Capturing the Pirate's Heart (The Emerald Quest Book 1) (4 page)

“One more request, Francisco.”
Sébastien crossed to the window and looked out over Jackson Square with the
governor. “I have fifteen slaves on my vessel now and they are educated men. I
suspect they may be of great assistance on this last mission.” He leveled his
gaze at the man beside him. “With your permission, I would like to take them
with me on this voyage.”

“I trust your judgment.” The
governor put his hand on Sébastien’s shoulder. “I wish you a safe voyage and
pray that you will return without mishap. His eyes twinkled as he smiled. “I am
sure you will be departing for your islands soon.”

***

Her intended husband was a
short, fat man with lank hair and sour breath. When he had taken her hand in
his, it had reminded her of one of the cold, floppy fish that she and her
brother had caught in the brook below Bellerose Hall when they were children.

“I am indeed honored to take you
as my wife.” Jeremiah Benjamin’s rank breath brushed her face as he leaned in
close, and Uncle Titus frowned at Madeleine as she snatched her hand away and
stepped back. They stood in the shadows beneath a balcony of a building in a
street not far from the wharf.

“I have booked the church for
tomorrow morning and have arranged for you to conduct the ceremony, Titus.”

Her uncle nodded. “I shall
depart on the tide in the afternoon and leave you with your new wife.”

Madeleine’s stomach roiled as
Jeremiah turned to her. “I have taken the liberty of securing a room in the
town for our wedding night.”

Over my dead body.
No way would she marry this
horrid man. No way would she marry anybody.

“Uncle Titus, may I ask you for
something that is very dear to my heart?” She kept her voice meek and hurried
on as her uncle’s eyes narrowed. “Before we go back to the ship, may we take a
walk through the town and see where Great Aunt Josephine lived?”

He stared at her without
speaking for a long moment. Madeleine waited. It would be so much easier if she
knew where the house was.

“Do you think I am a fool,
Madeleine?” A shiver ran down her back as he exchanged a glance with her
intended. “I read that…that… filth that my aunt penned in that diary. I had
hoped that you had not read it.”

“Perhaps I could take Madeleine
for a stroll down to the Rue Toulouse?”

Her uncle butted in but
Madeleine stared at Jeremiah, taken aback that he knew the street that the
house was on. She narrowed her eyes as she wondered at the connection between
him and her uncle. Her uncle had obviously read and shared what had been in the
diary.

“No, that would be entirely
inappropriate.” Titus exchanged a glance with Jeremiah who cleared his throat
nervously.

“Of course, of course.” His
fleshy hand reached out for Madeleine’s hand again and she turned away. This
time she was not even going to pretend to be polite. As soon as Uncle Titus was
asleep she was going to run away. Keeping her head down, Madeleine stepped off
the edge of the porch. She let out a soft cry as she stepped straight into the
path of a tall man who was striding around the corner. He grabbed at her
shoulders as she lost her balance.

“I am so sorry, madam. I was not
watching where I was going.” His voice was deep, and heat ran up Madeline’s
neck when she looked up and caught his amused gaze. It was the man from the
boat. The one who’d fallen in the water. The man who had smiled at her, and had
made the heat run through her body.

“Madeleine.” Uncle Titus stepped
onto the road and took her arm. “Watch where you are going.” He turned to the
man with the tanned face. “I am sorry, sir.”

The man held his hand up. “No
harm done. Good day.” He caught Madeleine’s eye as she looked past Uncle Titus.
The heat ran into her face as he held her gaze a little longer. “Good day,
madam.”

They took leave as soon as the
two men had finalized arrangements to meet at the church in the morning. Uncle
Titus escorted Madeleine to the end of the street leading to the boat, but she
stopped before they turned the corner. The afternoon was quickly fading into
evening and lights were coming on in the buildings. She looked with interest
into the windows and open doorways. Everything was so bright and
colorful—nothing like the muted colors of Bellerose Hall.

“Uncle Titus?” He was striding
along ahead of her and she had to call his name a second time before he turned
around with a frown.

“What now?”

Madeleine bit back an angry
retort and tried to keep her tone civil. “How is it that Mr. Benjamin knew
where Aunt Josephine’s house was?”

“It is a small town.” He would
not meet her eye and a chill ran down her spine. Something was amiss here. “Is
Mr. Benjamin a missionary too?”

“He has a sugar plantation in
Antigua.”

 “And you think you can just
marry me off to him and abandon me in the wilds of a country far from home?”
Anger fueled Madeleine’s words. “And why him? He is a most unpleasant man.”

“Enough.” Hs voice was stern.

She pushed her anger away. There
was no point getting Uncle Titus upset but she was uneasy about the situation.
She dropped her gaze and spoke quietly. “I am sorry, Uncle. I am sure you know
what is best.”

“Indeed.” He waited for her to
pass him and Madeleine kept her head down as he walked behind her to the ship,
her thoughts crowding her head as she plotted her escape. Maybe this betrothal
could work in her favor.

If Uncle Titus thought she was
with Mr. Benjamin and her intended husband thought she was safely with her
uncle on board this ship, no one would look for her and she would be free to
find Great Aunt Josephine’s house.

