Once a Scoundrel (Rogues Redeemed #3)

by Mary Jo Putney

  “I wonder if he’ll be upset by the lion.”

  “More likely, we’ll find him in the hold making friends with the ostriches or dozing on the back of one of the little donkeys. When he isn’t working, he has a talent for sleep.” Gabriel glanced at the clock mounted on the wall. “Malek and his retinue had better arrive soon. It would be ironic if, after all his pushing for greater speed, he delays our departure time.”

  “I look forward to meeting him, too, though maybe not as much as the lion,” Landers said. “Malek sounds . . . contradictory.”

  “He is. The lion is more predictable.” Gabriel frowned. “I wish I knew why he’s so compelled to go to Constantinople with his men, animals, and very marketable slaves.”

  “Surely once the ladies are aboard a British ship we can save them from slavery!” Landers said.

  “Malek’s guards are double the number of our crew and they’re more experienced fighters. Plus the young ladies are hostages for the fate of the crew of the Devon Lady. If we run off with them, those sailors will be sent to the mines or slaughtered outright. Lady Aurora would never accept that, and I suspect that’s also true for her cousin. Very honorable young ladies.”

  “Now I want to meet them even more!” Landers said with a gleam in his eyes.

  The noise out on the dock increased and Gabriel rose to look outside. Finally, Malek and his entourage were arriving. The amount of baggage didn’t look bad. As a seaman himself, Malek must remember that space was limited on a ship. “Time to go out and greet our passengers.”

  By the time he reached the main deck, Malek was stepping aboard from the gangway. Behind him were stern-faced guards with the two women in the middle of the group so there was no chance of escape. They were thoroughly veiled and wrapped in pale, fluttering robes with only a slit over their eyes. It was impossible to tell them apart.

  No. The second woman was Lady Aurora. He was sure of it even though they appeared virtually identical.

  He stepped forward and inclined his head. “Welcome aboard the Zephyr, Malek Reis. Now that you’re here, we’ll be casting off immediately.”

  “I’ll join you on the quarterdeck for the departure,” Malek said.

  Gabriel beckoned to his bosun, who was standing by. “Mr. Harris, show Malek Reis’s guards where they will be hanging their hammocks and where they can stow their belongings.” He turned to Landers. “Lady Aurora, Lady Constance, this is my first mate, Mr. Landers. He’ll escort you to your cabin.”

  Looking pleased, Landers ushered the ladies away. With everyone aboard, Gabriel gave orders to cast off, and the Zephyr sailed away into unknown seas.

  * * *

  Rory eyed Mr. Landers, an attractive young man with dark red hair. If they needed a second romantic lead, he’d do, though she might darken his hair to chestnut.

  Unaware that he was being cast in an improper novel, he smiled and said, “This way, ladies. You’re sharing a cabin. I’m sorry there isn’t space to give you each a cabin of your own.”

  “No matter, Mr. Landers,” Constance said. “We’re very used to sharing.”

  Two guards followed Rory and Constance below decks. Rory wondered how long guards would be assigned. They wouldn’t need a lot of guarding in the middle of the Mediterranean; where would they go?

  The cabin was on the starboard side with bunk beds. Storage drawers were built under the lower bunk, and there were a tiny washstand and padded storage bench under the porthole. Very compact—Mr. Landers’s head almost touched the ceiling—but it would suffice. “I imagine a couple of junior officers were evicted so we could use this cabin?” Rory asked.

  “Yes, but they were happy to let you have it,” the first mate assured them.

  One of Malek’s guards showed up with the chest that held their joint possessions. After glancing around to find space, he set it on the lower bunk, then withdrew.

  Landers evaluated the chest. “You should be able to get most of your belongings into the storage spaces here. Let me know after you’ve unpacked so the chest can be stored in the hold.”

  “Thank you,” Rory said as she impatiently pulled the door shut, closing just the three of them inside. The cabin was large enough, barely. As soon as they were private, she yanked down her veil and head covering.

  Constance did the same, shaking out her soft, dark blond hair with a sigh of relief. “If Malek thinks that we’re going to travel all the way to Constantinople trussed up like steamed puddings, he has another thing coming!”

