Had she become ill? But if she had, why wasn’t she in a hospital or at home in her own bed? Neal knew where she lived since he had dropped her off once. Why was she on a ship? The fog in her head began to clear as she pondered. The bon-bons must have been laced with something. She had been abducted. But why would Mr. Adler or his son want to do such a thing?
Shauna lifted her head at the sound of a key being turned in the lock and the door swung open. The brighter light outside silhouetted the figure in the doorway and she couldn’t see his face. Then he stepped inside and shut the door behind him.
She stared at the man in confusion. Her mind must be playing tricks on her. Richard Reneau? He had worked in Shane’s office last year and tried to swindle money. He’d gotten away and the authorities hadn’t been able to find him. Why would he turn up now on the same ship she was on?
“Surprised to see me?” he asked as he sat down on the bolted chair.
Shauna blinked. “It is ye. What in the world are ye doing here?”
He laughed. “A better question would be what are you doing here, don’t you think?”
Shauna shook her head slightly, trying to clear it without getting dizzy again. If only she could think better. “How did I get here?”
“I carried you on board.”
“Ye carried me?”
“Someone had to. You could not walk, and my brother claimed he had strained his back.”
His brother. Neal was Richard’s brother. Shauna’s head started hurting again. None of this made sense. “Why would Neal want to put me on a boat? Is he here?”
“No.”
“Then why…I doona understand. Is it ransom ye want?”
Richard shrugged. “In a manner of speaking.”
“Then why put me on a boat? Shane or my brothers will pay.”
“Oh, they will pay all right. Just not in coin.”
Shauna crinkled her brow. “What do ye mean?”
Richard gave her a sinister smile and stood. “You might as well know. Since you will not be going anywhere for a few days, you will have time to think.”
“Think about what?”
“Once we arrive at Gibraltar, you will be placed on a corsair and pirates will take you to Constantinople.” Richard opened the door. “And there, you will be sold to a sultan they know to become part of his harem.”
And then Richard was gone, leaving Shauna to gape at the door.
Robert’s apprehension grew as he and Shane returned from the charitable home after finding Adler and his son gone. He felt like this puzzle had a number of pieces missing. Nothing made sense. An elderly man making a miraculous recovery raised Robert’s suspicions, but they had no proof Adler was connected to Shauna’s disappearance. From all accounts, Shauna had not made it to the home at all. As a precaution, last Friday Robert had checked on the landau Austin had used. It had been returned Thursday afternoon and when Robert asked to look at it, he couldn’t see any evidence of foul play.
Robert looked around the crowded parlor in the townhouse. Shane had called a meeting and included Albert, David, Donald, the quartermaster, and Colette and her father as well. She’d brought her sketching case, and Robert hoped she wasn’t going to try to draw him now. He wasn’t in the mood for artwork.
Since Shane hadn’t waited for an evening meal, Kyla and Janet scurried around with hastily made sandwiches and tea, although Robert couldn’t stomach food at the moment either.
“Shauna cannot have disappeared into thin air like a wisp of smoke,” Shane said.
“There has got to be something we missed.”
“But what?” Robert began to pace in the small area behind the sofa close to the door and nearly got knocked in the head when it flew open unexpectedly.
Ian burst in. From his unkempt look and the haggard faces of Jacob and George behind him, Robert figured they’d ridden straight back, probably only resting to exchange horses along the way.
“We were not expecting you,” Abigail exclaimed. “Is Brodie well then?”
“Nae, but ye can try arguing with Jillian and Bridget. They had my bags packed before Jacob could finish telling what had happened.” Ian turned to Shane. “Och, I would have come anyway.”
“I am glad ye are here,” Shane replied and explained all they had done.
Ian’s face grew solemn as he listened. “This man Adler. He had not been at the home long?”
Shane shook his head. “The matron said just a few weeks.”
“What did his son look like?”
“A dandy with an odd accent of French and English,” Abigail said. “I saw him at an open house the home had. Quite at ease with the ladies.”
“What color was his hair?”
Abigail frowned. “Dark. Why?”
Ian drew his brows together. “This whole situation has the smell of Wesley Alton about it.”
“Who?” Mr. Frazier asked.
“’Tis a long story,” Ian replied. “Alton is a deranged mon who wanted to marry my Jillian and claim the marquis title of Newburn. When he lost both, he vowed revenge on us MacLeods.”
Shane sharpened his gaze. “We ken the mon was responsible for Fiona’s ending up in Dublin’s insane asylum.”
“What?” Colette interjected. “An asylum?”
“Aye, and he was responsible for Mari’s abduction as well,” Ian said, ignoring Colette. “And both times, the mon had his son with him.” Ian looked at Abigail. “A French dandy who painted.”
Shane frowned again. “But Nicholas had blond hair, nae dark.”
Robert looked from Ian to Shane. “You think Adler is Alton?”
“’Tis the best explanation I can come up with,” Ian replied, a grim expression on his face. “And he will not be interested in ransom.”
Colette suddenly gasped. “Oh, mon Dieu!”
“What is it?” her father asked.
