Swept to Sea (22 page)

"She certainly is a beautiful woman, Caspian. I don’t blame you for missing her," Gage offered.

"It is not just that, Gage. Well, from the beginning, I was attracted to her. What man wouldn’t be? As you admitted, she is quite beautiful. But I love her. I am certain of it. I cannot lose her. Not like this. Not now. Not when…"

Caspian whirled around suddenly and leapt up to the main deck, interrupting his own sentence. Gage followed right behind, concerned at how distressed his captain seemed.

Hawthorne was sitting on the main deck when they arrived there.

"Hawthorne!" Caspian bellowed, his face already an angry shade of red before even getting a response from the unfortunate night watchman.

"Aye, Cap'n!" The poor man leapt up onto his feet in a flash, startled, and backed away.

Gage knew Hawthorne could tell Caspian’s despair had turned into fury in the blink of an eye. Any shrewd crew member knew the telltale signs: clenched fists and jaw, and a reddened face. Sadly, the crew saw them far too often for Gage’s liking. But this wasn’t just anger. Concern was mixed in, as well.

"Quit your cowering, man, and step forward already. I thought I recruited
men
to work in my crew, not a bunch of milksops,” barked Caspian.

"Aye, Cap’n. My apologies." Hawthorne gulped and stepped forward ever so slightly, lowering his head.

"Did you see in which direction the ship you failed to warn me about sailed?"

"It looked t’ be goin' back east some points, Cap'n."

"Thank you, sir. You will receive your punishment for sleeping while on your shift later."

****

Aimee sat perched on the ledge by the porthole, watching the sun set. It cast hues of crimson, coral, and canary-yellow across the sea. A knock sounded on the door.

"Who is it?" She called pleasantly.

"'Tis Captain Emery, milady."

Letting out a long, exasperated breath, she rose and opened the thick oak slab. "What is it you want, sir?" She could not help how harsh her voice came out. Besides, she did not care.

A hard sheen covered his eyes — those eyes that would be such a beautiful shade of midnight blue if they had belonged to anyone but this conceited little man. "I came to escort you to dinner, princess. Unless, of course, you want to go without your meals from now on. I, for one, must say that I wouldn’t care if you chose to do so."

She gave him a venomous glare. How dare the man call her a princess? Captain Emery had no idea of anything about her. He had come to horrible conclusions that had nothing to do with her real self. But what could she do to stop him? There was nothing she could think of. "Where, pray tell, is Ivy? I have not seen her lately." Aimee peered over his shoulder, wondering if her friend was there.

"I met Lady Shaw on the deck. She is already in my cabin. Now, if you would just allow me to escort you to dinner…" He held out his bent elbow, obviously intending for her to put her hand inside of it.

She did not.

"Nay." She threw a hand to her forehead only somewhat melodramatically. "I fear I have developed a sudden headache, Captain Emery. I will dine alone in here, if you please. One of your men can bring me my meal, if he would be so kind."

"You always manage to obtain a headache when you are in my presence. Forgive me for being such a nuisance to your health. As I have learned, everything revolves around you, and I would hate to disrupt that for you. Ivy has informed me you are in absolute perfect health whenever I am not around,” he replied dryly.

Without a single word of farewell, the grumpy man spun on his heel and hustled out of the room, slamming the heavy door behind him in a rather childish manner.

****

"All hands on deck! Immediately!" Caspian cried, stomping across the forecastle deck. He listened as Gage parroted his order to the crew.

Caspian moved to the helmsman. "Smithson, turn her hard to larboard. Now!”

"Aye, Cap'n. Hard to larboard."

Caspian moved away from the helm to see that his crew had appeared on the main deck, grumbling, but there. He supposed it would be better than nothing. They had a precious lady to rescue.

"Unfurl all top-gallants, men! Get to work! I want every inch of canvas spread! We haven't a minute to spare!" Both anger and urgency surged through Caspian's veins. He had a feeling he knew exactly who had stolen his priceless Eden. Once he found this Lord Rutger, he vowed to kill the knave. What kind of man would attack a woman like he did — a young, sweet, loving, gentle, innocent girl — and then have the audacity to track her down and kidnap her after she had risked her life to escape him? Why could the man not just leave her be and let her start a new life in the colonies? The dear woman never seemed to ask much of anybody. Why could she not be granted one simple request?