  Landers’s admiring gaze moved from Rory to Constance. “The captain said there was a beautiful lady and her cousin, but he didn’t tell me there were two beautiful ladies. Which of you is which?”

  Constance smiled. “You’re a flatterer, Mr. Landers. I’m Constance Hollings, but no one notices me when Lady Aurora is in the room.”

  “That’s because I’m the talkative one,” Rory explained. “I’m usually called Rory rather than Aurora because I’m not good at being formal, and I sometimes roar. Constance is the true lady.”

  “I can see that she is,” Landers said, his gaze still fixed on Constance.

  Rory watched with satisfaction. This story needed another hero, and it was to Landers’s credit that he was drawn to Constance’s quiet loveliness rather than to Rory’s more flamboyant looks.

  “Rory is right, Mr. Landers. You’re a flatterer,” Constance said with sweet mischievousness. “I like that in a man.”

  Landers laughed. “It’s a real pleasure to have you aboard for this voyage, ladies. One of the drawbacks of a sailor’s life is the lack of female company. At home in America, I was raised with sisters and cousins and neighborhood girls all around me. I’ve missed that.”

  “You’re an American?” Constance asked with interest.

  “Yes, and I’m glad that the war between our countries is pretty much over. I’m from St. Michaels, a little fishing and sailing town on the Chesapeake Bay. My father is a shipbuilder now, but he and Captain Hawkins sailed together. They . . .” He stopped. “That’s a long story. I need to get topside since we’re setting off.”

  “Can we join the captain on the quarterdeck as we sail away?” Rory asked, “We really want to be sure we’re leaving!”

  “I’m sure he won’t mind,” Landers said. “As long as you don’t get in the way.”

  Rory and Constance exchanged a glance. “We’ll find our way up there after we get settled,” Rory said. “Thank you, Mr. Landers.”

  He inclined his head, then withdrew from the tiny cabin. As Constance sat on the lower bunk, Rory opened the small porthole to let fresh air in. “Good-bye, Algiers!”

  “If all goes well,” Constance said, “we’ll be back here in several weeks collecting the crew of the Devon Lady and then heading for home.”

  Rory gazed out the porthole as the Zephyr glided away from the dock. Boats of all sizes and shapes crisscrossed the wide harbor, and a babel of sounds and languages gradually faded as they moved away from the shore. “I hope so, Constance. I can’t begin to imagine what lies ahead, and I’m generally thought to have quite a good imagination.”

  “Indeed you do.” Constance cocked her head to one side. “What do you think about casting Mr. Landers as the romantic lead for Lady Lovely?”

  “I had the same thought,” Rory said. “Mentally I darkened his hair to chestnut.”

  “I think he looks fine just as he is!”

  Rory suppressed a smile. So the first mate had indeed caught Constance’s eye. Well, a shipboard flirtation with a very nice man would be pleasant after weeks in harem captivity. “Time to unpack. I’ll take the top bunk.”

  “A good thing you were a tomboy and like climbing,” Constance said as she turned and unlatched the precious chest of belongings that had traveled from England to India and now to Barbary. The clothing was out of date, but it was English. “Now to return to our proper selves!”

  * * *

  The Algerian pilot expertly guided them to the open sea, then trans
ferred to the small following pilot boat and departed. Though he hadn’t been at the helm, Gabriel had spent his time on the quarterdeck watching for potential problems. That was the captain’s job, after all.

  Malek was also nearby, gazing at the sea in stone-faced silence. Gabriel wondered how long it would be until the other man revealed the purpose of this voyage.

  A good wind was blowing so the sails were adjusted and the helmsman headed the vessel eastward. Relaxing, Gabriel turned and saw that the two ladies had been quietly standing behind him in their pale robes.

  Seeing his glance, Rory smiled saucily and peeled off her Arabic robes and headdress, then tossed them behind her. The wind caught the fabric and the garments fluttered over the deck before hitting the taffrail. Dressed in an apricot-colored gown and with her hair pinned up, she looked like herself again. Like a European lady.

