The Buccaneer_Pirates of the Coast by Barbara Devlin

Author:Barbara Devlin [Devlin, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-09-11T04:00:00+00:00

THE BUCCANEER

CHAPTER SEVEN

The sun set on the horizon, filling the sky with nature’s watercolors, but the beauty was lost on Cager, as he leaned against the larboard rail of the Lady Madalene and counted another day without Francie, since he departed Boston. Was there any pain so merciless, so ruthless, or so relentless as that born of regret?

Although he sailed numerous times since they met, more than a year ago, he never noticed just how much she altered his world—probably because he never bothered to look, until now. And he understood just how lost Jean Marc felt the day he surrendered Madalene to the English soldiers, when he delivered her to Port Royal.

Then, Madalene had been gone a handful of minutes, before her absence brought Jean Marc to his knees, at the very spot Cager occupied aboard ship. For three days, Jean Marc searched the town, until fortune smiled upon him, and he won back his woman.

There would be no happy reunion for Cager and Francie, as a month-long journey, depending on the weather gauge, separated them. Even if by some miracle he could reunite with the arresting housekeeper, he doubted she would welcome him, given how horribly he treated her.

“I thought that was the Morass,” a familiar voice called. Leland Stryker, known through the pirate ranks as The Marooner, because he abandoned his victims on deserted islands, as opposed to killing them outright, waved a greeting from the docks. “Why are you not in the brothel, taking a flyer or having your nutmegs sucked?”

“Because I am in no mood to scuttle a growler.” Oh, no. Not when Cager had Francie, waiting at home.

“Then let me buy you a drink.” Stryker motioned with his head. “What have you to lose?”

“With you, that is a dangerous question to consider.” Rubbing the back of his neck, Cager shook his head, pushed from the rail, and crossed the waist. At the mainsail hull, he shimmied down the Jacob’s ladder. “So what brings you to Port Royal?”

“I transported an English lord and his family, after the wife became ill. The captain of the ship on which they booked passage to Brazil did not want to dock, and they flagged me, so I offered my assistance.” The Marooner frowned. “Cheap bastard gave me naught but a handshake. Where is the fun in that, when my men could have taken the vessel as a prize?”

“You sound like Jean Marc, after he signed the pact.” Given the demise of piracy, the Crown offered pardons, in exchange for a year’s worth of good deeds, to prove the buccaneer was serious about redemption. Jean Marc accepted the concordat, as did the Iron Corsair, and now The Marooner faced the same challenge. “In the beginning, it was an adjustment, and most of those we aided expressed no appreciation, which tempted us, more than once, to resume the old ways.”

“But you survived.” Stryker lit a cigar, as they walked to the brothel. “As did the Iron Corsair.”

“To be honest, I did not expect us to fulfill the terms of the agreement.

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