“Mr. Austin. Neal.” She jumped up. “Neal is Nicholas. I knew there was something familiar—”
“What are you talking about? Explain,” Robert demanded.
She turned to him. “That afternoon…at the open house. When I was introduced to him, he spoke French and said he’d studied in France. Now I know why he looked familiar. We had an art class together. I did not recognize him because of the hair color.”
Robert knew how wily Alton was from when he assisted in retrieving Fiona. Kier had told them how Alton used the alias of Gerard Fontaine in Ireland and Shane said the same man had used the name Walter Avery to get him jailed for alleged smuggling. Each of the women that had married a MacLeod had their lives put in danger. Then Alton had targeted their sister, Fiona. And now…Shauna.
Robert felt his blood chill.
A harem. Shauna sat on the edge of her bunk and eyed the locked door. Sometime overnight—she thought it was morning, but there were no portholes in the cabin—they must have docked since the boat was not pitching or rolling. She wondered how she could have slept and then remembered Richard bringing her some stew the night before. She hadn’t been hungry, but he threatened to force-feed her, so she had eaten some of it. No doubt, he had laced it with something to keep her docile and she must have dozed off.
Where were they? She’d been captured yesterday, so she knew they were nowhere near Gibraltar yet. She doubted they’d reached France either, so that meant they must have stopped at an English port. Maybe Richard had lied to her just to scare her. Maybe they were taking her somewhere in England. She prayed that was the case. Being held in Britain was a much better option than…
No. She wouldn’t think about sultans and harems right now. She needed to escape.
Shauna took a deep breath and listened. Oddly, all seemed to be quiet, save for the lapping of water against the hull. Shauna could hear no boots tramping above on the deck. She didn’t know how large the ship was or how many cre
w were on board, but maybe they had gone ashore for supplies or to make arrangements. Was it possible Richard had left her alone on the boat?
Did she dare hope?
She bent down and took out the sgian dubh she had strapped to her calf. Thank God, no one had searched her. It had probably never occurred to any of them that a woman would be carrying a weapon. She was grateful that Ian had insisted all three of his sisters know how to defend themselves. Right now, she intended to use the knife for another purpose.
Kneeling down by the door, she looked through the keyhole. The lock only required a skeleton key, which should make it fairly easy to pick. Shauna put the point of her blade into the hole and began to turn it when she heard the scuffling of boots on the other side. She froze. Richard had left a guard posted in the gangway. She barely got her knife back in its sheath and straightened her skirt before the door opened.
And she wished it hadn’t. The man standing on the other side looked like a huge bear. Black, greasy strands of hair stuck out from beneath a black wool cap. A heavy beard and mustache covered most of his face and the skin she could see was dark and swarthy. He wore a thick wool coat so dirty she couldn’t tell the original color and his massive hands looked like paws, their backs covered in hair as well.
“I hear noise,” he said, his tone guttural.
“I dinnae hear anything.”
“You try door.” He drew burly brows down over sunken eyes. “Bad.”
“I…I was just seeing if it was locked.”
“No do that. Bad,” he said again.
Shauna hesitated. For all the brute strength this near giant probably had, he seemed a bit slow in the head. Could she persuade him to let her go up on deck? She desperately needed to see where they were.
“It is stuffy in here. I need some fresh air.”
He seemed to consider it but then shook his shaggy head. “No. Capt’n get mad.”
“Captain Reneau would nae mind if I took the air.”
“No. Capt’n Haji get mad,” he said emphatically.
So Richard was not the captain then. Shauna stored that away to think about later. Maybe she could get some information from this man. “What is your name?”
He looked surprised and then smiled, revealing gaps in his teeth. “Me Nasim.”
That his name and the captain’s sounded foreign did not bode well. Was this the boat that would be taking her all the way to Constantinople? She had to try to escape now. She managed to smile back. “Nasim, I am Shauna. I doona want ye to disobey your captain, but could I step out into the gangway?”
“No. Capt’n get mad.”
Shauna sighed inwardly. She couldn’t fault Nasim for being loyal to his captain. Shane would expect the same of his crew. “Can ye tell me where we are?”
He shook his head.
She didn’t know if he didn’t want to tell her or if he really didn’t know the name of wherever they were. She needed to rephrase the question. “Do ye ken—know—why we are here?”
His face brightened and he nodded. “Broke spar.”
That explained a lot of things. If one of the heavy wooden crossbars had broken, at least one sail would be useless and, depending on which spar had broken, the ship could be difficult to maneuver. Putting into port to replace it made sense. Shauna released a small breath of relief.
And it would also buy her a few days.
All hell broke loose after Colette’s statement and everyone started talking at once about where to start looking. Abigail finally tapped a silver spoon against her china cup to quiet the men down. “It does no good to run off in different directions without a plan,” she said.
Shane gave his wife an admiring glance as he nodded, and Ian stopped pacing to stare at her. Robert unclenched his fists, but every nerve ending in him was screaming for movement. To do something.
“What do ye suggest?” Shane asked, his voice calm again.