It was stuffy below decks and
the air was rancid. The privy in the corner had not been attended to since they
had departed Bristol and Madeleine gagged as the stench wafted across to her.
The captain had allowed Jake to rig up a curtain of sorts to give her privacy
but it did not mask the smell. No wonder Uncle Titus was ill all of the time.
It was not sea sickness, it was the malodorous stench that came from the
excrement in the corner. She sat quietly on the edge of the bunk, her mind
darting here and there as she waited for Uncle Titus to fall asleep and begin
snoring.

After what seemed an eternity,
the soft snuffling preceded a trembling snore.

“Uncle Titus?” she whispered.

No response.

Madeleine held her breath as she
stood and crept over to his bunk.

“Uncle Titus?” She made her
voice a little louder, but still he didn’t stir. Quickly, she checked that her
reticule was firmly secured to her skirt before she gathered up her soft bag.
Madeleine took a last quick look around the cabin she had shared with her uncle
for the past thirty two nights. She crept slowly to the ladder, her breath
still held, but now more from the fear of her escape plan being thwarted than
to avoid the unpleasant smell.

She had come to a decision in
the past few hours. It was the only way she could stop her uncle from pursuing
her. Closing her eyes as she climbed the ladder, she prayed that Jake was above
deck and had not gone ashore with the rest of the crew. While she had been
waiting for her uncle to fall asleep, the clatter of eager footsteps on the
gangplank had reverberated through the cabin. Surely he would not have gone to
the taverns?

“Please be there,” she whispered
to herself. If he was gone, she would have to come up with a new plan.

She stepped from the ladder onto
the deck and all was quiet aboard the frigate. Soft voices and the occasional
laugh carried across the water from the other vessels but it appeared that most
crews had disembarked and gone into the town. Her heart was thudding in her
chest and she was sure it would be heard by anyone who was on deck. A couple of
crewmen were on the upper deck but she crouched low and stayed out of their
sight as she crept across to the wheelhouse in the center of the frigate behind
which Jake had a small bed. It had at first horrified her that he had to sleep
on the open deck, but he had told her stories of much worse conditions on other
boats. Madeleine had realized that her previous life had given her little
knowledge of the real world. She had led a very sheltered and well-loved
existence.

Her heart beat slowly and
heavily as her eyes gradually became accustomed to the dark. She had not
ventured on deck after sunset before, even when her uncle had been asleep and
snoring. Her hand flew to her mouth as a soft voice came from behind.

“Miss Madeleine? What are you
doing?”

She spun around and lowered her
hand to her chest to still her fast beating heart.

“Oh, Jake, you startled me,” she
whispered.

“Why do you have your bag? Are
you leaving tonight?” Jake looked around. The young cabin boy whose company she
had enjoyed so much and who had made the journey bearable seemed to sense her
urgency and kept his voice low. “Where is your uncle?”

Madeleine dropped her bag to the
ground and took his hands between hers. They were rough from hauling ropes and
scrubbing the decks.

“Jake, I have a considerable
request to make of you.” Despite her determination, Madeleine’s voice trembled.
“I beg you to help me.”

“You know I’ll do anything for
you, milady.” He gripped her hands between his. “I knew it. You are going to
escape from your uncle, is that so?”

Madeleine had shared her
discontent with Jake as they’d talked on the long days of the journey. She
nodded as a lump lodged in her throat and she pulled away from him and picked
up her bag.

“Tell me what you need me to
do.”

“I am going to leave the boat
and I need you to pretend I have jumped overboard.” She picked up her bag and
pushed it into Jake’s hands. “When I am safely on the wharf, I want you to
throw this bag into the water and call for help as loud as you can. Rouse Uncle
Titus and tell him I was distraught and jumped into the water.”

“Are you sure?” Jake looked down
at the bag. “What about your possessions?”

“I have everything I need sewn
into my dress and in my reticule. I have been doing that each night while he
was sleeping.”

Madeleine grabbed Jake’s
shoulders, leaned across and kissed the young man’s cheek. “I will owe you for
this. When I have found the treasure that belongs to my family, I will seek you
out and repay you.”

She waited for Jake to cross the
deck to the seaward side of the vessel and when he waved to her, she lifted her
skirts and headed for the gangplank.

“Madeleine!” Uncle Titus’ voice
bellowed from below at the same time as she heard the loud splash as Jake threw
her bag overboard. She scurried across the deck and ran down the steep timber
plank, ignoring the drop to the water on each side. Fear and determination lent
her feet wings, and she jumped to the ground, running toward the shadows of the
ship moored beside the frigate.

“Madeleine! Where are you?”

“Oh, sir.” The plaintive voice
of Jake reached her in the shadows where she stood.

“Where is she?” She could not
see Uncle Titus high on the boat but his voice was angry. “Where is that
disobedient niece of mine?”

“Oh, sir, I fear she is drowned.
She pushed by me and climbed up on the side and jumped into the river.”
Madeleine smiled as Jake’s words carried across to her. “She was wild-eyed and
crying as she climbed over the side.”

