, and she hoped, exceeded it. "You have no choice as you have clearly forgotten, I still possess the final bargaining chip. Starry Night."
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mr. and Mrs. Ling waited quietly on deck and Ollie, unusually silent and grim faced, manned the helm.
Ollie was more than capable of keeping the ship on course to their meeting spot, but Adriana could tell all three were worried. If they didn't meet as planned on the south-west side of the island, the strong equatorial current would prevent them from meeting at all.
Mrs. Bailey had given up trying to talk her out of going and was below, weeping in her cabin. The woman's certainty they were going to fail even had Adriana on edge.
Darkness shrouded the sea. The weather seemed to grow gloomier by the minute, a threatening omen. Piles of roiling clouds were painted silver at the edges by a full moon hidden somewhere beyond. In an une
arthly paradox, the sea was eerily calm as the strengthening wind whipped up sheets of stinging, salty spray.
They had sailed out east of the three islands. The current would carry her to the island, and then with any luck, away from it with Christian's father as her passenger. In six hours, Mr. Ling would raise anchor and let the current carry Lady Luck to the western side of the islands to drop anchor again and wait for them.
Henri smiled and tipped his head skyward. "I'll wager by the time we get to the island, the wind will have taken these clouds and the moon will guide us."
She nodded, strangely unable to find words.
"You'll go to the southern tip and drift to the west side. It will be easier to launch into the current and faster to escape the island."
"Yes," she agreed again. They'd been over the plans a hundred times already.
He untied the ropes at the winch, preparing to lower her in Windfall's jolly boat. A strange lightness took hold of Adriana's senses. None of this seemed real. All the anticipating throughout the long journey had made this escapade into a sort of fable.
Christian stepped close. "Do not forget, Mr. Poilet explained that of the sixty two huts, many are unoccupied. The prisoners grow vegetables and keep pigs and chickens, so the absence of a garden will indicate an empty domicile."
Again she merely nodded, afraid that if she were to speak she would shatter her fragile courage.
"And be on the watch for animal traps."
"I will." She stepped through the railing and into the boat.
"Adriana wait." He grabbed her by the arms and drew her close until only the rail separated them. "Before you go, I must speak."
"No, Christian, don't." She tried to draw away but his grip on her arms tightened ever so slightly.
"When I lay below thinking I was going to die, I had but one thought in my mind; that I had only just begun to live. These past few weeks...having known you..."
He shook his head in frustration. Adriana's heart beat so fiercely her blood felt as though it were boiling. If he would only say that he loved her too, she wouldn't feel so guilty for loving him.