“What do we know about Wesley Alton? Let’s see.” Abigail began tapping her fingers with her other hand. “One. He is a master of disguise. Two. He has had access to opium in the past. Three. He is not interested in ransom. Four. He abducted Fiona by ship and he—or Nicholas—abducted Mari by carriage. Five. Robert and Albert checked every public stable in Edinburgh for a coach that might have been rented. They came up with nothing. So I think Wesley Alton took Shauna somewhere by ship.”
“But I checked the docks as well,” Robert said.
“They might have had a small boat tucked away somewhere and taken her to a ship berthed elsewhere,” Abigail replied.
“Ships have crews. Wouldn’t someone question an unconscious or struggling woman being brought on board?” Mr. Frazier asked.
Robert grimaced. “I was duped into accepting Fiona on the New Orleans. Alton can be quite convincing with his lies.”
“And not all ship captains are scrupulous,” Shane added. “Depending on how much coin is offered, some doona ask questions.”
“But where would a ship be waiting?”
“Berwick,” Albert said.
Heads turned to look at him. “Berwick?” Robert asked.
“Maybe ’tis nae docked there, but ye remember the two men who escaped after trying to board Shane’s ships? ’Tis possible they lurked here. And there were rumors of a ship with no flag running off the shores at Berwick point also.”
“Aye, the reports were the name was Dragon,” Shane answered, “but no one has seen her lately.”
“What was the name?” Colette asked, her face going pale.
Shane gave her a sharp look. “The Dragon. Why?”
She picked up her sketching case, pushed back the cover and started thumbing through it. She pulled one sheet out. “Something like this?”
Silence fell as everyone looked at the picture of a small brig at anchor in a cove. Colette had captured it from the stern with the name clearly visible.
“That is excellent work,” Owen said, moving closer to where Colette sat. “I had no idea you were so talented.”
“Merci, Je—”
“Where and when did you do this?” Shane interrupted.
“Last week, while I was waiting for you to return,” Colette answered. “Papa and I were out driving—”
“Where?” Ian asked.
“Not far. Just past Leith.”
Robert cursed silently. To think the brig was so close to where the New Orleans was dry-docked… He hadn’t thought to start searching coves.
“She’s small,” Ian observed. “Probably less than forty feet.”
“Aye, but big enough to handle the Channel,” Shane answered.
“But where would they take her?” Colette asked.
“My guess is France,” Shane replied. “’Tis Alton’s native country. He could simply disappear with Shauna.”
“Or they might have gone to London,” Ian said. “’Tis opportunity to disappear there as well.”
“I will take the Border Lass to Calais at first light,” Shane said. “I’ve friends there who are skilled in ferreting out information. They can scour the countryside and I’ll go on to Le Havre.” He turned to Ian. “Ye and Donald take the Sea Lassie and check the English coastline. We will meet in London.”
“I will ride to London to alert Jamie,” Owen said. “I can get there quicker on horseback and I have business to attend to as well.”
“Aye,” Ian agreed. “The sooner we have everyone looking, the sooner we find Shauna.” He clenched both fists. “And we will find her.”
“And I will sail directly to Spain so Shane can thoroughly search the French coast.” Robert said and then silently cursed again. His ship still needed to be launched. “I just need one day to get the New Orleans back in the water.”
“’Tis a plan then,” Shane said.
It was a plan. Robert just hoped it would work.
The night had dragged on endlessly for Robert. He’d helped Ian and Shane provision their boats and stacked his own supplies in the foyer of the townhouse to be taken to Leith. The place finally quieted down well after midnight, but Robert got little sleep. Shauna was in danger, and each minute of inaction took her farther away. He just wished they had something definite to go on about where she was rather than just educated guesses.
Dawn finally broke, and with it, the departure of the Border Lass and Sea Lassie. Shane looked haggard and torn when he left, even though Abigail assured him she would be fine. He’d also ordered the three footmen to be armed at all times and not to let his wife out of their sight. Abigail had rolled her eyes at that, but for the first time, Robert knew how a man felt when he loved a woman and didn’t want to leave her. His epiphany at Glenfinnan had made him realize that love was what mattered. He already felt Shauna belonged at his side. When a man loved a woman, he would do anything—sacrifice anything—to keep her safe.
Completing the launch of the New Orleans took longer than he liked, but Robert knew it was foolhardy not to inspect every repair for proper sealing once the boat was in the water. He didn’t want to waste precious time on a trial run, but he’d been a captain long enough not to run the risk of having a bilge fill up with water while underway. Even though every muscle in his body screamed to set sail, he needed to let the boat sit in the water for several hours to make sure no water seeped into the compartment.
If he returned to the townhouse to wait, all he’d do is pace like a caged animal, so Robert decided he’d visit the charitable home one last time to find out if Mrs. Tate had heard anything more. Probably a futile effort, but it gave him something to do besides wear out Abigail’s carpet.
Mrs. Tate looked surprised to see him. She shook her head when he asked if she’d heard anything from Mr. Adler or Neal Austin. Not that Robert had expected any news, but he wanted to tie up every loose end.
Rogue of the High Seas Page 21