Don’t overdo it.

“Help us. You man, find a boat.
My niece is in the river.”

Madeleine looked around as a
flash of light caught her eyes. A man was walking along the wharf swinging a
lantern, and it was only a matter of seconds before the light would reach her,
showing her whereabouts to anyone who happened to glance down to the wharf. As
she turned her head the clatter of feet on the deck of the frigate gave
indication that crewmen were taking heed of her uncle and coming to the river’s
edge to search for her.

With a soft gasp, she grabbed
her skirts and ran to the gangplank of the closest vessel. Ducking her head,
she ran up the incline until she reached the deck of the unfamiliar boat. Her
mouth was dry as she heaved in a deep breath and her legs were trembling with
the fear of being discovered. If Uncle Titus found her now, he would lock her
away and she would lose any chance of escaping him and completing her quest. If
he discovered her, she may as well throw herself in the river.

Crouching down and pressing
herself against the side of the hull, Madeleine caught her breath as she looked
around. This end of the boat was in darkness, but she could hear men’s voices
to her left and a soft light shone down from the upper deck. The ruckus on the
frigate beside this boat began to grow louder and Uncle Titus’ voice was
loud—and to her amazement—it was also struck by some emotion other than anger.
She tried to ignore the shaking in his voice as it came across the water.

“Oh, dear God, you must help.
She is only a slip of a girl.”

Three loud splashes reached her
and Madeleine realized that crewmen had jumped into the river to search for
her. A pang of guilt ran through her as she worried for their safety in the
swirling muddy waters. She would never forgive herself if someone drowned in a
futile search for her. A movement on the upper deck of the boat she had boarded
caught her attention and a light bathed the deck close by her. She realized
that some crewmen from this boat were running toward the lower deck, obviously
to assist in the search.

Without thinking, Madeleine ran
for the ladder in the center of the deck which was still in darkness, praying
that those searching were still on the upper deck. As her head dipped below the
opening, a light passed by and she climbed quickly down the last few steps
before jumping soft-footed onto the smooth timber floor. She looked around. A
narrow corridor led toward three shuttered doors. It was very different to
below-deck on the frigate, which had been comprised of one large space. She and
Uncle Titus had shared their lodgings with the small amount of cargo on board
while the crew had slept in the forward hold. The light here was dim but it was
enough for her to find a temporary hiding place. More footsteps clattered above
her head and the loud voices carried down into her hiding space.

“Hurry. Quickly.”

“It’s the girl from the boat.”

“We have to find her. Come on,
man. Get the bloody lantern.”

The voices dropped and she
couldn’t hear what they were saying. Madeleine pressed herself against the
hull. Jumbled words which she couldn’t decipher until the yelling of the
searchers faded away.

 “She is the only one who
knows where the necklace is hidden. She cannot drown.” The urgent whisper made
her skin crawl but Madeleine didn’t recognize the voice.
Who could it be?
 She pressed herself hard against the timber and strained to listen but
the voices faded away.

A loud knocking on the timber
above her head was accompanied by another shout. “Hoy, wake up. A young woman
is in the river.”

A creak came from behind the
door closest to her and Madeleine gasped. The noise indicated there was someone
else below deck. They could not know she was here but she was not going to risk
it. Her heart pounded in her chest as she looked around for somewhere to hide.
A light shone through the shutters as a lamp was lit and she held her breath as
she crept softly to the other end of the short corridor. The other cabins appeared
to be in darkness and she had to take a chance that the occupants were either
sleeping—or please God—not there.

Swallowing hard, she pushed open
the door farthest from the ladder and slipped into the darkness, cocking her
head to listen for any movement or sound.

All was quiet.

Gradually her eyes became
accustomed to the dark and she looked around. The cabin was large and appeared
to follow the hull all the way along to the upper deck.

A large table in the middle of
the room was covered with pieces of parchment, but it was too dark to see what
they were. She crept silently along the outer wall, her soft-soled slippers
making no noise. At the end of the large space was a narrow opening in the
timbered hull which would hopefully give her a view of the vessel she had left.
As she made her way to the end, she looked around, searching for a hiding
place. If anyone came below deck she could hide down here until she could get
off the boat and make her way back to the wharf. A wide bed filled an alcove at
the very end of the space and Madeleine sighed with relief as she spied a
smaller bunk in a small alcove with a curtain across the front. Slowly she
pulled it back. The bunk was clear with no bedding and looked as though it was
unused. Dropping the curtain down, she made her way over to the narrow fissure
and pressed her face against it to see what was happening. Her bonnet was tight
against her head and she reached up, removed it, and then unwound the tight
braid coiled on the back of her head. She massaged her tense scalp and let out
a small sigh of pleasure as her hair tumbled free.

As soon as the activity ceased,
and the coast was clear, she would get off this boat and make her way to town.
Her first goal had been achieved. She was off the boat and away from Uncle
Titus, and that horrid man who she was supposed to marry. It had been
relatively easy. Madeleine allowed herself a small smile as she watched the
lantern lights play on the fast flowing waters of the muddy river.