  Her companion did the same, revealing a soft green gown. Constance Hollings was a remarkably pretty girl with a sweet face and a distinct resemblance to her cousin Rory.

  Gabriel smiled at them. “You two look like the sun and the moon. Welcome to the Zephyr. I hope your quarters are satisfactory?”

  “Entirely,” Rory assured him.

  Malek turned with a frown. “You are my captives and should be properly robed!”

  Gabriel said mildly, “But they are on an English ship and surely they have a right to dress as Englishwomen. They will behave equally well no matter how they’re garbed.”

  “Or equally badly,” Rory said cheerfully.

  Malek growled. He was not a man who appreciated defiance. Gabriel said, “Let me show you to your quarters, Malek Reis.”

  “I trust you gave me the captain’s cabin?”

  “Not exactly.” Gabriel beckoned and Malek followed him from the quarterdeck, then into the captain’s cabin, which ran the width of the ship’s stern.

  When Gabriel opened the door to his quarters, he said, “No one displaces me from my own bed, but in deference to your rank, I had the ship’s carpenters erect bulkheads to divide the space. My bed is on the starboard side, a room has been created for you on the port side, and we can share the area and the cannons in the middle.”

  Malek opened the door to the portside cabin, which was compact but nicely furnished. “This will do,” he said grudgingly.

  “It will have to. This is the best my ship has to offer.” Gabriel hesitated, but now that they were on the open sea, it was time to ask the question. “Malek, it’s time to tell me why you’re undertaking this voyage. What demons are driving you?”

  Chapter 8

  At Gabriel’s question, Malek swung around, his dark eyes blazing with rage and menace. “Damn you, Hawkins!”

  “I’ve already been pretty thoroughly damned,” Gabriel said dryly. He’d given up being intimidated by other men after his grandfather had disowned him. “You’re very different from the man I once knew. All humor and humanity has been burned away by anger. Why did you return to the corsair trade when you swore you were giving it up forever? Why are you making this journey the length of the Mediterranean with men and beasts aboard? Whatever the problem is, I can be more useful if I know your purpose.”

  Malek’s anger ebbed away and his expression became despairing. “Damned noticing, prying Englishman,” he said, but the heat was gone from his voice.

  “My ship and my crew are at risk on this voyage and I don’t even know what the dangers are,” Gabriel said quietly. “Don’t I deserve to know, for the sake of everyone on board? Even your damned lion that wants to kill everyone who comes near it.”

  “Ghazi is a reflection of me because I want to kill everyone, too.” For a moment, Malek showed a trace of the humor he’d once had. Then he stalked over to the small windows that were set across the stern of the ship, his tense gaze on the sea.

  “My wife and children,” he said abruptly. “A thrice-cursed son of a dog in Constantinople has them.”

  Gabriel sucked in his breath, understanding how this horror lay under all of Malek’s actions and the changes in his behavior. “I didn’t know you had a family.”

  “I didn’t take a wife until after you had left Barbary. My Damla is . . . lovely as a gazelle. Wellborn, well educated, a pearl beyond price. She told her father that she would not wed unless she could meet her proposed husband face-to-face, with the right to refuse if he did not appeal to her. But when we met . . .” His voice softened. “We both knew within a heartbeat.”

  Gabriel thought of the lightning-struck moment when he had first seen Rory, though unfortunately she was not being presented to him as a possible bride. “You were blessed,” he said with matching softness. “And blessed also with children?”

  “My son, Kadir, a little man with the soul of a warrior. And a small girl child, Meryem, who is the joy of our lives.” Pain was palpable in his voice

  “How were they lost to you?”

  “Damla’s father, Qasim, came to Algiers as an official from Constantinople. He made a life here, took an Algerian wife. They had only the one child, Damla. His wife had died and he’d not seen his family in Constantinople for many years, so when he received word that his mother’s health was failing, he wished to take his daughter and grandchildren to meet her before it was too late. I planned to go with them, but at the last minute some important business came up and I was unable to leave. I intended to follow a week or two later. There seemed no harm in their going without me.”

