and gritty, but Smokey didn't know when anything had tasted
so wonderful. After she'd taken a few sips, she looked over to
see that the other woman had at least picked up her cup.
"What's your name?" Smokey asked her.
"Aggie."
"Why are you in here?" Smokey asked around a mouthful
of bread Again the older prisoner laughed.
"Now I can really tell that yer new to this. There's two
things ya don't ask down 'ere--the first is why yer 'ere, and the
second is if yer deserve to be."
"Oh" was all Smokey could think to say as she tried to eat
slowly.
"You're an American?" Aggie asked, although it was more
a statement than a question.
"Yes" was all Smokey said.
They fell silent after this small exchange, both now working
on the food Smokey was nearly done with her bread when
220
*D
she thought she should save some for later. She didn't want to 1
think about the next two days, but forcing herself to do so, she
reached to put the small crust into the pocket of her tunic
"Don't do it," Aggie said, making Smokey aware of the fact
that she'd been watching her. "Eats it all, or the rats'll come
lookin' for it."
Smokey's breath left her in a rush, and she couldn't stop
the shudder that ran over her frame as her eyes searched the
dark corners of the cell and cavern. She took the bread back
out and, after eating it, finished her gruel as well.
The older prisoner went back to sleep as soon as she was
done, but Smokey only sat on her pallet, a new shudder
running over her frame every time she thought of Aggie's
words.
ever seen. The landscape was perfect, ana ooin manual Run* Dallas thought they could have used their imaginations and
been in any number of small villages in Italy.
The front door was opened without hesitation, and both
men were greatly encouraged to at least gain entrance to the
grand home. Only seconds passed, however, before their
hopes were dashed.
"Lord Lynne is not here at the moment," a stuffy butler
informed them, looking down the length of his long, well-shaped
nose.
"Can you tell us where he might be?" Dallas questioned
politely, just barely holding his temper at being treated like a
commoner.
"I'm sorry," the man began, not sounding sorry at all.
Before he could go on, a petite but lovely woman appeared on
the stairs behind Brandon and Dallas. They turned when she
spoke in perfect Italian to the servant.
Brandon, who was fluent in French and German, caught a
smattering of her words, but missed whether she was pleased
or angry over their presence. She stared at them a momenf
before moving down to the floor, across the entryway, and
222
into an adjoining room. The butler motioned to the men to
join her.
Once inside, the room proved to be a somewhat neglected
library. Brandon held every one of the myriad questions running
through his mind. He assumed the woman would need
an interpreter before they could communicate, but only a
moment passed before she put that wrong assumption to rest.
"I wish to know your names, gentlemen," she spoke in
English, her accent very subtle.
The men supplied her with the information before she
took a seat and asked them to join her. They did so cautiously,
thinking this situation felt a little more bizarre with every
passing moment.
"I am Lady Constanza Lynne. Mario tells me you were
inquiring about my husband"
Brandon's face showed his shock, and Lady Lynne smiled
with a bitter twist to her mouth.
"I can see, Lord Hawkesbury, that you have listened to the
rumors around London--that I am a bedridden termagant. As
you see for yourself, I am not bedridden, and as for the charge
of shrew, let us just say that at times I have cause."
"Please excuse my behavior, Lady Lynne/' he apologized
immediately. "We are looking for your husband Can you help
us find him?"
"Why do you wish to see him?"
Brandon answered without hesitation. "He was arrested
just days ago for piracy and has since then been freed An
American woman, a friend of mine, has now been arrested for
the same charge. I wish to question your husband myself as to
whether or not he had a hand in the matter."
"This woman--she is accused unjustly?"
"Yes, she is."
The regret they saw in her eyes was very real.
"I wish you would tell me everything."
Brandon hesitated then, knowing he could not sugarcoat
the truth in any way and wondering if that was fair to her.
223
"Please," Lady Lynne beseeched him softly when she saw
his reluctance.
Brandon nodded and began. He explained the pirating of
his own ships and how he had come to meet Smokey. Dallas
took over whenever the story moved to the seas and shared
his knowledge of Smokey's capture. Brandon recounted a few
details of the case he was building and also informed her in
no uncertain terms that her husband would answer to the
charges.
Constanza listened without comment. Neither man had
spared details, and even though they were both calm, she
could see that the woman, this American sea captain, meant a
great deal to them.
"This Captain Simmons--you say my husband abducted
her?"
"That is right," Dallas told her.
"Is she all right?" the woman asked with genuine concern.