He tried with all his might to pray for Eden's safety, but he was not sure he knew how to appeal to the Almighty. Would the Lord even listen to his battered attempt at a prayer? Caspian had never been good with words.

It had been a long while since Caspian had even thought about talking to his heavenly Father, but he knew he had to start somewhere in order to find Eden, for he finally realized he never had any hope of doing it on his own.

Chapter Nineteen

Eden realized she must have finally fallen asleep that night for she woke when sunlight began sprinkling in through a porthole, just as Rutger came staggering into the cabin.

"Ah, there’s my pretty, young bride. I have been searching for you all around the
sh-ship
. Are you ready for our wedding ceremony?" His voice was slurred drunkenly.

A stab of guilt shot through her heart. She had obviously angered Lord Rutger into overindulging in drink. No matter how horrible a man he was to begin with, she did not like to think she could do something like that to a man.

“Here is your dress for our wedding. I brought it along for you. It used to belong to my second mother, Countess Althea Rutger. Change into it, and then prepare to say your vows.” He pulled an elegant dress out of a cedar chest in the far end of the cabin, stumbling as the ship rocked over a wave. The gown was a rich lavender taffeta embellished with white lace and beads and held out with layers of petticoats. It would have been a pretty dress on any other occasion, but a wave of nausea struck her at the sight of it.

She could not make herself put the dress on.

She could not physically do it.

Eden ran her hand over the smooth fabric and then took a deep breath. “No, I cannot wear that dress. Please, no—“

Her voice was cut off by Rutger’s fist slamming into her jaw. She could not stifle her raw cry of pain. Ever since he had found her, Rutger had taken to beating her in more obvious places. He probably thought it did not matter if he made marks on her face anymore, since she had no way of escaping him now.

“You can, and you
will
wear this dress, even if I have to strip you and dress you in it myself. If you don’t hurry about it, I will be doing it for you quite soon, my little flower.”

“What have I ever done to make you treat me so? Do you truly want to spend the rest of your life with a woman who hates you? Please, Clive, I do not want to do this. I cannot do this,” she sobbed at him, trying to plead to some inner decency that she knew could no longer exist inside the man.

"You were
promissed
to me, and I will finally have you, woman. Do not think that your weak, pathetic
liess
will help you in any way. You will not leave me like you did before. No, you will become my wife, and we will be together until our last days.
Trusst
me, my little flower. You will grow to love me in time, like I love you. You
jusst
have to learn to love me. Besides, I will never
ss-strike
you again if you will only obey me like I ask of you. A wife must learn to be obedient. But no matter. When you
off-officially
pledge your life to mine, you will be vowing to obey your husband. You won’t have to worry about me
s-striking
you if only you will be the wife you ought to be.

“Now, my flower, you will change your dress and join me on the main deck for our wedding." He stumbled toward her. “Come now, Eden. Do not fight me, and you will find I will make you quite the happy woman.”

He paused, studying her. She knew he could tell she recoiled in disgust from him. Maybe he was right. If she was a little more agreeable toward him, maybe he would be kinder, and her life would not be filled with endless beatings. But she could never love him. There was no way she could ever love a man who beat her and constantly insulted her character. No, she could never even think about loving a man other than Caspian.

"Ah, but you like your captain, don't you? Is that what you were thinking about? I knew there was something going on between you and that man. Well, if you do not marry me, I shall have to report your captain to the authorities. He shall be tried and found guilty of piracy. Ah, yes, it would be quite satisfying to see his carcass hanging. Besides, I am sure you will see soon enough that I am much better of a man than he could ever be." Clive leaned forward, tugging a strand of hair out of her eyes. His breath reeked of wine.

She remained still. "You would not. Besides, they would never believe you. There is no reason to. I am so sorry to foil your wicked plot, but Captain Archer is a privateer, not a pirate." She raised her chin and stood up to her full, intimidating stature of five-foot-three. It did not seem to have the intended effect.

