Kidnapped: His Innocent Mistress by Nicola Cornick

Author:Nicola Cornick
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises, Australia Pty Ltd
Published: 2009-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

The following day there was a strong westerly blowing, penning us close to land and setting Captain Hoseason in a very bad mood indeed. A Navy cutter had been sighted to the north, and he was like a cat on hot coals at the thought of it pursuing us. I confess I could understand his difficulty. If the Cormorant was boarded I could not see how he might easily explain away an unwilling female passenger and a Navy captain tied up in the hold. But as matters turned out the cutter disappeared, the crew breathed a little more easily and Neil took a step closer to his doom.

After my breakfast of porridge and a hard ship’s roll, I took a turn about the decks. I had washed and pressed my clothes and made myself look as respectable as possible, even going to the extent of borrowing a thick coat from Mr Riach’s tiny wardrobe to muffle myself against the wind and make me appear as shapeless and unfeminine as I could.

I had already observed that the crew were orderly and polite, if not particularly well drilled in seamanship, and despite what Mr Riach had said they did not seem disposed to dislike me. They touched their forelocks most respectfully when I passed, some even lending a hand to steady me when the swell of the waves had me clinging to a rope or handrail to avoid falling. Although I had been seasick on ships in the past I now found that I was not the least affected by the motion of the swell, and I think that that too commanded the respect of the crew, who must have expected me to cower in my cabin or behave like a helpless female. Perhaps I had too much to think about to have time to spare for sickness. At any rate, my mind was fully occupied, running backwards and forwards over the opportunities to free Neil and to escape.

These were, admittedly, very limited. In fact they were practically non-existent, but I did not want to be defeatist. There were fifteen men crewing the ship and I had no weapon to use against them. In my wanderings I had discovered that all the firearms and cutlasses, along with the best part of the food, were stored in the roundhouse, a cabin occupied for the most part by at least two sailors, one of whom was always an officer. There was not the slightest chance of my slipping in there unnoticed and lifting a dirk from one of the lockers. And even if I did I still had to overpower the man who guarded the trap door down to the hold. It was a problem.

I ate my lunch alone in my cabin, staring through the tiny porthole at the land slipping along rapidly to the east. The wind had turned to the north and the brig was cutting along at a rare pace now. I could feel the seconds of Neil’s life ticking down inexorably and the panic tightened inside me.

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