Both men were amazed that she didn't seem to doubt a single
one of the allegations against her husband
"When we saw her last, yes, she was well, but prison is--"
Brandon let the sentence hang and shrugged regretfully. "Can
you help us, Lady Lynne?"
She hesitated for only a moment. "I am speaking the truth
when I say I do not know the whereabouts of my spouse. I wish
that I did"
Brandon's and Dallas' disappointment was obvious. Thinking
she would be a lead, they had spent valuable time here only
to again encounter another dead end They both stood, Brandon's
voice a bit curt as he excused them.
"I won't ask you to report him should he come home-- that might not be fair. We must take our leave now."
Dallas did little more than nod in Lady Lynne's direction
as they both started toward the door. Brandon's hand was on
the knob when Lady Lynne stopped them with a few words.
Brandon turned back and nailed her with a look and one
question.
"Can you explain what you just said to me?"
224
Constanza swallowed hard and nodded. She gestured
with a slim hand for the men to be reseated. Brandon and
Dallas didn't leave the Lynne library for another two hours.
When they did leave, they talked of nothing but the case
all the way back to London. On entering the city, they went
directly to the Tower in order to inform Smokey of the newest
informat
ion. Both men were momentarily silent with shock
to learn that she had been moved the night before.
After recovering, Dallas watched once again as Brandon
went into action, this time to locate her. Dallas had to fight
panic such as he had never experienced before, when, after
several hours, Brandon told him that not even he could find
out who had moved Smokey or where she had been taken.
The day after Aggie and Smokey had been fed someone
else came down the caverns with a light. Smokey's heart
leaped with hope that there would be more food, but a darkly
cloaked figure, hood pulled completely over his head, stopped
outside the cell.
The Jailer held his lantern high, and both Aggie and Smokey
squinted and turned away from the bright assault. Smokey
was still squinting when the keys rattled and the door swung
open.
From her place on her pallet, the man looked huge as he
entered Smokey could not think who would be coming to see
her. Brandon or Dallas would not have been so mysterious.
The big man hung the lantern on a nail and spoke over his
shoulder to the guard
"Leave us."
Smokey stiffened at the sound of his voice and used what
was left of her quickly fading strength to come off the pallet
and move against the far stone wall. Her breath quickened as
fear pounded in her chest.
225
"This place does not t Cx/df your beauty and
talents, my dear. Already I ca*/ -** (^/taking a toll."
The hood came off then, ana auiokey stared into the face
of her abductor, his smile and scar still in place
"What do you want?" she asked softly.
"What I've always wanted--you."
"Get out," she ordered him, but he only smiled
"I should have known a woman of your spirit would need
more time, but I hoped."
"Hoped for what?"
"Why, that you would see reason, my dear." He spoke as
though addressing a slow child "My offer still stands. I want
you and the Aramis. I'll have you out of here in an hour, and
we'll be married by the week's end"
Smokey's lip curled in disgust, but Haamich Wynn only
smiled.
"Will we live with your wife, or have a home of our own?"
Smokey's voice dripped with scorn, and the smile vanished as
if by magic. The pirate's face contorted with rage as he came
toward her. She tried to move away, but he was too fast and the
room too small. He grabbed Smokey and hauled her against
him.
"Who have you been talking to?"
"Don't touch me," Smokey nearly spat at him.
With a near growl of rage, Haamich moved and a knife
appeared, an evil-looking blade that made the breath catch in
Smokey's throat.
Aggie came alive upon seeing that blade, but he ignored
the insults and threats she rained on him in her weak voice.
Smokey closed her eyes in terror, certain that he was about to
slit her throat.
Smokey gasped, and her eyes flew open again when he
grabbed her hair and gave a great pull. She stared in horror as
he stood back and held all two feet of her braid up before the
lantern's light.
"I always get what I want, my dear." The man's voice was
so genial that Smokey felt chilled to the bone. "Think about
226
my offer, will you? iowecj harxj .light cut something off that
won't grow back." the men .
With those words ik,.,, -, Camming the door behind him
and taking the lantern and Smokey's braid back down the
cavern. Smokey sank onto the tick, her hand going to the hair
that was now falling into her face.
Like a woman in a dream she felt around to the back of her
neck. He'd cut her hair off at the nape. Smokey hadn't shed one
tear since she had been thrust into this cell, but she now
bordered on the edge of hysteria.
As she collapsed face first onto her pallet, the sobs began
from deep in her chest and came to the surface as harsh
weeping. Smokey cried as she never had before, aware of
nothing but the pain of isolation and abuse. Smokey barely
noticed when Aggie used what little strength she had left to
crawl on her belly from her own flea-infested tick. She came
to clumsily pat Smokey's shoulder and offer words of sympathy.
