Hart's Desire (Pirates & Petticoats Book 1) (32 page)

Oh my wee lass is a fine young lass held in high regard,

Her bannocks made with flour ’n lard…

Big as me cock…and just as hard!

They burst into bawdy laughter and stumbled past the first warehouse with no incident. However, just as they passed the doors to the second building, a wide bulk blocked their path.
 

“Hey there, mates. Where’re ye headin’?”

Landon and Conal halted, each swaying slightly.

“Why, we be headin’ to Miz LeBlanc’s housh, my big man,” Conal slurred. “Gonna bed me a strong Irish lash wi’ the biggest tits in Charson. Char-lesson.” He shook his head numbly. “Town,” he finally stated firmly.

Landon thrust the bottle at the burly guard. “Ha’ yersef a taste and join us, man.” He jiggled the bottle enticingly. “But we git firs’ choice of the wenches, since it’s our idea.”

The man frowned and shook his head. “Ye couple of drunken sots can’t find yer way to a tit if ye was locked in a room full of nanny goats. Madame LeBlanc’s be two blocks west of here.”

“Two more blocks, ye say? Wish way is west?” Landon scowled and squinted over the tar’s shoulder. The windows were covered but he could see a sliver of light through the side of one of them and a bright red bolt of silk. His silk, he’d wager.

Conal made an exaggerated turn toward his friend. “Did not the wench say one street north and two streets east?” he said with arms crossed and fingers jutting into the air, pointing in two different directions.

“Aye. She said two streets south and three streets east,” Landon bobbed his head, then staggered a couple dizzy steps sideways.

“Ha’ we been goin’ east or wes’?”
 

The warehouse guard rolled his eyes. “Listen lads," he said impatiently, pointing back up the alley. “Turn yer arses around and go two streets that way and turn left.” He waved his left arm and pointed. “Madam LeBlanc’s be the white house with the red front door. Ye can’t miss it.”

“Two up then left ye say?” Landon repeated, blinking.

“Yes, man. LEFT. Turn LEFT.” The sentry confirmed in an exasperated tone as he batted his hand to the left yet again.

Conal brightened. “Oh, well then. It’s not sa far from here. We thank ye verra mush, me good man.” He clapped the man on the back and nearly fell down.

Landon made a show of helping Conal regain his balance then wrapped his arm over his friend’s shoulders and spun him around. “Let’s be off then. Ahead and to the lef’!”
 

“The left!”

Conal thumped Landon on the back and pointed up the street. “To the wenches!”

“The wenches!”

The two men staggered a few steps before pivoting around again to face the surly guard.

“Ye sure ye won’t join us for a romp?” Conal shouted, although he was barely more than ten feet away.

The man gave a wave and shook his head. “Nay lads, I’m workin’ this night. Have a warehouse full of goods to guard.” He pulled aside his vest to show the handle of a pistol sticking out of his waistband. “Ye go on.”

“Suit yershelf,” Landon slurred. The two men swung back around and shuffled away.
 

The guard chuckled as the drunkards staggered down the alley and paused a moment before making a right turn. Leaning against the warehouse door he gave a dry laugh, shaking his head. “Ye’ll not lay a lass this night, lads.”

Chapter Two

Keelan Grey stood at the foot of the grave, gazing at the sharply chiseled marks on the stone without really seeing them. This afternoon, they’d buried Papa in the Circular Congregational Church cemetery on Meeting Street. The strange illness the had consumed him over the past year finally took him the night of her cousin’s ball…the night Landon had professed his love…the night he asked her to marry him. Strange that one evening could be both the best night and worst night of her life.

 
Just before Papa died, he’d made a confession that tossed her life upside-down. He’d planted the seed of a question in her mind and then demanded of her a promise she’d vowed to keep. What would Landon think of it all?
 

Aunt Sarah patted her shoulder. “Keelan, please walk with us,” she prodded in a quiet voice. “Your uncle has arranged a luncheon at Rosewood’s boarding house.”

“I’m just not hungry now, Aunt Sarah,” Keelan responded, giving her aunt a small smile. “I need a few moments alone, then I’ll return to the town house.”

And gather my things and go.