"They will believe a nobleman's word before a privateer's any day, my flower. Who would have the insanity to believe a glorified pirate? Marry me, unless you wish to see your precious captain hanging." His hands gripped her waist so tightly, she had no hope of breaking the bond.

"Maybe they would believe a nobleman over a privateer, you are correct — that is, a nobleman by birth, not a peasant by birth, like you." Eden felt horrible speaking like a spoiled, wealthy girl, but she would not let the man stand by and say such things about Caspian.

"Why you lying, conniving little witch! How dare you speak of such things?" He struck her across the chest with his arm so hard she was sent flying, and all the air was forced out of her lungs. She hit the floor with a dull
thud
.

****

"A sail, Cap'n, a sail!" Sults climbed down from his position in the crow’s nest with all of the skill of a monkey.

"Where away, Sults?" Caspian inquired, squinting off at the horizon.

"Three points off our starboard bow, Captain."

"Johnson, steer her three points to starboard!"

"Aye, Cap’n. Three points to starboard," the stout man parroted, wiping his forehead with a bandana that was tied about his wrist.

They were approaching the ship. Gaining on it.

A fresh sense of anxiety swept through Caspian. He would not fail this time. He would save the woman he loved.

He gazed at the ship through his telescope. What was that flicker of white on the faraway deck? A high-pitched voice was muffled by the still great distance. There was no doubt it was a female voice. Eden? Could it be?

"Man the swivel guns!" he shouted.

Caspian strained his eyes for a glimpse of his Eden. She had to be aboard that ship. He somehow knew it, deep inside.

"She is nearly within our range, now, Captain," Gage reported.

"Perfect. Tell Mitchell to aim for her gun deck. I do not want any flesh wounds. My intention is only to disarm them at the moment. Be watchful, however, because I may change my mind after a while."

"Aye, Captain." Gage relayed the orders to Mitchell, Caspian's master gunner.

The ship shook as the cannons fired. He anxiously waited for the thick smoke he had become accustomed to smelling to clear so he could see the damage that had been done.

****

Thirty minutes later, after recovering from the tumble she had taken on account of her fiancé, Eden stood on the main deck of the ship Lord Rutger had hired to find her. Her body ached all over from the beating Lord Rutger had doled out last night. It was a familiar ache, one she had come to know too well in the past few months.

Please, God. Please save me from this somehow.

Rubbing her bruised ribs gingerly, Eden glanced up at the sky. Pink and orange tinted clouds soared high above her. Dawn was breaking. A smile spread across her face when she remembered a blissful day only a week or so ago. Caspian had roused her early and persuaded her to watch the sun rise with him. She had come to truly enjoy the mornings at sea. Except for this one, of course.

She snorted when she remembered the first time Caspian had woken her early in the morning. In all reality, she had been quite rude to him. Her mind shifted back to the morning they had spent watching the sun rise together. He had wrapped his strong arms around her, and held her tight. She had felt so safe and protected it was almost unbelievable. It was most improper, really, to feel completely and utterly safe in the arms of a rogue. Then again, nothing at all was proper about her Caspian… how he dressed, how he kissed her, the way he stared at her all the time, how she felt about him deep inside…

For goodness' sake, he was a
pirate
. How on earth
could
he be proper? Yet, she realized that was one reason why she had grown to love him. She hated society’s idea of proper gentlemen. The lot of them were far too shallow. Lord Clive Rutger in particular.

Thunder shook her back to reality. Lightning knifed across a sky that was darkening by the moment. She felt the flash as if it had sliced straight through her heart. Lord Rutger grabbed her hand, gripping it tightly, and the man in front of them began the ceremony. He still smelled of wine, but he had seemed to gather himself in the last hour. His words were no longer slurred, and he stood more steadily.

Was it wrong of her to pray for lightning to strike a man?

Eden squeezed her eyes shut against the onslaught of tears that threatened to shatter the brave façade she had stubbornly built. She had done all that was within her power to escape this beast. And now she would be his wife. A shiver creaked through her body. What a great way to end things.