G/llMl/~G/fiM0
both men were spent after their futile search for Smokey.
They talked for a long time, or rather Dallas talked and Brandon
listened He shared from his heart concerning the panic
he felt when they had found her gone, and then the men took
time to pray, turning the evening into a time of spiritual
renewal.
Just before the men turned in, Brandon told Dallas of his
only remaining worry concerning the case. That was Smokey's
ledger books. He knew them to be in the hands of a magistrate,
and Brandon worried that they might have been altered
The charge of piracy seemed outrageous, but if Smokey's
trading was too good to be true, the judge might sentence her
for pirating on her own or as an accomplice.
"Then you'll have to sail the Aramis" Dallas told him.
"What was that?" Brandon questioned him, wondering
why he had never thought of it.
"I said, sail the Aramis yourself. Then you'd understand
how she does it. You've never been on a ship so sleek and yare,
Hawk. I tell you it's like nothing you've ever seen."
Brandon nodded, his mind going a hundred miles an hour.
Til do it," he finally said
228
The next morning Brandon and Dallas left the town house
after breakfast. They visited the home of an old family friend,
and not long after he headed with them to the House of Lords.
Once again, Dallas watched with fascination as Brandon's
power and position seemed to melt all obstacles and yield him
incredible privileges. It took the better part of the day, but
with very little fuss he was able to pull the Aramis out of
confiscation and sail her.
With only a skeleton crew, both men sailed away from
London with the late afternoon tide. Dallas played the part of
mate and enjoyed watching Brandon's face as he stood on the
deck of the Aramis for the ride of his life.
It took some time for Brandon to notice Dallas' scrutiny,
and when he did, the young duke only grinned like a boy
caught in the pantry.
"Smokey doesn't want to sell, does she?" Brandon cheerfully
wished to know.
"I doubt it, but even if she did, I somehow think Sunny
might have a few things to say about it."
Brandon's brows rose in dismay, and Dallas laughed as a
shudder shook his friend's frame. The diversion was pleasant
as so much of their time had been spent fighting anxious
thoughts of Smokey.
They weren't out for long. Brandon had been given a time
limit, and he had seen enough. Dallas had been right about the Aramis; Brandon didn't know when he had sailed a finer
craft.
They talked about the ship at length on the way back to the
/> town house and were pleasantly surprised to find that Sunny
and Sterling had arrived in their absence.
"I got to thinking that this might continue on for some
time and just knew I had to see you," Sunny told Brandon as
soon as he walked in the door. Brandon, always happy to see
his wife, took her in his arms.
Dallas moved into the study to give them a moment's
privacy. The door was open, however, so when young Sterling
229
joined his parents, Dallas heard every word of their reunion.
Suddenly his thoughts were on his sister.
He had given her little thought in the uproar with Smokey,
but as he contemplated the date, he realized she might already
be a mother. His musings caused him to pray for her. He asked
God to bless her and keep her safe whether she was still
waiting, had already given birth, or was even this minute in
the process.
Jenny nearly wept from her place on the bed when she saw
Tate come back into their room and straight to her side.
"You were gone so long," she gasped
"I'm sorry, but I couldn't find the doctor. I rode all the way
to Willa's and brought her back."
Jenny's eyes widened as she looked around her husband to
the older woman near the door. Jenny didn't know Willa
beyond Smokey's loving description of her, but the sight of
Willa's serene features was enough to cause Jenny to forget
some of her fears. She would have told Willa all of this, but
another contraction hit.
She gasped as it grew in intensity and was hardly aware of
the way Willa came to her side, giving words of instruction
and gentle encouragement. When the pain began to ease,
Jenny spoke.
"I've never done this before, and I'm afraid something is
wrong."
"Nothing is wrong." Willa had already checked her and
spoke in confidence. "And you're doing just fine. Your husband,
on the other hand, is about to faint. Send him away, Mrs.
Pemberton, or I'll have two of you to nurse."
Jenny's eyes met those of the man she loved, and her smile
was gentle in her flushed face. Tate's smile, however, was very
pained, and try as he might he could not stop sweating.
230
"Go downstairs, Tate, unless I call you." Jenny released
him, feeling calm now that Willa was there.
Thinking his place was with Jenny, Tate hesitated, but just
then another contraction hit. With a walk that closely resembled
a trot, Tate hit the door. He was shaking so badly