The afternoon sun was obscured by a layer of gray which threatened rain. Aunt Sarah seemed to hesitate a moment. The older woman glanced around. Was she worried that Captain Hart would appear from behind one of the large oaks lining the cemetery? Or that Dr. Garrison would show up and cause a scene?

He aunt had good reason to worry about both. Keelan had been entangled in two very scandalous events, one involving Captain Landon Hart and the other involving…Captain Landon Hart. First, there was an outing without a chaperone, then there was a kiss in the garden resulting in a broken engagement with Dr. Garrison, who’d taken the news badly and she couldn’t blame him.
 

 
Although wildly handsome and devilishly charming, Landon Hart was everything her mother had warned her about ‘men of the sea’…men who could seduce a woman with a look and leave her the following day, off to the next port, the next woman, the next adventure. Keelan understood this; she’d watched as her mother became bitter and lonely while Papa had been away sailing with the Royal Navy.
 

She didn’t want to live her mother’s life, married to a man who’s mistress was the sea, therefore, she’d reluctantly accepted a marriage proposal from Papa’s physician, Dr. Everett Garrison a few days before her cousin’s ball.

Dr. Garrison was a quiet, practical man with a quiet, practical life.

Still, her heart and body had wanted Landon Hart. If Papa hadn’t died that night, she’d have run away with him the moment he asked her to marry him instead of the doctor. Her uncle and aunt wouldn’t approve of her marriage to Hart, which is why she hadn’t told them their plans.

Aunt Sarah fidgeted with her bonnet ribbon a moment and then finally said, “Don’t be too long, dear. I’ll ask Slaney and Daniel to wait for you. You shouldn’t walk home alone.”

“Thank you, Aunt Sarah.” They were always vigilant. An assassin had murdered her mother and Papa’s brother and his family. No one knew if the assassin would come to Charleston, or even why her family was targeted. She suspected it had to do with Papa’s court marshal. He’d fired on the wrong ship; it sank killing innocent passengers.

After a word from her aunt, Keelan’s maid paused and sat on a bench near the far edge of the cemetery to wait. Daniel, her father’s valet, joined her.

Daniel had been Papa’s valet when he was home, and her tutor when Papa was at sea. He taught her not only to read, write and mathematics, but also self defense. She was quite proud of her skills with a blade. She had Daniel to thank for that.

They’d arrived yesterday from Twin Pines. After making a trip to the pier and back, Daniel had informed her Landon Hart’s ship, the
Desire
, was flying the blue flag signaling it was ready to depart.
 

He was waiting for her.

Daniel looked up as she stopped beside him and he rose to his feet. He held out a hand for the maid, Slaney, and she took it, allowing him to help her rise to her feet.

“It’s hard to believe he’s gone.”

“Yes, mistress. I know you’ll miss him. As will I,” Daniel said in a low soft voice.

“We all will,” Slaney added.

“What will you both do now?” Keelan asked. Slaney and Daniel had been like family to her since she was small. With Papa at sea most of the time and her mother in Chatham, running their shop, Daniel and Slaney had practically raised her.
 

“We’ll fulfill our obligation to the commodore and see you safely back to the country cottage in England, as promised,” Daniel said. “Unless you have decided to remain here, instead.”
 

 
“No,” she interrupted. “I have no wish to remain on the plantation. You heard what Papa said. He’s left me nothing. His entire estate has gone to Uncle Jared. I no longer have Twin Pines as my dowry.” She wasn’t angry or upset at this sudden turn of events. In fact it was a relief.
 

She had other plans that involved Captain Hart, a wedding and a ship.

Daniel peered at her. “By removing you from his will, the commodore thought he was forcing you to act on his request to find your real father.”

 
Although truly, it was unnecessary; her curiosity and longing to know who she was and where she came from would have driven her to search for the man anyway. But Papa hadn’t known that. He hadn’t really known her well at all.

“I made a promise to find him, and I will.”
 

“Then Daniel and I will be ready to join ye,” Slaney said. “Yer like a daughter to us both. We’ll not leave ye unless ye wish it.” She looped her arm through Keelan’s and gave her a knowing look.

Slaney’s words tugged her heart. “Thank you, Slaney. I can only hope that the contents in the trunk Papa told us about will help my cause and not hinder it.” She looked up at the valet. “You heard what he said. My mother and that man…”

Daniel’s eyes softened.“Yes, I heard. But the commodore said the man, your real father, would
want
to know about you.”