  “They were abducted somewhere along the way?”

  Malek nodded. “Do you remember my cousin Gürkan?”

  “Yes, and I have the scars to prove it,” Gabriel said. “Did he decide that taking your family was the best path to revenge?”

  “Exactly. After his disaster in Algiers, he acquired new corsair galleys.”

  “Bought in blood?”

  “What else would that foul swine do? He established a home in Constantinople, but he sailed his galleys out of Tripoli and kept spies in Algiers. When he learned of my family’s journey, he stalked them with his swiftest corsair ship and captured them at sea.” Malek’s voice roughened. “If only I had been there to defend them!”

  “If you were there, you’d surely be dead and perhaps your family with you,” Gabriel pointed out. “Since you were his target and you were not there, he must have realized your wife and children had value as hostages. From what I remember of Gürkan, he would never waste anything of value.”

  “I pray that is so.” Malek’s voice was tight. “Shortly after Gürkan captured them, I received a letter from Damla describing what had happened. It was written in her own hand so I know she and the children survived the attack. Her father fought to protect them, but he was killed. He was a gentle man, a scholar. Brave, but he was no warrior.”

  “While you are, but one man could not defeat a ship full of murderous corsairs.”

  “I would have tried.” Malek’s voice was barely a whisper.

  And died in the attempt. Being English and pragmatic, Gabriel preferred to survive and find some way to defeat the enemy at a later time. “So you needed that outrageous ransom in order to free your family?”

  “Gürkan chose an amount that he knew was beyond my power to pay. So I returned to the corsair trade to raise more. I hoped Lady Aurora’s ransom would give me enough, but it didn’t, and I took no other prisoners with such value.”

  Gabriel’s brow furrowed. “Will the rare animals make up the difference?”

  “I hope so. Gürkan likes novelty.” Malek swallowed. “I created the zoo for the children. Visiting the animals in the cool evening was one of our great family pleasures.”

  Gabriel thought of a small boy and a smaller girl happily playing with the donkeys and tiny goats. A child’s delight. “I’ll do what I can to help you get your family safely back.”

  “I believe you will try. But make no mistake, Hawkins.” Malek returned to staring out the window. “If necessary to save my family, I will sell the English ladies into harems and see you and
your crew dead on a blood-soaked deck.”

  Melodramatic but sincere. “Let us hope it doesn’t come to that.”

  Malek made an odd sound that was almost a chuckle. “Such appalling English calm. Does nothing perturb you?”

  “Very little.” Because Gabriel had been numbed by losing so much when he was young, he’d lost the habit of railing at fate. “Calm is less tiring than anger, and it has the benefit of annoying others.”

  Malek gave a bark of laughter. “Indeed it does.”

  “To return to business, your goal is clear—to rescue your family and take them home whatever the price. Mine is to help you succeed, and for me and my ship and crew to get home safely.” Privately he included Rory, Constance, and the crew of the Devon Lady in that number, but he didn’t say that aloud. There was enough tension in the atmosphere already.

  Malek said brusquely, “The ship must be turned toward Mecca five times a day when we pray.”

  Gabriel suspected that Malek was making the demand as a way to feel he was in control of something when, in more important ways, he was helpless. “That can be done, but it will cost the Zephyr sailing time at every prayer. We’ll reach Constantinople a day or two sooner if we sail on and use a compass to point to Mecca.”

  Malek frowned, then said grudgingly. “I suppose it is best to use the compass.”

  “It shall be done. When is the next hour of prayer?”

  “My muezzin will give the call in about half an hour.”

  “I’ll talk to the deck crew so they can prepare. Now I’ll leave you to settle into your cabin.” Gabriel inclined his head, then headed out.

  Just what his ship needed: two angry lions aboard.

  * * *

  Restless on her first night in a new place, especially since she and Constance were packed in like sheets in a linen press, Rory quietly descended from her top bunk, where she’d been dozing in her shift. She pulled on her simplest gown in the darkness, wrapped a shawl around her shoulders, and slipped out of the cabin. Luckily Constance was a sound sleeper.