She sighed, her heart and head in turmoil. It’s rare that a bastard child is ever welcomed into a household. The scorn of her sire’s wife might be more than she could take.
 

Slaney peered at her closely. “But what about Captain Hart? I know ye fancy the man. Will ye leave him behind?”

She chewed her lip. How much should she tell them? It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them. Her life was in such tumult right now; how much she should burden them?

“What about Dr. Garrison?” Daniel asked, looking back and forth between Slaney and her, a perplexed look on his face.

She sighed. She might as well tell them everything. “I don’t plan to marry Dr. Garrison. Without Twin Pines as a dowry, I’m sure the doctor’s interest in me will have soon waned even if I wasn’t born on the other side of the blanket.”
 

Daniel’s voice carried a note of relief. “Begging your pardon, Mistress but I’ve never really cared much for the man. He has a dark air about him sometimes; makes me wonder if he’s hiding something.”

She gave him a quick glance, thinking about the doctor’s uncharacteristic behavior toward her the night the commodore died. “I have had the same concerns, especially recently. And sometimes I wonder…” A thick foreboding seeped into her thoughts.
 

“I remember your mother’s funeral when Dr. Garrison introduced himself. The commodore had been grieved but robust, then.” Daniel jingled a couple coins in his pocket and stared pensively at his shoes.

The shame of Papa’s court marshal always lingered about Papa’s countenance adding to his depressed state but Daniel was right. He hadn’t been ill back then, only sad. He and Dr. Garrison became friends and spent many hours together, engaging in various activities to distract Papa from his grief, but still it consumed him. He ate less and lost weight. He slept more and became sickly.

On the journey to America, Dr. Garrison suggested Papa regularly take a medication that was to help him regain his appetite and good health. A shudder skittered across her shoulders. She met Daniel’s gaze. “I’ve been wondering if he might be responsible for Papa’s sickness. Perhaps he recommended the wrong medicine, or made the wrong diagnosis.”

Daniel was silent a moment. “It’s possible he made a mistake.”

“Either way, I won’t marry him. I plan to wed Captain Hart instead,” she finally said. “He asked me to marry him and sail with him aboard the
Desire,
and I’ve agreed to join him.”

A startled look flashed across the valet’s face, but he recovered quickly. “Is that something which appeals to you?”

Slaney just smiled. It truly was impossible to hide anything from Slaney.

“Very much.” Keelan plucked at a loose button on her cuff. “In light of recent events, I wonder if his offer will stand,” she murmured. What if it didn’t? What if he wouldn’t want to marry someone’s bastard?

Daniel smiled down at her. “Captain Hart doesn’t seem to be the type of man to let anything like this dictate his actions. If he changes his mind, we’ll simply book passage on the next passenger ship heading north, if you wish to do so.”

Slaney harrumphed. “Well, a choice like that would brand him a fool, I says.”

She swallowed. Daniel made it seem like the decision had no real significance one way or the other but it wouldn’t be that easy for her.
 

Sailing away with Landon had been the only thing that kept her own shadow of grief from blanketing her in darkness over the past two days. Also during that time, a niggling fear had been swirling in the back of her mind as well. Given her current requirements, would he assist her? Would he want any part of her quest to find her true father?

“I’m glad you’ll both be with me. It gives me comfort knowing I’ll not have to make the journey on my own should things change between me and Captain Hart.”
 

“We wouldn’t ever leave ye at a time like this, Mistress. We’ll help ye find yer Da,” Slaney squeezed her arm.

“First, we must gather our things and take them to Captain Hart’s ship. The blue flag means he’s ready to leave port.” With fresh eyes, she took in the ocean in the distance and the infinite blue of the South Carolina sky. “We don’t have much time to pack our trunks, hire a livery and leave before Uncle Jared and Aunt Sarah return home from the luncheon.” Uncle Jared would try and stop them. He wanted her to marry and stay in Charleston. He certainly wouldn’t approve of her eloping with Landon Hart.

Daniel nodded his agreement. “I’ll arrange for transportation to the
Desire
while you and Slaney have the trunks brought down.”
 

“It shouldna’ take long,” Slaney said. “I haven’t unpacked much yet, seein’ how we only just arrived in town yesterday.”